Patent Application
20080286043
The present invention relates to a light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell, and more particularly, to a light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell, which is installed at a boundary between a roadway and a sidewalk, a separator in a sidewalk, a parking place, a traffic island, or the like, and is adapted to accumulate sunlight in the daytime and convert the accumulated sunlight into electric energy to emit light at night, the light emitting road boundary stone containing special symbols or images to have advertisement and propaganda functions, in addition to its essential delimitation function, via displaying images at any time of day or night, whereby safe driving of automobile drivers and protection of pedestrians can be accomplished.
Generally, boundary stones are mainly used to separate a roadway from a sidewalk. In these days, the boundary stones are also used at a boundary portion of a traffic island, which is installed in the middle of a road having a relatively wide width, or at an entrance ramp of a highway to prevent the ingress and egress of automobiles, or to indicate the boundary of a pedestrian safety area.
Conventional boundary stones have been fabricated by processing marble or molding cement to have a predetermined size, and are embedded and fixed in the ground surface. However, the marble or cement made boundary stones are not easily visible to automobile drivers or pedestrians at night due to their material characteristic.
As a solution of the problem related to the conventional marble or cement boundary stones, it was proposed to attach a reflective sheet, which is capable of reflecting a light from an automobile, to the overall surface of the boundary stone, to enable the boundary stone to be easily visible. However, a problem of this solution is that the attached reflective sheet tends to become detached by itself after a while or suffers from deterioration in reflective performance, and therefore still exhibits the above-described problem of the conventional boundary stones. Furthermore, detachment of the reflective sheet results in a poor outer appearance of the boundary stone.
To solve the above problems of the conventional boundary stones, the applicant of the present invention has previously filed and registered a Utility Model wherein solar cells are installed to bollards or traversal rectangular boundary stones as shown in
More particularly, in the case of the Utility Model related to bollards of
However, the Utility Model registered by the applicant of the present invention reveals several problems. That is, it is difficult to repair and manage after installation. Further, through-holes must be perforated through a body of the boundary stone at upper end locations to install the light emitting units at opposite side surfaces of the body, and therefore, the boundary stone always has a great risk of being easily damaged by external shock caused, for example, upon an automobile crash. Similarly, in the case of the traversal boundary stone, an upper surface front edge thereof is somewhat sharply formed, and therefore, may be easily damaged by external shock caused upon an automobile crash. Therefore, the applicant of the present invention feels strongly the necessity of solving the above-described several problems of the conventional boundary stones.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell, which can achieve not only an improvement in installation workability but also ease in repair and management after installation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell, which can achieve an improvement in shock-resistance, can effectively prevent moisture from infiltrating a solar cell unit having an electric circuit on rainy or snowy days, and can improve not only clear visibility of images added thereto at any time of day or night, but also the brightness of a light emitting unit, whereby enhanced safety of pedestrians and automobile drivers can be accomplished.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell, comprising: a body; a solar cell unit mounted in an upper surface of the body and having a solar cell plate, and a battery and circuit unit; and one or more light emitting units mounted in one or more lateral surfaces of the body and having lights to be turned on/off based on electricity supplied from the solar cell unit and other control conditions, wherein the solar cell unit includes: an upper fixing case provided at an outer upper surface thereof with the solar cell plate, a lower end of the upper fixing case being formed with an outer wall having a predetermined height to define a space along an inner circumference of the outer wall, fixing protrusions being arranged at an outer circumference of the outer wall; and a lower fixing case having an interior space for receiving the battery and circuit unit, which is connected to the solar cell plate, the outer wall of the upper fixing case being fitted and coupled along an inner circumference of the lower fixing case, separation prevention protrusions being arranged at the inner circumference of the lower fixing case to be caught by the fixing protrusions, to fix the upper fixing case, whereby the upper fixing case is separably assembled to the lower case embedded in the body of the boundary stone.
