CN1819287A - Luminescent light source and luminescent light source array - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a luminescent light source that can increase the number of divisions of a reflecting mirror without reducing pitch interval of reflection areas. A luminescent light source comprises a reflecting mirror for reflecting light, a mold unit arranged on a light reflection surface of the reflecting mirror, and light emitting devices of three luminescent devices of red, blue and green that are placed in the central part and output light to the mold unit. In the reflecting mirror, rectangular reflection areas are arranged vertically and horizontally in a grid.

Description

Luminescent light source and luminescent light source array

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a light emitting source and a light emitting source array, and more particularly to a light emitting source and a light emitting source array using an LED (light emitting diode) chip. The present invention also relates to an illumination device and a liquid crystal display device using the light emitting source array.

Background

As a light emitting source having a large area and high light utilization efficiency, there is a light emitting source disclosed in patent document 1. Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing a part of such a light-emitting light source 11. The light emitting source 11 has a white or single-color light emitting element 13 disposed in the center of the back surface of a mold portion 14 made of a transparent resin, and a reflective member 12 formed by depositing a thin metal film of Al, Au, Ag, or the like in a concentric pattern on the back surface of the mold portion 14. Fig. 2 is a front view showing the light emitting element 13 and the reflecting member 12 after removing the mold portion 14 from the light emitting source 11. The reflecting member 12 is concentric and includes a plurality of annular reflecting regions 12a, 12b, and … arranged concentrically.

However, as shown in fig. 1, in the light-emitting light source 11, of the light emitted from the light-emitting element 13, light L1 incident on the central portion (hereinafter referred to as a direct emission region) 15a of the front surface of the mold portion 14 is transmitted through the direct emission region 15a and emitted to the front surface side. Light L2 incident on a region 15b other than direct exit region 15a (hereinafter referred to as a total reflection region) on the front surface of mold part 14 is totally reflected by total reflection region 15b, reflected by reflecting member 12, transmitted through total reflection region 15b, and emitted to the front surface. Therefore, in such a light-emitting source 11, the width a of the light L2 reflected by 1 reflection region (for example, 12c) is substantially equal to the width of the reflection region (for example, 12 c).

In a backlight for a color liquid crystal display, when a multicolor light source such as a red LED, a green LED, or a blue LED is used, the color display of three primary colors of the color liquid crystal display is better than that when a white light source such as a white LED is used, and the color display has excellent color reproducibility. However, in the light-emitting light source 11 configured as described above, when a white light source is configured by arranging light-emitting elements of 3 emission colors of red, green, and blue, for example, in the center portion of the reflecting member 12, there is a problem that light of each color is separated and color unevenness occurs in the light-emitting light source 11. The reason for this will be described below. Fig. 3 shows a state of each color light when light emitting elements 13R, 13G, and 13B of 3 emission colors of red, green, and blue are arranged at the center of light emitting source 11. For example, in fig. 3, LR denotes red light, LG denotes green light, LB denotes blue light, AR denotes an irradiation region of red light LR spaced apart from light-emitting source 11 by a predetermined distance, AG denotes an irradiation region of green light LG, and AB denotes an irradiation region of blue light LB.

In the case of this light-emitting light source 11, since the positions of the light-emitting elements 13R, 13G, and 13B are slightly shifted, the emission direction of light reflected by the reflection region 12c after being reflected by the total reflection region 15B differs depending on the color of light, and therefore the irradiation regions AR, AG, and AB of the respective colors are also shifted from each other. Therefore, the region where the lights of the respective colors overlap and become white light is a hatched region in fig. 3. As is clear from fig. 3, the white light region with diagonal lines is narrower than the reflective region 12c, and the outgoing light is colored in the outer region thereof, resulting in color unevenness.

To solve such a problem, the reflection regions 12a, 12b, and … can be divided into smaller sections, and the sectional shapes of the reflection regions can be designed according to the light of the respective colors. For example, in the light-emitting source 16 shown in fig. 4, the reflection region 12c is further divided into 3 reflection regions 19a, 19b, and 19c, the reflection region 19a is designed such that the blue light LB is emitted in the front direction in the reflection region 19a, the reflection region 19b is designed such that the green light LG is emitted in the front direction in the reflection region 19b, and the red light LR is emitted in the front direction in the reflection region 19 c.

In the light-emitting source 16 designed as described above, the region where the lights of the respective colors overlap and become white light is substantially the same as the entire reflection regions 19a, 19b, and 19c (i.e., the reflection region 12c), as shown in fig. 4.

As can be seen from the example of fig. 4, even when a multicolor light-emitting element is used, if the number of divisions of the reflecting member of the light source is increased, the color unevenness of the light-emitting light source is reduced and the color uniformity is improved. In addition, in a monochromatic or polychromatic light-emitting element, if the number of divisions of the reflecting member is increased, the direction of light traveling can be finely set, and therefore, the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is increased, the light emission direction can be more finely adjusted, and the uniformity of light intensity can be improved.

Therefore, as shown in fig. 5, the number of divisions (the number of reflection areas) of the reflection member 12 is 3, and the pitch interval P (the width in the radial direction of the reflection area) of the reflection areas 12a, 12b, and 12c is 6mm, and it is considered to divide each reflection area into 3 parts. Such a reflective member is shown in fig. 6. In the reflecting member 12 shown in fig. 6, the number of divisions of the reflecting member 12 is 9, and the pitch interval P of the reflecting regions 17a, 17b, 17c, 18a, 18b, 18c, 19a, 19b, 19c is 2 mm. Thus, although the color uniformity of the light-emitting source is improved when the reflective member 12 as shown in fig. 6 is used, the pitch interval of the reflective region becomes narrower as the number of divisions increases, making the reflective member difficult to manufacture and increasing the cost. That is, if the number of divisions of the reflecting member 12 is increased, there is a problem that a balance between improvement in performance of the light-emitting source and cost cannot be obtained.

