阅读说明：本技术 导光设备和用于顺序照明导光设备的方法 (Light guide and method for sequentially illuminating a light guide ) 是由 蔡元锡 于 2020-03-10 设计创作，主要内容包括：本公开涉及一种导光设备及顺序照明该导光设备的方法。在一个实施例中,该导光设备包括：导光件,其包括发光表面,形成在所述发光表面的两侧上并被用于接收光的光入射表面,以及与所述发光表面相对地形成并用于将接收到的光反射到所述发光表面的光反射表面；第一光源单元和第二光源单元,分别布置在所述光入射表面上,并用于照射光；以及透光控制层,其形成在所述发光表面的上方,并用于控制发出的光的透过率,其中,所述透光控制层的透光率从所述透光控制层的一端到另一端降低。(The present disclosure relates to a light guide and a method of sequentially illuminating the light guide. In one embodiment, the light guide apparatus includes: a light guide including a light emitting surface, a light incident surface formed on both sides of the light emitting surface and used to receive light, and a light reflecting surface formed opposite to the light emitting surface and used to reflect the received light to the light emitting surface; a first light source unit and a second light source unit respectively arranged on the light incident surface and for irradiating light; and a light transmission control layer formed above the light emitting surface and controlling transmittance of the emitted light, wherein light transmittance of the light transmission control layer decreases from one end to the other end of the light transmission control layer.)

1. A light guide apparatus, comprising:

a light guide, comprising: a light emitting surface formed on both sides thereof and used for receiving a light incident surface of the light and a light reflecting surface formed opposite to the light emitting surface and used for reflecting the received light to the light emitting surface;

a first light source unit and a second light source unit respectively arranged on the light incident surface and for irradiating light; and

a light transmission control layer formed above the light emitting surface and controlling transmittance of the emitted light,

wherein the light transmittance of the light transmittance control layer decreases from one end of the light transmittance control layer to the other end thereof.

2. The light guide apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second light source units comprises a substrate including a light source and a driving integrated circuit electrically connected to the light source and for providing a driving current to the light source.

3. A light guide device according to claim 2, wherein the light source comprises a flip-chip type light emitting diode.

4. A light guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light transmission control layer is disposed spaced apart from the light guide.

5. A light guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the light transmission control layer increases from one end thereof to the other end thereof.

6. A light guide apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the light transmission control layer has a triangular or trapezoidal cross-sectional shape.

7. A light guide apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the light transmission control layer has a cross-sectional shape of a right triangle such that an upper surface thereof is parallel to a light emitting surface of the light guide and a lower surface thereof forms an inclination with respect to the light emitting surface.

8. A light guide apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the light transmission control layer has irregularities formed on a lower surface thereof.

9. A light guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light transmission control layer comprises a resin matrix and a light transmission control agent dispersed in the resin matrix.

10. A light guide device according to claim 9, wherein the resin matrix comprises one or more of polycarbonate, polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, polyolefin, polyester, and polyalkyl (meth) acrylate, and the transmittance control agent comprises one or more dyes and pigments.

11. A method for sequentially illuminating a light guide device according to any one of claims 1-10, the method comprising:

driving the first light source of the light guide;

increasing the brightness of the first light source to a target value by increasing an amount of driving current supplied to the first light source; and

driving the second light source at a point in time when the brightness of the first light source reaches the target value.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a light guide apparatus and a method of sequentially illuminating the light guide apparatus. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a light guide that can produce sequential illumination images and has excellent light uniformity, and a method of sequentially illuminating the light guide.

Background

Various lamps are installed at the front and rear of the vehicle to provide safety of the vehicle and convenience in driving the vehicle. Recently, as the demand for vehicle design increases, vehicle light fixtures have been developed in various forms so that the aesthetic appearance of the exterior of a vehicle may be improved.

