CN112034619A

CN112034619A - Light control device and passive light-emitting image source

Info

Publication number: CN112034619A
Application number: CN201910412242.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 方涛; 吴慧军; 徐俊峰
Original assignee: Future Beijing Black Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Future Beijing Black Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-05-17
Filing date: 2019-05-17
Publication date: 2020-12-04

Abstract

The invention provides a light control device and a passive light-emitting image source, wherein the light control device comprises: a dispersion element and a direction control element; the direction control element is used for converging light rays emitted by the light sources at different positions; the dispersion element is arranged on one side, far away from the light source, of the direction control element, and the dispersion element is used for diffusing emergent light of the direction control element and forming light spots. The light control device and the passive light-emitting image source provided by the embodiment of the invention can improve the utilization rate of light, and can emit high-brightness light by using a low-power light source so as to form a high-brightness image.

Description

Light control device and passive light-emitting image source

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of optical imaging, in particular to a light control device and a passive light-emitting image source.

Background

The Light source is an object that can emit electromagnetic waves (e.g., visible Light, ultraviolet Light, infrared Light, etc.) in a certain wavelength range, such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode); in the fields of illumination, display imaging and the like, a light source is an indispensable device.

The existing devices (such as lighting devices, liquid crystal displays and the like) including light sources simply utilize light emitted by the light sources, and the light sources are generally point light sources or approximate point light sources, namely, the light sources can emit light to the periphery, and the utilization rate of the traditional light source devices to the light sources is low.

In particular, when some display imaging devices (e.g., liquid crystal displays) perform imaging using a backlight, only a small portion of light emitted from the backlight is used for imaging, resulting in low imaging brightness. Although the problem of low imaging brightness can be solved by increasing the power of the light source, the problem of high power consumption and large heat generation of the light source is correspondingly brought, so that the heat dissipation requirement of the light source device is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

To solve the above problems, embodiments of the present invention provide a light control device and a passive light-emitting image source.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a light control device, including: a dispersion element and a direction control element;

the direction control element is used for converging light rays emitted by the light sources at different positions;

the dispersion element is arranged on one side, far away from the light source, of the direction control element, and the dispersion element is used for diffusing emergent light of the direction control element and forming light spots.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a passive light-emitting image source, including any one of the light control device, the light source, and the liquid crystal layer;

the light source and the liquid crystal layer are arranged on two sides of the direction control element of the light ray control device.

In the solution provided by the first aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, the light rays at different positions are converged to the same position by the direction control element, so that the brightness of the light rays can be improved; simultaneously, diffuse light through the dispersion element to can form the facula of predetermineeing the shape, make things convenient for the follow-up formation of image in the facula scope, thereby when improving light luminance, can also enlarge the formation of image scope.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing a first structure of a light control device provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a second structure of the light control device provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3a is a schematic diagram illustrating a third structure of a light control device provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3b is a schematic view showing the light control device provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention when it is used for imaging on a windshield;

fig. 4a is a schematic view showing a first structure of a solid lamp cup in the light control device provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 4b is a schematic diagram illustrating a second structure of a solid lamp cup in the light control apparatus provided in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 5a is a schematic diagram illustrating a first structure of a passive light-emitting image source provided in embodiment 2 of the present invention;

fig. 5b is a schematic diagram illustrating a second structure of the passive light-emitting image source provided in embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 6a shows a first schematic layout of an electroluminescent array provided by embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6b is a schematic diagram of a second layout of an electroluminescent array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6c is a schematic diagram of a third layout of an electroluminescent array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6d is a schematic diagram of a fourth layout of an electroluminescent array according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a third structure of a passive light-emitting image source provided in embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a first schematic view of an observer viewing an image from a passive light-emitting image source as provided in embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a second schematic diagram of an observer viewing an image from a passive light-emitting image source as provided in embodiment 2 of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a fourth structure of a passive light-emitting image source according to embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 11a shows a first schematic view of an observer viewing an image from a passive light-emitting image source as provided in embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 11b shows a second schematic view of an observer viewing an image from a passive light-emitting image source as provided in embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a first structural diagram of a 3D passive light-emitting image source provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a second structure of a 3D passive light-emitting image source according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a third structure of a 3D passive light-emitting image source provided by an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating a fourth structure of a 3D passive light-emitting image source according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals: 104-light source, 105-light gathering element, 106-dispersing element, 107-collimating element, 108-direction control element, 110-light blocking element, 1013-reflecting surface, 1014-cavity, 1015-convex surface, 1016-groove, 1017-convex surface, 1041-electroluminescent module, 1042-electroluminescent device, 1061-light spot, 1062-focusing position, 100-light control device, 200-liquid crystal layer, 201-liquid crystal conversion layer, 202-blocking layer, 203-cylindrical lens layer and 700-reflecting device.

Detailed Description

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", and the like, indicate orientations and positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are used only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be considered as limiting the present invention.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically defined otherwise.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and can, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

Example 1

The present embodiment further provides a light control device, as shown in fig. 1, including: a dispersion element 106 and a direction control element 108.

The direction control element 108 is configured to converge the light beams emitted by the light sources at different positions, that is, converge the light beams to the same preset position 1062; the dispersion element 106 is disposed on a side of the direction control element 108 away from the light source, and the dispersion element 106 is configured to diffuse the outgoing light from the direction control element 108 and form a light spot 1061 in a predetermined shape.

