JP2009003104A - Illuminating lens and illuminating device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an illuminating lens varying the degree of light diffusion around an optical axis, and to provide an illumination device that has the illuminating lens. <P>SOLUTION: The illuminating lens 100 having a first face 101 formed into a plane and a second face 102 positioned on the opposite side to the first face is formed into a round shape, when viewed from the direction of crossing the first face at right angles. The second face 102 is formed so that its center part is recessed, in comparison with a circumference part, when viewed from one direction of the circumference face side of the illuminating lens, while in the view from a direction orthogonal to the one direction of the circumference face side of the illuminating lens, the second face is formed into a chevron shape. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an illumination lens and an illumination device.

An illumination lens used for a bicycle headlamp and an illumination lens used for under-shelf illumination generally have a rotationally symmetric shape with respect to the optical axis (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Therefore, the light emitted from the illumination lens spreads in a substantially conical shape and illuminates the object.
JP 2006-44547 A

  However, for example, when performing illumination under the shelf, depending on the depth dimension of the shelf and the arrangement of the products, if illumination is performed with an illumination lens having a rotationally symmetric shape with respect to the optical axis, the illumination may extend to an area where illumination is not necessary. On the contrary, there is a problem that the illumination does not reach the area where the illumination is necessary.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object thereof is to provide an illumination lens having a different degree of light diffusion around an optical axis, and an illumination device including the illumination lens.

  The invention according to claim 1 includes a first surface formed in a planar shape and a second surface located on the opposite side of the first surface, and viewed from a direction orthogonal to the first surface. In the illumination lens formed in a circular shape, the second surface is formed in a concave shape so that the central portion is recessed with respect to the peripheral portion when viewed from a certain direction on the peripheral surface side of the illumination lens. On the other hand, the second surface is an illumination lens having a mountain shape when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the one direction on the peripheral surface side of the illumination lens. In short, in an illumination lens formed in a circular shape when viewed from an orthogonal direction, when viewed around the optical axis, the state of maximum diffusion and the state of minimum diffusion can be taken every 90 degrees, and illumination can be obtained. It suffices if the second surface is configured in a shape in which light is horizontally diffused.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that a section of the central portion along the one direction is formed in an arc shape so that the second surface is convex. It is an illumination lens as described in.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that a section of the central portion along the one direction is formed such that the second surface is parallel to the first surface. It is an illumination lens as described in.

  The invention according to claim 4 includes the illumination lens according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and a light source, and the light from the light source is transmitted from one surface of the first surface and the second surface. An illumination device configured to be incident on an illumination lens and emitted from the other surface of the illumination lens.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a translucent light diffusing plate having at least one convex or concave line formed on the first surface of the illumination lens is disposed, and the convex line or the 5. The illumination device according to claim 4, wherein the concave stripes extend in a certain direction and are arranged in parallel in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction. The term “projection or recess” means a difference in the viewpoint of whether attention is paid to the projections and depressions of the projections and depressions. In short, the surface of the light diffusing plate may be uneven as a result.

  The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that the illumination lens is configured to be rotatable relative to the light diffusion plate around the optical axis of the illumination lens. 5. The illumination device according to 5.

  The invention according to claim 7 is the illumination device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the illumination device is a headlight of a bicycle.

According to the first to seventh aspects of the present invention, light incident on the illumination lens from one of the first surface and the second surface is emitted from the other surface of the illumination lens. It is not diffused temporarily around the optical axis, but the degree of diffusion in a specific direction increases.
Further, when the light diffusing plate is used, the degree of diffusion in the direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the ridges or the ridges is large when considering the light diffusing plate itself.
Therefore, if the illumination lens is rotated relative to the light diffusion plate about the optical axis, the degree of diffusion around the optical axis can be adjusted.

(Embodiment of illumination lens)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illumination lens.
Reference numeral 100 indicates this illumination lens. Although this illumination lens 100 is not specifically limited, it is a plastic lens. The first surface 101 of the illumination lens 100 is formed in a flat shape. On the other hand, when the second surface 102 of the illumination lens 100 is viewed from a certain direction on the peripheral surface side of the illumination lens 100, the central portion is formed in a concave shape with respect to the peripheral portion. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2A, the second surface 102 of the illumination lens 100 is centered with respect to the peripheral portion when viewed from a certain direction on the peripheral surface side of the illumination lens 100. It is formed in an arc shape or an arc shape so that the portion is concave. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, the second surface 102 of the illumination lens 100 is formed in a mountain shape when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the one direction.
A flange 103 is formed on the peripheral surface of the illumination lens 100. The flange 103 is used to attach the illumination lens 100 to a predetermined place.