Further, since the light emitting elements 13R, 13G, and 13B are two-dimensionally arranged, the distances between the light emitting elements 13R, 13G, and 13B and the reflective regions 12a, 12B, and … of the respective colors are different depending on the observation direction. Therefore, in the concentric circle-shaped reflecting members 12 having the same distance in the circumferential direction with the 1 point as the center in the respective reflecting regions 12a, 12b, and …, the overlapping (color mixing) of the same degree cannot be obtained in the entire circumferential direction. Specifically, referring to fig. 4, when the red light-emitting element 13R, the green light-emitting element 13G, and the blue light-emitting element 13B are arranged in this order from the left side of the front face, a reflective region 19a for vertically emitting red light, a reflective region 19B for vertically emitting green light, and a reflective region 19c for vertically emitting blue light are arranged in this order from the inner peripheral side on the left side. On the other hand, on the right side of the light emitting elements 13R, 13G, and 13B, a reflective region 19c for vertically emitting blue light, a reflective region 19B for vertically emitting green light, and a reflective region 19a for vertically emitting red light must be arranged in this order from the inner periphery side. Such a configuration cannot be realized by a belt-shaped reflection region.

Disclosure of Invention

A main object of the present invention is to provide a light emitting source capable of increasing the number of divisions of a reflecting member without reducing the pitch interval of a reflecting region. Another object of the present invention is to provide a light source that can adjust the light emitting direction more precisely by setting the light traveling direction in detail and increasing the degree of freedom in designing the optical path.

The 1 st light-emitting source of the present invention includes: the light source device includes a reflecting member that reflects light, a light guide portion that is disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element that projects light to the light guide portion, wherein the light emitting element is disposed in a central region of the reflecting member, the light guide portion has a light emitting surface that emits light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member to the outside, the reflecting member has a light reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light emitting surface of the light guide portion, and the light reflecting surface is configured by a plurality of reflecting regions that are arranged in at least 2 directions.

The 1 st light-emitting light source of the present invention has a light reflecting surface of the reflecting member constituted by a plurality of reflecting regions arranged in at least 2 directions, and therefore, the number of divisions of the reflecting member (the number of reflecting regions) can be increased without reducing the pitch interval of the reflecting regions. Therefore, the light traveling direction inside the light emitting source can be set finely, and the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is increased, so that the light emitting direction can be adjusted more finely. Therefore, the light intensity distribution of the light emitted from the light emitting source can be uniformized. In addition, when light-emitting elements of a plurality of emission colors are used, color uniformity can be improved, color unevenness can be reduced, and the quality of the light-emitting source can be improved. Also, since it is not necessary to reduce the pitch interval of the reflective region, the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is improved, so that the light emitting direction can be more finely adjusted, and even if the uniformity of the light intensity or color is improved, difficulty or cost is not increased in manufacturing the reflective member.

Further, the arrangement of the plurality of reflection areas in at least 2 directions is not limited to the case where the plurality of reflection areas are arranged in the perpendicular 2 directions. For example, the case may be where the reflective regions are arranged along at least 2 directions (i.e., the radial direction and the circumferential direction) defined by polar coordinates. Furthermore, it can be arranged along an arbitrary curve in at least 2 directions.

The 2 nd emission light source of the present invention includes: the light source device includes a reflecting member that reflects light, a light guide portion that is disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element that projects light to the light guide portion, the light emitting element being disposed in a central region of the reflecting member, the light guide portion having a light emitting surface that emits light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member to the outside, the reflecting member having a light reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light emitting surface of the light guide portion, the light reflecting surface being formed by a mosaic arrangement of a plurality of reflecting regions.

Here, the plurality of reflective regions arranged in a mosaic shape are regions in which reflective regions having substantially the same vertical and horizontal dimensions (may have an aspect ratio of several times or so) are arranged without a gap. Further, the reflective regions may have the same shape, or reflective regions having different shapes may be combined, or reflective regions having irregular shapes may be arranged. The reflective regions may be arranged regularly or irregularly.

In the 2 nd emission light source of the present invention, since the reflection regions are configured by arranging a plurality of reflection regions in a mosaic shape, the number of divisions of the reflection surface of the reflection member (the number of reflection regions) can be increased without reducing the pitch interval of the reflection regions. Thus, the direction of light traveling inside the light-emitting light source can be set finely, the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is improved, and the direction of light emission can be adjusted more finely. Therefore, the light intensity distribution of the light emitted from the light emitting source can be uniformized. In addition, when light-emitting elements of a plurality of emission colors are used, color uniformity can be improved, color unevenness can be reduced, and the quality of the light-emitting source can be improved. Also, since it is not necessary to reduce the pitch interval of the reflective region, the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is improved, so that the light emitting direction can be more finely adjusted, and even if the uniformity of the light intensity or color is improved, difficulty or cost is not increased in manufacturing the reflective member.

In the 1 st or 2 nd emission light source embodiment of the present invention, the reflection region is a square, a rectangle, a hexagon, a triangle, or a fan. Accordingly, the light reflecting surface can be formed by arranging the reflecting regions without a gap, and the light utilization efficiency can be improved. In particular, when the light reflecting surface of the reflecting member is divided into concentric annular zones around the optical axis thereof and the zones are divided into a plurality of zones along the circumferential direction to arrange the reflecting zones, the plurality of sector-shaped reflecting zones can be arranged without a gap.