In particular, a light guide device has been recently applied, which exhibits an indirect lighting effect by reflecting light transmitted from a light source without directly exposing the light source emitting light to a lamp. The light guide device is mainly mounted on an edge portion of a vehicle lamp frame, and light emitted from the light source is incident into the light guide device and emitted through the light emitting surface. The use of the light guide makes it possible to achieve excellent light uniformity and produce an illuminated image having excellent three-dimensional effects and aesthetic appearance.

Meanwhile, with the demand for luxury vehicles, research has been conducted to make vehicle lamp designs and illumination images more luxurious. In connection with this, attention has been paid to techniques related to generating sequential illumination images of vehicle luminaires. Sequential illumination images of conventional vehicle light fixtures are produced by a method of sequentially illuminating vehicle light fixtures by directly shining light onto, for example, a light emitting surface using a plurality of light sources (e.g., light emitting diodes). However, when such a direct illumination method using a plurality of light sources is applied, there arise problems that light uniformity is lowered and hot spots occur, making it difficult to produce a uniform illumination image. However, the light guide apparatus generates a uniform illumination image, and there is a problem in that it is difficult to generate the sequential illumination image because it uses total reflection of light.

Background art related to the present disclosure is disclosed in korean patent application laid-open No.2019-0076209 (published 7/2/2019; entitled "light emitting display device").

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a light guide device that can produce sequential illumination images and has excellent light uniformity.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a light guide apparatus having excellent productivity and economic efficiency.

It is a further object of the present disclosure to provide a method for sequentially illuminating a light guide.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a light guide apparatus. In one embodiment, the light guide apparatus includes: a light guide including a light emitting surface, a light incident surface formed on both sides of the light emitting surface and used to receive light, and a light reflecting surface formed opposite to the light emitting surface and used to reflect the received light to the light emitting surface; a first light source unit and a second light source unit respectively arranged on the light incident surface and for irradiating light; and a light transmission control layer formed above the light emitting surface and controlling transmittance of the emitted light, wherein light transmittance of the light transmission control layer decreases from one end to the other end of the light transmission control layer.

In one embodiment, each of the first and second light source units may include a substrate including a light source and a driving integrated circuit electrically connected to the light source and for supplying a driving current to the light source.

In one embodiment, the light source may include a flip-chip type light emitting diode.

In one embodiment, a light transmission control layer may be disposed spaced apart from the light guide.

In one embodiment, the thickness of the light transmission control layer may increase from one end thereof to the other end thereof.

In one embodiment, the light transmission control layer may have a triangular or trapezoidal cross-sectional shape.

In one embodiment, the light transmission control layer may have a cross-sectional shape of a right triangle such that an upper surface thereof is parallel to the light emitting surface of the light guide and a lower surface thereof forms an inclination with respect to the light emitting surface.

In one embodiment, irregularities may be formed on a lower surface of the light transmission control layer.

In one embodiment, the light transmission control layer may include a resin matrix and a light transmission control agent dispersed in the resin matrix.

In one embodiment, the resin matrix may include one or more of polycarbonate, polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, polyolefin, polyester, and polyalkyl (meth) acrylate, and the light transmission control agent may include one or more of dye and pigment.

Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a method for sequentially illuminating the light guide. In one embodiment, a method for sequentially illuminating the light guide comprises: driving the first light source of the light guide; increasing the brightness of the first light source to a target value by increasing an amount of driving current supplied to the first light source; and driving the second light source at a time point when the luminance of the first light source reaches the target value.

The application of the light guide apparatus according to the present disclosure can provide excellent light uniformity, produce sequential illumination images, and provide excellent productivity and economic efficiency.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates a light guide device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method for sequentially illuminating a light guide according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, the configuration and effect of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to preferred examples. However, these examples are presented as preferred examples of the present disclosure and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Those skilled in the art can sufficiently and technically imagine what is not described herein, and thus the description thereof will be omitted herein.

In the following description, a detailed description of related known techniques or configurations will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present disclosure unclear.