Next, the operation of the illumination lens 100 will be described. The illumination lens 100 is used with either the first surface 101 or the second surface 102 facing the light source.
When light is incident from the first surface 101 side of the illumination lens 100, the light emitted from the second surface 102 side spreads in an oval shape or an ellipse shape. Further, light incident from the first surface 101 side is reflected by the second surface 102 and is emitted from the peripheral surface of the illumination lens 100.
Here, when the light emitted from the second surface 102 side of the illumination lens 100 is viewed, the degree of diffusion in the direction along the cross section in FIG. 3A is the direction along the cross section in FIG. It is several steps larger than the degree of diffusion.
This is shown in FIG. Incidentally, FIG. 4 (A) shows the illumination state when the plane side is directed to the light source with a normal plano-convex lens.
Although the case where light is incident from the first surface 101 side of the illumination lens 100 has been described here, substantially the same effect can be obtained when light is incident from the second surface 102 side of the illumination lens 100. .

  As described above, according to the illumination lens 100 of the present embodiment, the degree of diffusion in a certain direction around the optical axis of the illumination lens 100 is increased. Hereinafter, this diffusion state is referred to as “horizontal diffusion” for convenience.

(Embodiment 1 of lighting device)
FIG. 5 shows a cross section of the lighting device.
Reference numeral 200 indicates the lighting device. The illumination device 200 includes the illumination lens 100. Therefore, detailed description of the illumination lens 100 is omitted.
In the illumination device 200, the first surface 101 of the illumination lens 100 is installed so as to face the light source 201 such as a light emitting diode. In this illumination device 200, a cap-shaped transparent cover 203 is screwed to a frame 204 with a light-transmitting light diffusion plate 202 in contact with the light source 201 and the first surface 101 of the illumination lens 100. .

  Here, the light diffusing plate 202 is made of plastic or the like. In the light diffusing plate 202, ridges or ridges are arranged in parallel on at least one surface extending in a certain direction and orthogonal to the extending direction. This is shown in FIG. In the figure, the ridge or the groove is shown as a streak.

Further, the illumination lens 100 is provided with a knob 104 in the collar portion 103. The knob 104 extends through the slit 205 of the transparent cover 203 to the outside of the transparent cover 203. Here, the slit 205 extends over a predetermined angle in the circumferential direction of the transparent cover 203. Specifically, the illumination lens 100 can be rotated 90 degrees around the optical axis by operating the knob 104. In order to realize such a structure, the knob 104 is preferably structured to be screwed to the collar portion 103.
The light diffusion plate 202 needs to be attached to the frame 204 so that the light diffusion plate 202 does not rotate when the illumination lens 100 rotates around the optical axis.

According to this lighting device 200, in the light diffusing plate 202, the degree of diffusion in the direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the ridges or ridges increases. Therefore, if the illumination lens 100 is rotated relative to the light diffusion plate 202 around the optical axis, the degree of diffusion around the optical axis can be adjusted.
That is, the light emitted from the lighting device 200 can be circular, or can be oval or elliptical.
In addition, according to this illuminating device 200, although the illumination lens 100 was rotated, you may make it rotate the light diffusing plate 202 instead.

(Embodiment 2 of lighting device)
FIG. 7 shows a cross section of the lighting device. Reference numeral 300 indicates the lighting device. The illumination device 300 includes the illumination lens 100. Therefore, detailed description of the illumination lens 100 is omitted.
The illumination device 300 is different from the illumination device 200 in that the direction of the illumination lens 100 is upside down and the light diffusion plate 202 is attached to the inner surface of the transparent cover 203. About the other point, since the illuminating device 300 is the same as the illuminating device 200, it attaches | subjects the same code | symbol to drawing, and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  According to the illumination device 300, substantially the same operations and effects as the illumination device 200 can be obtained.

