Instrument display method and system for passenger vehicle

Abstract

An instrument display method and system for use in a passenger vehicle has a number of advantageous features including particularly novel, compact, inexpensive and inherently stable electric motors. A first motor includes a rotor assembly having a shaft and a cylindrical magnet which is positioned about a stator assembly to rotate thereabout. The shaft extends through a stator of the stator assembly, a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), and an indicia bearing layer. A mask such as a needle pointer is secured to the shaft of the rotor assembly at the indicia bearing layer to convey the value of instrument data to the passenger. A light emitting panel receives light from the VFD and transmits the light to other positions along the display system where other substantially identical electric motors move their needle pointers to likewise convey additional data to the passenger. The first motor is surface mounted directly on the back of the VFD which has electrical conductors formed therein. The other motors are mounted so that their shafts extend through the optical sheet and the indicia bearing layer. In one embodiment, a light beam projecting mechanism projects light beams modified by the various needle pointers to a reflective surface which, in turn, reflects the modified light beams toward the passenger. In another embodiment, the projecting mechanism includes a combiner which projects the modified light beams into the passenger's field of view.