CN113640903B

CN113640903B - Fly-eye lens, backlight illumination system and manufacturing method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN113640903B
Application number: CN202010348440.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 桑鹏鹏; 蔡尚�; 郎海涛; 张恩鑫; 张鹤腾; 杨佳
Original assignee: Ningbo Sunny Automotive Optech Co Ltd
Current assignee: Ningbo Sunny Automotive Optech Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-04-27
Filing date: 2020-04-27
Publication date: 2023-06-20
Anticipated expiration: 2040-04-27
Also published as: CN113640903A

Abstract

The present application provides a fly-eye lens, a backlighting system, a method of manufacturing a fly-eye lens, and a method of forming a backlighting system. The fly-eye lens includes: the light-transmitting device is characterized in that a micro-unit lens array is arranged on the front side surface and the back side surface and adjusts the emergent angle of a light beam incident to the front side surface so as to be emitted from the back side surface, wherein the micro-unit lens array comprises a plurality of first micro-unit lenses and a plurality of second micro-unit lenses, and the first micro-unit lenses have different structures from the second micro-unit lenses.

Description

Fly-eye lens, backlight illumination system and manufacturing method thereof

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of optical elements, optical illumination, and the like, and more particularly, to a fly-eye lens, a backlight illumination system, a method of manufacturing a fly-eye lens, and a method of forming a backlight illumination system.

Background

The fly-eye lens is formed by combining a series of small lenses, and the double-row fly-eye lens array is applied to a backlight illumination system, so that the uniform illumination with higher light energy utilization rate and larger area can be obtained. However, the small lenses in the conventional fly-eye lens have the same structure, which is not beneficial to improving the utilization ratio of illumination light.

With the continuous development of safe driving technology, the vehicle-mounted HUD (Head up Display) is widely applied. The HUD optical system aims at presenting virtual display for a driver in a viewing distance of a few meters in front of a road, and the driver can always obtain various information related to driving in a basic view field without a low head observation instrument, so that the safety factor is greatly improved.

Although DLP-PGU is the mainstream of HUD in the future, considering that traditional TFT-PGU is cheaper and smaller than DLP-PGU, the demand of clients for TFT-PGU is still larger.

The TFT (Thin Film Transistor ) -PGU requires that the LCD screen be uniformly illuminated and that the light efficiency of the TFT-PGU system be improved as much as possible. Since LCDs are not themselves illuminated, LCDs require the aid of an illumination system to convey an image to the human eye, in the form of backlighting; however, in the TFT-PGU system, the central area of the LCD screen is high in brightness and the peripheral area is low in brightness or cannot be illuminated because the divergence angle of the fly-eye lens is small.

Disclosure of Invention

In one aspect, a fly-eye lens is provided. The fly-eye lens includes: the light-transmitting device is characterized in that a micro-unit lens array is arranged on the front side surface and the back side surface and adjusts the emergent angle of a light beam incident to the front side surface so as to be emitted from the back side surface, wherein the micro-unit lens array comprises a plurality of first micro-unit lenses and a plurality of second micro-unit lenses, and the first micro-unit lenses have different structures from the second micro-unit lenses.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the structure of the second microlens is half that of the first microlens.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the structure of the second microlens is smaller than half of the structure of the first microlens.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the structure of the second microlens is greater than half of the structure of the first microlens and less than the complete structure of the first microlens.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the structures of the plurality of second microlens in the microlens array are different, and at least two of the following three structures are selected: the structure of the plurality of second micro-unit lenses is half that of the first micro-unit lenses; the structure of the plurality of second micro-unit lenses is less than half of the structure of the first micro-unit lenses; and the structures of the plurality of second micro-unit lenses are larger than half of the structures of the first micro-unit lenses and smaller than the structures of the complete first micro-unit lenses.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the plurality of first micro unit lenses are disposed in an array at a central region of the front side of the substrate, and the plurality of second micro unit lenses are disposed at an edge region of the front side to surround the plurality of first micro unit lenses disposed at the central region.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the plurality of first micro unit lenses are disposed in an array at a central region of the back side surface, and the plurality of second micro unit lenses are disposed at an edge region of the back side surface to surround the plurality of first micro unit lenses disposed at the central region.

According to an embodiment of the present application, a plurality of the first micro-unit lenses and a plurality of the second micro-unit lenses are alternately disposed on the back side surface.

According to an embodiment of the present application, a plurality of the first micro-unit lenses and a plurality of the second micro-unit lenses are alternately disposed on the front side surface.