Preferably, the body may have a circular or rectangular column shape having a predetermined height, the light emitting units being embedded in opposite lateral vertical or inclined surfaces of the body to be exposed to the outside at their outer surfaces, a high-brightness reflective sheet being attached in an attachment groove, which is dented throughout an outer periphery of the body to a predetermined depth, and each of the light emitting units may include: a metal rim fitted around an outermost rim portion of the light emitting unit; a transparent acryl plate having a predetermined thickness so as to have a sufficient strength to resist external shock and provided at a rear surface thereof with intaglio patterns representing various images, a plurality of light mounting holes being bored at opposite positions of an outer circumference of the transparent acryl plate to a predetermined depth to receive lights, respectively, which are connected to the battery and circuit unit; a printed matter printed with the same images as those of the intaglio patterns provided at the rear surface of the transparent acryl plate, the printed matter being located behind the transparent acryl plate; and a translucent acryl plate located behind the printed matter, the metal rim, transparent acryl plate, printed matter, and translucent acryl plate being assembled to one another in this order.
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Now, the configuration of a light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell in accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
Although the light emitting units 50 and solar cell unit 30 employed in the first embodiment of the present invention may be freely selected from among various shapes, the following description of the present embodiment is limited to that both the units 50 and 30 take a circular shape, as shown in the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
In the light emitting unit 50 having the above-described configuration, in the daytime, the images 58, printed on the printed matter 54, are directly exposed to the outside via the transparent acryl plate 52, and therefore, the boundary stone 10 and the images 58 are visible to pedestrians or automobile drivers. At night, the lights 53 of the light emitting unit 50 emit light by use of electricity supplied from the solar cell unit 30. As the emitted light passes through the transparent acryl plate 52, the light is refracted at the intaglio patterns 57 to thereby be concentrated, achieving an improved brightness. Thereby, the boundary stone 10 and the images 58 of the printed matter 54 can be more clearly visible to pedestrians or automobile drivers at night. Moreover, a high-brightness reflective sheet 59 having a predetermined width is attached to the body 20 near an upper end of the body 20. The high-brightness reflective sheet 59 is attached along an attachment groove 26, which is dented throughout the periphery of the body 20 so as not to come into contact with an exterior object and be easily separated from the body 20.
The solar cell unit 30 is preferably embedded in the upper surface of the body 20 where is easy to receive sunlight. The solar cell unit 30 includes an upper fixing case 32, a solar cell plate 31 mounted at an upper surface of the upper fixing case 32 to be exposed to the outside in order to directly receive sunlight, a lower fixing case 41 coupled around a lower end of the upper fixing case 32, and a battery and circuit unit 40 disposed in the lower fixing case 41. The battery and circuit unit 40 serves to convert the sunlight, collected by the solar cell plate 31, into electric energy and store the electric energy, and to regulate and control the supply of the electric energy to the lights 53 in accordance with preset conditions. A transparent resin film is laminated on an upper surface of the solar cell plate 31 to protect the solar cell plate 31 from external shock while achieving a watertight effect. Also, a sensor for detecting the luminance of the sunlight is integrally provided at the solar cell plate 31. The battery and circuit unit 40 is associated with a controller, such that the electric energy, stored in a battery, is automatically supplied to the lights 53 or interrupted in accordance with the luminance of the sunlight detected by the sensor. The controller also serves to control the charge/discharge of the battery. Such an electrical circuit structure can be easily realized by use of known prior art, and thus, no detailed explanation will be given herein.
The solar cell unit 30, more particularly, must be configured to reliably prevent external moisture from infiltrating thereinto to protect the electrical parts received therein. For this reason, as shown in the drawings, connection regions of the upper and lower fixing cases 32 and 41, which are configured to come into close contact with each other, have a characteristic structure in that distal ends thereof have a double-wall structure. Also, the upper fixing case 32 is formed at the upper surface thereof with release holes 34a, to allow a worker to easily release the upper fixing case 32 by use of tools for the repair thereof, after the solar cell unit 30 is embedded in the body 20 of the boundary stone 10.