(Embodiment 3 of lighting device)
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the lighting device, and FIG. 9 is a side view of the main part of the lighting device of FIG. Reference numeral 400 designates this lighting device. The illumination device 400 includes the illumination lens 100. Therefore, detailed description of the illumination lens 100 is omitted.
The illumination device 400 is different from the illumination device 200 of the first embodiment in that the illumination lens 100 is attached to the main body 402 via the lens frame 401, and the inverted truncated cone is formed in the hole (concave portion) 406 of the main body 402. And a main body 402 is rotatable with respect to a base 410 about a predetermined axis. Since the other points are almost the same as those of the first embodiment of the lighting device, the same reference numerals are given to the drawings, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the illumination device 400, the lens frame 401 is formed in a skirt shape. The lens frame 401 has a large diameter opening 403 and a small diameter opening 404. A female thread is formed on the inner surface of the lens frame 401 near the large-diameter opening 403. The lens frame 401 is structured to be attached to the main body 402 by screwing the female screw of the lens frame 401 with the male screw of the main body 402. The small-diameter opening 404 of the lens frame 401 has a size and shape that can be inserted on the second surface 102 side of the illumination lens 100. When the second surface 102 side of the illumination lens 100 is inserted into the small-diameter opening 404 of the lens frame 401 from the inside of the lens frame 401, the flange portion 103 of the illumination lens 100 is at the edge of the small-diameter opening 404 of the lens frame 401. The structure is locked. As a result, the illumination lens 100 is supported so as to be rotatable with respect to the main body 402 around its optical axis.

  The main body 402 is provided with a circular hole 406. In this hole 406, an inverted truncated cone lens 405 is installed. The lens 405 is provided with a circular hole 407 that opens to the top side. The lens 405 is installed in the hole 406 of the main body 402 so that the bottom side faces the first surface 101 of the illumination lens 100. At that time, the light source 201 such as a light emitting diode is inserted into the hole 407 of the lens 405.

  A light diffusion plate 202 is installed between the first surface 101 of the illumination lens 100 and the bottom surface of the lens 405. A convex portion or a concave portion is provided on the outer periphery of the light diffusion plate 202. On the other hand, the main body 402 is provided with a recess or projection that fits into the projection or recess of the light diffusing plate 202. Then, the light diffusing plate 202 is prevented from rotating by fitting the convex portion or concave portion of the light diffusing plate 202 with the concave portion or convex portion of the main body 402.

  According to the illumination device 400, substantially the same operations and effects as the illumination device 200 can be obtained. Moreover, according to this illuminating device 400, since the illumination lens 100 can be picked and rotated around the optical axis, the structure becomes simple compared with Embodiment 1 and 2 of an illuminating device.

(Utilization field of lighting equipment)
The lighting devices 200, 300, and 400 as described above can be used for under-shelf lighting, interior lighting, effect lighting, and foot lighting. The lighting devices 200, 300, and 400 can be used when illuminating a narrow space such as a gap in a building or when illuminating a horizontally long pace such as under the floor.

10 and 11 show an example in which the lighting device is mounted on a bicycle. This bicycle lighting device does not include a light diffusing plate. According to this bicycle lighting device, by changing the direction of the lighting lens 100 of the lighting device as necessary, the light can be spread in the width direction of the road as shown in FIG. 10, or as shown in FIG. In this way, the light can be spread in the depth direction of the road. When the light is spread in the width direction of the road as shown in FIG. 10, the light is also emitted in the lateral direction of the lighting device 400 as shown in FIG. Can be informed.
In this bicycle illumination device, the illumination lens 100 and the light diffusing plate can be used simultaneously. In this case, if the direction of the irradiation lens 100 is changed while maintaining the state where the direction in which the diffusion degree of the illumination lens 100 is the largest and the direction in which the diffusion degree of the light diffusion plate is the largest are matched, FIGS. As shown in Fig. 4, light can be spread in the width direction of the road, and light can be spread in the depth direction of the road.
Further, in this bicycle lighting device, if the illumination lens 100 and the light diffusing plate are used at the same time and the illumination lens 100 is rotated relative to the light diffusing plate, the circular light is rotated along with the rotation of the illumination lens 100. The lighting state can be continuously changed between the state and the state of lateral diffusion.

  FIG. 12 shows an example in which a modification of the lighting device similar to that of the third embodiment is mounted on a bicycle. In this bicycle lighting device, when the second surface 102 of the illumination lens 100 is viewed from a certain direction on the peripheral surface side of the illumination lens 100, the concave shape is such that the central portion is recessed with respect to the peripheral portion. However, the position of the concave portion is deviated from the center, or the curvature of the inner surface of the peripheral portion facing each other is changed. In this way, light can be biased in either the left or right direction in front of the bicycle.

