CN102927531B - Light guide cylinder - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a light-guiding cylinder, which comprises a cylindrical body. The cylindrical body comprises a cylindrical surface and two end surfaces located on opposite sides of the cylindrical surface. The cylindrical surface comprises opposite light-emitting areas and light-guiding areas. In the cross-section of the two end surfaces parallel to each other, the outline of the light-emitting area is curved and comprises straight line segments. The extension directions of any two adjacent straight line segments are different, so as to define a convex angle pointing outward and a concave angle pointing inward. The center point of the light-guiding area and the center point of the light-emitting area define a first connecting line, a first point on the contour of the light-emitting area and a second connecting line of the center point of the light-guiding area intersect the first connecting line at a first angle, and a second point on the contour of the light-emitting area and a third connecting line of the center point of the light-guiding area intersect the second connecting line at a second angle. When the first angle is from 25 degrees to 35 degrees and the second angle is from 45 degrees to 50 degrees, the convex angle between the first point and the second point is smaller than the concave angle between the first point and the second point.

Description

Light guide cylinder

This application is a divisional application of a Chinese patent application with an application date of July 7, 2010, an application number of 201010224375.8, and an invention title of "Light Guide Cylinder".

technical field

The invention relates to a light guide element, in particular to a cylindrical light guide cylinder.

Background technique

With the advancement of semiconductor technology, light-emitting diodes (light-emitting diodes, referred to as: LEDs) can achieve more and more power, and the intensity of light emitted is getting higher and higher, and light-emitting diodes have power-saving functions. , long service life, environmental protection, fast start-up, small size and other advantages make the application level of light-emitting diodes more and more extensive. This application layer includes lighting, traffic signs, displays, optical mice, etc.

However, since the light emitting diode is a point light source, as the luminous intensity becomes higher and higher, the light with extremely high intensity will be concentrated on one point. When such a point light source is used for general lighting purposes, it is easy to cause discomfort to human eyes looking directly at the point light source, that is, glare. Generally speaking, in order to improve visual comfort, the light guide element can be placed in front of the light emitting diodes to evenly disperse the light source for lighting purposes.

In lighting applications, light guide rods are often used as light guide elements for dispersing light sources to convert point light sources into linear light sources. Among them, the design of the light guide cylinder will be related to the optical effect of the lighting equipment.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a light guiding cylinder, which helps to disperse light evenly.

The invention also provides a light guiding cylinder, which can improve the light utilization rate.

The invention provides a light guiding cylinder, which includes a cylindrical body and an auxiliary body. The cylindrical body includes two end surfaces and a cylindrical surface, the two end surfaces are located on opposite sides of the cylindrical surface, and the cylindrical surface includes a light emitting area and a light guiding area that are substantially opposite to each other. The auxiliary body is embedded in the cylindrical body, the auxiliary body is adjacent to the light guide area, and the auxiliary body has multiple microstructures. The refractive index of the auxiliary body is different from that of the cylindrical body.

The present invention further provides a light guiding cylinder, which includes a cylindrical body. The cylindrical body includes two end surfaces and a cylindrical surface, the two end surfaces are located on opposite sides of the cylindrical surface, and the cylindrical surface includes a light emitting area and a light guiding area that are substantially opposite to each other. In a cross section of the parallel two ends of the light guiding cylinder, a contour of the light exit area is curved and includes a plurality of straight line segments. The extension directions of any two adjacent straight line segments are different, so as to define a plurality of convex corners pointing outward and a plurality of concave corners pointing inward. In a cross-section of the parallel ends of the light-guiding cylinder, when the center point of the light-guiding area and the center point of the light-exiting area define a first connection line, a first point on the contour of the light-exiting area and the center of the light-guiding area A second connection line of the point intersects with the first connection line at a first angle, a second point on the outline of the light exit area and a third connection line of the central point of the light guide area intersects with the second connection line at a first angle Two included angles, and when the first included angle is from 25 degrees to 35 degrees and the second included angle is from 45 degrees to 50 degrees, the convex angle between the first point and the second point is smaller than that between the first point and the second point A concave angle between two points, and the convex angle is from 140 degrees to 155 degrees, and the concave angle is from 140 degrees to 160 degrees.

Based on the above, the present invention embeds an auxiliary body with a microstructure in the cylindrical body of the light guide cylinder, so that the light guide cylinder can guide the light to different directions for emission, thus improving the light uniformity of the equipment using the light guide cylinder sex. In addition, the light exit area of the light guide cylinder of the present invention has a zigzag outline, and the bent line segment has a specific relationship with the main light exit direction of the light guide cylinder. Therefore, the light guide cylinder of the present invention helps to improve light utilization efficiency.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view of a light guiding cylinder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a schematic cross-sectional view of the light guide cylinder in FIG. 1A along the section line I-I'.

FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view of a light guiding cylinder according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2B is a schematic cross-sectional view of the light guide cylinder in Fig. 2A along the section line II-II'.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a light guide cylinder according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of parallel ends of a light guiding cylinder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of parallel ends of a light guiding cylinder according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Description of main component symbols:

110: cylinder; 112: end face;

114: cylindrical surface; 114A, 414A, 514A: light exit area;

114B, 414B, 514B: light guide area; 120, 320, 420: auxiliary body;

122, 322: microstructure; 130, 230, 430, 530: reflective layer;

416, 516: straight line segment; 416A, 516A: convex angle;

416B, 516B: concave corner; 418: arc segment;

C 1, C2: Center point; I-I’, II-II’: Profile line;

L 1: first connection; L2: second connection;

L3: third link; P1: first point;

P2: second point; θ1: first included angle;

θ2: second included angle;

100, 200, 300, 400, 500: light guide cylinder.

Detailed ways

1A is a schematic perspective view of a light guide cylinder according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a schematic cross-sectional view of the light guide cylinder of FIG. 1A along the section line I-I'. Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B at the same time, the light guiding cylinder 100 includes a cylindrical body 110 and an auxiliary body 120 . The cylindrical body 110 includes two end surfaces 112 and a cylindrical surface 114 , wherein the section shown in FIG. 1B is, for example, parallel to the two end surfaces 112 . The two end surfaces 112 are located on opposite sides of the cylindrical surface 114, and the cylindrical surface 114 includes a light emitting area 114A and a light guiding area 114B that are substantially opposite to each other. In this embodiment, the cylindrical body 110 is an example of a circular cylindrical body, but in other embodiments, the cylindrical body 110 can also be an elliptical cylindrical body, that is, the two end faces 112 can also have an elliptical shape. Contours, or approximately circular cylinders. The auxiliary body 120 is embedded in the cylindrical body 110 , the auxiliary body 120 is adjacent to the light guide area 114B, and the auxiliary body 120 has a plurality of microstructures 122 . In addition, the auxiliary body 120 has a refractive index different from that of the cylindrical body 110 .

When the light guide cylinder 100 is applied to a lighting device or a light emitting device, point light sources (not shown) can be disposed on the two end surfaces 112, and the two end surfaces 112 are used as light incident surfaces. The light enters the light guide cylinder 100 from the two end surfaces 112 and is transmitted in the light guide cylinder 100 . At this time, the arrangement of the auxiliary body 120 helps to guide the light to different directions, so that the light uniformity of the lighting equipment or the light emitting device is further improved. In addition, in addition to the microstructure 122 helping to guide the light to different traveling directions, the different refractive indices of the auxiliary body 120 and the cylindrical body 110 also help to change the traveling path of the light. Therefore, the auxiliary body 120 is helpful to improve the light guiding effect of the light guiding cylinder 100 to achieve more ideal light uniformity.

Furthermore, the light guide cylinder 100 mainly guides the incident light so that the light is evenly emitted from the light exit area 114A. Therefore, in this embodiment, a reflective layer 130 can also be disposed near the light guide area 114B relative to the light exit area 114A. The material of the reflective layer 130 may be a material having specular reflection, diffuse reflection or diffuse reflection.

The structure of this embodiment enables the reflective layer 130 to be directly disposed on the auxiliary body 120 . Specifically, the reflective layer 130 is disposed on a side of the auxiliary body 120 away from the light exit area 114A, and the microstructure 122 of the auxiliary body 120 is disposed on a side of the auxiliary body 120 close to the light exit area 114A. That is to say, the manufacturing method of the light guide cylinder 100 may be to dispose the reflective layer 130 on one side of the auxiliary body 120 first. Then, the auxiliary body 120 is placed in a mold or a model to simultaneously manufacture the cylindrical body 110 , the auxiliary body 120 and the reflective layer 130 into the light guide cylinder 100 by extrusion molding or double-material injection molding. Of course, other process steps and fabrication sequences may also be used in the fabrication of the light guide cylinder 100 , and the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the reflective layer 130 can also be conformally disposed on the microstructure 122 of the auxiliary body 120 or directly disposed outside the light guiding region 114B.

For example, FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view of a light guide cylinder according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a schematic cross-sectional view of the light guide cylinder of FIG. 2A along the section line II-II'. Please refer to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B at the same time. The main difference between the light guiding cylinder 200 and the light guiding cylinder 100 is that the reflective layer 230 is directly disposed on the light guiding area 114B of the cylindrical body 110 in the light guiding cylinder 200 . That is to say, the reflective layer 230 is not attached or disposed on the outside of the auxiliary body 120 . That is to say, the reflective layer 230 can be attached or disposed on the cylindrical body 110 after the cylindrical body 110 is formed, or the reflective layer 230 can be formed simultaneously with the cylindrical body 110 by injection or extrusion.