In another embodiment of the 1 st or 2 nd emission light source according to the present invention, the characteristic amounts indicating the respective reflection regions are different between the reflection regions adjacent in each direction in which the reflection regions are arranged.

In another embodiment of the 1 st or 2 nd emission light source according to the present invention, the characteristic amounts indicating the respective reflection regions are different between the reflection regions adjacent in the direction between the respective directions in which the reflection regions are arranged. Here, in the case where, for example, the direction in which the reflective regions are arranged is the opposite-side direction, the direction therebetween refers to the diagonal direction which is the direction between the opposite-side directions.

In the 2 types of embodiments described above, if each reflection region is represented by a curved surface expression including 1 or 2 or more feature quantities (parameters), the reflection direction, the degree of diffusion, and the like of light reflected by each reflection region can be adjusted by appropriately determining the values of the feature quantities representing each curved surface, and the design of the reflection member can be facilitated.

For example, as the characteristic amount, a displacement amount of each of the reflection regions in the optical axis direction of the reflection member may be selected, and by appropriately designing the displacement amount of each of the reflection regions in the optical axis direction, the reflection direction, the degree of diffusion, and the like of light reflected by each of the reflection regions can be adjusted, and the design of the reflection member can be facilitated.

Furthermore, if the reflection regions are made to have a conical surface and the radius of curvature is used as the characteristic amount of the conical surface, the direction of reflection of light reflected by the reflection regions can be adjusted by the radius of curvature, and the uniformity of light intensity in a narrow region can be improved. In addition, when a plurality of light-emitting elements are used, color mixing properties can be improved in a narrow region, and color uniformity can be improved.

Further, if the reflection regions are made to have a conical surface and the conical coefficient is used as the characteristic amount of the conical surface, the diffusion of light reflected by the reflection regions can be adjusted by the conical coefficient according to the distance from the light emitting element, and the uniformity of light intensity can be improved over a wide region. In addition, when a plurality of light-emitting elements are used, color mixing properties can be improved over a wide range, and color uniformity can be improved.

Still another embodiment of the 1 st or 2 nd emission light source of the present invention has a plurality of the above-described light-emitting elements having different emission colors. In the light-emitting light source of the present invention, even when light from a plurality of light-emitting elements having different emission colors are mixed and emitted in a color different from that of the original light-emitting element, the light can be uniformly mixed, and color unevenness can be reduced.

In particular, if the light of each light emitting element is reflected by the reflection region so that the light emitted from the different light emitting elements is emitted substantially perpendicularly to the front direction in the adjacent reflection region, the range in which the light of each light emitting element overlaps with each other can be enlarged, and the color unevenness can be reduced.

In another embodiment of the 1 st or 2 nd emission light source according to the present invention, the surface of the light guide unit is divided into a plurality of regions, and the inclination angle or the inclination direction of the surface is changed for each of the divided regions. According to this embodiment, the emission direction or the reflection direction of the light distributed from the light emitting element to each divided region on the surface of the light guide portion can be adjusted with a high degree of freedom by the inclination angle or the inclination direction of each region on the surface of the light guide portion. The uniformity of the light intensity of the light-emitting light source can be further improved. In addition, when light-emitting elements of a plurality of colors are used, the color mixing property of light emitted from each light-emitting element can be further improved, and color unevenness can be reduced.

The light-emitting light source array of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of the 1 st or 2 nd light-emitting light sources of the present invention are arranged. According to the light emitting source array, a large-area thin surface light source can be realized in which the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is improved, the light emitting direction can be more finely adjusted, and the light intensity distribution of the emitted light is uniform. Further, even when a plurality of light emitting elements are used, the light of each emission color can be uniformly mixed.

The present invention provides a method for setting an optical path of a light source including a reflecting member for reflecting light, a light guide portion disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element for projecting light to the light guide portion, the method including: disposing the light emitting element in a central region of the reflecting member; forming a light emitting surface in the light guide portion so that light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member are emitted to the outside; and a step of forming, in the reflecting member, a light reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light emitting surface of the light guide portion by a plurality of reflecting regions arranged in at least 2 directions, and setting a reflecting direction of the reflected light generated in each reflecting region.

In the light path setting method of the light source of the present invention, since light is reflected by the plurality of reflection regions arranged in at least 2 directions and the reflection directions of the reflected light can be set individually, the traveling direction of light inside the light source can be set finely, the degree of freedom in designing the light path is improved, and the light emission direction can be adjusted more finely. Therefore, the light intensity distribution of the light emitted from the light emitting source can be uniformized. In addition, when light-emitting elements of a plurality of emission colors are used, color uniformity can be improved, color unevenness can be reduced, and the quality of the light-emitting source can be improved. Also, since it is not necessary to reduce the pitch interval of the reflective region, even if the degree of freedom of light path design or color uniformity is improved, difficulty or cost is not increased in manufacturing the reflective member.

A light emitting method of the present invention is a light emitting method of a light source including a reflecting member that reflects light, a light guide portion disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element that projects light to the light guide portion, the light emitting method including: disposing the light emitting element in a central region of the reflecting member; forming a light emitting surface in the light guide portion so that light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member are emitted to the outside; and a step of forming, in the reflecting member, a light reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light exit surface of the light guide portion by a plurality of reflecting regions arranged in at least 2 directions, and adjusting an emission direction and a light intensity distribution of the light emitted from the light exit surface of the light guide portion by setting a reflecting direction of the reflected light generated by each reflecting region.