In this embodiment, the light is converged by the plurality of directional control elements 108. Specifically, referring to fig. 1, the light sources 104 are disposed at different positions, and fig. 1 illustrates that 7 light sources 104 are disposed; accordingly, 7 direction control elements 108 are provided to control the direction of light emitted by the light source 104. As shown in FIG. 1, in the absence of the diffusion element 106, the direction control element 108 concentrates the light from the plurality of light sources 104 to a predetermined position 1062. In fig. 1, 1062 is taken as an example of a point, and the preset position 1062 in this embodiment may also be a small area, that is, only the light emitted by the light source 104 needs to be converged into the area. Specifically, each directional control element 108 is similar to a small light control device, and the direction of the light emitted from the light source 104 is adjusted by setting the orientation of the directional control element 108 at different positions, so as to achieve light convergence.

Meanwhile, if only the light rays at different positions are converged to the preset position 1062 in a small range, when the light ray control device is applied to the light source of the image source, the image source can only form an image in a small range, which is inconvenient for an observer to view the image formed by the image source. In the embodiment, the diffusion element 106 diffuses the light and forms the light spot 1061 with a preset shape and a larger imaging range, so that an observer can conveniently observe the image source to form an image in a large range. Specifically, taking the leftmost direction control element 108 in fig. 1 as an example, as shown in fig. 1, when there is no diffusion element 106, the light ray a emitted by the leftmost light source 104 can be emitted to the preset position 1062 along the light path a; when the diffusion element 106 is disposed outside the direction control element 108, the diffusion element 106 disperses the light ray a into a plurality of light rays (including the light ray a1, the light ray a2, and the like) and disperses the light rays into a range, namely the light spot 1061, so that an observer can view the image source image within the range of the light spot 1061. Alternatively, the dispersive element 106 may be embodied as a Diffractive Optical Element (DOE), such as a Beam Shaper (Beam Shaper); the size and shape of the spot is determined by the microstructure of the beam shaper, including but not limited to circular, elliptical, square, rectangular, batwing shapes. For example, the diffusion angle of the diffused light spot in the side view direction is 10 degrees, preferably 5 degrees; the dispersion angle in the front view direction is 50 degrees, preferably 30 degrees.

The number of the direction control elements 108 is multiple, and different direction control elements 108 are disposed at different positions for adjusting the emitting directions of the light emitted from the light sources at different positions, and the emitting directions of the light emitted from the light sources at different positions all point to the same preset position. As shown in fig. 1, the number of direction control elements 108 in fig. 1 is 7. The direction control element 108 may adjust the light emitted by one light source 104, and may also adjust the light emitted by a plurality of light sources 104, which is not limited in this embodiment.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the dispersion effect of the dispersion element 106 in fig. 1 is only schematically illustrated, and the dispersion element 106 can disperse the light to the range of the light spot 1061, and does not completely limit the light emitted from the light source 104 to the light spot 1061. That is, the light ray a may form a larger range of light spots after passing through the diffusion element 106, and the light rays emitted by other light sources 104 may form other light spots after passing through the diffusion element 106, but all the light rays emitted by the light sources 104 can reach the light spot 1061.

According to the light ray control device provided by the embodiment, light rays at different positions are converged to the same position through the direction control element, so that the light ray brightness can be improved; simultaneously, diffuse light through the dispersion element to can form the facula of predetermineeing the shape, make things convenient for the follow-up formation of image in the facula scope, thereby when improving light luminance, can also enlarge the formation of image scope. In addition, the light source can provide light with enough brightness without high power, so that the heat dissipation requirement of the equipment with the light source can be reduced.

On the basis of the above embodiment, the direction control element 108 includes the collimating element 107, and the collimating element 107 can collimate the light emitted by the light source 104, that is, collimate the light emitted by the light source to different directions, so that the directions of the light emitted by the direction control element 108 are consistent or substantially consistent.

Specifically, the collimating element 107 is a collimating lens, which includes one or more of a convex lens, a concave lens, a fresnel lens, or a combination of the above lenses, and the lens combination may be a combination of a convex lens and a concave lens, a combination of a fresnel lens and a concave lens, and the like; alternatively, the collimating element 107 is a collimating film for adjusting the emitting direction of the light to be within a predetermined angle range. At this time, the distance between the collimating element 107 and the position of the light source 104 is the focal length of the collimating element 107, i.e. the light source 104 is arranged at the focal point of the collimating element 107.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 1, the light rays at different positions can be converged by adjusting the emitting direction of the direction control element 108. Alternatively, the light rays may be converged by the light ray converging element. Referring to fig. 2, the direction control element 108 further includes a light condensing element 105; the light collection element 105 is disposed between the light source 104 and the diffusion element 106. When the direction control element 108 includes the collimating element 107, the light condensing element 105 is disposed between the collimating element 107 and the diffusing element 106; the light converging element 105 is used to converge different light rays to the same predetermined position 1062. That is, even if the orientation of the direction control element 108 is not particularly set, different light rays can be converged to one preset position 1062 by the light condensing element 105. As shown in fig. 2, the light condensing element 105 may be correspondingly provided with a plurality of collimating elements 107.

On the basis of the above embodiment, referring to fig. 3a, the light control device further comprises a light blocking element 110, wherein the light blocking element 110 is arranged at the outermost layer of the light control device away from the reflective element. The light blocking element 110 is used to limit the exit angle of the light emitted from the light control device.

Specifically, the light blocking member 110 includes a plurality of light blocking barriers having a predetermined height, and the light is physically blocked from being transmitted in some directions by forming a barrier array by the plurality of light blocking barriers having protrusions. By designing the height and width of the light blocking barrier, the angle at which the observer can see the light can be limited. As shown in fig. 3a, the light emitted from the liquid crystal layer 200 is confined within an angle α by the light blocking member 110, thereby forming an observable region; that is, eye-1 is located within the viewable area where the light from the light source 104 is visible, but eye-2 is located outside the viewable area such that eye-2 cannot see the light from the light source 104. When the light control device is used as a light source of an image source, eye-2 cannot see light, so that eye-2 cannot observe imaging of the image source.