Another aspect of the present application provides a backlighting system. The backlighting system comprises: a light source for emitting a light beam; the collimating lens is used for receiving the light beam, collimating the light beam to form a collimated light beam and emitting the collimated light beam; the fly-eye lens, the said collimated light beam is incident to the said fly-eye lens, and form the divergent light beam after the angle of divergence is adjusted by the said fly-eye lens and launched; the lens group is used for adjusting the propagation angle of the divergent light beam to form a convergent light beam; and the light homogenizing element is used for receiving and homogenizing the converging light beams, so that the converging light beams are uniformly imaged on an imaging surface of the light homogenizing element.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the backlighting system further comprises: and a reflecting mirror disposed between the fly-eye lens and the lens group along an optical path of the divergent light beam so that the divergent light beam emitted from the fly-eye lens is incident on the lens group with a propagation direction changed.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the backlighting system has at least one collimating lens.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the backlighting system has an array of collimating lenses.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the light source is a light emitting diode.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the collimating lens is a total internal reflection TIR collimating lens.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the mirror is a planar mirror.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the lens group includes a convex lens.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the light homogenizing element is a light homogenizing film.

In another aspect, the present application provides a method for manufacturing a fly-eye lens, including disposing a microlens array on a substrate made of a light-transmitting material, wherein the substrate has a front side surface for receiving light and a back side surface opposite to the front side surface, wherein the disposing the microlens array on the substrate made of the light-transmitting material includes: providing a plurality of first and second micro-unit lenses on both the front side and the back side to form a micro-unit lens array for adjusting an exit angle of a light beam incident to the front side to exit from the back side; wherein in the step of forming the microlens array, the structure of the second microlens is set to be less than or equal to half of the structure of the first microlens; or is arranged to be greater than half of the structure of the first microlens and less than the complete structure of the first microlens.

Another aspect of the present application provides a method of forming a backlighting system, comprising: a collimating lens is arranged on the path of the light beam emitted by the light source so as to collimate the light beam to form a collimated light beam and emit the collimated light beam; arranging a fly-eye lens to receive the collimated light beam, and forming a divergent light beam after the divergent angle is adjusted by the fly-eye lens and emitting the divergent light beam; a lens group is arranged on the light path of the divergent light beam, and the divergent light beam forms a convergent light beam by adjusting the propagation angle through the lens group; and arranging a light homogenizing element for receiving the converged light beams so that the converged light beams are uniformly imaged on an imaging surface of the light homogenizing element.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the method further comprises: and a reflecting mirror is arranged between the fly-eye lens and the lens group along the light path of the divergent light beam so that the divergent light beam emitted from the fly-eye lens changes the propagation direction and enters the lens group.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the method further comprises: in the step of collimating the light beam to form a collimated light beam and emitting the collimated light beam, the energy of the emitted collimated light beam is in a gaussian distribution.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the method further comprises: the fly-eye lens is used for receiving the collimated light beam, and the fly-eye lens adjusts the divergence angle to form a divergent light beam and emits the divergent light beam, and in the step of: passing a central beam of high energy of the collimated beam in the gaussian distribution through a first micro-lens of the fly's eye lens, while diverging to a central region of the imaging surface more than to an edge region; and enabling the edge light beam with low energy in the collimated light beam to be diverged to the edge area of the imaging surface through the second micro-unit lens of the fly eye lens so as to compensate the energy value of the center light beam with high energy diverged to the edge area, and finally realizing the light homogenizing effect.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the method further comprises: in the step of setting the fly-eye lens to receive the collimated light beam, and forming a divergent light beam after the divergent angle is adjusted by the fly-eye lens and emitting the divergent light beam, the method comprises the following steps of: after passing through the first micro-unit lens and the second micro-unit lens of the fly-eye lens, a part of light beams enter a central area of an imaging surface, and the other part of light beams enter an edge area of the imaging surface; and enabling a part of light beams to enter the central area of the imaging surface and the other part of light beams to enter the edge area of the imaging surface after the edge light beams with low energy in the collimated light beams with Gaussian distribution pass through the first micro unit lens and the second micro unit lens of the fly-eye lens, so that uniform illuminance distribution of the imaging surface is realized.

According to the fly-eye lens, the backlight illumination system, the method for manufacturing the fly-eye lens and the method for forming the backlight illumination system provided by the application, at least one of the following beneficial effects can be achieved:

1) By the special design of the fly-eye lens, edge light can be controlled not to be projected to the central area of the substrate, but only to the outer edge area, so that the illumination of the outer edge is improved, and the light homogenizing effect is realized;

2) The special design of the fly-eye lens can control the light projection direction of the micro-unit lens in each area of the substrate, so that the illuminance obtained in the central area and the peripheral area of the substrate is similar, and the light homogenizing effect is realized;

3) The backlight illumination system provided by the application can only redesign the fly-eye lens, and can be suitable for liquid crystal display screens with different sizes without redesigning other optical elements, so that the design and manufacturing cost is reduced;

4) The application can realize the backlight requirement of higher brightness by increasing the number of the total internal reflection collimating lenses; and

5) According to the micro-unit lens structure, the micro-unit lens structures in various forms are designed on the fly-eye lens, and light distribution with various performances can be achieved.

