Abstract:
The present invention is an automobile instrument panel lighting structure providing a gentle illuminant effect on the display card through a halo effect and illuminating the hand without having an external light-source, thereby facilitating a driver&#39;s reading when driving at the dark environment.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     (a) Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to an automobile instrument panel lighting structure and more particularly for providing a mild illumination to the instrument panel beneficial to driving in the low light environment.  
         [0003]     (b) Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     The instrument panel is an essential part of an automobile including a fuel indicator, a speedometer, a tachometer, and an odometer etc for providing valuable information to a driver.  
         [0005]     Conventional instrument panels may be too dark to be read for driving in a low illuminating environment or may not be eye-friendly to the driver eyes for light illuminating directly thereon, when having an auxiliary lighting system by using the automobile&#39;s electrical power.  
         [0006]     Besides, hands on instruments usually do not provide enough illumination for reading in dark environment, although some of them coated with fluorescent coating for improvement.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The present invention is to provide an automobile instrument panel lighting structure including a casing, a light platform, a light-source guide plate, a display card, and a hand assembly.  
         [0008]     The casing has a cylinder casing to form an inner space enclosing a drive unit.  
         [0009]     The light platform has a plate with a spindle at the center, wherein the spindle is driven by a drive unit and surrounded by at least one illuminant element.  
         [0010]     The light-source guide plate, is formed between the light platform and the display card, has a light guide plate sloping to the center, a cover surrounding the outer perimeter thereof with a skirt extending downward to an inner space of the casing. A chamber is formed between the cover and the light guide plate, and an opening is formed at the center corresponding to the illuminant element, thereby enabling light from the illuminant element passing the chamber to illuminate the surface of the light guide plate.  
         [0011]     The display card has a card with marks and is illuminated by light from the light guide plate.  
         [0012]     The hand assembly has a vertical rod, with a lower end connecting to the spindle of the light plate and an upper end connecting to a hand, a lid covering the top of the vertical rod, and a coating covering the bottom of the hand.  
         [0013]     To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  shows an exploded elevational view of the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  shows a cross sectional view of an illuminated light-source guide plate of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  shows a view of an illuminated display card of the present invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  shows a cross sectional view of an illuminated light-source guide plate of the present invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  shows another view of an illuminated hand assembly of the present invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 7  shows a view of a weight-balance body on a hand and a coating covering the hand&#39;s bottom of the present invention.  
         [0021]      FIG. 8  shows a view of an illuminant element arrangement of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0022]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The automobile instrument panel lighting structure  1  include is a casing  11 , a light platform  12 , a light-source guide plate  13 , a display card  14 , a hand assembly  15 , an inner frame  16 , a transparent cover  17 , and an outer frame  18 , wherein the casing  11  has a cylinder casing  111  to form an inner space  112  enclosing a drive unit  113 , e.g. a stepper motor; the light platform  12  has a plate  121  with a spindle  122  at the center, wherein the spindle  122  is driven by a drive unit  113  and surrounded by at least one illuminant element  123 , e.g. a diode, as shown in  FIG. 8 .  
         [0023]     The light-source guide plate  13 , is formed between the light platform  12  and the display card  14 , has a light guide plate  131  with arced or sloped surface sloping to the center, a cover  132  surrounding the outer perimeter thereof with a skirt extending to the inner space  112 .  
         [0024]     A chamber  133  is formed between the cover  132  and the light guide plate  131 , and an opening  134  is formed at the center corresponding to the illuminant element  123 , thereby enabling light from the illuminant element  123  passing the chamber  133  to illuminate the surface of the light guide plate  131 , as shown in  FIG. 3 .  
         [0025]     The display card  14  has a card  141  with marks  142  and being illuminated by light from the light guide plate  131 , as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 .  
         [0026]     The hand assembly  15  has a vertical rod  151 , with the lower end connecting to the spindle  122  of the light plate  12  and the upper end connecting to a hand  152 , a lid  153  covering the top of the vertical rod  151  enabling light, emitting from the illuminant element  123 , to be reflected to illuminate the hand  152 , a coating  154  of low light-penetration rate, e.g. a painting, covering the bottom of the hand  152  to prevent light loss, and a weight-balance body  155  formed on an end of the hand  152  to balance the moment generating from the other end thereof, as shown in FIGS.  5  to  7 .  
         [0027]     The inner frame  16  is formed around the outer perimeter of the display card  14 ; the transparent cover  17  is covered on the display card  14  to protect thereof; and the outer frame  18  framing the transparent cover  17 .  
         [0028]     The present invention has the following characteristics: 
        1. Enabling light from the illuminant element  123  passing the chamber  133  to illuminate the surface of the light guide plate  131  through a halo effect, thereby generating to a gentle illuminant effect on the display card  14  to facilitating reading, as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 .     2. Enabling light emitting from the illuminant element  123  to be reflected, by the lid  153  covering the top of the vertical rod  151 , to illuminate the hand  152 , which can be further enhanced by a coating  154  of low light-penetration rate, e.g. a thin plate or a painting, covering the bottom of the hand  152  to prevent light loss, thereby facilitating reading effect.        
 
         [0031]     It is of course to be understood that the embodiment described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.