In addition, the light blocking member 110 needs to be disposed on the outer surface of the image forming apparatus. For example, when the light control device provided in this embodiment is used as a backlight source of a liquid crystal display, the light blocking element 110 needs to be disposed on the outer surface of the liquid crystal display, so as to block the image of the liquid crystal display, that is, only the observer in the observation area can see the image of the liquid crystal display.

Optionally, the light control device may be used in a Head Up Display (HUD) to implement light control of the head up display; meanwhile, the driver can be prevented from directly viewing the screen of the head-up display through the light blocking member 110. Referring to fig. 3b, the height direction of the light-blocking barrier of the light-blocking element 110 is directed toward the windshield 701. The height direction of the light barrier fence refers to the direction from the light source 104 side to the outside of the light control device, and is also the direction of the emergent light of the light control device; in fig. 3b, the light-blocking barrier is represented by a small rectangle, the length direction of which is the "height direction of the light-blocking barrier" described above. When the head-up display works, a real image is formed on the surface of the screen of the head-up display, and a virtual image is also formed through the windshield 701, and due to the arrangement of the light ray blocking element 110, the eye-3 of a driver cannot see the real image on the screen of the head-up display, and only the virtual image formed by the head-up display can be seen through the windshield 701; namely, the screen of the head-up display cannot be directly observed from the position of the user, so that when the user drives the vehicle, the influence of brightness when the screen of the head-up display is imaged on the visual field of the user or dizziness caused to the user can be avoided, and the safety during driving can be improved.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, each of the direction control elements 108 in fig. 1 and 2 further includes a reflective element; the reflective element is used to reflect incident light from light source 104 to diffusing element 106.

Specifically, the reflecting element comprises a lamp cup; the lamp cup is a hollow shell surrounded by the reflecting surface, and the opening direction of the lamp cup faces the dispersion element 106; the bottom of the lamp cup remote from the opening is used to position the light source 104. Wherein, the inner wall of the lamp cup (i.e. the inner wall of the groove of the reflecting element) is the reflecting surface of the lamp cup.

Further, the direction control element 108 further includes: a collimating element 107; the collimating element 107 is arranged inside the lamp cup, and the size of the collimating element 107 is smaller than the opening size of the lamp cup; the collimating element 107 is used for collimating part of light emitted by the light source in the lamp cup and then emitting the collimated part of light to the dispersing element 106.

Or the lamp cup is a solid lamp cup, namely the lamp cup is a solid transparent component with a reflecting surface, and the refractive index of the solid transparent component is greater than 1; the opening direction of the solid lamp cup faces towards the dispersion element 106; the end of the solid light cup away from the opening is used to position a light source 104. The specific structure of the solid lamp cup can be seen in fig. 4a and 4 b. The opening direction of the solid cup refers to the opening direction of the reflecting surface 1013 of the solid cup.

At the same time, the collimating element 107 may be integrated in the solid lamp cup. Referring to fig. 4a, the solid transparent member is provided with a cavity 1014 at the end remote from the opening of the solid lamp cup, and the surface of the cavity 1014 near the opening of the solid lamp cup is a convex surface 1015. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 4b, the solid transparent member is provided with a slot 1016 at the middle position near the end of the solid lamp cup opening, and the bottom surface of the slot 1016 is a convex surface 1017.

In this embodiment, the convex surface 1015 of the cavity 1014 or the convex surface 1017 of the slot 1016 are used for collimating the light emitted from the light source 104, i.e. the convex surface 1015 or the convex surface 1017 is equivalent to the collimating element 107. The convex surface 1015 or the convex surface 1017 are arranged in the middle of the solid transparent part, and the size of the convex surface 1015 or the convex surface 1017 is smaller than the size of the opening of the solid lamp cup; the convex surface 1015 or the convex surface 1017 is used for collimating part of the light emitted by the light source 104 in the solid lamp cup and then emitting the collimated light to the dispersion element 106. As shown in FIG. 4a, when the convex surface 1015 is disposed in the cavity at the end of the solid lamp cup, the convex surface 1015 forms a convex lens to collimate the light emitted toward the convex surface 1015. Or, referring to fig. 4b, the middle position of the solid transparent member is provided with a slot 1016, the bottom surface of the slot 1016 is a convex surface 1017, the convex surface 1017 of the solid lamp cup is used for collimating the light which cannot be reflected by the reflecting surface 1013 of the solid lamp cup, and the light with a larger emergent angle is totally reflected in the solid lamp cup and then collimated out of the solid lamp cup. The solid lamp cup is made of a transparent material with a refractive index larger than 1, such as a polymer transparent material, glass and the like.

Example 2

Based on the same inventive concept, the present embodiment further provides a passive light-emitting image source, as shown in fig. 5a or 5b, which includes a light control device 100, a light source 104 and a liquid crystal layer 200. The light source 104 and the liquid crystal layer 200 are disposed on two sides of the direction control element 108 of the light control device 100.