Drawings

Other features, objects and advantages of the present application will become more apparent upon reading of the detailed description of non-limiting embodiments, made with reference to the following drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a fly-eye lens according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fly-eye lens according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a fly-eye lens according to another embodiment of the application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fly-eye lens according to another embodiment of the application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a fly-eye lens according to another embodiment of the application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fly-eye lens according to another embodiment of the application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a backlighting system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a distribution diagram of a first and second micro-cell lens on a fly-eye lens in a backlighting system according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a backlighting system according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a distribution diagram of a first and second micro-cell lens on a fly-eye lens in a backlighting system according to another embodiment of the application;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of a method of manufacturing fly-eye lenses according to an embodiment of the application; and

fig. 12 is a flowchart of a method of forming a backlighting system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

For a better understanding of the present application, various aspects of the present application will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these detailed description are merely illustrative of exemplary embodiments of the application and are not intended to limit the scope of the application in any way. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. The expression "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be noted that in the present specification, the expressions of first, second, third, etc. are only used to distinguish one feature from another feature, and do not represent any limitation on the feature. Thus, a first mirror discussed below may also be referred to as a second mirror without departing from the teachings of the present application. And vice versa.

In the drawings, the thickness, size, and shape of the components have been slightly adjusted for convenience of description. The figures are merely examples and are not drawn to scale. As used herein, the terms "about," "approximately," and the like are used as terms of a table approximation, not as terms of a table degree, and are intended to account for inherent deviations in measured or calculated values that will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.

It will be further understood that terms such as "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "having," "containing," "includes" and/or "including" are open-ended, rather than closed-ended, terms that specify the presence of the stated features, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Furthermore, when a statement such as "at least one of the following" appears after a list of features listed, it modifies the entire list of features rather than just modifying the individual elements in the list. Furthermore, when describing embodiments of the present application, use of "may" means "one or more embodiments of the present application. Also, the term "exemplary" is intended to refer to an example or illustration.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including engineering and technical terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the embodiments and features in the embodiments may be combined with each other. In addition, unless explicitly defined or contradicted by context, the particular steps included in the methods described herein are not necessarily limited to the order described, but may be performed in any order or in parallel. The present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a fly-eye lens according to an embodiment of the present application.

The fly-eye lens 1000 may include a substrate 1100, a plurality of first micro-cell lenses 1200, and a plurality of second micro-cell lenses 1300.

As shown in fig. 2, the substrate 1100 may be made of a light-transmitting material, so that the substrate 1100 has a high light transmittance. The substrate 1100 has a front side 1110 that receives light and a back side 1120 opposite the front side 1110. The plurality of first and second

micro-unit lenses

1200 and 1300 may be arranged in a matrix on the front side 1110 to adjust an exit angle of a light beam incident on the front side 1110 of the substrate. The light beam enters fly eye lens 1000 from front side 1110 and exits from back side 1120. The microlens array includes a plurality of first microlens 1200 and a plurality of second microlens 1300, the first microlens 1200 having a different structure from the second microlens 1300. The structure of the second microlens is not particularly limited to a specific structure, and may be, for example, a surface type, a height or a surface area, etc., unlike the structure of the first microlens.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the structure of the second microlens 1300 may be half that of the first microlens 1200 so that the range in which the second microlens 1300 adjusts the beam divergence angle is small. For example, the first microlens may be one-half sphere, and the second microlens may be one-quarter sphere, i.e., more light is incident on the first microlens than on the second microlens. The range of the angle of divergence of the incident beam adjusted by the first micro-unit lens is larger than the range of the angle of divergence of the incident beam adjusted by the second micro-unit lens. The plurality of first micro-unit lenses 1200 may be disposed at a central region of the front side 1110, and the plurality of second micro-unit lenses 1300 may be disposed at an edge region of the front side 1110 of the substrate. Meanwhile, the plurality of first micro-unit lenses 1200 and the plurality of second micro-unit lenses 1300 are symmetrically arranged in a matrix on the back side 1120 of the substrate to adjust the outgoing angle of the light beam incident on the fly eye lens 1000. That is, as shown in fig. 2, the plurality of first micro-unit lenses 1200 are disposed in the central regions of the substrate front side 1110 and the substrate back side 1120, and the plurality of second micro-unit lenses 1300 are disposed in the edge regions of the substrate front side 1110 and the substrate back side 1120. The structure of the second microlens 1300 is half that of the first microlens 1200. The structures (such as the surface type) of the first micro-unit lenses 1200 and the second micro-unit lenses 1300 may be adaptively adjusted according to practical situations, for example, the first micro-unit lenses 1200 are convex lenses to converge the light beams projected onto the front side 1110 of the substrate. The micro-cell lens of the front side 1110 of the substrate divides the entire incident broad beam into a plurality of beamlets, with minor non-uniformities within each beamlet. Due to the mutual superposition of beamlets at the corresponding positions of the front side 1110 and the back side 1120 of the substrate, the tiny uniformity of the beamlets is compensated, so that the light energy passing through the fly-eye lens 1000 is effectively and uniformly utilized. Of course, the number of the first and second

micro-unit lenses

1200 and 1300 in the actual product is not limited to that shown in fig. 1, and may be adjusted according to the specific product specification.