In the light emitting method of the luminescent light source of the present invention, the light is reflected by the plurality of reflection regions arranged in at least 2 directions, and the reflection directions of the reflected light are set respectively, whereby the emission direction and the intensity distribution of the light emitted from the light emitting surface of the light guide portion can be adjusted, and therefore the traveling direction of the light inside the luminescent light source can be set finely, the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is improved, and the emission direction of the light can be adjusted more finely. Therefore, the light intensity distribution of the light emitted from the light emitting source can be uniformized. In addition, when light-emitting elements of a plurality of emission colors are used, color uniformity can be improved, color unevenness can be reduced, and the quality of the light-emitting light source can be improved. Also, since it is not necessary to reduce the pitch interval of the reflective region, even if the degree of freedom of light path design or color uniformity is improved, difficulty or cost is not increased in manufacturing the reflective member.

The lighting device of the present invention comprises: a light emitting source array in which a plurality of the 1 st or 2 nd light emitting sources according to the present invention are arranged, and a power supply device for supplying power to the light emitting source array. According to this lighting device, a lighting device having a large area and uniform light intensity can be provided.

The backlight of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of the 1 st or 2 nd emission light sources of the present invention are arranged in the same plane. According to this backlight, a backlight having a large area and uniform light intensity can be provided. In addition, in the case of color display, color unevenness can be reduced and color uniformity can be improved.

The liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes: a light emitting source array in which a plurality of light emitting sources 1 or 2 of the present invention are arranged, and a liquid crystal display panel disposed to face the light emitting source array. According to such a liquid crystal display device, the brightness of the screen can be made uniform. Further, in a liquid crystal display device for color display, color uniformity can be improved.

In an embodiment of the liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, an optical member for directing a traveling direction of light emitted from the light-emitting light source array toward a front direction of the liquid crystal display panel is not provided between the light-emitting light source array and the liquid crystal display panel. Here, the optical member for directing the traveling direction of the light emitted from the light-emitting light source array toward the front direction of the liquid crystal display panel is, for example, a prism sheet in the embodiment. If the light source array including the light sources of the present invention is used, the direction and diffusion of light emitted from the light sources can be adjusted with high accuracy, and therefore optical members such as prism sheets used in conventional liquid crystal display devices and backlights are not required. As a result, the liquid crystal display device can be thinned, and the mounting cost can be reduced. Further, since the light loss due to the optical element is eliminated, the light use efficiency can be improved.

In another embodiment of the liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, an optical member for increasing the luminance of light for illuminating the liquid crystal display panel is not provided between the light-emitting source array and the liquid crystal display panel. Here, the optical member for increasing the luminance of light for illuminating the liquid crystal display panel is, for example, a luminance increasing film in the embodiment. When the light-emitting source array including the light-emitting sources of the present invention is used, the direction or diffusion of light emitted from the light-emitting sources can be adjusted to increase the light intensity, so that optical members such as a luminance-improving film used in a conventional liquid crystal display device can be eliminated. As a result, the liquid crystal display device can be thinned, and the mounting cost can be reduced. Further, since the light loss due to the optical element is eliminated, the light use efficiency can be improved.

The constituent elements described above of the present invention may be arbitrarily combined as possible.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing a part of a light emitting source of a conventional example.

Fig. 2 is a front view of a light emitting element and a reflecting member of a conventional light emitting source, with a mold portion removed.

Fig. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the state of each color light when light emitting elements of 3 emission colors of red, green, and blue are arranged at the center portion of the light emitting source of the conventional example.

Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state of each color light when the reflection region is further divided in the light emitting source as described above.

Fig. 5 is a front view showing a conventional reflecting member divided by 3.

Fig. 6 is a front view showing a conventional reflecting member divided by 9.

Fig. 7 is a partially cut-away perspective view showing a light-emitting source according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view from the back side showing a state where the wiring board is removed from the light-emitting source of example 1.

Fig. 9(a) and 9(b) are perspective views from the front side and from the back side of a mold part having a reflective member formed on the back side.

Fig. 10(a) is a front view showing a mold part having a reflecting member formed on the back surface thereof, fig. 10(b) is a rear view thereof, and fig. 10(c) is a bottom view thereof.

Fig. 11(a) is a front view of the luminescent light source of embodiment 1, fig. 11(b) is a sectional view taken along the X-X direction (diagonal direction) of fig. 11(a), and fig. 11(c) is a sectional view taken along the Y-Y direction (opposite-side direction) of fig. 11 (a).

Fig. 12 is a sectional view showing a state of light in the light-emitting source of embodiment 1.

Fig. 13 is a front view schematically showing a reflection member used in the luminescent light source of embodiment 1.

Fig. 14 is a front view showing the reflecting member of example 1 having a larger number of divisions than the reflecting member described above.

Fig. 15 is a diagram showing a light intensity distribution in a diagonal direction of the light-emitting source of the conventional example.

Fig. 16 is a diagram showing a light intensity distribution in a diagonal direction of the light-emitting source of embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a front view schematically showing a reflecting member according to a modification (modification 1) of embodiment 1 of the present invention, and illustrates a method of distributing curved surface shapes of divided reflecting regions.

Fig. 18 is a front view schematically showing a reflecting member according to modification 2 of the present invention, and illustrates another method of distributing the curved surface shape of the divided reflecting region.

Fig. 19 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method of determining a curvature in a reflecting member in which each reflecting region is a conical surface.

Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating a method of determining the arrangement of the dummy light emitting elements or the pitch interval in each direction.

Fig. 21 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining the arrangement of dummy light emitting elements or pitch intervals in each direction in the case where 5 light emitting elements are provided.

