Illumination device

Details Illumination device Illumination device

2002-10-17

2004-11-30

Ward, John Anthony (Department: 2875)

Illumination

With container

With closure controlled switch

C362S034000, C362S154000, C362S321000, C362S486000, C362S489000, C362S800000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06824290

ABSTRACT:

The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-320985, which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination device. The present invention may be preferably applied to illumination of a box-shaped container such a glove box, console box or ash tray arranged in a compartment of an automobile. Further, the present invention may be preferably applied to illumination of a refrigerator entrance door, living room door, shoe box or dressing case having an opening and closing section. Also, the present invention may be preferably applied to illumination of a place having an opening and closing section.
2. Related Art
Visibility of things accommodated in a glove box of an automobile is enhanced by illuminating the inside of the glove box. For example, the following structure is well known. A light source unit, in which a light bulb is installed, is arranged on a side wall of the glove box, and the inside of the glove box is illuminated by light emitted from the light source unit. According to this structure, electric power consumption of the light bulb is large and a large quantity of heat is generated when the light bulb is lit. Further the life of the light bulb is generally short. Therefore, it is not preferable to light the light bulb at all times. For the above reasons, it is common to provide a switching mechanism for controlling a state of turning on and off interlockingly to the light bulb. For example, a switching mechanism is used in which the light bulb is turned on and off interlockingly with the opening and closing motion of the glove box lid. Using the above switching mechanism, when the glove box lid is opened, light emitted from the light source can be illuminated so that the visibility can be enhanced, and when the glove box lid is closed, the light bulb can be turned off. Therefore, inconvenience caused by the above bulb characteristic can be avoided.
However, when the above electric switching mechanism is used, the entire structure becomes complicated undesirably, and further the manufacturing cost is increased because the terminal members used for the switching mechanism are expensive.
On the other hand, there is proposed an illumination device in which LED is used as a light source instead of a light bulb. LED is advantageous in that the electric power consumption is small and the life is long and further the calorific value is low. Therefore, it is possible to light LED at all times. Accordingly, it is possible to omit the above switching mechanism which is necessary when the light bulb is used. Specifically, when LED is arranged at a position so that the inside of the glove box is illuminated by LED and when the LED light source is lit at all times or the LED light source is lit interlockingly with the position lamp, the inside of the glove box can be illuminated when the lid of the glove box is opened, and when the glove box lid is closed, although the LED light source is lit, light emitted from the LED light source can be shielded by the glove box lid. Therefore, even when the switching mechanism is not provided, only when the glove box is opened, the inside of the glove box can be illuminated. The illumination device in which LED is used as a light source can provide the above illumination effect.
However, since it is common that the body and lid of the glove box are manufactured separately from each other and assembled to each other after the completion of the manufacture process, it is difficult to compose the glove box in such a manner that no gap is formed between the glove box body and the lid. It is possible to prevent the formation of the above gap when both are manufactured and assembled with high accuracy. Although the formation of the above gap is prevented in the above way, the manufacturing cost is increased and the manufacturing process becomes complicated. Even if the glove box body and lid are manufactured with high accuracy and no gap is formed between them at the beginning of use, the positional relation between them is delicately changed or they are deformed, so that the formation of a gap is gradually increased, which causes leakage of light emitted from the LED light source. The above leakage of light deteriorates the design of the illumination device. Further, the above leakage of light unnecessarily illuminates the periphery, which is not preferable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above problems. It is an object to provide an is illumination device or lighting method, the constitution of which is simple, capable of effectively illuminating a box-shaped container such as a glove box.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an illumination device comprising: an LED light source; and a shutter member arranged on the light emitting side of the LED light source, capable of changing a mode of light illuminating the outside when a position of the shutter member is changed by slide or rotation.
Owing to the above construction, when the shutter member is slid or rotated, it is possible to change a mode of light emitted from the LED light source to the outside. Accordingly, when the device is composed in such a manner that the shutter member is slid or rotated interlockingly with an opening and closing motion of the lid of an accommodating member (for example, a glove box of an automobile), the illuminating mode of light can be changed synchronously with the opening and closing motion of the lid. When the illuminating mode of light is changed in the above way, illumination can be effectively performed. For example, only when the lid is opened, light emitted from the LED light source can be sent outside. That is, the illuminating mode can be changed interlockingly with the opening and closing motion of the lid by a simple mechanism in which the shutter member is slid or rotated. In this way, it is possible to compose an illumination device capable of providing a high illumination effect by a simple structure.
The LED light source is characterized in that the electric power consumption is small, the calorific value is low and the life is long. Therefore, the LED light source is appropriately used for continuously lighting a light over a long period of time. Further, since the size of the LED light source is small, the entire illumination device can be downsized. Therefore, the illumination device can be placed freely. The type of LED is not particularly limited. Various type of LED such as a round type LED, a chip type LED and so forth may be adopted.
The luminescent color of the LED light source is not particularly limited to a specific color. For example, it is possible to adopt an LED light source, the luminescent wave-length of which is in the visible region such as red, orange, green, blue and so forth. It is also possible to adopt an LED light source, the luminescent wave-length of which is in the ultraviolet region. In this case, it is possible to adopt such a composition that fluorescent material is contained in the surface material of an object to be illuminated (inner wall of the glove box), and the fluorescent body emits fluorescent light so as to provide an illumination effect. Further, it is possible to adopt such a composition that fluorescent material is contained in a portion of the shutter member described later and light emitted from LED is illuminated via the portion of the shutter member so as to generate fluorescent light. Furthermore, it is possible to use a photocatalyst. When light is illuminated on the photocatalyst, it is possible to provide a photocatalytic effect such as an antibacterial effect or deodorization effect. For example, a layer containing a photocatalyst is provided on the surface of the shutter member described later, and the layer containing a photocatalyst is illuminated when the shutter member is put into a specific state. Furthermore, an object to which the illumination device of the present invention is attach

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