According to embodiments of the present application, the structure of the second microlens 1300 can also be less than half of the structure of the first microlens 1200. Alternatively, the structure of the second microlens 1300 can also be greater than half of the structure of the first microlens 1200 and less than the structure of the complete first microlens 1200 lens. Alternatively, the structures of the plurality of second microlens 1300 in the microlens array are different from each other, for example, a portion of the structures of the second microlens 1300 may be half of the structures of the first microlens 1200; a portion of the second microlens 1300 can have a structure that is less than half of the structure of the first microlens 1200; and the remaining portion of the second microlens 1300 has a structure that is greater than half of the structure of the first microlens 1200 and less than the structure of the complete first microlens 1200. For example, the first microlens 1200 is formed of one-half sphere, and the structure of the second microlens 1300 may be greater than or equal to or less than one-fourth sphere, or a portion of the structure of the second microlens 1300 may be greater than one-fourth sphere, a portion of the structure of the second microlens 1300 may be equal to one-fourth sphere, and a portion of the structure of the second microlens 1300 may be less than one-fourth sphere. The structures of the first micro-unit lens 1200 and the second micro-unit lens 1300 can be adjusted according to actual needs to better adjust the angles of light, so that the fly-eye lens 1000 has better light homogenizing effect, and the effect that the light spot center and the peripheral illumination transmitted through the fly-eye lens 1000 can be homogenized is achieved.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a fly-eye lens according to another embodiment of the present application.

According to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3, a plurality of first micro unit lenses 2200 and a plurality of second micro unit lenses 2300 may be alternately disposed on a substrate 2100. As shown in fig. 4, a plurality of first micro-unit lenses 2200 and a plurality of second micro-unit lenses 2300 may be alternately disposed at the front side 2110. For example, a plurality of first micro-unit lenses 2200 and a plurality of second micro-unit lenses 2300 are alternately arranged on the substrate front side 2110. Meanwhile, a plurality of first and second

micro-unit lenses

2200 and 2300 are symmetrically and alternately arranged at the substrate backside 2120. The structures of the plurality of first micro unit lenses 2200 may be different from each other. The structures of the plurality of second micro unit lenses 2300 may be different from each other. The structure of the plurality of first micro unit lenses 2200 may also be different from that of the plurality of second micro unit lenses 2300. For example, the plurality of first micro-unit lenses 2200 are convex lenses to converge light beams projected to the front side 2110 of the substrate. The micro-cell lenses of the front side 2110 of the substrate divide the entire incident wide beam into a plurality of beamlets, with minor non-uniformities in each beamlet. Due to the superposition of beamlets at the positions corresponding to the front substrate side 2110 and the back substrate side 2120, the tiny uniformity of the beamlets is compensated, and thus the light energy passing through the fly-eye lens 2000 is effectively and uniformly utilized. Of course, the number of the first and second

micro-unit lenses

2200 and 2300 in the actual product is not limited to that shown in fig. 3, and may be adjusted according to the specific product specification.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a fly-eye lens according to another embodiment of the present application.

According to the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, the structure of the first micro unit lenses 3200 disposed at the central regions of the substrate front side 3110 and the substrate back side 3120 may be different from the structure of the second micro unit lenses 3300 disposed at the edge regions of the substrate front side 3110 and the substrate back side 3120. For example, the surface shape of the first micro-unit lenses 3200 disposed in the central region of the substrate backside 3120 may be different from the surface shape of the second micro-unit lenses 3300 disposed in the edge region of the substrate backside 3120. That is, the first micro-unit lenses 3200 disposed at the central region of the substrate backside 3120 may be convex lenses, and the second micro-unit lenses 3300 disposed at the edge region of the substrate backside 3120 may be concave lenses; or the first micro-unit lenses 3200 disposed at the central region of the substrate backside 3120 may be concave lenses, and the second micro-unit lenses 3300 disposed at the edge region of the substrate backside 3120 may be convex lenses. In contrast, the first microlens 3200 disposed in the center region of the substrate front side 3110 may have a different surface shape than the second microlens 3300 disposed in the edge region of the substrate front side 3110.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a backlighting system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The backlighting system 7000 may include a light source 7100, a collimating lens 7200, a fly eye lens 7300, a mirror 7400, a lens group 7500, and a light homogenizing element 7600.