In addition, terms used in the following description are terms defined in consideration of their functions in the present disclosure, and may be changed according to the intention of a user or an operator or general practice. Therefore, these terms may be defined based on the contents throughout the specification.

In the present specification, "upper" and "lower" are defined with reference to the drawings, and from a viewpoint, "upper" may be changed to "lower", and "lower" may be changed to "upper". When an element or layer is referred to as being "disposed on" another element or layer, it means not only that the element or layer is directly formed on the other element or layer, but also that an intermediate structure is present.

Light guide device

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a light guide apparatus. Fig. 1 illustrates a light guide device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to fig. 1, the light guide apparatus 1000 includes: a light guide 200 including a light emitting surface 220, light incident surfaces 210 and 212 formed on both sides of the light emitting surface 220 and for receiving light, and a light reflecting surface 230 formed opposite to the light emitting surface 220 and for reflecting the received light to the light emitting surface 220; a first light source unit 100 and a second light source unit 110 which are disposed on the light incident surfaces 210 and 212, respectively, and which irradiate light; and a light transmission control layer 300 formed over the light emitting surface 220 and controlling transmittance of the emitted light, wherein the light transmission control layer 300 has light transmittance that decreases from one end to the other end thereof.

The light reflecting surface 230 may be formed by a conventional method. For example, it may be formed by depositing a metal including nickel (Ni) and aluminum (Al) on one surface of the light guide.

In one embodiment, the first and second light source units 100 and 110 may be disposed to be in contact with the light incident surfaces 210 and 212, respectively. In another example, as shown in fig. 1, the first and second light source units 100 and 110 may be disposed to be spaced apart from the light incident surfaces 210 and 212.

In one embodiment, the light transmission control layer may have a thickness that increases from one end thereof to the other end thereof. When the light transmission control layer is formed to satisfy this condition, the transmittance of light emitted from the light emitting surface can be decreased from one end to the other end of the light transmission control layer, making it easy to produce sequential illumination images. For example, as shown in fig. 1, the light transmission control layer 300 may have a thickness gradually increasing from one end to the other end thereof.

In one embodiment, the light transmission control layer may have a triangular or trapezoidal cross-sectional shape.

Referring to fig. 1, the light transmission control layer 300 may have a thickness increasing from one end to the other end thereof, and may have a sectional shape of a right triangle such that an upper surface thereof is parallel to a light emitting surface of the light guide and a lower surface thereof is formed to be inclined with respect to the light emitting surface.

In one embodiment, irregularities (not shown) may be formed on the lower surface of the light transmission control layer 300. When the irregularities are formed, light uniformity may be excellent. For example, the irregularities may have a surface roughness (Ra) of 5 μm or more. Within this range of surface roughness, light uniformity may be excellent. For example, the irregularities may have a surface roughness (Ra) of 5 μm to 500 μm.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the light transmission control layer 300 can be disposed spaced apart from the light guide 200. In this case, sequential illumination images can be easily generated.

For example, the light transmission control layer 300 may be divided into n regions, and may have a light transmittance that decreases from a side of the light emitting surface to the first, second, third, … …, n-1 th and nth regions. As described above, when the light transmittance is lowered, sequential illumination of the light source units is possible.

In one embodiment, the light transmission control layer may control light transmission by controlling the degree of integration of the dot image or the thickness of the anti-transmission material.

Various materials may be used to form the light transmission control layer depending on the desired sequential illumination of the images. In one embodiment, the light transmission control layer 300 may include a resin matrix and a light transmission control agent dispersed in the resin matrix.

In one embodiment, the matrix resin may include one or more of polycarbonate, polystyrene, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, polyolefin, polyester, and polyalkyl (meth) acrylate, and the light transmission control agent may include one or more of dye and pigment.

In one embodiment, the light transmission control agent may include a black pigment. The black pigment used in the present disclosure may be a conventional black pigment. For example, the black pigment may include one or more of aniline black, perylene black, titanium black, and carbon black.

