The invention relates to the interior environments of passenger compartments of vehicles, particularly cabs of lorries, and regards more specifically the functional and aesthetic night lighting of said environments.
Typically the interior lighting of cabs of lorries is entrusted to traditional light sources, activation of which during night driving is normally limited on account of the disturbance that light sources of this sort produce in regard to the vision of the driver outwards (reflections). Permanent lighting sources are normally associated to the instrument panel and to the control devices located within the passenger compartment, night lighting of which is, however, strictly circumscribed precisely to instruments and controls.
The object of the present invention is to make available within the passenger compartment of a vehicle, and more in particular of the cab of a lorry, a source of auxiliary night lighting, i.e., lighting not designed for replacing traditional light sources, which is able to generate an environmental light that will enable improvement of the perception of the internal space, as well as recognition and identification of objects and controls within the cab, without, however, disturbing the vision outwards of the driver, but rather improving driving safety.
According to the invention, the above object is achieved thanks to an aesthetic/decorative interior finishing element for passenger compartments of vehicles, in particular cabs of lorries, basically characterized in that it has a surface in view that is semitransparent to light with a metallic appearance or the like, associated to the back of which are backlighting means that can be activated for providing emission of suffused light by said semitransparent surface.
Thanks to this arrangement, the interior finishing element according to the invention presents, in conditions of daylight or in any case when the backlighting means are deactivated, as an interior furnishing with aesthetic moulding defined by the aforesaid surface in view with a metallic appearance or similar to cloth or other material, whilst, following upon activation of the backlighting means in the absence of daylight, said visible surface diffuses a suffused environmental light that enables the occupants to recognize and identify objects inside the passenger compartment in conditions of complete safety.
The backlighting means can include bundles of optical fibres connected to light sources such as LEDs or the like, or else electroluminescent elements or other functionally equivalent systems.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the surface in view that is semitransparent of the aesthetic/decorative element is in the form of a long horizontal band of relatively modest height, set, for example, along a cross member located in the top area of the front part of the cab.
The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings, which are provided purely by way of non-limiting example and in which:
According to the invention, the cross member 4 is moreover provided with a fascia 5, which extends, for example, throughout extension of the cross member 4 and has a small height, for example in the region of 25 mm, and which presents a peculiar feature: the surface in view of said fascia 5 has, in conditions of daylight, a metallic appearance, for example a chromed appearance (
For this reason, and as is illustrated in detail in
The half-shells 5a can be continuous or else connected to one another and to the cross member 4 via joining elements 6.
Set on the back of each half-shell 5a is a respective backlighting device 7, for example an optical-fibre device or else alternatively a device with electroluminescent elements possibly with a thermoformed structure, or equivalent systems.
In the first case, the structure of the backlighting device can be of the type represented in
The light sources 8 are connected to an electronic actuation interface 9, which enables activation, deactivation, and also adjustment and management of intensity thereof and possibly change of colour in a controlled or even automatic way.
As explained previously, in the deactivated condition of the backlighting device the visible surface of the half-shells 5a that make up the fascia 5 has a metallic appearance, whilst in the activated condition said visible surface emits a diffused and suffused light.
Even though the invention has been described with specific reference to an aesthetic/decorative element located in the top area of the front part of the cab of a lorry, it is likewise advantageously applicable to aesthetic/decorative elements located in different areas, for example, on the inner panels of the doors in a position corresponding to or set underneath the armrests thereof, to provide a diffused or grazing lighting effect, or located elsewhere in the cab.
In addition, the surface 5 in view of the aesthetic/decorative element may present an appearance different from the metallic one, for example similar to cloth or some other material.
Of course, the details of construction and the embodiments may vary widely with respect to what is described and illustrated herein, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the ensuing claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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08425615.5 | Sep 2008 | EP | regional |