The light source 7100 may be a light emitting diode, i.e., LED, light source. The LED light source 7100 may emit a light beam to a TIR collimating lens 7200. The TIR collimating lens 7200 may collimate the light beam emitted by the LED light source 7100 to form a collimated light beam. The collimated beam is transmitted to fly eye lens 7300 and passes through fly eye lens 7300 to form a diverging beam. The structure of the fly-eye lens 7300 has a good light homogenizing effect, and the fly-eye lens 7300 can form a divergent light beam after adjusting the divergence angle of the collimated light beam, so that the spot center and the peripheral illumination of the divergent light beam are homogenized. The diverging light beam emitted from fly-eye lens 7300 can be directed to mirror 7400. The mirror 7400 can be a planar mirror. The reflecting mirror 7400 may be used to reflect the divergent light beam homogenized by the fly-eye lens 7300 so that the divergent light beam emitted from the fly-eye lens 7300 changes the propagation direction. The lens group 7500 may be a convex lens for converging light. The divergent light beam emitted from the plane mirror 7400 can be formed into a convergent light beam by adjusting the propagation angle of the divergent light beam through the convex lens 7500. The light homogenizing element 7600 may be a light homogenizing film, which may be used to homogenize light to provide a uniform surface light source so as to be capable of being projected. The light homogenizing element 7600 can be used to receive the focused light beam to further homogenize the focused light beam to uniformly image the focused light beam on the imaging surface of the light homogenizing element 7600. The homogenized converging light beam is finally directed to TFT LCD screen 7700.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the backlight illumination system 7000 is not limited to the combination of the collimator lens 7200, the fly-eye lens 7300, and the lens group 7500 described above, and the backlight illumination system 7000 may employ other lens combinations as needed as long as the same technical effects can be achieved. For example, depending on the propagation trend of the light beam, backlighting system 7000 may not require the use of mirror 7400 to change the direction of the light beam, or may require the use of multiple mirrors 7400 to change the direction of the light beam. It should be appreciated that the number of TIR lenses used as collimating lenses 7200, including but not limited to the number shown in the figures, may be increased as desired, increasing the light reaching LCD screen 7700, thereby achieving a higher brightness backlight requirement. It should also be understood that the mirror 7400 includes, but is not limited to, a planar mirror, but also includes mirrors of other planar configurations, such as free-form surfaces.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the arrangement of the micro unit lenses of the fly-eye lens 7300 may be such that, as shown in fig. 8, the central area of the back side and the front side of the substrate is the first micro unit lens a, and the outer edge area is the second micro unit lens B. The second microlens B may have a structure half that of the first microlens a, may be less than a structure half of the first microlens a, may be greater than a structure half of the first microlens a, or may be of other planar shape. The structures of the first and second microlens are not particularly required. Thus, the light emitted from the LED light source 7100 passes through the collimator lens 7200 and then emits a collimated light beam. The energy of the collimated beam is gaussian, i.e. the energy of the central beam is high and the energy of the edge beam is low. The collimated light beam in gaussian distribution passes through the fly eye lens 7300, and the central light beam with high energy can be diverged to the central region of the imaging surface through the first micro-unit lens, and the light beam is more than the edge region; the edge light beam with low energy can be diffused to the edge area of the imaging surface through the second micro-unit lens, so that the energy value of the center light beam with high energy diffused to the edge area is compensated, and finally, the light homogenizing effect is realized.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a backlighting system according to another embodiment of the present application.

The backlighting system 9000 may comprise a light source 9100, a collimating lens 9200, a fly-eye lens 9300, a mirror 9400, a lens group 9500, and a light homogenizing element 9600.

The light source 9100 may be a light emitting diode, i.e., an LED light source. The LED light source 9100 can emit a light beam to a TIR collimating lens 9200. The TIR collimating lens 9200 may collimate the light beam emitted by the LED light source 9100 to form a collimated light beam. The collimated beam is transmitted to fly eye lens 9300 and passes through fly eye lens 9300 to form a diverging beam. The structure of the fly-eye lens 9300 has a good light homogenizing effect, and the fly-eye lens 9300 can form a divergent light beam after adjusting the divergence angle of the collimated light beam, so that the spot center and the peripheral illumination of the divergent light beam are homogenized. The diverging light beam emitted from fly eye lens 9300 can be directed to mirror 9400. Mirror 9400 can be a planar mirror 9400. The reflecting mirror 9400 can be used to reflect the divergent light beam homogenized by the fly-eye lens 9300 so that the divergent light beam emitted from the fly-eye lens 9300 changes the propagation direction. The lens group 9500 may be a convex lens for converging light. The divergent light beam emitted from the plane mirror 9400 can be formed into a convergent light beam by adjusting the propagation angle of the divergent light beam through a convex lens. The light homogenizing element 9600 may be a light homogenizing film that may be used to homogenize light to provide a uniform surface light source so that it can be projected. The light homogenizing element 9600 can be configured to receive the focused light beam to further homogenize the focused light beam to uniformly image the focused light beam on an imaging surface of the light homogenizing element 9600. The homogenized converging light beam is finally directed to TFT LCD screen 9700.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the backlight illumination system 9000 is not limited to the combination of the collimator lens 9200, fly-eye lens 9300, and lens group 9500 described above, and the backlight illumination system 9000 may employ other lens combinations as necessary as long as the same technical effects can be achieved. For example, depending on the propagation profile of the light beam, the backlighting system 9000 may not require the use of a mirror 9400 or require the use of multiple mirrors 9400 to change the direction of the light beam. It should be appreciated that the number of TIR lenses used as collimating lenses 9200, including but not limited to the number shown in the figures, may be increased as desired to increase the light reaching LCD screen 9700, thereby achieving a higher brightness backlight requirement. It should also be appreciated that mirror 9400 includes, but is not limited to, planar mirrors, as well as mirrors of other planar configurations, such as free-form surfaces.