For example, the light transmission control layer may include 100 parts by weight of a base resin and 0.01 to 80 parts by weight of a light transmission control agent. Within this content range, the dispersibility of the light transmission control agent and the mechanical properties of the light transmission control layer may be excellent. For example, the light transmission control layer may include 100 parts by weight of a base resin and 5 to 30 parts by weight of a light transmission control agent.

When only the element for controlling the current for driving the first and second light sources according to the present disclosure is applied, it may be difficult to generate sequential illumination images due to the property of the light guide to emit light from the light emitting surface by total reflection of the light reflecting surface. On the other hand, the application of a specific light transmission control layer according to the present disclosure can easily produce a sequential illumination image.

For example, in the case of sequential illumination, the other end of the light guide has low light transmittance due to the light transmittance control layer, making it difficult to emit light. Therefore, after the light emission from the first light source reaches the target value, the light emission from the second light source can be performed at the other end. In this case, the entire light emitting surface of the light guide member can emit light.

In one embodiment, each of the first and second light source units may include a substrate including a light source and a driving integrated circuit electrically connected to the light source and for supplying a driving current to the light source. In one embodiment, the light source may include a flip-chip Light Emitting Diode (LED). When the light source includes a flip-chip type light emitting diode, luminous efficiency and light uniformity may be excellent.

Method for sequentially illuminating light guide device

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for sequentially illuminating a light guide. In one embodiment, a method for sequentially illuminating a light guide comprises the steps of: (S10) driving a first light source of the light guide; (S20) increasing the luminance of the first light source to a target value by increasing the amount of the driving current supplied to the first light source; (S30) driving the second light source at a point in time when the luminance of the first light source reaches the target value.

In one embodiment, after driving the second light source, the amount of driving current may be increased to a target value, and at this time, the first light source may continue to be maintained at a target brightness value. Under such conditions, sequential illumination images can be easily produced.

For example, the target brightness value may refer to a maximum brightness value of the first and second light sources.

Hereinafter, the configuration and effect of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to preferred examples. However, this example is presented as a preferred example of the present disclosure, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Those skilled in the art can sufficiently and technically imagine what is not described herein, and thus the description thereof will be omitted herein.

Examples of the invention

A light guide 1000 shown in fig. 1 was prepared. Specifically, preparing a light guide apparatus 1000 includes: a light guide 200 including a light emitting surface 220, light incident surfaces 210 and 212 formed on both sides of the light emitting surface 220 and for receiving light, and a light reflecting surface 230 formed opposite to the light emitting surface 220 and for reflecting the received light to the light emitting surface 220; a first light source unit 100 and a second light source unit 110 which are disposed on the light incident surfaces 210 and 212, respectively, and which irradiate light; and a light transmittance control layer 300 disposed above the light emitting surface 220 and controlling transmittance of light emitted from the light emitting surface 220, wherein the light transmittance control layer 300 has a thickness gradually increasing from one end (position of the first light source unit) thereof to the other end (position of the second light source unit) thereof, and a light transmittance decreasing from one end thereof to the other end thereof. Each of the first light source unit and the second light source unit includes a substrate including a light source (flip-chip type light emitting diode) and a driving integrated circuit electrically connected to the light source and for supplying a driving current to the light source.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method of sequentially illuminating a light guide according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the first light source of the light guide apparatus of the present disclosure is driven, and the luminance of the first light source is increased to a target value by increasing the amount of driving current supplied to the first light source and then continuously maintained at the target value. Thereafter, the second light source is driven at a point of time when the luminance of the first light source reaches the target value, and the luminance of the second light source is increased to the target value by increasing the amount of the driving current supplied to the second light source.

As shown in fig. 2, it can be seen that when the light transmission control layer 300 is divided into a first region, a second region, … …, an n-1 region, and an nth region from the side of the light emitting surface, the light guide device is sequentially illuminated and has excellent light uniformity, indicating that no hot spot or the like occurs.

Simple modifications or variations of the present disclosure may be readily made by those skilled in the art, and all such modifications or variations are considered to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.