Fig. 22 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining a conical coefficient in a reflecting member in which each reflecting area is a conical surface.

Fig. 23 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining the size of the cone coefficient when each reflection region is a conical surface.

Fig. 24(a) is a front view of a light-emitting source for explaining a design example, and fig. 24(b) is a front view of the light-emitting source with a mold portion removed.

Fig. 25 is a cross-sectional view of the luminescent light source of fig. 24.

Fig. 26 is a diagram illustrating a method of determining a control color of a reflection area.

Fig. 27 is a diagram for explaining a determination method for determining a control color of a reflection area, following the step of fig. 26.

Fig. 28 is a diagram for explaining a determination method for determining a control color of a reflection area, following the step of fig. 27.

Fig. 29 is a diagram for explaining a determination method for determining a control color of a reflection area, following the step of fig. 28.

Fig. 30 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining a control color of a reflective area, following the steps in fig. 29.

Fig. 31 is a diagram showing an irradiation light amount distribution on an irradiation surface by light emitted from the direct emission region.

Fig. 32 is a diagram showing an irradiation light amount distribution on the irradiation surface by the light emitted from the direct emission region, an irradiation light amount distribution on the irradiation surface by the light reflected by each reflection region, and the entire light amount distribution.

Fig. 33 is a diagram illustrating another example of a method of determining a control color for specifying a reflection area.

Fig. 34 is a diagram for explaining a determination method for determining a control color of a reflection area, following the step of fig. 33.

Fig. 35 is a diagram for explaining a determination method for determining a control color of a reflection area, following the step of fig. 34.

Fig. 36 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining a control color of a reflective area, following the steps in fig. 35.

Fig. 37 is a diagram illustrating a problem caused by the arrangement of the control colors in fig. 33.

Fig. 38 is a diagram illustrating a method for solving the problem described in fig. 37.

Fig. 39(a) is a front view showing a luminescent light source according to modification 3 of the present invention, (b) is a cross-sectional view of the luminescent light source in a diagonal direction, and (c) is a cross-sectional view of the luminescent light source in an opposite direction.

Fig. 40(a) is a perspective view of the mold section and the reflective member used in modification 3 viewed from the front side, and (b) is a perspective view thereof viewed from the back side.

Fig. 41(a) is a front view of a mold part and a reflecting member used in modification 3, (b) is a rear view thereof, (c) is a right side view thereof, and (d) is a bottom view thereof.

Fig. 42 is a front view schematically showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 3.

Fig. 43 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 44 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 5 of the present invention.

Fig. 45 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 6 of the present invention.

Fig. 46 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 7 of the present invention.

Fig. 47 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 8 of the present invention.

Fig. 48 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 9 of the present invention.

Fig. 49 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 10 of the present invention.

Fig. 50 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member according to modification 11 of the present invention.

Fig. 51 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 12 of the present invention.

Fig. 52 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member according to modification 13 of the present invention.

Fig. 53 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 14 of the present invention.

Fig. 54 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member in modification 15 of the present invention.

Fig. 55 is a front view showing the structure of a reflecting member according to modification 16 of the present invention.

Fig. 56 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a cross-sectional shape of a direct emission region in modification 17 of the present invention.

Fig. 57 is a sectional view showing a state of light in the light-emitting source according to modification 17 of the present invention.

Fig. 58 is a front view of the light-emitting source according to modification 18 of the present invention.

Fig. 59 is a front view of the light-emitting source according to modification 19 of the present invention.

Fig. 60 is a front view of the light-emitting source in modification 20 of the present invention.

Fig. 61 is a front view of a light-emitting source in modification 21 of the present invention.

Fig. 62 is a front view of the light-emitting source in modification 22 of the present invention.

Fig. 63 is a front view of a light-emitting source according to modification 23 of the present invention.

Fig. 64 is a front view of a light-emitting source according to modification 24 of the present invention.

Fig. 65(a) is a view showing a state of light in a cross section in a diagonal direction and (b) is a view showing a state of light in a cross section in a direction opposite to the cross section of the light-emitting light source of modification 18 shown in fig. 58.

Fig. 66(a) is a view showing a state of light in a cross section in a diagonal direction and (b) is a view showing a state of light in a cross section in a direction opposite to the cross section of the light-emitting light source of modification 19 shown in fig. 59.

Fig. 67 is a front view of the light-emitting source in modification 25 of the present invention.

Fig. 68(a) is a perspective view showing the structure of the direct emission region and the total reflection region in the light-emitting source of modification 25, (b) is a cross-sectional view of the light-emitting source in the opposite direction, and (c) is a view schematically showing a state in which light is distributed to each reflection region of the light-emitting source.

Fig. 69(a) is a perspective view showing the structure of the direct emission region and the total reflection region in the light-emitting source of the comparative example, (b) is a cross-sectional view of the light-emitting source in the opposite direction, and (c) is a view schematically showing the state in which light is distributed to each reflection region of the light-emitting source.

Fig. 70(a) is a perspective view showing the structure of the direct emission region and the total reflection region in the light-emitting source of modification 26, (b) is a cross-sectional view of the light-emitting source in the opposite direction, and (c) is a view schematically showing a state in which light is distributed to each reflection region of the light-emitting source.

Fig. 71 is a front view of the light-emitting source in modification 27 of the present invention.

Fig. 72 is a front view of the light-emitting source in modification 28 of the present invention.

Fig. 73 is a front view of a light-emitting source in modification 29 of the present invention.

Fig. 74(a) is a cross-sectional view in the opposite direction illustrating the state of light in the light-emitting source of modification 29, and (b) is a front view thereof.