According to the embodiment of the present application, the structural arrangement of the micro unit lenses of the fly-eye lens 9300 may be such that a plurality of first micro unit lenses a and a plurality of second micro unit lenses B are alternately disposed in order on the back side and the front side of the substrate as shown in fig. 10. The arrangement can make the transition of the uniform light spot injected into the imaging surface smoother. Thus, the light emitted from the LED light source 9100 passes through the collimator lens 9200, and then, a collimated light beam is emitted. The energy of the collimated beam is gaussian, i.e. the energy of the central beam is high and the energy of the edge beam is low. The high-energy center beam is diverged after passing through the fly-eye lens 9300 in which the first and second micro-unit lenses are disposed at intervals, and finally, a part of the high-energy center beam enters the center region of the imaging surface, and the other part enters the edge region of the imaging surface. Similarly, the marginal beam with low energy is diverged after passing through the fly eye lens 9300 provided with the first micro-unit lens and the second micro-unit lens at intervals, and finally, one part of the marginal beam with low energy enters the central area of the imaging surface, and the other part enters the marginal area of the imaging surface, so that the uniform illuminance distribution of the imaging surface is realized.

In practical applications, the structure of the fly-eye lens (including the surface shape, number, size, arrangement, etc. of the micro-unit lenses), the number of TIR collimating lenses, the placement position of the reflecting mirrors, etc. can be adjusted according to the size and placement distance of the TFT LCD screen 9700 in practical requirements, so as to adjust the divergence angle and the beam direction of the divergent beam to adapt to the TFT LCD screen. For example, when the size of the TFT LCD screen 9700 is fixed, the difference in the distance between the placement positions may also cause the screen to be not uniformly illuminated, and the backlight system 9000 according to the present application may adapt to the TFT LCD screen 9700 with a longer distance by adjusting the divergence angle of the divergent light beam to be smaller through the fly eye lens 9300, and may adapt to the TFT LCD screen 9700 with a shorter distance by adjusting the divergence angle to be larger. According to the backlighting system 9000 provided by the application, for different lighting backlight requirements, the backlight requirements can be met only by redesigning the fly-eye lens 9300, and the processing cost and the system volume are not increased.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a method of manufacturing fly-eye lenses according to an embodiment of the application.

The method 10000 of manufacturing a fly-eye lens may include: in operation S11000, disposing a micro-cell lens array on a substrate made of a light-transmitting material, wherein the substrate has a front side surface receiving light and a back side surface opposite to the front side surface; in operation S12000, disposing a plurality of first and second microlens on both the front and back sides of the substrate to form a microlens array, thereby adjusting an exit angle of a light beam incident to the front side to exit from the back side, specifically, disposing the plurality of first and second microlens may include: the plurality of first micro-unit lenses are arranged in an array in a central region of the front side of the substrate, and the plurality of second micro-unit lenses are arranged in an edge region of the front side to surround the plurality of first micro-unit lenses arranged in the central region. In one embodiment, the plurality of first micro-cell lenses may be further arranged in an array at a central region of the back side surface, and the plurality of second micro-cell lenses may be arranged at an edge region of the back side surface to surround the plurality of first micro-cell lenses arranged at the central region. Further, the plurality of first micro-unit lenses and the plurality of second micro-unit lenses may be alternately arranged on the back side surface, or the plurality of first micro-unit lenses and the plurality of second micro-unit lenses may be alternately arranged on the front side surface.

The first microlens may have a different structure from the second microlens, for example, the structure of the second microlens is set to be less than or equal to half of the structure of the first microlens; or is arranged to be greater than half of the structure of the first microlens and less than the complete structure of the first microlens.