In this embodiment, the liquid crystal layer 200 may be a general liquid crystal, such as a Twisted Nematic (TN) liquid crystal, a High Twisted Nematic (HTN) liquid crystal, a Super Twisted Nematic (STN) liquid crystal, a Formatted Super Twisted Nematic (FSTN) liquid crystal, and the like, and the liquid crystal layer 200 may also be a blue phase liquid crystal. The Light source 104 may be an Electroluminescent device, such as a Light Emitting Diode (LED), an incandescent Lamp, a laser, a quantum dot Light source, and the like, and specifically, an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), a Mini LED (Mini LED), a Micro LED (Micro LED), a Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL), an Electroluminescent Display (ELD), a Cold Light source (Cold LED), a CLL (Electroluminescent lighting, EL), an electron Emission (FED), a tungsten halogen Lamp, a metal halide Lamp, and the like.

The working principle of the passive light-emitting image source provided in this embodiment is substantially similar to that of the conventional passive light-emitting image source, and specifically, the light emitted from the light source 104 is processed by the light control device 100 to provide light to the liquid crystal layer 200; that is, the light control device 100 and the light source 104 can be regarded as an integral backlight source for providing light for the liquid crystal layer 200 during imaging. The liquid crystal layer 200 includes a liquid crystal LCD, and the liquid crystal layer 200 deflects linearly polarized light based on the characteristics of the liquid crystal layer 200.

In addition, the light control device 100 may collimate and disperse light emitted by the light source 104. Referring to fig. 5b, the light control device 100 collimates and disperses the light to form a light spot with a predetermined shape on the liquid crystal layer 200 at a predetermined position 1061, which is illustrated as a rectangular light spot in fig. 5 b. That is, the viewer can observe a clear image formed by the liquid crystal layer 200 at the predetermined position 1061. Meanwhile, in fig. 5b, the dispersion element 106 is disposed below the liquid crystal layer 200 as an example, and the dispersion element 106 may be disposed on a side of the liquid crystal layer 200 away from the light source 104, so that the same dispersion effect can be achieved.

The Head Up Display (HUD) technology utilizes the principle of optical reflection to project vehicle information such as vehicle speed on windshield or other glass, can avoid the driver to look at the distraction that the panel board leads to in driving process low head to can improve driving safety factor, also can bring better driving experience simultaneously. Most of the conventional image sources for windshield HUD display are Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). If HUD adopts traditional LCD image source, HUD shows the luminance of formation of image on windshield lower, generally guarantees HUD and shows the luminance of formation of image on windshield through the luminance that improves LCD image source, and not only the consumption that leads to like this the image source is higher, and calorific capacity is great, increases the heat dissipation requirement to HUD. In addition, the conventional HUD light source may expand the field angle and the display area based on the optical design method of the free-form surface reflector, and may also have problems such as insufficient brightness, and ensuring the brightness of the picture may cause the light source to generate extremely high power consumption. If the passive light-emitting image source provided by the application is applied to the HUD, the angle of emergent light of the image source can be controlled, and the light is limited within a light spot range, so that the utilization rate and the light transmittance of the light emitted by the light source are improved, high-brightness light can be transmitted through the low-power light source, the subsequent high-brightness imaging is facilitated, and the energy consumption of the light source is reduced; simultaneously, because the luminousness improves, light controlling means can not absorb a large amount of light energy, and calorific capacity is less, and is lower to HUD's heat dissipation requirement.

On the basis of the above embodiment, referring to fig. 6a, the light source 104 is an electroluminescent array composed of one or more electroluminescent modules 1041, each electroluminescent module 1041 includes one or more electroluminescent devices 1042; in fig. 6a, an electroluminescent module 1041 comprising 6 electroluminescent devices 1042 is illustrated as an example. The light control device 100 includes one or more reflective elements, and each electroluminescent module 1041 is provided with a corresponding reflective element. That is, the reflective element in this embodiment may be provided with 1 corresponding electroluminescent device 1042, or may be provided with a plurality of electroluminescent devices 1042, which may be determined according to the actual situation. The electroluminescent device can be incandescent lamp, LED, laser, quantum point light source, etc.

FIG. 6a is a top view of a passive light-emitting image source in this embodiment, and FIG. 6a shows one representation of an electroluminescent array; since the electroluminescent device 1042 is inside the light control device 100, the backlight source shape of the passive light emitting image source is determined by the light control device 100. Since the electroluminescent device 1042 is generally a point light source, the light emitted from the electroluminescent device 1042 can be utilized most efficiently by using a circular light control apparatus 100 (e.g., a lamp cup with a circular opening in the light control apparatus 100); however, when the light ray control devices 100 having a circular shape are arranged, a gap is always present between the two light ray control devices, thereby reducing space efficiency. In order to balance the light utilization rate and the space utilization rate, the electroluminescent array may specifically adopt a regular hexagonal arrangement, as shown in fig. 6 b; the regular hexagonal arrangement improves the space utilization rate, but reduces the light utilization rate. Optionally, the electroluminescent array is arranged in regular octagons, as shown in fig. 6c or 19d, the gaps can be filled with small regular octagons of the light control device 100, and the regular octagons are closer to a circle than regular hexagons, so that the light utilization rate is higher, and the space utilization rate is higher than that of the circularly arranged array.

On the basis of the above embodiment, referring to fig. 7, the passive light-emitting image source includes a plurality of sets of light control devices 100; different light control devices 100 are used to emit light from the light source 104 in different directions or regions. As shown in fig. 7, the light control device 100 is illustrated as including two sets of light control devices 100, and the light control devices 100 control the light emitted from the light source 104, so that different images of the liquid crystal layer 200 can be viewed at different positions or regions. In fig. 7, in order to distinguish the two light ray control devices 100, the directions of the emitted light rays of the two light ray control devices 100 are different; it will be understood by those skilled in the art that since the two light control devices 100 correspond to different positions of the liquid crystal layer 200, even if the light emitting directions of the light control devices 100 are the same (for example, both are perpendicular to the liquid crystal layer 200), two cell ranges can be formed. The light control device 100 in this embodiment may be the light control device in any one of the embodiments of fig. 1 to 3 b. The eye box range refers to an area where an observer can observe an image presented by the light spot.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 8, the image of the passive light-emitting image source is viewed by the observer, the passive light-emitting image source is an LCD display device, and includes two sets of light control devices, which respectively form an eye box range 1 and an eye box range 2, the observer in the eye box range 1 can only view the image of the left side portion of the passive light-emitting image source, and the observer in the eye box range 2 can only view the image of the right side portion of the passive light-emitting image source. Different imaging of multiple observers can be realized by arranging the light ray control devices 100, and different observers can conveniently view different imaging contents.

