CN119062944A - Ring-shaped light guide module and light-emitting device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides an annular light guide module and a light-emitting device. The annular light guide module comprises an annular light guide plate, a circuit board, a plurality of top light emitting elements and a reflecting layer. The annular light guide plate has a plurality of receiving grooves disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the annular light guide plate and separated from each other. The circuit board surrounds a portion of the outer ring surface of the annular light guide plate. The top light emitting elements are arranged on the circuit board and are respectively positioned in the accommodating grooves. The reflective layer covers a portion of the inner ring surface and the first side surface of the annular light guide plate.

Description

Annular light guide module and light-emitting device

Technical Field

The invention relates to an annular light guide module and a light emitting device comprising the annular light guide module.

Background

In existing annular lighting designs, annular fibers are the primary. However, the ring fiber emits light only in a single region, and a dark region is formed at the boundary of the ring fiber. Furthermore, the ring-shaped optical fiber is quite expensive. As for the light emitting element and the annular lens, since the light emitting element is disposed below the annular lens, the occupied space is large, and if the occupied space is reduced to reduce the distance between the light emitting element and the annular lens, uneven brightness may be caused, and a hot spot phenomenon may occur. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a new annular light emitting structure in order to solve the above technical problems.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to an annular light guide module and a light emitting device, so as to solve at least one of the above problems.

The invention provides an annular light guide module which comprises an annular light guide plate, a circuit board, a plurality of top light emitting elements and a reflecting layer. The annular light guide plate has a plurality of receiving grooves disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the annular light guide plate and separated from each other. The circuit board surrounds a portion of the outer ring surface of the annular light guide plate. The top light emitting elements are arranged on the circuit board and are respectively positioned in the accommodating grooves. The reflective layer covers a portion of the inner ring surface and the first side surface of the annular light guide plate.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the annular light guide plate further has an annular groove communicating with the plurality of receiving grooves, and the circuit board is located in the annular groove.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the thickness of the annular light guide plate decreases from a first side to a second side of the annular light guide plate, the second side being a light exit side.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a second side surface of the annular light guide plate opposite to the first side surface is a light emitting surface.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the inner ring surface of the annular light guide plate has a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface, the second inclined surface is connected between the first inclined surface and the second side surface, and the width of the first inclined surface is greater than the width of the second inclined surface.

In some embodiments of the invention, the slope of the second slope is greater than the slope of the first slope.

In some embodiments of the invention, the reflective layer covers a portion of the first slope.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the reflective layer is a reflective coating directly attached to the portion of the inner annular surface and the first side surface of the annular light guide plate.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the annular light guide plate is made of a light guide material containing a plurality of light diffusing particles.

The invention further provides a light-emitting device, which comprises the annular light guide module, a cover body and a shell. The cover body covers the inner ring surface of the annular light guide plate. The casing covers the outer ring surface of the circuit board and the annular light guide plate.

Drawings

The aspects of the invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It will be appreciated, however, that in accordance with common practice in the industry, various features are not necessarily drawn to scale. Indeed, the shape of the various features may be suitably adapted for clarity, and the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a ring-shaped light guide module according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the annular light guide module of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion of the annular light guide module of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a light emitting device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the light emitting device of fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a portion of the light emitting device of fig. 4.

The reference numerals are as follows:

110 annular light guide plate

110F first side surface

110I inner ring surface

110O outer ring surface

110S second side surface

112 Accommodating groove

114 Annular groove

120 Circuit board

130 Top light emitting element

140 Reflective layer

150 Cover body

152 Decorative part

154 Support portion

160 Casing body

162 Side wall portion

T maximum thickness

Maximum width W

Detailed Description

The advantages and features of the present invention and the manner in which the same are accomplished will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

Spatially relative terms, such as "lower" and "upper", may be used herein to describe one element or feature's relative relationship to another element or feature in the figures. The true meaning of these spatially relative terms encompasses other orientations. For example, when the drawing is turned over 180 degrees up and down, the relationship between one element and another element might be changed from "lower" to "upper". The spatially relative terms used herein should be interpreted as such.

As described in the prior art, the conventional ring-shaped optical fiber or light emitting element has drawbacks in combination with the ring-shaped lens. In detail, the ring fiber emits light only in a single region, and a dark region is formed at the boundary of the ring fiber. Furthermore, the ring-shaped optical fiber is quite expensive. As for the light emitting element and the annular lens, the occupied space is large, if the occupied space is reduced to reduce the distance between the light emitting element and the annular lens, uneven brightness may be caused, and hot spot phenomenon may occur. Accordingly, the invention provides an annular light guide module which has good luminous uniformity under the condition that the size of the light guide plate is small, can meet the current demand of thinning the appearance of the light guide module, and has lower cost. Various embodiments of the annular light guide module and the light emitting device including the same of the present invention will be described in detail below.