It is worth mentioning that the microstructure 122 in the above embodiment is a strip-shaped structure. However, the present invention does not particularly limit the morphology of the microstructure 122 . In an embodiment, the extension direction of the microstructure 122 may also be parallel to the extension directions of the light guide cylinder 100 and the light guide cylinder 200 or intersect the extension directions of the light guide cylinder 100 and the light guide cylinder 200 at a specific angle. . In addition, the microstructure 122 can also be a dot-shaped raised structure or a mesh dot, etc., which help to change the light traveling direction.

For example, FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a light guide cylinder according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3 , the difference between the light guide cylinder 300 and the light guide cylinder 100 is mainly that the microstructure 322 of the auxiliary body 320 is a dot-like convex structure. Of course, the shape of the microstructure 322 is only for illustrative purposes. In actual structure, each microstructure 322 may be in the shape of a cylinder, a pyramid, a pyramid, a semi-spherical, a semi-ellipsoid, and the like. In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the microstructures 122 and the microstructures 322 are arranged regularly, but in the actual structural design, the microstructures 122 and the microstructures 322 can also be arranged irregularly or adopt a local area with a higher distribution density. And the distribution density of the local area is lower. The size of the microstructure 122 and the microstructure 322 can be the same or different.

In addition, the structures disclosed in the above embodiments all present a shape in which the auxiliary body 120 and the auxiliary body 320 are completely covered by the cylindrical body 110 . However, the auxiliary body 120 and the auxiliary body 320 may also be embedded outside the light guide area 114B of the cylindrical body 110 . That is to say, the sides of the auxiliary body 120 and the auxiliary body 320 away from the microstructure 122 and the microstructure 322 may be exposed, and only the microstructure 122 and the microstructure 322 are embedded in the cylindrical body 110 . At this time, the reflective layer 130 and the reflective layer 230 can be selectively disposed on the side of the auxiliary body 120 and the auxiliary body 320 away from the cylindrical body 110 or conformally disposed on the surface of the microstructure 122 and the microstructure 322 .

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of parallel ends of a light guiding cylinder according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4 , in the cross-section of the light guiding cylinder 400 , the outline of the light exit area 414A is curved, and the outline of the light exit area 414A includes a plurality of straight line segments 416 and a plurality of arc segments 418 . In addition, for example, a reflective layer 430 is disposed on the light guide area 414B. The extension directions of any two adjacent straight line segments 416 are different to define a plurality of convex corners 416A pointing outward and a plurality of concave corners 416B pointing inward. That is to say, the extension directions of any two adjacent straight line segments 416 are not parallel. Each arc segment 418 is disposed between two adjacent straight segments 416 and the concave direction of the arc segment 418 corresponds to the concave angle 416B.

In addition, the convex angle 416A is, for example, from 140 degrees to 160 degrees, and the concave angle 416B is also, for example, from 140 degrees to 160 degrees. According to the simulation calculation results, when the outline of the light-emitting region 414A of the light-guiding cylinder 400 is designed as the shape of this embodiment, the average luminous efficiency of the lighting device using the light-guiding cylinder 400 can be increased by 7.38%. That is to say, when the light-guiding cylinder adopted by the illuminating device has a smooth contour in the light-exiting area, the average light output brightness presented is lower than that of the illuminating device employing the light-guiding cylinder 400 . In terms of uniformity of light output, the lighting device using the light guide cylinder 400 has an improvement of about 38.45% compared with the lighting device using the light guide cylinder with a smooth contour in the light output area. In addition, in terms of light leakage ratio, the lighting device using the light guide cylinder 400 is about 44.34% lower than the lighting device using the light guide cylinder with a smooth contour in the light exit area.

The profile structure of the light exit region 414A can be applied to the aforementioned light guide cylinder 100 , light guide cylinder 200 , or light guide cylinder 300 or other variant embodiments to help improve light utilization efficiency and light output uniformity. That is to say, the light guide cylinder 400 shown in FIG. 4 may have an auxiliary body 420 , the design of which is, for example, the aforementioned auxiliary body 120 or auxiliary body 320 or other variant embodiments. Here, the auxiliary body 420 is, for example, inlaid on the outer side of the cylindrical body (not shown) of the light guide cylinder 400 , and the reflective layer 430 is disposed on the side of the auxiliary body 420 away from the light exit area 414A. However, the auxiliary body 420 can also be completely covered by a cylindrical body (not shown). At the same time, the reflective layer 430 can also be disposed on the side of the auxiliary body 420 close to the light emitting area 414A.

In addition, the outline of the light emitting area 414A can also adopt other shapes to achieve the characteristics of high light utilization rate and uniform light emitting effect. For example, FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of parallel ends of a light guiding cylinder according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5 , the light guide cylinder 500 has a light exit area 514A and a light guide area 514B opposite to each other, and a reflective layer 530 is disposed in the light guide cylinder 500 and located in the light guide area 514B. Of course, the light guiding cylinder 500 may also have an auxiliary body (not shown) embedded therein to improve the uniformity of light output.