Optionally, the light control device 100 has a diffusion element 106, and a large light spot is formed by the diffusion element 106, so that observers at different positions can observe images of the passive light-emitting image source. In order to improve the utilization rate of the light emitted from the light source 104, the dispersing element 106 is used to form a batwing-shaped light spot (similar to an infinite symbol "∞" shaped light spot), that is, a set of light control devices can form two main areas of light spots, that is, an eye box range 1 and an eye box range 2, by the dispersing element 106, so that an observer at the eye box range 1 and the eye box range 2 can view the image of the passive light-emitting image source, and the image forming diagram is shown in fig. 9.

Example 3

On the basis of the above embodiment, the light emitted from the light control device 100 in the passive light-emitting image source is reflected to the human eye by the reflection device 700, so that a high-brightness virtual image is formed outside the reflection device 700. The imaging schematic diagram is shown in fig. 10. Wherein, the reflection device 700 may be a transparent material, such as ordinary glass, quartz glass, automobile windshield, transparent resin plate, etc.; and may also be opaque materials such as flat/concave/convex/free-form mirrors coated with a reflective layer, reflective films, and smooth metallic reflective surfaces.

For the case of multiple observers, when multiple light ray control devices 100 are used, their imaging schematic is shown in fig. 11a, where two light ray control devices 100 form two light spots, i.e. two eye box ranges, in fig. 11 a. When a dispersion element with a large light spot (such as a large rectangular light spot, or a batwing light spot, etc.) is used, its imaging schematic diagram is shown in fig. 11 b; fig. 11b shows a schematic view of a set of light control devices 100 forming a batwing light spot (similar to a light spot shaped like the infinite symbol "∞") by a special dispersive element. Fig. 11a and 11b illustrate LCD imaging.

On the basis of the above embodiment, the liquid crystal layer 200 includes RGB filters through which the passive light-emitting image source can emit light of three colors of RGB, thereby forming a color image.

Alternatively, a color image is realized by blue phase liquid crystal. Specifically, the liquid crystal layer 300 in this embodiment is a blue phase liquid crystal, and the light source 104 includes a red light source, a green light source, and a blue light source; the red light source, the green light source and the blue light source work periodically and do not work at the same time. Specifically, the light sources of three colors (red light source, green light source, and blue light source) may form an RGB backlight, and the three light sources may not operate simultaneously, i.e., only one color light source may emit light at most at different times, i.e., the blue phase liquid crystal may emit one color light at a certain point in time. Since the blue phase liquid crystal has a fast response speed and a fast switching speed of a light source (such as an LED), and since human eyes have a delay of about 0.2 second when recognizing colors, the human eyes can receive red, green and blue colors by fast switching the light source and correspondingly controlling the working state of the blue phase liquid crystal, and can synthesize a plurality of colors (such as yellow, magenta, white, etc.) after human eyes are integrated, so that the human eyes can see a color image. At the same time, only one third of the light sources of the blue phase liquid crystal work, and a color filter is not needed, so that the power consumption of the light sources can be reduced; meanwhile, a color pixel can be formed by one pixel point of the blue phase liquid crystal (three pixel points are needed by the traditional liquid crystal), so that the pixel density can be increased, and the imaging definition and resolution can be improved.

On the basis of the above embodiments, the passive light-emitting image source can be used as a 3D image source for an observer to watch a 3D image or video. Specifically, referring to fig. 12, the passive light-emitting image source further includes a liquid crystal conversion layer 201; the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is arranged on the side of the transflective element remote from the light source 104. The liquid crystal conversion layer 201 may be disposed outside the liquid crystal layer 200, or may be disposed inside the liquid crystal layer 200, which is not limited in this embodiment, and fig. 12 illustrates an example in which the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is disposed outside the liquid crystal layer 200.

The liquid crystal conversion layer 201 comprises a plurality of liquid crystal units arranged at intervals, and one liquid crystal unit in the liquid crystal conversion layer corresponds to one liquid crystal unit in the liquid crystal layer 200; the liquid crystal cell of the liquid crystal layer 200 is configured to convert light in the first polarization direction into light in the second polarization direction, and the liquid crystal cell of the liquid crystal conversion layer is configured to convert light in the second polarization direction into light in the first polarization direction, where the first polarization direction is perpendicular to the second polarization direction.