The invention provides an annular light guide module which comprises an annular light guide plate, a circuit board, a plurality of top light emitting elements and a reflecting layer. Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a ring-shaped light guide module according to an embodiment of the invention (fig. 1 does not show a reflective layer). Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the annular light guide module of fig. 1 (fig. 2 does not show the top light emitting element and the reflective layer). Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion of the annular light guide module of fig. 1. As shown in fig. 1 to 3, the annular light guide module includes an annular light guide plate 110, a circuit board 120, a plurality of top light emitting elements 130, and a reflective layer 140.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the annular light guide plate 110 has a plurality of accommodating grooves 112. The plurality of receiving grooves 112 are provided on the outer circumferential surface 110o of the annular light guide plate 110 and are separated from each other. The plurality of accommodating grooves 112 are configured to accommodate the plurality of top light emitting elements 130, respectively. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the annular light guide plate 110 further has an annular groove 114, which communicates with the plurality of receiving grooves 112. The annular recess 114 is configured to receive a circuit board 120. In some embodiments, the annular light guide plate 110 is made of a light guide material containing a plurality of light diffusion particles to improve the uniformity of light emission of the annular light guide module.

In some embodiments, the thickness of the annular light guide plate 110 decreases from a first side (e.g., left side of fig. 3) to a second side (e.g., right side of fig. 3) of the annular light guide plate 110, the second side being a light emitting side. In some embodiments, the annular light guide plate 110 has an inner ring surface 110i, a first side surface 110f and a second side surface 110s in addition to the outer ring surface 110o, the outer ring surface 110o and the inner ring surface 110i are opposite to each other, and the first side surface 110f and the second side surface 110s are opposite to each other, wherein the second side surface 110s opposite to the first side surface 110f is a light emitting surface. In some embodiments, the inner ring surface 110i has a first sloped surface 1101 and a second sloped surface 1102, the second sloped surface 1102 being connected between the first sloped surface 1101 and the second side surface 110s, the width of the first sloped surface 1101 being greater than the width of the second sloped surface 1102. In some embodiments, the slope of the second slope 1102 is greater than the slope of the first slope 1101. In some embodiments, when a user looks from the second side surface 110s toward the inside of the annular light guide module, no internal components (e.g., the reflective layer 140) are seen.

Referring to fig. 3, the maximum width W and the maximum thickness T of the annular light guide plate 110 can be appropriately adjusted to provide the light guide plate 130 with good optical performance. In some embodiments, the maximum width W of the miniaturized annular light guide plate 110 is between 4 mm and 10 mm, but the invention is not limited thereto, and the maximum width W of the annular light guide plate 110 can be adjusted appropriately according to the space configuration inside the electronic device, so the annular light guide plate 110 is not limited to the above-mentioned range of the maximum width W. In some embodiments, the maximum thickness T of the miniaturized annular light guide plate 110 is between 1.5 mm and 2.0 mm, but the invention is not limited thereto, and the maximum thickness T of the annular light guide plate 110 can be appropriately adjusted according to the space configuration inside the electronic device, so the annular light guide plate 110 is not limited to the above-mentioned range of the maximum thickness T.

As shown in fig. 1 to 3, the circuit board 120 surrounds a portion of the outer ring surface 110o of the annular light guide plate 110. In some embodiments, the circuit board 120 covers the portion of the outer annular surface 110o of the annular light guide plate 110. In some embodiments, the circuit board 120 does not cover another portion of the outer annular surface 110o of the annular light guide plate 110, which is close to the light exit side. In some embodiments, the circuit board 120 is located within the annular recess 114. In some embodiments, the circuit board 120 is a flexible printed circuit board (flexible printed circuit board, FPCB). In some embodiments, the circuit board 120 may be attached to the annular light guide plate 110 through an adhesive layer (e.g., double sided tape), but the present invention is not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the plurality of top light emitting elements 130 are disposed on the circuit board 120 and are respectively located in the plurality of accommodating grooves 112, so that the bottom surfaces of the plurality of accommodating grooves 112 may be referred to as light incident surfaces. In some embodiments, the top light emitting element 130 is a Light Emitting Diode (LED) unit, an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) unit, a quantum dot light emitting diode (QLED) unit, or an Electroluminescent (EL) unit.

As shown in fig. 3, the reflective layer 140 covers a portion of the inner ring surface 110i and the first side surface 110f of the annular light guide plate 110. In some embodiments, the reflective layer 140 covers a portion of the first inclined surface 1101, however, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the coverage of the reflective layer 140 may be appropriately adjusted.

In some embodiments, the reflective layer 140 is a reflective coating directly attached (e.g., sprayed or otherwise suitably coated) to the portion of the inner ring surface 110i and the first side surface 110f of the annular light guide plate 110, so that the optical reflection effect is better than that of a reflective sheet typically attached to the surface of the light guide plate by an adhesive layer. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the reflective layer 140 may be a reflective sheet.

