Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha

Daiki Co., Ltd.

Atsuhiko Ito

Takamasa Yamada

Takayoshi Yamamoto

Mitsutaka Sakoh

Hideo Kanamori

Shingo Okahara

Seiji Chaza

Nobuki Hayashi

Hirohiko Sakai

Shinichi Yaoichi

Kousei Egawa

Takuma Saito

Koji Murao

Richard Chung

Hironori Matsubara

A vehicle body motion informing device includes a vehicular interior part that configures an interior surface of a vehicular compartment of a vehicle, a lighting device mounted on a vehicular exterior side of the vehicular interior part and exiting light to a vehicular compartment, a control unit that receives an information signal relating to the motion of the vehicle body and controls the lighting device to exit light according to the information to inform the vehicle occupant of the motion of the vehicle body, and a surface member having semi-transmissivity and disposed to cover at least a lighting portion included in the vehicular interior part and a surrounding portion of the vehicular interior part. The lighting portion overlaps the lighting device and the light from the lighting device passes through the lighting portion to the vehicular compartment and the surrounding portion is near the lighting portion.

Vehicle body motion informing device

There is provided a skin material for vehicle interior, which is woven from a side emission type optical fiber and a synthetic resin fiber, forms a design surface in a vehicle compartment and functions as an illumination. The skin material for vehicle interior is a skin materialfor vehicle interior including a woven fabric woven by using a synthetic resin fiber and a side emission type optical fiber as warp or weft, wherein the ratio (d/d) of the fineness (d) of the synthetic resin fiber to the fineness (d) of the side emission type optical fiber ranges from 1.5 to 7.0. When the synthetic resin fiber is a multifilament, the ratio (d/d) of the fineness (d) thereof to the fineness (d) of the side emission type optical fiberranges from 2.0 to 7.0. Also, when the synthetic resin fiber is a monofilament, the ratio (d/d) of the fineness (d) thereof to the fineness (d) of the side emission type optical fiber ranges from 1.5 to 6.0.

Skin material for vehicle interior

A skin material for vehicle interior includes a woven fabric woven by using a side emission type optical fiber and a multifilament as warp or weft, and is joined to a substrate for vehicle interior to constitute a vehicle interior material. In a surface of the woven fabric which constitutes the inside of a vehicle compartment, a virtual surface constituted by connecting side surfaces, on the inside of the vehicle compartment, of the side emission type optical fibers is in close vicinity to the substrate for vehicle interior, as compared with a virtual surface constituted by connecting side surfaces, on the inside of the vehicle compartment, of the multifilaments. Examples of the vehicle interior material in which the skin material for vehicle interior is used include door trims and roof trims.

In a woven fabric woven from first constituent yarns as one of warps and wefts and second constituent yarns as the other, a part of the first constituent yarns are side emission type optical fibers; at least a part of the second constituent yarns are light shielding yarns; the woven fabric has a light shielding structure which shields light emission on a design surface side of the side emission type optical fiber; the light shielding structure includes a first group of light shielding yarns and a second group of light shielding yarns each formed of the 2 to 4 continuous light shielding yarns intersecting the side emission type optical fiber on the design surface side; the one light shielding yarn arranged between the first group of light shielding yarns and the second group of light shielding yarns and intersecting the side emission type optical fiber on a non-design surface side.

Woven fabric

A woven fabric which enables protection of optical fiber yarns while the woven fabric is processed into a design woven fabric and easy exposure of the optical fiber yarns when the protection thereof becomes unnecessary, a method for manufacturing a design woven fabric from this woven fabric, and a method for manufacturing an interior material including: A woven fabric having a first constituent yarn having an optical fiber yarn and a non-light guiding yarn and a second constituent yarn having a non-light guiding yarn. The woven fabric having a first region in which the first and second constituent yarns are woven in one layer and a second region which is positioned adjacent to the first region and in which the first and second constituent yarns and are woven in two or more separable layers. The woven fabric has an optical fiber layer and a back protecting layer as the separable layers. The optical fiber layer is a layer formed of the optical fiber yarns. The back protecting layer is a layer in which the non-light guiding yarn of the first constituent yarn and the non-light guiding yarn of the second constituent yarn are woven. Further, the woven fabric can further have a front protecting layer.

Woven fabric, method for manufacturing design woven fabric and method for manufacturing interior material

In a woven fabric woven from first constituent yarns as one of warps and wefts and second constituent yarns as the other, a part of the first constituent yarns are 2 to 15 side emission type optical fibers woven in juxtaposition, and, when the number of the side emission type optical fibers is 3 or more, a twist-preventing yarn having a diameter smaller than that of the side emission type optical fibers is interposed between the one or two side emission type optical fibers and the one or two side emission type optical fibers.

An illumination apparatus includes a woven fabric in which optical fibers are woven as a constituent yarn and a light source. The illumination apparatus makes light delivered from the light source incident upon the end surfaces on one end side of the optical fibers and emits the light at least from the end surfaces on the other end side of the optical fibers for illumination. The other end side of the optical fibers is exposed from the woven fabric to constitute exposed parts, and the end parts of a plurality of the exposed parts on the other end side are supported by an end part support to form emitting parts which emit light from the light source. On the end part support, the end parts of the exposed parts on the other end side are individually supported such that their respective end surfaces are aligned on the same plane.

Illumination apparatus

A vehicle interior light includes a lighting source that illuminates a vehicle interior; an decorative lighting source that decoratively illuminates the vehicle interior; a lighting switch that controls on-off state of the lighting source; an decorative lighting switch that controls on-off state of the decorative lighting source and the lighting source; and a light dimming unit that lowers illuminance of the lighting source. When the decorative lighting source is turned on, power is supplied to the decorative lighting source so that the decorative lighting source is lit up, while power is supplied to the lighting source through the light dimming unit so that the lighting source is lit up with low illuminance.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi-ken, Japan

Atsuhiko Ito