In this embodiment, the liquid crystal layer 200 may adopt common liquid crystal, one liquid crystal cell of the liquid crystal layer 200 corresponds to one pixel, and when the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is not disposed, the liquid crystal layer 200 may normally display a 2D image. The liquid crystal conversion layer 201 additionally provided in the present embodiment is a device composed of liquid crystal cells arranged at intervals, and each liquid crystal cell corresponds to one liquid crystal cell in the liquid crystal layer 200. As shown in fig. 12, the liquid crystal layer 200 includes 16 liquid crystal cells: a 1-a 4, B1-B4, C1-C4 and D1-D4, the conversion layer 201 comprises 8 liquid crystal cells, namely a1, A3, B2, B4, C1, C3, D2 and D4, wherein the liquid crystal cell a1 corresponds to the liquid crystal cell a1, the liquid crystal cell A3 corresponds to the liquid crystal cell A3, and the like. By providing the liquid crystal conversion layer 201, the liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal layer 200 are divided into two parts, and a part of the liquid crystal cells correspond to the liquid crystal conversion layer 201, for example, 8 liquid crystal cells such as liquid crystal cells a1, A3, B2, B4; and the remaining liquid crystal cells do not correspond to the liquid crystal conversion layer 201, such as 8 liquid crystal cells a2, a4, B1, B3, and the like. In the actual production process, the liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 can be fixedly connected through a transparent material, for example, the transparent material is arranged between the liquid crystal cell a1 and the liquid crystal cell c1, so that the whole liquid crystal conversion layer 201 can be produced and manufactured into a whole while the light emitted from the liquid crystal cell B1 of the liquid crystal layer 200 is not affected.

Meanwhile, the liquid crystal layer 200 and the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 are liquid crystals in nature, but the polarization characteristics of the two are not completely the same. Specifically, the liquid crystal layer 200 is configured to convert light rays with a first polarization direction into light rays with a second polarization direction, and the liquid crystal conversion layer is configured to convert light rays with the second polarization direction into light rays with the first polarization direction; the first polarization direction is perpendicular to the second polarization direction.

Referring to fig. 12, the light emitted from the light source 104 includes light with a first polarization direction, or the light emitted from the light source 104 can be converted into more light with the first polarization direction after passing through the light control device 100. According to the working principle of liquid crystal, the polarization state of light is changed when the liquid crystal is imaged, namely linearly polarized light in a preset polarization direction is converted into linearly polarized light vertical to the preset polarization direction after passing through the liquid crystal, and the specific direction of the preset polarization direction is determined by the characteristics of the liquid crystal. The liquid crystal layer 200 and the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 in this embodiment use two different kinds of liquid crystal. Specifically, the light emitted from the light source 104 is converted into light with the second polarization characteristic after passing through the liquid crystal layer 200, and then the light is converted into light with the first polarization characteristic after passing through the liquid crystal conversion layer 201, and the liquid crystal layer which is not blocked by the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 still emits light with the second polarization characteristic. Therefore, in fig. 12, the liquid crystal cells a1, A3, etc. emit light of the first polarization characteristic, and the liquid crystal cells a2, a4, etc. emit light of the second polarization characteristic, i.e., a part of the pixels of the passive light-emitting image source of the present embodiment emit light of the first polarization characteristic, and another part of the pixels emit light of the second polarization characteristic.

When an observer needs to view a 2D image, both the liquid crystal layer 200 and the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 operate, and since human eyes cannot distinguish light rays with different polarization states, the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is transparent, so that the observer can normally view the 2D image. When an observer needs to watch a 3D image, the liquid crystal layer 200 and the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 still work normally, only different liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal layer need to be controlled to display different images, and meanwhile, the observer needs to wear polarized stereoscopic glasses, so that the left eye of the observer can watch one partial image and the right eye can watch the other partial image, and the observer can be provided with 3D sense through parallax between the two partial images. The polarization type stereo glasses are the existing mature technology, and are not described herein.

In addition, in practical scenes, the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 cannot transmit 100% of light, i.e., the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is not completely transparent during operation, so that the brightness of the light transmitted by the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is low. As shown in fig. 12, the luminance of the light emitted from the liquid crystal cell B1 is high, and the luminance of the light emitted from the liquid crystal cell a1 is low because the light passes through two layers of liquid crystal (i.e., the liquid crystal cell a1 and the liquid crystal cell a 1). For example, the liquid crystal layer 200 includes 1000 liquid crystal cells, wherein the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 covers the outer sides of 500 of the liquid crystal cells, and the other 500 liquid crystal cells are not provided with the liquid crystal conversion layers correspondingly, so that the brightness of the light emitted by the 500 liquid crystal cells covered with the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is lower.

In order to ensure uniform imaging brightness of the image source, the total area of all the liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is not less than half of the total area of all the liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal layer 200, that is, for the liquid crystal layer 200, the number of the liquid crystal cells (such as a1, C1, and the like) corresponding to the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 is greater than or slightly greater than the number of the liquid crystal cells (such as B1, D1, and the like) not corresponding to the liquid crystal conversion layer 201, so that the overall brightness of the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 can be improved, and the brightness is ensured to be more uniform as. For example, the liquid crystal layer 200 includes 1000 liquid crystal cells, the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 covers the outside of 550 liquid crystal cells (i.e., the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 includes 550 liquid crystal cells arranged at intervals), and the other 450 liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal layer 200 are not provided with the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 correspondingly, so that the overall brightness of the liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal layer 200 is improved by increasing the ratio of the liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal layer 200 corresponding to the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 in the liquid crystal layer 200.

It should be noted that the purpose of the "spacing" in the present embodiment is to uniformly arrange the liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal conversion layer 201, so that the ratio between the liquid crystal cells (such as a1, A3, etc.) corresponding to the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 and the liquid crystal cells (such as a2, a4, etc.) not corresponding to the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 in the liquid crystal layer 200 is substantially 1:1, or slightly greater than 1: 1. As shown in fig. 13, the liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 are arranged at intervals in a column. Other spacing arrangements may also be adopted, which is not limited in this embodiment. In addition, in order to conveniently display the position relationship between the liquid crystal layer 200 and the liquid crystal conversion layer 201, the liquid crystal layer 200 and the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 in fig. 12 and 13 have a gap therebetween, and those skilled in the art can understand that in practical applications, the liquid crystal layer 200 and the liquid crystal conversion layer 201 may be completely attached, and no gap may exist therebetween.