The method 20000 of forming a backlighting system may comprise: in operation S21000, a collimating lens is disposed on a path of a light beam emitted from the light source to collimate the light beam to form a collimated light beam and emit the collimated light beam; in operation S22000, the fly-eye lens described above with reference to fig. 1-5 is disposed to receive the collimated light beam, and the diverging light beam is formed and emitted after the diverging angle is adjusted by the fly-eye lens; in operation S23000, a lens group is disposed on an optical path of the divergent light beam, and the divergent light beam forms a converging light beam by adjusting a propagation angle of the lens group; in operation S24000, a light-homogenizing element that receives the condensed light beam is provided so that the condensed light beam is uniformly imaged on an imaging surface of the light-homogenizing element.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the method may further include providing a reflecting mirror between the fly-eye lens and the lens group along the optical path of the divergent light beam, so that the divergent light beam exiting from the fly-eye lens is incident on the lens group with its propagation direction changed.

In operation S21000, the energy of the collimated beam to form a collimated beam is gaussian. In operation S22000, a center beam of high energy of the collimated light beam in gaussian distribution passes through a first micro-unit lens of the fly-eye lens, while a beam of light diverged to a center region of the imaging surface is more than an edge region, and an edge beam of low energy of the collimated light beam diverges to an edge region of the imaging surface through a second micro-unit lens of the fly-eye lens, so as to compensate an energy value of the center beam of high energy diverged to the edge region, and finally, a dodging effect is achieved.

According to an embodiment of the present application, in operation S22000, after a central beam having high energy among collimated beams in gaussian distribution passes through a first micro-unit lens and a second micro-unit lens of a fly eye lens, one part of the beams enter a central region of an imaging surface, and the other part of the beams enter an edge region of the imaging surface; and after the edge light beams with low energy in the collimated light beams in Gaussian distribution pass through the first micro-unit lens and the second micro-unit lens of the fly eye lens, one part of light beams enter the central area of the imaging surface, and the other part of light beams enter the edge area of the imaging surface, so that the uniform illuminance distribution of the imaging surface is realized.

The above description is merely illustrative of the implementations of the application and of the principles of the technology applied. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of protection referred to in this application is not limited to the specific combination of the above technical features, but also encompasses other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features or their equivalents without departing from the technical concept. Such as the above-described features and technical features having similar functions (but not limited to) disclosed in the present application are replaced with each other.

Claims

1. A fly-eye lens comprising a substrate made of a light-transmitting material, the substrate having a front side surface that receives light and a back side surface opposite to the front side surface, characterized in that,

a micro-unit lens array is disposed on both the front side and the back side to adjust an exit angle of a light beam incident to the front side to exit from the back side,

wherein the micro-unit lens arrays on the front side and the micro-unit lens arrays on the back side are symmetrically distributed;

the micro-unit lens array comprises a plurality of first micro-unit lenses and a plurality of second micro-unit lenses, wherein the structure of the first micro-unit lenses is at least one part of a spherical structure, the structure of the second micro-unit lenses is one part of a spherical structure, the first micro-unit lenses have different structures from the second micro-unit lenses, and the structures of the plurality of second micro-unit lenses are different and are selected from at least one of the following three structures: the structure of the plurality of second micro-unit lenses is half that of the first micro-unit lenses; the structure of the plurality of second micro-unit lenses is less than half of the structure of the first micro-unit lenses; and the structures of the plurality of second micro-unit lenses are larger than half of the structures of the first micro-unit lenses and smaller than the structures of the complete first micro-unit lenses; and

The plurality of second microlens is disposed around the plurality of first microlens.

2. The fly-eye lens according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the first micro-unit lenses are disposed in an array in a central region of the front side surface of the substrate, and a plurality of the second micro-unit lenses are disposed in an edge region of the front side surface to surround the plurality of the first micro-unit lenses disposed in the central region.

3. The fly's eye lens of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the first micro-cell lenses are disposed in an array in a central region of the back side surface, and a plurality of the second micro-cell lenses are disposed in an edge region of the back side surface to surround the plurality of first micro-cell lenses disposed in the central region.

4. The fly-eye lens according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the first micro-cell lenses and a plurality of the second micro-cell lenses are alternately disposed on the back side surface.

5. The fly-eye lens according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the first micro-cell lenses and a plurality of the second micro-cell lenses are alternately arranged on the front side surface.

6. A backlighting system, the backlighting system comprising:

A light source for emitting a light beam;

the collimating lens is used for receiving the light beam, collimating the light beam to form a collimated light beam and emitting the collimated light beam;

a fly-eye lens according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the collimated light beam is incident on the fly-eye lens, and forms a divergent light beam after the divergent angle is adjusted by the fly-eye lens, and is emitted;

the lens group is used for adjusting the propagation angle of the divergent light beam to form a convergent light beam;

and the light homogenizing element is used for receiving and homogenizing the converging light beams, so that the converging light beams are uniformly imaged on an imaging surface of the light homogenizing element.