Both the upper and lower fixing cases 32 and 41 have coupling fittings at circumferential locations thereof. More particularly, the coupling fittings are formed at an outer surface of an outer wall 35 of the upper fixing case 32 and at an inner surface of an outer wall 42 of the lower fixing case 41 to ensure easy separation/coupling between the upper and lower fixing cases 32 and 41. In the first embodiment of the present invention, the coupling fittings include fixing protrusions 36 formed at the outer circumference of the upper fixing case 32 to have a predetermined height, and separation prevention protrusions 44 formed at the inner circumference of the lower fixing case 41 to be caught by the fixing protrusions 36, to prevent separation of the upper fixing case 32.
The inner wall 43 of the lower fixing case 41 has a height corresponding to the height difference between the inner wall 37 and the outer wall 35 of the upper fixing case 32. The inner wall 43 is formed at an upper surface thereof, where it comes into contact with a lower end of the inner wall 37 of the upper fixing case 32, with a recess 45. An O-ring 39 having suitable elasticity is fitted into the recess 45, to perfectly prevent moisture from infiltrating the battery and circuit unit 40 located in the lower fixing case 41 after the upper fixing case 32 is coupled to the lower fixing case 41. In this way, the solar cell unit 30 accomplishes reliable sealing and watertight effects.
The light emitting unit 50′ of the present embodiment has a slightly different structure from the light emitting unit 50 of the previously described embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, elements of the light emitting unit 50′ having the same function and effects as those of the light emitting unit 50 will be designated by the same reference numerals.
The transparent acryl plate 52, having a sufficient thickness to resist external shock, forms an outermost surface of the light emitting unit 50′. The transparent acryl plate 52 is provided at a rear surface thereof with the intaglio patterns 57 representing an orientation. The transparent acryl plate 52 is also provided with a plurality of light mounting holes 53a having a predetermined depth. The plurality of light mounting holes 53a are arranged along the rim of the transparent acryl plate 52 at opposite locations. A plurality of lights 53 are fitted into the light mounting holes 53a, respectively, while being connected to the battery and circuit unit 40 of the solar cell unit 30.
The translucent acryl plate 55 is provided behind the transparent acryl plate 52. Preferably, the translucent acryl plate 55 has a black color opposite to the high-brightness reflective sheet 60, which is attached to a front surface thereof. The high-brightness reflective sheet 60 has images corresponding to the intaglio patterns 57 formed at the rear surface of the transparent acryl plate 52. Thus, in the present embodiment, the images of the high-brightness reflective sheet 60 represent an orientation.
Hereinafter, the operation of the light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, having the above-described configuration, will be explained.
Although the light emitting road boundary stone using a solar cell in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention can be installed at any places by use of the same installation method as that of conventional boundary stones, preferably, the light emitting road boundary stone of the present invention is installed at a region capable of receiving a predetermined amount of sunlight. Similar to conventional boundary stones fabricated by cutting and processing marble, the boundary stone in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention is fabricated by processing marble to have a predetermined shape and size, forming various recesses required to mount the above mentioned respective parts to the boundary stone, and fitting and assembling the respective parts into the recesses of the boundary stone. Then, the completed boundary stone is fixedly installed at a desired position on the ground surface
In the boundary stone of the present invention, the solar cell unit 30, provided at the upper surface of the body 20, operates to collect sunlight in the solar cell plate 31 in the daytime, and convert the collected sunlight into electric energy that is to be stored in the battery. If the surroundings become dark after sunset, the sensor provided in the circuit unit 40 detects that the luminance of sunlight is lowered less than a predetermined level, whereby the electric energy stored in the battery is supplied to the light emitting units 50 provided at opposite lateral surfaces of the body 20. Thereby, the lights 53 are turned on, to emit light from the boundary stone 10.
If the lights 53 of each light emitting unit 50, which are mounted at opposite sides of the transparent acryl plate 52, are turned on to emit light, the emitted light passes through the center of the transparent acryl plate 52 to thereby be refracted by the intaglio patterns 57 corresponding to the outlines of the images 58 provided by the printed matter 54, whereby the outlines of the images 58 are clearly revealed. Accordingly, the light emitting unit 50 serves not only to emit light, but also to display the images. This increases the visibility of the boundary stone to pedestrians and automobile drivers at night, enabling safe walking and driving. Also, displaying the images has the effect of improving the beauty of a road.
