Patent ID: 7665857
Filing Date: 2010-02-23
Classification: B60K,G01D

Abstract:
1. An illumination device for an indicating needle comprising: an indicating needle that includes a rod-shaped needle body configured to indicate an indication and a needle base whose width is larger than a width of the needle body, the needle base having an entrance surface via which a light enters an inside of the needle base and a reflection surface by which the light entering the inside of the needle base via the entrance surface is reflected toward the needle body; a position detecting means for detecting a position of the needle; a plurality of light sources each configured to emit the light entering the inside of the needle base via the entrance surface thereof and arranged such that the light sources encircle a driving shaft of the indicating needle; and a luminance control means for controlling luminance of the plurality of light sources in response to a detected position of the indicating needle such that the luminance is lowest when the light emitted by the light source from a center of an emitting surface thereof is reflected off a region of the reflection surface that a longitudinal central line of the needle body intersects, and the luminance becomes higher when a point of reflection of the light emitted by the light source from the center of the emitting surface thereof on the reflection surface becomes more distant from the region of the reflection surface that the longitudinal central line of the needle body intersects.