Fig. 75(a) is a cross-sectional view in the opposite direction illustrating the state of light in the light-emitting source of the comparative example, and (b) is a front view thereof.

Fig. 76 is a sectional view illustrating a state of light in the light-emitting source of modification 29.

Fig. 77 is a sectional view illustrating a state of light in the light-emitting source of the comparative example.

Fig. 78 is a front view showing a luminescent light source array of embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 79 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of a liquid crystal display device according to example 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 80 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of a liquid crystal display according to a modification of embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 81 is a perspective view showing an illumination device for indoor illumination using a light-emitting source array according to example 4 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following examples, and may be appropriately modified in design depending on the application.

[ example 1 ]

Fig. 7 is a partially cut-away perspective view of the light-emitting source 21 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the light-emitting source with the wiring board removed, as viewed from the back side. Fig. 9(a) and (b) are perspective views of the mold part 22 (light guide part) having the reflecting member 26 formed on the rear surface thereof, viewed from the front side and from the rear side. Fig. 10(a) (b) (c) are front, rear and bottom views of the mold part 22. Fig. 11(a) is a front view of the light-emitting light source 21, fig. 11(b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the X-X direction (diagonal direction) of fig. 11(a), and fig. 11(c) is a cross-sectional view taken along the Y-Y direction (opposite direction) of fig. 11 (a).

In the luminescent light source 21, a mold portion (light guide portion) 22 having a substantially disk shape is formed by a translucent material having a high refractive index, for example, a transparent resin. As the light-transmitting material constituting the mold portion 22, a light-transmitting resin such as an epoxy resin or an acrylic resin may be used, or a glass material may be used.

As shown in fig. 7, 10, or 11, the mold section 22 is rectangular in shape when viewed from the front. A direct emission region 29 having a circular shape is provided in the center of the front surface of the mold part 22, and a total reflection region 30 is provided outside the direct emission region. The direct emission region 29 is a smooth circular region formed by a plane perpendicular to the central axis of the mold part 22, and the total reflection region 30 is also a smooth region formed by a plane perpendicular to the central axis of the mold part 22. In the illustrated example, direct emission region 29 and total reflection region 30 are formed in the same plane, and direct emission region 29 is located at the same height as total reflection region 30, but direct emission region 29 may be formed to protrude further than total reflection region 30 in groove 25, and direct emission region 29 may be formed to be higher than total reflection region 30. Conversely, direct exit area 29 may be recessed into groove 25 more than total reflection area 30, so that direct exit area 29 is lower than total reflection area 30. The direct emission region 29 is a region for directly emitting light emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B to the outside in the sense of the term, but has a function of totally reflecting incident light as described later. Similarly, the total reflection region 30 has a function of totally reflecting incident light toward the reflection member 26 in the sense of the present invention, but also has a function of transmitting incident light and emitting the light to the outside.

Annular groove 25 is provided between direct emission region 29 and total reflection region 30, and total reflection region 31 is formed on the bottom surface of groove 25 via an annular flat surface. An inclined total reflection region 32 is formed on the inner circumferential side surface of the groove 25, and the inclined total reflection region 32 is formed in a tapered circular truncated cone shape so that the diameter of the front surface side of the mold portion 22 decreases. Although the total reflection regions 31 and the inclined total reflection regions 32 also have a function of totally reflecting incident light in the sense of the word, part of the incident light may be emitted to the outside through the inclined total reflection regions 32.

As shown in fig. 9, the back surface of the mold part 22 is curved, and a concave mirror-shaped reflecting member 26 for reflecting light totally reflected by the front surface of the mold part 22 is provided on the back surface. The reflecting member 26 may be a metal film of Au, Ag, Al, or the like deposited on the back surface (pattern surface) of the mold section 22, a white paint applied on the back surface of the mold section 22, a metal plate of aluminum or the like having a mirror-finished surface with improved surface reflectance, a curved plate of metal or resin having a surface plated with Au, Ag, Al, or the like, or a curved plate having a surface coated with a white paint.

As shown in fig. 10, the light reflecting surface of the reflecting member 26 is formed in a mosaic shape by a plurality of reflecting regions arranged in at least 2 directions as viewed from the light emitting direction. A belt-shaped reflection region 36 is provided around the opening located at the center of the reflection member 26, and the reflection member 26 is divided into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns in the region around the reflection region 36, and is divided into checkerboard-shaped reflection regions 28i, 28j, and 28 k. These reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … constitute concentric circular reflection surfaces. The light reflecting surfaces of the reflective regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, etc. are mirror surfaces, but the light reflecting surface of the reflective region 36 may be formed to have a slight roughness to diffuse light.

As shown in fig. 9, the reflective member 26 is opened at the central portion of the back surface of the mold 22. In the opening of the reflecting member 26, a hemispherical concave portion 27a is formed in the central portion of the back surface of the mold portion 22, and an annular convex portion 27b is provided so as to protrude around the concave portion 27 a.

When the light-emitting source 21 is assembled, as shown in fig. 11, light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B such as 3 LED chips having emission colors of red, green, and blue are mounted on the surface of the wiring board 23, and a holder 34 is fixed to the surface of the wiring board 23. Next, the concave portion 27a on the back surface of the mold portion 22 is filled with a transparent resin 35 such as a thermosetting resin or an ultraviolet curable resin, and the mold portion 22 is supported by a holder 34 fixed to the wiring board 23 (fig. 8 shows a state of supporting the mold portion 22 by the holder 34). Then, the transparent resin 35 is cured, and the mold section 22 and the wiring board 23 are integrally joined together by the transparent resin 35. The light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B are sealed in the transparent resin 35 at positions further to the optical axis side front than the center of the hemispherical surface forming the recess 27 a.