On the basis of the above embodiment, referring to fig. 14, the passive luminescence image source further includes: the barrier layer 202 is arranged on one side of the liquid crystal layer 200 far away from the light source 104, and the distance between the barrier layer 202 and the liquid crystal layer 200 is a preset distance; barrier layer 202 includes a plurality of spaced apart barrier units.

In fig. 14, the example in which the liquid crystal layer 200 includes 6 liquid crystal cells and the barrier layer 202 includes 5 barrier cells is described. As shown in the figure, since the barrier layer 202 and the liquid crystal layer 200 have a gap therebetween, since the barrier layer 202 can block light, light emitted from a part of the liquid crystal cells (R1, R2, R3) in the liquid crystal layer 200 cannot reach the position of the left eye, and thus the left eye can only view light emitted from the pixel cells L1, L2, L3; similarly, the right eye can only view the light emitted by the pixel units R1, R2 and R3. Therefore, the barrier layer 202 can divide the liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal layer 200 into two parts, and the light emitted from one part of the liquid crystal cells can only reach the left-eye position, such as the liquid crystal cells L1, L2, and L3; and the other part of the light emitted by the liquid crystal cells can only reach the right eye position, such as the liquid crystal cells R1, R2 and R3. When the imaging is displayed, two images with parallax are displayed by different liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal layer 200, so that the image viewed by the left eye and the image viewed by the right eye have parallax, and the 3D imaging is realized.

The size of each blocking unit in the blocking layer 202 and the position between the blocking units are specially designed after precise calculation, so that imaging can be performed at a specific position. This approach does not require the viewer to wear special eyes to view the 3D image, but requires the viewer to be in a specific position to view a good 3D imaging effect.

Optionally, the barrier unit of the barrier layer 202 is a liquid crystal. When the liquid crystal of the barrier layer 202 is operated, the liquid crystal can allow light to transmit; when the liquid crystal does not work, the liquid crystal is equivalent to a light-tight baffle, and the effect that the blocking unit blocks light rays can be achieved. Specifically, when the observer needs to view a 2D image, the liquid crystal of the barrier layer 202 operates, and the liquid crystal layer 200 normally displays the 2D image at this time. When the observer needs to view a 3D image, the liquid crystal of the barrier layer 202 does not operate, and different pixels of the liquid crystal layer 200 display an image with parallax, so that the observer can view the 3D image at a specific position.

Alternatively, the barrier layer 202 may be a complete liquid crystal, that is, a liquid crystal with a monolithic barrier layer 202, and the barrier layer 202 is not structurally divided into a plurality of barrier units, but a plurality of barrier units arranged at intervals may be formed by controlling the operating state of the liquid crystal of the barrier layer 202; that is, it is possible to determine which part of the blocking layer is required to block light (corresponding to the blocking unit) and which part is required to transmit light, and the light blocking effect can be achieved. In addition, the working state of the liquid crystal in the blocking layer 202 can be controlled by combining the position of human eyes, so that the blocking layer 202 can adjust which liquid crystal cells are not working (namely block light rays) in real time along with the position of the human eyes, and which liquid crystal cells need to be transparent (namely, no blocking unit exists), so that an observer can watch a 3D image at any position, and the problem that the observer can watch the 3D image only at a specific position after the blocking unit of the blocking layer 202 is fixed is solved.

On the basis of the above embodiment, referring to fig. 15, the passive light-emitting image source further includes: and the columnar lens layer 203, wherein the columnar lens layer 203 is arranged on the side of the liquid crystal layer 200 far away from the light source 104. The lenticular lens layer 203 includes a plurality of vertically arranged lenticular lenses, and each lenticular lens covers at least two different columns of liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal layer 200; the columnar lens is used for emitting light rays emitted by the liquid crystal units in one row to the first position and emitting light rays emitted by the liquid crystal units in the other row to the second position.

In this embodiment, the light rays emitted by the liquid crystal cells in different columns are refracted to different positions by the lenticular lens, so that 3D imaging can be realized. Specifically, referring to fig. 15, fig. 15 is a top view showing that in the vertical direction, the liquid crystal layer 200 includes 12 liquid crystal columns, each of which includes one or more liquid crystal cells; for simplicity, the present embodiment takes the case where each column includes 1 liquid crystal cell. The lenticular lens layer 203 comprises 6 lenticular lenses, and each lenticular lens covers two rows of liquid crystal cells; as shown in fig. 15, the uppermost lenticular lens covers the liquid crystal cells R1 and L1. Based on the refractive characteristics of the lenticular lens, by providing the curved surface of the lenticular lens, light emitted from a column of liquid crystal cells can be directed through the lenticular lens to a first position, such as the right eye position, from liquid crystal cell R1; while allowing light from another column of liquid crystal cells to pass through the lenticular lens and be directed to a second location, such as the left eye location, as is the light from liquid crystal cell L1. By precisely setting the shape of the lenticular lens, it is possible to direct a part of the light emitted from the liquid crystal cell to a certain position and another part of the light emitted from the liquid crystal cell to another position. That is, as shown in fig. 15, light emitted from the liquid crystal cells R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, etc. may be converged to a right eye position, light emitted from the liquid crystal cells L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, etc. may be converged to a left eye position, and thus, when an image having parallax is displayed on different liquid crystal cells of the liquid crystal layer 200, an observer may view a 3D image at a specific position.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A light management device, comprising: a dispersion element and a direction control element;

2. A light management device according to claim 1, wherein the direction control element comprises a collimating element;

the collimation element is used for adjusting the emergent direction of the light rays to be within a preset angle range and transmitting the adjusted light rays to the dispersion element.

