Instrument Panel

Abstract

There is provided an instrument panel capable of uniformly brightening the interior of a storage part without special provision of a light source. In the instrument panel including an operation part (2) having an operation panel (3) for controlling a vehicle; a light source (6) for illuminating the operation panel (3), which the light source (6) is provided in the operation part (2); and the storage part (4) arranged adjacent to the operation part (2), an opening (7) is provided between the operation part (2) and the storage part (4); a tray (8) is provided between the opening (7) and the storage part (4) as a wall surface; and the tray (8) is formed of a material capable of transmitting the light of the light source (6), which is transmitted via the opening (7).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to an instrument panel provided with a storage part adjacent to an operation part. More particularly, it relates to an instrument panel capable of illuminating the interior of the storage part without special provision of a light source.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]An instrument panel for a vehicle is provided with various operation parts capable of controlling vehicular equipment. In many cases, the passenger touches an operation panel provided in the operation part to control the vehicular equipment. Examples of equipment having such an operation part may include an air conditioner unit, audio equipment, and the like. Also, some instrument panels are provided with a storage part for storing small articles and the like. Both the operation part and the storage part are provided with a light source, and the instrument panel has a function of illuminating the operation panel and the interior of the storage panel by means of...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an instrument panel capable of uniformly brightening the interior of a storage part without special provision of a light source.

[0012]According to the present invention, the following effects can be achieved. The instrument panel in accordance with the present invention has a feature such that the instrument panel includes an operation part having an operation panel for controlling a vehicle; a light source for illuminating the operation panel, which light source is provided in the operation part; and a storage part arranged adjacent to the operation part, and is characterized in that an opening is provided between the operation part and the storage part; a tray is provided between the opening and the storage part as a wall surface; and the tray is formed of a material capable of transmitting the light of the light source, which is transmitted via the opening. Therefore, both the operation part and the storage part can be illuminated by the light of the same light source without the use of a part having a complicated construction. As a result, the parts are easy to manufacture, the number of parts decreases, the manpower for assembling parts decreases, and part control is easy to perform, whereby costs can be reduced.

[0014]In the instrument panel in accordance with the present invention, the configuration may be such that the storage part is formed as a space having an opening end part on the vehicle rear side; the light source and the opening are arranged below the storage part; the tray is arranged on the lower side of the space; and the storage part is formed so that the upper-side part of the opening end part extends to the vehicle rear side from the lower-side part of the opening end part, which forms the tray. By arranging the storage part on the upper side of the operation part, the above-described effects can be achieved while preventing the negative effect that the light of the light source going from the downside to the upside falls on a windshield glass arranged on the upper side of the instrument panel.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, the number of parts increases, the manpower for assembling parts increases, and part control becomes more difficult, resulting in an increase in costs.

Therefore, the finisher is difficult to manufacture, and resultantly the cost for manufacturing the finisher increases.

Also, although the interior of the storage part is illuminated by the light of the lighting part, it is difficult to illuminate the peripheral portion of the lighting part by means of the light of the lighting part, so that it is difficult to give uniform brightness to the interior of the storage part.

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