It is noted that, the inventors found that the light emitting uniformity of the annular light guide module of the present invention is 70% or more when the maximum width W of the annular light guide plate 110 is between 4mm and 10 mm and the maximum thickness T is between 1.5 mm and 2.0 mm. If the top light emitting elements 130 of the annular light guiding module are replaced by side light emitting elements, the light emitted from the side light emitting elements is directed to the second side surface 110s (i.e. the light emitting surface), which results in a decrease in the uniformity of the light emitted from the annular light guiding module (which is 40% or more). If the maximum width of the annular light guide plate of the annular light guide module (adopting a plurality of lateral light emitting elements, the light emitted toward the second side surface 110 s) is increased by about 1.75 times of the original maximum width, the maximum thickness is increased by about 1.1 times of the original maximum thickness, and the light emitting uniformity of the annular light guide module can reach more than 70%. Therefore, the annular light guide module adopting the top light emitting element can really meet the requirements of the appearance thinning and the light emitting uniformity of the light guide module at present.

The invention further provides a light-emitting device, which comprises the annular light guide module (comprising an annular light guide plate, a circuit board, a plurality of top light-emitting elements and a reflecting layer), a cover body and a shell. Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a light emitting device according to an embodiment of the invention (fig. 4 does not show a reflective layer). Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the light emitting device of fig. 4 (fig. 5 does not show the top light emitting element and the reflective layer). Fig. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a portion of the light emitting device of fig. 4. As shown in fig. 4 to 6, the light emitting device includes the annular light guide module (including the annular light guide plate 110, the circuit board 120, the plurality of top light emitting elements 130 and the reflective layer 140), the cover 150 and the housing 160 shown in fig. 1 to 3. In some embodiments, the light emitting device may be disposed within the electronic device, such as on a housing of a desktop computer, a notebook computer, or a peripheral connection port thereof. The luminous visual effect of the luminous device can be used for prompting the position and/or the use state of the peripheral connection port of the user.

As shown in fig. 4 to 6, the cover 150 covers the inner ring surface 110i of the annular light guide plate 110. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the cover 150 includes a decorative portion 152 and a support portion 154 that are connected to each other. The ornamental portion 152 is provided with openings for peripheral connection ports. The supporting portion 154 covers the inner ring surface 110i of the annular light guide plate 110. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 6, the support 154 covers the first slope 1101 and the second slope 1102.

As shown in fig. 4 to 6, the housing 160 covers the circuit board 120 and the outer ring surface 110o of the annular light guide plate 110. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the housing 160 includes a sidewall portion 162 that covers the circuit board 120 and the outer annular surface 110o of the annular light guide plate 110.

However, it should be noted that the shape of the cover 150 and/or the housing 160 shown in fig. 4-6 may be modified as appropriate to meet the space requirements of various light emitting devices.

However, the above description is only of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, but is defined by the appended claims and their description, and all the simple equivalent changes and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, not all of the objects, advantages, or features of the present disclosure are required to be achieved by any one embodiment or claim of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the abstract sections and headings are for use only in connection with searching patent documents and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

Claims (10)

1. An annular light guide module, comprising:

An annular light guide plate having a plurality of receiving grooves disposed on an outer circumferential surface thereof and separated from each other;

A circuit board surrounding a portion of the outer ring surface of the annular light guide plate;

a plurality of top light emitting elements disposed on the circuit board and respectively located in the plurality of receiving grooves, and

And the reflecting layer covers a part of the inner ring surface and a first side surface of the annular light guide plate.

2. The annular light guide module of claim 1, wherein the annular light guide plate further has an annular groove in communication with a plurality of the receiving grooves, and the circuit board is disposed in the annular groove.

3. The annular light guide module of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the annular light guide plate decreases from a first side of the annular light guide plate to a second side, the second side being a light exit side.

4. The annular light guide module of claim 1, wherein a second side surface of the annular light guide plate opposite to the first side surface is a light-emitting surface.

5. The annular light guide module of claim 4, wherein the inner surface of the annular light guide plate has a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface, the second inclined surface is connected between the first inclined surface and the second side surface, and a width of the first inclined surface is greater than a width of the second inclined surface.

6. The annular light guide module of claim 5, wherein a slope of the second slope is greater than a slope of the first slope.

7. The annular light guide module of claim 5, wherein the reflective layer covers a portion of the first slope.

8. The annular light guide module of claim 1, wherein the reflective layer is a reflective coating directly attached to the portion of the inner annular surface and the first side surface of the annular light guide plate.

9. The annular light guide module of claim 1, wherein the annular light guide plate is made of a light guide material containing a plurality of light diffusing particles.

10. A light emitting device, comprising:

the annular light guide module of claim 1;

a cover covering the inner ring surface of the annular light guide plate, and

And a shell covering the circuit board and the outer ring surface of the annular light guide plate.