7. A backlighting system as recited in claim 6, wherein said backlighting system further comprises:

and a reflecting mirror disposed between the fly-eye lens and the lens group along an optical path of the divergent light beam so that the divergent light beam emitted from the fly-eye lens is incident on the lens group with a propagation direction changed.

8. A backlighting system as claimed in claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the backlighting system has at least one collimator lens.

9. A backlighting system as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the light sources are light emitting diodes.

10. The backlighting system as recited in claim 8, wherein said collimating lens is a total internal reflection TIR collimating lens.

11. A backlighting system as recited in claim 7, wherein said reflector is a planar reflector.

12. A backlighting system as recited in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein said lens group comprises a convex lens.

13. A backlighting system as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the light homogenizing element is a light homogenizing film.

14. A method of manufacturing a fly-eye lens comprising disposing a microlens array on a substrate made of a light-transmitting material, wherein the substrate has a front side that receives light and a back side opposite to the front side, characterized in that the step of disposing the microlens array on the substrate made of a light-transmitting material comprises:

a plurality of first micro-unit lenses and a plurality of second micro-unit lenses are arranged on the front side surface and the back side surface to form a micro-unit lens array, the micro-unit lens array on the front side surface and the micro-unit lens array on the back side surface are symmetrically distributed,

Wherein in the step of forming the microlens array, the structure of the first microlens is set to at least a part of a spherical structure, and the structure of the second microlens is set to a part of a spherical structure, wherein the structure of the second microlens is set to be less than or equal to half of the structure of the first microlens; or is arranged to be greater than half of the structure of the first microlens and less than the complete structure of the first microlens; and disposing a plurality of the second microlens around a plurality of the first microlens.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of providing a plurality of first and second microlens comprises:

the plurality of first micro-unit lenses are arranged in an array in a central region of the front side of the substrate, and the plurality of second micro-unit lenses are arranged in an edge region of the front side to surround the plurality of first micro-unit lenses arranged in the central region.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a plurality of the first microlens is disposed in an array at a central region of the back side surface, and a plurality of the second microlens is disposed at an edge region of the back side surface to surround the plurality of the first microlens disposed at the central region.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a plurality of the first microlens is disposed on the backside surface alternating with a plurality of the second microlens.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein a plurality of the first microlens is alternately disposed with a plurality of the second microlens on the front side.

19. A method of forming a backlighting system, comprising:

a collimating lens is arranged on the path of the light beam emitted by the light source so as to collimate the light beam to form a collimated light beam and emit the collimated light beam;

providing the fly-eye lens according to any one of claims 1-5 to receive the collimated light beam, and forming a divergent light beam after adjusting a divergent angle by the fly-eye lens and emitting the divergent light beam;

a lens group is arranged on the light path of the divergent light beam, and the divergent light beam forms a convergent light beam by adjusting the propagation angle through the lens group; and

and arranging a light homogenizing element for receiving the converged light beams so that the converged light beams are uniformly imaged on an imaging surface of the light homogenizing element.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

And a reflecting mirror is arranged between the fly-eye lens and the lens group along the light path of the divergent light beam so that the divergent light beam emitted from the fly-eye lens changes the propagation direction and enters the lens group.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein in the step of collimating the light beam to form a collimated light beam and emitting the collimated light beam, the energy of the emitted collimated light beam is gaussian.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein in the step of arranging the fly-eye lens of any one of claims 1-5 to receive the collimated light beam and forming a diverging light beam and emitting it after adjusting the divergence angle by the fly-eye lens:

passing a central beam of high energy of the collimated beam in the gaussian distribution through a first micro-lens of the fly's eye lens, while diverging to a central region of the imaging surface more than to an edge region; and

and enabling the edge light beam with low energy in the collimated light beam to pass through the second micro-unit lens of the fly-eye lens and be dispersed to the edge area of the imaging surface so as to compensate the energy value of the central light beam with high energy dispersed to the edge area, and finally realizing the light homogenizing effect.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein in the step of arranging the fly-eye lens of any one of claims 1-5 to receive the collimated light beam and forming a diverging light beam and emitting it after adjusting the divergence angle by the fly-eye lens:

after passing through the first micro-unit lens and the second micro-unit lens of the fly-eye lens, a part of light beams enter a central area of an imaging surface, and the other part of light beams enter an edge area of the imaging surface; and

and after the edge light beams with low energy in the collimated light beams with Gaussian distribution pass through the first micro-unit lens and the second micro-unit lens of the fly-eye lens, one part of light beams enter the central area of the imaging surface, and the other part of light beams enter the edge area of the imaging surface, so that the uniform illuminance distribution of the imaging surface is realized.