JP2004036161A - Recursive reflector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a novel recursive reflector for reducing costs, coping with various colors, and having high production efficiency. <P>SOLUTION: The reflected light different from a prism can be emitted by forming a light transmissive colored ink layer in the white recursive reflection prism. Ink may be monochromatic, and may be a combination of a plurality of colors. A character and a pattern are drawn by printing, and can be used as an information display plate. A transparent base material is installed on a surface to be protected from a physical shock, and weatherability can be improved. The surface can be made hydrophilic by the sunlight by forming a photocatalyst layer on the surface of the transparent base material. Since a pollutant is easily washed away by rainwater, the pollutant is deposited little so that superior visibility can be kept. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a road safety article such as a gaze guide mark or a road stud installed at a side edge of a road or a median strip for the purpose of guiding a gaze of a driver, for example.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in the case of driving by car at night or in bad weather, in order to encourage the driver to drive safely, for example, gaze guide signs and road studs are installed on the side of the road and the median strip, indicating the alignment of the road and the center line. I have. These line-of-sight guideposts and road studs generally use a retroreflector made of a white or orange prism reflector or a reflection sheet.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Gaze guideposts and road studs using white retroreflectors are preferably used because they have particularly good reflectivity and good visibility, but they have the same color as the surroundings, for example, during snowfall or fog. On the contrary, the visibility deteriorates. Similarly, a white retroreflector cannot provide a sufficient gaze guidance effect on a snowy road or the like. Therefore, colored retroreflectors are desired in such areas.
[0004]
Conventionally, there has been an orange retroreflector as a colored retroreflector. However, diversification of roads has led to an increase in design requirements, and multicolor support has been desired. Conventionally, those used as retroreflectors include a reflection sheet and a prismatic reflector, but the reflection sheet has a plurality of types of color variations, but the number of colors is not large, and the price is expensive, It is not suitable for products installed in large quantities on roads, such as gaze guides and road studs. There were only white and orange prism reflectors. For these reasons, it has been desired to develop an inexpensive and simple retroreflector that can handle various colors.
[0005]
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a novel retroreflector that can handle various colors, is inexpensive, and has high production efficiency. .
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor has made intensive studies, and as a result, by using a white retroreflective prism and combining it with a translucent ink, the reflector can be easily colored and the cost can be reduced. Knowing that it will be inexpensive, they have completed the present invention.
[0007]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a retroreflector having a retroreflective property by a prism plate having a large number of fine prism surfaces formed thereon, wherein an ink layer having a light transmitting property is formed on the prism plate. Things.
[0008]
By forming a light-transmitting colored ink layer on the upper surface of the retroreflective prism body, when light is incident, reflected light of an ink color different from the prism reflected light can be developed. The ink layer may be formed on the entire surface, or may be a part of the reflection surface. Further, the ink may be one color or plural colors, and characters or pictures may be drawn by printing or painting. In that case, the method of forming the ink layer is not particularly limited, but for coating, dip coating, air spray coating, airless spray coating, roll coating, percoating, flow coating, brushing, etc. Yes, for printing, screen printing, gravure printing, silk printing, offset printing, heat transfer, and the like are mentioned.
[0009]
For the retroreflective substrate, in addition to the prism plate, those using retroreflective beads may be used.However, if a reflector using retroreflective beads is used, irregularities due to beads are formed on the reflector surface, and the irregularities are formed on the irregularities. It is necessary to form a translucent ink layer. Printing or coating on the uneven surface is not easy and causes unevenness of the ink layer thickness and uneven coating. If the ink layer is non-uniform, the reflectivity becomes uneven or the display performance deteriorates, which is not preferable. Also, the surface may be smoothed by filling the surface irregularities with clear ink, and the light-transmitting ink layer may be formed on the smoothed surface, but this is not preferable because the number of steps is increased. Therefore, it is preferable to use a prism reflector.
[0010]
In this way, by coloring the reflector, for example, usually has an effect as a delineator used for general gaze guidance, and in bad weather such as snowstorm or dense fog, it has an alerting effect with excellent visibility. be able to.
[0011]
Further, a transparent substrate may be attached on the ink layer. By providing a transparent sheet or film of a polycarbonate resin, an acrylic resin, a polyester resin, or the like on the upper surface of the ink layer, the ink layer is protected from physical impact and the weather resistance of the ink is improved. When an additive such as an ultraviolet absorber is added to the transparent substrate in order to improve weather resistance, discoloration of the ink can be suppressed.
[0012]
The method of bonding the prism reflector and the transparent substrate is not particularly limited, but it is preferable that the prism reflector and the transparent substrate be insert-molded and integrated in consideration of bonding strength and productivity.
[0013]
When forming a translucent ink layer, the ink layer may be formed on the prism reflector, but the ink layer is formed on the back surface of the transparent substrate, and the ink layer is sandwiched between the prism reflector and the transparent substrate. So that they can be bonded together.