The transparent resin 35 may be the same material as the mold part 22 or may be a different material. Further, an electronic circuit or the like for adjusting the light amount of the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B may be mounted in a space between the wiring substrate 23 and the mold section 22 (a space outside the transparent resin 35).

The light-emitting source 21 has dimensions such that, for example, the outer shape is 30mm long and 30mm wide when viewed from the front, and the thickness is 5mm when viewed from the lateral direction, and is thinner than the outer shape. The concave portion 27a on the back surface of the mold portion 22 is formed in a hemispherical shape with a radius of 3.90 mm. However, the recess 27a is slightly smaller than the 1/2 of the ball, and the radius of the opening portion of the recess 27a is 3.25 mm. The numerical values described here are examples, and these dimensions are designed to be optimum values as appropriate in accordance with the efficiency of the light emitting element, the desired amount of light, and the like.

Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the light-emitting light source 21 of the present invention and the state of light emitted from the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B, and shows a cross section in the diagonal direction. In the figure, light is shown by arrows of thin lines. The reflective regions include a reflective region 28s, a reflective region 28t, a reflective region 28u, and a reflective region 28v in this order from the side close to the reflective region 36. When the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B of 3 colors of red, green, and blue arranged at the center of the light emitting source 21 are caused to emit light, light emitted at an emission angle θ 1 (< θ c) smaller than the critical angle θ c of total reflection at the interface of the mold section 22 among the light emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is incident on the direct emission region 29, and the light passes through the direct emission region 29 and is emitted directly forward from the light emitting source 21. Light emitted at an emission angle θ 3 (> θ c) larger than the total reflection critical angle θ c enters the total reflection region 31, is totally reflected by the total reflection region 31, enters the reflection region 28s, is reflected by the reflection region 28s, then passes through the total reflection region 30, and is emitted forward. As shown in fig. 12, when total reflection region 31 is slightly inclined, output angle θ 3 may be slightly smaller than total reflection critical angle θ c. Light emitted at an emission angle θ 4 (> θ 3) larger than the total reflection critical angle θ c enters the total reflection region 30, is totally reflected by the total reflection region 30, enters the reflection region 28t, is reflected by the reflection region 28t, then passes through the total reflection region 30, and is emitted forward. Then, light emitted at an exit angle θ 5 (> θ 4) larger than the exit angle θ 4 or an exit angle larger than θ 5 is totally reflected by the total reflection region 30, enters the reflection region 28u or the reflection region 28v, is reflected by the reflection regions 28u and 28v, and then is transmitted through the total reflection region 30 to be emitted forward. Then, the light emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B at the exit angle θ 2(θ 1 < θ 2 < θ 3) between the exit angle θ 1 to the direct exit region 29 and the exit angle θ 3 to the total reflection region 31 enters the inclined total reflection region 32, is totally reflected 2 times by the inclined total reflection region 32 and the direct exit region 29, and then enters the reflection region 36. The light reflected by the reflection region 36 is reflected toward the corner of the light-emitting source 21, is further reflected by the total reflection region 30 and the reflection region 28v, and is emitted forward from the corner.

In addition, in embodiment 1, since the reflecting member 26 is configured by arranging the square or rectangular reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … in a mosaic shape, the color uniformity of the light-emitting light source 21 can be improved. Particularly, when a white light source is used as the light-emitting light source 21, color unevenness and partial coloring can be reduced. This is described in detail below.

Fig. 13 is a front view schematically showing the reflection member 26. An opening is provided in the center of the reflecting member 26, and the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B are disposed in the opening. The light reflecting surface of the reflecting member 26 is divided into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, and the reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … are arranged in a checkerboard shape. In fig. 13, the number of divided reflecting members is small for simplifying the explanation, and the reflecting members 26 are divided into 5 rows and 5 columns. Therefore, the reflecting member 26 has 24 reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … excluding the opening portions. The reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … constitute concentric circular reflection surfaces. If the reflecting member 26 is formed concentrically in this manner, the light-emitting source 21 can be made thinner. Further, by designing the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … according to parameters independent of each other, the regions can be optimally designed, and light can be emitted more uniformly.

The curved surface shape of each of the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … is preferably designed to be as uniform as possible as light is emitted from the front surface of the light-emitting light source 21. For example, each of the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … may be a conical surface as shown in the following expression (1).

[ formula 1 ]

<math> <mrow> <mi>Z</mi> <mo>=</mo> <mfrac> <msup> <mi>CV&rho;</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> <mrow> <mn>1</mn> <mo>+</mo> <msqrt> <mn>1</mn> <mo>-</mo> <msup> <mi>CV</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <mi>CC</mi> <mo>+</mo> <mn>1</mn> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> <msup> <mi>&rho;</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> </msqrt> </mrow> </mfrac> <mo>+</mo> <mi>A</mi> <mo>+</mo> <msup> <mi>a&rho;</mi> <mn>4</mn> </msup> <mo>+</mo> <mi>b</mi> <msup> <mi>&rho;</mi> <mn>6</mn> </msup> <mo>+</mo> <msup> <mi>c&rho;</mi> <mn>8</mn> </msup> <mo>+</mo> <msup> <mi>d&rho;</mi> <mn>10</mn> </msup> <mo>+</mo> <mo>.</mo> <mo>.</mo> <mo>.</mo> <mo>.</mo> <mo>.</mo> <mo>.</mo> <mo>-</mo> <mo>-</mo> <mo>-</mo> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <mn>1</mn> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </mrow> </math>