13 and 14 show an example in which a lighting device similar to that of Embodiment 3 is applied to a shelf. The shelf lighting device includes a light diffusion plate 202. According to this shelf lighting device, by changing the direction of the illumination lens 100 of the lighting device, if necessary, it can be made circular light as shown in FIG. 13, or as shown in FIG. Light can also be spread in the width direction.
When used for shelf illumination, the degree of diffusion when the light emitted from the illumination lens 100 is expanded into an ellipse or ellipse is 15 cm away from the illumination lens 100 and the optical axis of the illumination lens 100. When the direction with the smallest degree of diffusion is defined as the Y direction and the direction with the largest degree of diffusion is defined as the X direction, the X direction emits light that is 1.25 times the Y direction or more. It is preferable to diffuse. Here, 15 cm is set in consideration of the minimum distance between the shelf and the illumination lens 100 when used for shelf illumination. Further, the reason why the value is 1.25 times or more is that if it is less than 1.25 times, the advantage of horizontally long diffusion cannot be effectively utilized in practice.
Further, in this shelf lighting device, the horizontal diffusion direction can be changed by rotating the illumination lens 100 without using the light diffusion plate 202.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary.
For example, in the shelf illumination of FIGS. 13 and 14, the case of irradiating light directly from the illumination device has been described, but light may be emitted obliquely downward in the longitudinal direction of the shelf from the illumination device. In this case, light may be irradiated obliquely downward in the longitudinal direction of the shelf from a lighting device that is separated in the longitudinal direction of the shelf, and a part thereof may be overlapped. By doing so, the illuminance is compensated for each other, so that more uniform illumination is possible.

It is a perspective view of the illumination lens which concerns on this invention. (A) is a figure when it sees from one direction of the peripheral surface side of an illumination lens, (B) is a figure when it sees from the other direction of the peripheral surface side. (A) is sectional drawing of the state cut | disconnected along the AA line of the illumination lens of FIG. 1, (B) is sectional drawing of the state cut | disconnected along the BB line of the illumination lens of FIG. (A) is a figure which shows the irradiation state in the case of a normal plano-convex lens, (B) is a figure which shows the irradiation state in the case of the illumination lens of this embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows Embodiment 1 of the illuminating device which concerns on this invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a light diffusing plate of the illumination device according to the first embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows Embodiment 2 of the illuminating device which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows Embodiment 3 of the illuminating device which concerns on this invention. It is a side view which cuts and shows a part of main part of the illuminating device of Embodiment 3. It is a figure which shows an example of the bicycle carrying the illuminating device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of illumination of the bicycle of FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of the bicycle carrying the illuminating device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the shelf which installed the illuminating device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of illumination of the shelf of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Illumination lens 101 1st surface 102 2nd surface 103 The collar part 104 Knob 200 Illumination device 201 Light source 202 Light diffusion plate 203 Transparent cover 300 Illumination device 400 Illumination device

Claims (7)

  An illumination lens having a first surface formed in a planar shape and a second surface located on the opposite side of the first surface, and formed in a circular shape when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the first surface The second surface is formed in a concave shape so that the central portion is recessed with respect to the peripheral portion when viewed from a certain direction on the peripheral surface side of the illumination lens, while the second surface is The illumination lens, which is formed in a mountain shape when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the one direction on the peripheral surface side of the illumination lens.   2. The illumination lens according to claim 1, wherein a cross section of the central portion along the one direction is formed in an arc shape so that the second surface is convex.   2. The illumination lens according to claim 1, wherein a cross section of the central portion along the one direction is formed such that the second surface is parallel to the first surface.   An illumination lens according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and a light source, wherein light from the light source is incident on the illumination lens from one of the first surface and the second surface. An illumination device configured to be emitted from the other surface.   Opposite the first surface of the illumination lens, a translucent light diffusing plate having at least one ridge or groove formed on the surface is installed, and the ridge or groove extends in a certain direction. And the illuminating device of Claim 4 currently arranged in the direction orthogonal to the extension direction.   The illumination device according to claim 5, wherein the illumination lens is configured to be rotatable relative to the light diffusion plate about an optical axis of the illumination lens.   The lighting device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the lighting device is a headlight of a bicycle.

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