[0014]
Further, a photocatalyst-containing layer may be formed on the transparent substrate. If a photocatalyst-containing layer containing a photocatalyst such as titanium dioxide is formed on the surface of a transparent substrate exposed to the outside, the photocatalyst hydrophilizes the surface, and contaminants such as dust and vehicle exhaust gas are removed. It becomes difficult to adhere. Photocatalysts such as titanium dioxide are activated by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays, exhibit strong oxidizing power, and have a feature that their surfaces are hydrophilized, and contaminants such as dust and vehicle exhaust gas adhere to the surfaces. However, the contaminants are decomposed by the strong oxidizing power, and the hydrophilic surface causes water to break between the contaminants adhering to the surface and the surface to float the contaminants. Also, even if it adheres, it is easily washed away and removed by rainfall or the like, so that pollutants hardly accumulate.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are examples of a retroreflector according to the present invention, and are views of the retroreflector viewed from the front. The retroreflector 1 of FIG. 1 has an ink layer 11a formed on a prism reflector by screen printing. In addition, the portion 11b is a portion where the ink layer is not intentionally formed, and a portion where the ink layer is provided and a portion where the ink layer is not provided form a simple picture.
[0016]
The retroreflector 1 shown in FIG. 2 has ink layers 11c and 11d formed on a white prism reflector by screen printing, as in FIG. Transparent inks of different colors are used for the ink layer portion 11c and the ink layer portion 11d, and a pattern is formed by using two colors of ink.
[0017]
Here, the ink color used on the prism reflector is not particularly limited, but since the resin forming the prism is transparent, the hue difference and lightness are different from the color of the prism such as green, red, and blue. Those having a large difference and a large chroma difference are preferable. In addition, the light transmittance of the ink layer is adjusted in consideration of the appearance of the reflected light. That is, when the reflection luminance is too high, the reflection luminance can be adjusted by increasing the ink density or increasing the thickness of the ink layer. The translucency of the white reflective portion can be adjusted by, for example, forming a milky white ink layer in consideration of the contrast with the surrounding colored reflected light.
[0018]
3 to 5 show cross sections of the retroreflector. In FIG. 3, a colored ink layer is formed on the prism reflector 12, and the prism reflector itself is fixed to the back plate 13. The method of fixing to the back plate is not particularly limited, but an adhesive, heat fusion, ultrasonic fusion, or the like is preferable. Light incident from the direction a passes through the colored ink layer, is reflected by the prism reflector, passes through the colored ink layer again, and expresses reflected light of color.
[0019]
In FIG. 4, a colored ink layer is formed on the prism reflector 12, and a transparent substrate 14 is mounted on the surface of the ink layer by insert molding, and is integrated with the reflection prism body. Has a back plate fixed. When the transparent substrate is attached to the front surface of the retroreflector, the colored ink layer may be formed on the rear surface of the transparent substrate by printing or painting, and then insert-molded with the prism reflector.
[0020]
FIG. 5 shows a retroreflector in which a photocatalyst-containing layer is formed on a transparent substrate attached to the front surface of the retroreflector. The photocatalyst-containing layer may be coated on the surface of the transparent substrate after integrating the transparent substrate and the prism reflector, or a transparent substrate on which the photocatalyst-containing layer has been formed in advance may be used. In that case, a colored ink layer is formed on the surface of the transparent substrate on which the photocatalyst-containing layer is not formed, and the colored ink layer is integrated so as to be sandwiched between the prism reflector and the transparent substrate.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
By forming a translucent ink layer on the prism reflector of the retroreflector, it is possible to obtain a retroreflector that expresses colored reflected light, for example, even in bad weather such as snow or fog or on a snowy road surface. It has become possible to provide visual guidance signs and road studs that can be visually recognized. In addition, it is possible to cope with a case where a variety of roads requires a variety of designs such as colors and patterns. Further, by attaching the transparent base material on the ink layer, the ink layer and the prism can be protected from physical impact and the weather resistance can be improved. If the touch-containing layer is formed on the front transparent substrate, even if dirt such as exhaust gas adheres, it is easily washed away by rainfall and the like, so that high visibility can be maintained with little maintenance. .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows an example of an embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows an embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows an example of an embodiment according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
a Incident light b Reflected light 1 Retroreflector 11 Translucent colored ink layer 11a Translucent colored ink layer 11b Unformed portion of ink layer 11c Translucent colored ink layer 11d Translucent colored ink layer 12 Prism reflector 13 Back Plate 14 Transparent substrate 15 Photocatalyst containing layer

Claims (3)

A retroreflective body having a retroreflective property by a prism plate having a large number of fine prism surfaces formed thereon, wherein an ink layer having a light-transmitting property is formed on the prism plate. body. The retroreflective body according to claim 1, wherein a transparent substrate is attached on the ink layer. The retroreflective body according to claim 2, wherein a photocatalyst-containing layer is formed on the transparent substrate.

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