3. A light management device according to claim 2, wherein the collimating element is a collimating lens or a collimating film;

the collimating lens comprises one or more of a convex lens, a concave lens, a Fresnel lens or the combination of the convex lens, the concave lens and the Fresnel lens.

4. A light management device according to claim 3, wherein the distance between the collimating element and the light source is the focal length of the collimating element.

5. A light ray control device according to claim 1, wherein the number of the direction control elements is plural, and different direction control elements are disposed at different positions for adjusting the emitting directions of the light rays emitted from the light sources at different positions, and the emitting directions of the light rays emitted from the light sources at different positions all point to the same preset position.

6. The light control device of claim 1, wherein the direction control element further comprises a light collection element;

the light gathering element is arranged between the light source and the diffusion element and used for gathering light rays emitted by different light sources to the same preset position.

7. A light management device according to claim 1, wherein the direction control element further comprises a reflective element;

the reflective element comprises a lamp cup; the lamp cup is a hollow shell surrounded by a reflecting surface, and the opening direction of the lamp cup faces to the dispersion element; the tail end of the lamp cup, which is far away from the opening, is used for arranging a light source.

8. A light control device as recited in claim 7, wherein the direction control element further comprises: a collimating element;

the collimating element is arranged in the lamp cup, and the size of the collimating element is smaller than the size of the opening of the lamp cup; the collimation element is used for collimating part of light rays emitted by the light source in the lamp cup and then emitting the part of light rays to the dispersion element.

9. A light management device according to claim 1, wherein the direction control element further comprises a reflective element;

the reflective element comprises a solid lamp cup;

the solid lamp cup is a solid transparent component with a reflecting surface, and the refractive index of the solid transparent component is greater than 1; the opening direction of the solid lamp cup faces to the dispersion element; the end part of the solid lamp cup, which is far away from the opening, is used for arranging a light source; the light emitted by the light source is totally reflected when being emitted to the reflecting surface.

10. The light control device of claim 9,

the end part of the solid transparent component far away from the opening of the solid lamp cup is provided with a cavity, and one surface of the cavity close to the opening of the solid lamp cup is a convex surface; or

The solid transparent component is provided with a slot at the middle position of the end part close to the opening of the solid lamp cup, and the bottom surface of the slot is a convex surface.

11. A passive light-emitting image source comprising a light source, a liquid crystal layer and a light management device according to any one of claims 1 to 10;

12. The passive luminescent image source of claim 11, wherein the light source is an electroluminescent array of one or more electroluminescent modules, each of the electroluminescent modules comprising one or more electroluminescent devices;

the light control device comprises one or more reflection elements, and each electroluminescence module is correspondingly provided with at least one reflection element.

13. The passive luminescent image source of claim 11, comprising a plurality of sets of light control devices; different light control means are used to emit light from the light source in different directions or areas.

14. The passive luminescent image source of claim 11, wherein the liquid crystal layer comprises RGB filters; or

The liquid crystal layer is blue phase liquid crystal, and the light source comprises a red light source, a green light source and a blue light source; the red light source, the green light source and the blue light source work periodically, and the red light source, the green light source and the blue light source do not work at the same time.

15. The passive luminescent image source of claim 11, further comprising a liquid crystal conversion layer; the liquid crystal conversion layer is arranged on one side of the direction control element away from the light source;

the liquid crystal conversion layer comprises a plurality of liquid crystal units arranged at intervals, and one liquid crystal unit in the liquid crystal conversion layer corresponds to one liquid crystal unit in the liquid crystal layer;

the liquid crystal unit of liquid crystal layer is used for converting the light of first polarization direction into the light of second polarization direction, the liquid crystal unit of liquid crystal conversion layer is used for converting the light of second polarization direction into the light of first polarization direction, first polarization direction with second polarization direction is perpendicular.

16. The passive light-emitting image source of claim 15, wherein the total area of all liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal conversion layer is not less than half of the total area of all liquid crystal cells in the liquid crystal layer.

17. The passive luminescent image source of claim 11, further comprising: the barrier layer is arranged on one side, away from the light source, of the liquid crystal layer, and a preset distance is arranged between the barrier layer and the liquid crystal layer;

the barrier layer comprises a plurality of barrier units arranged at intervals.

18. The passive luminescent image source of claim 17, wherein the blocking unit is a liquid crystal; or

The barrier layer is integral liquid crystal, and a plurality of barrier units arranged at intervals are formed by controlling the working state of the liquid crystal unit of the integral liquid crystal.

19. The passive luminescent image source of claim 11, further comprising: the columnar lens layer is arranged on one side, far away from the light source, of the liquid crystal layer;

the columnar lens layer comprises a plurality of vertically arranged columnar lenses, and each columnar lens at least covers two liquid crystal units in different columns of the liquid crystal layer; the columnar lens is used for emitting light rays emitted by the liquid crystal units in one row to a first position and emitting light rays emitted by the liquid crystal units in the other row to a second position.

20. The passive luminescent image source of claim 11, wherein the light control device further comprises a light blocking element;

the light ray blocking element is arranged on one side, far away from the light source, of the liquid crystal layer and used for limiting the emergent angle of emergent light rays of the passive light-emitting image source.

21. A passive luminescent image source according to any of claims 11-20, further comprising reflecting means;

the reflecting device is used for reflecting the dispersed light spots of the light ray control device, so that the light spots form virtual images outside the reflecting device.