It is worth mentioning that, in this embodiment, the contour of the light exit area 514A is composed of a plurality of straight line segments 516 , and any two adjacent straight line segments 516 are not parallel to each other. In this way, the straight line segments 516 define a plurality of outwardly directed convex corners 516A and a plurality of inwardly directed concave corners 516B. Certainly, an arc segment (not shown) may be used to connect two adjacent straight line segments 516 . That is to say, the convex corner 516A and the concave corner 516B can be rounded corners or sharp corners.

Generally speaking, the light will exit at different angles after being reflected by the reflective layer 530 . Once the incident angle of the light traveling to the straight line segment 516 is exactly at or greater than the critical angle of total reflection, the light will be totally reflected and cannot be used. In this embodiment, the central point C2 of the light guiding area 514B and the central point C1 of the light emitting area 514A define a first connection line L1, for example. When the angle between the traveling path of the light and the first connecting line L1 is larger, the angle at which the light is incident on the straight line segment 516 is larger, and the total reflection phenomenon is more likely to occur. Therefore, in this embodiment, the area where the total reflection phenomenon is more likely to occur in the outline of the light exit area 514A is defined by a first point P1 and a second point P2. Moreover, the present embodiment proposes the following principles to set the convex angle 516A and the concave angle 516B between the first point P1 and the second point P2 to reduce the probability of total reflection of light.

In detail, a second connection line L2 between the first point P1 and the center point C2 of the light guide area 514B intersects the first line L1 at a first angle θ1, and the second point P2 and the center point of the light guide area 514B A third connection line L3 of C2 intersects the second connection line L2 at a second angle θ2. When the first included angle θ1 is from 25 degrees to 35 degrees and the second included angle θ2 is from 45 degrees to 50 degrees, the convex angle 516A between the first point P1 and the second point P2 is smaller than that between the first point P1 and the second point P2. The concave angle 516B between the second point P2, and between the first point P1 and the second point P2, the convex angle 516A is from 140 degrees to 155 degrees, and the concave angle 516B is from 140 degrees to 160 degrees. It can be seen from the simulation calculation that the protruding angle 516A and the concave angle 516B between the first point P1 and the second point P2 can effectively reduce the probability of total reflection of light when the principle of this embodiment is configured.

To sum up, the light guiding cylinder of the present invention is composed of a cylinder and an auxiliary body. The auxiliary body has multiple microstructures to improve the light guiding function of the light guiding cylinder. In addition, the cylinder and the auxiliary body have different refractive indices, so that the traveling path of the light in the light guide cylinder has more variability. In this way, the light uniformity of the light guide cylinder can be further improved. Furthermore, the contour of the light exit area in the light guide cylinder of the present invention can be curved, so as to further improve the light utilization rate and light exit uniformity of the light guide cylinder.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with the embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make appropriate modifications and equivalent replacements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, so the protection scope of the present invention The scope defined in the claims shall prevail.

Claims (3)

1. a leaded light cylinder is characterized in that, comprising:

One cylinder, described cylinder comprise both ends of the surface and a face of cylinder, and described both ends of the surface are positioned at the relative both sides on the described face of cylinder, and the described face of cylinder comprises a relative output optical zone and a light guide zone,

Wherein, in a cross section of the parallel described both ends of the surface of described leaded light cylinder, one profile of described output optical zone is bended and comprises many straightways, the bearing of trend difference of wantonly two adjacent described many straightways is with the salient angle that defines a plurality of directed outwards and the re-entrant angle of a plurality of sensings inside; And

In the described cross section of the parallel described both ends of the surface of described leaded light cylinder, when the central point of described light guide zone and the central point of described output optical zone define one first line, one first one second line and described first line with the central point of described light guide zone on the described profile of described output optical zone intersects one first angle, one second one the 3rd line and described second line with the central point of described light guide zone on the described profile of described output optical zone intersects one second angle, and described first angle from 25 degree to 35 degree and described second angle when 45 degree are spent to 50, the position in the described a plurality of salient angles between described first and described second less than the described a plurality of re-entrant angles of position between described first and described second, and described a plurality of salient angle from 140 the degree to 155 the degree, and described a plurality of re-entrant angle from 140 the degree to 160 the degree.

2. leaded light cylinder according to claim 1 is characterized in that, also comprises a reflecting layer, contiguous described light guide zone and establishing.

3. leaded light cylinder according to claim 1 is characterized in that, the described profile of described output optical zone also comprises a plurality of arcs, and each described arc is disposed between adjacent two straightways and corresponding to described a plurality of re-entrant angles.

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