As stated above, the boundary stone of the present invention is provided with a plurality of electric and electronic parts. More particularly, among the parts of the solar cell unit 30 provided at the upper surface of the body 20, the battery has a limited life differently from the boundary stone that can be used semipermanently, and therefore, must be exchanged with a new one after a predetermined time period to exhibit a desired performance. In the case of the conventional boundary stone developed by the applicant of the present invention, however, it is very difficult to separate and remount the solar cell unit embedded in the body, and therefore, the solar cell unit and the boundary stone may be damaged during separation and remounting. In accordance with the present invention, since the release holes 34a are formed at the upper surface of the solar cell unit 30, and the upper and lower fixing cases 32 and 41 are screwed to each other, the upper fixing case 32 can be simply separated from the lower fixing case 41 embedded in the body 20 if necessary. This enables simplified exchange of damaged parts, resulting in an improvement in repair and management. Also, since only the damaged parts are selectively exchanged, it is possible to reduce economical loss due to the waste of parts and to improve the efficiency of repair.
The solar cell unit 30 has a watertight coupling structure by use of the double walls of both the upper and lower fixing cases 32 and 41 to prevent the infiltration of moisture from the outside. This prevents the corrosion of parts received in the solar cell unit 30, whereby the durability of the solar cell unit 30 can be increased.
Meanwhile, in the case of the bollard type boundary stone associated with the second embodiment of the present invention, the light emitting unit mounting recess 27 is formed at the edge of the body 20 by processing a minimized region of the body 20, rather than processing the overall interior of the body. This has the effect of preventing the boundary stone from being damaged even when a relatively great external shock is caused by an automobile crash. Also, the horizontally elongated rectangular boundary stone features the inclined surface 22 at the edge of the upper surface of the body 20. This results in a less risk of damage even when the boundary stone collides with an automobile. In particular, due to the fact that the high-brightness reflective sheet 60 to reflect light from an automobile is separately formed from the transparent acryl plate 52, and is attached to the translucent acryl plate 55, which is located behind the transparent acryl plate 52, even if the outermost transparent acryl plate 52 is broken upon receiving external shock, the reflective sheet 60 located behind the transparent acryl plate 52 can be safely maintained. In particular, the lights 53 for emitting light at night are inserted and fixed in the mounting holes dented from the rim of the transparent acryl plate 52, and therefore, there is less risk of damage to the lights 53 by external shock. Furthermore, when the high-brightness reflective sheet 60 for reflecting light from an automobile is inserted in the light emitting unit mounting portion 27 dented into the body 20 at the center of the inclined surface 22 to a predetermined depth, the high-brightness reflective sheet 60 can achieve an improvement in light reception and reflection in spite of a height difference with a headlamp of the automobile. This is very helpful to safe driving of automobiles.
As apparent from the above description, a light emitting boundary stone using a solar cell in accordance with the present invention has the following several effects.
Firstly, the light emitting road boundary stone of the present invention can produce electricity by use of a solar cell plate provided therein without requiring a separate electricity source, and therefore, can minimize economical loss due to the consumption of electricity.
Secondly, the boundary stone allows pedestrians and automobile drivers to easily and clearly recognize a boundary between a roadway and a sidewalk, resulting in an increase in the safety of automobile driving and pedestrian walking.
Thirdly, adding a separate printed matter to a light emitting unit included in the boundary stone has the effect of advertising specific images contained in the printed matter at any time of day or night. More particularly, by arranging lights at opposite sides of a transparent acryl plate of the light emitting unit and providing the transparent acryl plate with intaglio patterns, the images of the printed matter to be advertised can be clearly revealed to achieve an improvement in visibility.
Fourthly, damaged or used parts of the boundary stone are easily exchangeable even after the boundary stone is completely assembled. This has the effect of extending the life of the boundary stone and enabling the semipermanent use of the boundary stone.
Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20-2004-0037168 | Dec 2004 | KR | national |
| 10-2005-0021438 | Mar 2005 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2005/004370 | 12/19/2005 | WO | 00 | 1/4/2007 |