Wherein, <math> <mrow> <mi>&rho;</mi> <mo>=</mo> <msqrt> <msup> <mi>X</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> <mo>+</mo> <msup> <mi>Y</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msup> </msqrt> </mrow> </math>

here, X, Y, Z is a vertical coordinate with the center on the reflecting member 26 as the origin, and the Z axis coincides with the optical axis of the reflecting member 26 and the central axis of the mold section 22. ρ is the distance (radius) from the origin as viewed in front elevation (i.e., projection onto the XY plane). CV is a curvature (1/curvature radius) of the reflecting member 26 or the reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and …, CC is a conic coefficient, a is a displacement amount of the center of the reflecting member 26 in the Z-axis direction, and a, b, c, and d are aspheric coefficients of 4, 6, 8, 10, and …, respectively. The values of these coefficients are set for the respective reflection areas 28i, 28j, 28k, and ….

In the drawings in the present specification, reflection regions having the same characteristic amount (hereinafter, referred to as a curved surface constant) representing the curved surface shape of the reflection surface, such as the curvature CV, the conic coefficient CC, and the aspherical constants a, b, and …, are shown in the same hatching pattern. In the reflecting member 26 shown in fig. 13, the reflecting regions having the same distance from the centers thereof are designed to have the same curved surface constant. In the reflecting member 26 of fig. 13, the pitch interval P of the reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … is assumed to be 6 mm.

When the reflecting member 26 of fig. 13 is compared with the reflecting member 12 of the conventional example shown in fig. 5, the pitch intervals P are all 6mm, and the front sizes of the light-emitting sources are also equal. However, in the conventional example of fig. 5, the number of divisions of the reflection region does not exceed 3, whereas in the reflection member 26 of fig. 13, the number of divisions is 24. When the reflection regions having the same curved surface constant (reflection regions having the same distance from the center) are grouped together, the number of the reflection regions is not more than 3 in the conventional example of fig. 5, whereas the number of the reflection members 26 is 5 in fig. 13. As described above, according to the light emitting source 21 of the present embodiment 1, the light traveling direction can be set more finely than in the conventional example, and the degree of freedom in designing the optical path is improved, so that the light emitting direction can be adjusted more finely, and the light of each color can be mixed uniformly, thereby preventing the light emitting source 21 from being colored. Further, since the number of divisions can be increased without changing the pitch interval P, even if the number of divisions is increased, difficulty in manufacturing or cost does not increase.

Further, when the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … of the reflection member 26 are further divided into three equal parts, the reflection regions are narrowed as shown in fig. 14. At this time, the pitch interval P of the reflective regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … is 2mm, and the number of divisions of the reflective member 26 is 216. In the case of the reflection regions 17a, 17b, 17c, 18a, 18b, and … of the reflection member 12 of fig. 6 obtained by trisecting the reflection regions 12a, 12b, and 12c based on the reflection member 12 of fig. 5, the pitch interval P is 2mm, but the number of divisions of the reflection member 12 is only 9. Therefore, the smaller the pitch interval P of the reflective region, or the larger the size of the light-emitting source, the more excellent the reflective member 26 of example 1 is in comparison with the reflective member of the conventional example divided into the band shape, and the degree of freedom in designing the optical path, color uniformity, and the like are further improved.

According to the light-emitting light source 21 of embodiment 1, since the light emitted from the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is repeatedly reflected between the total reflection region 30 of the mold portion 22 and the like and the reflecting member 26 and then emitted forward, the optical path length can be obtained inside the light-emitting light source 21, and as a result, the intensity of the light emitted from the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B and emitted forward from the light-emitting light source 21 can be made uniform. In addition, when the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B of a plurality of colors are used, the degree of color mixture of the light emitted from the light emitting source 21 can be increased.

In the light-emitting source 21 of embodiment 1, since the respective reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … of the reflection member 26 can be divided more finely than in the conventional art, the degree of freedom in designing the optical path when designing the light-emitting source 21 is increased, and the light emission direction can be adjusted more finely. In particular, in the luminescent light source 21 of embodiment 1, (1) the optical path length inside can be obtained as described above. Further, (2) the directions in which light is reflected or emitted can be finely designed by the respective reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … obtained by dividing the light more finely than in the conventional case. In addition, (3) the diffusion of light can be designed in a finer manner by the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … obtained by dividing the light into the reflection regions more finely than in the conventional case. (1) As a result of (3) to (3), the uniformity of the light intensity in the light-emitting source 21 can be improved, and the degree of color mixing can be improved when light-emitting elements of a plurality of colors are used.

Fig. 15 shows a light intensity distribution in a diagonal direction in the case of the light-emitting source in which the reflecting member 12 is divided into concentric circles in a band shape as shown in fig. 5 or 6, and fig. 16 shows a light intensity distribution in a diagonal direction in the case where the reflecting member 26 is divided into checkerboard shapes as shown in fig. 13 or 14. The horizontal axis of fig. 15 and 16 represents the distance in the diagonal direction measured from the center of the reflecting member 26, and the vertical axis represents the light intensity at each position. As can be seen from comparing fig. 15 and 16, in the conventional method, the light intensity varies by about ± 15%, but in the case of the present embodiment, the variation of the light intensity is about ± 8%, thereby improving the uniformity of the light intensity.

Also, in the above-described embodiment, the curved surface constant is determined according to the distance from the center of the reflecting member 26, but the distribution method of the reflecting areas having the same curved surface constant is arbitrary. For example, in modification 1 shown in fig. 17, the distribution in a triangular region (1/8 region of the reflecting member 26) surrounded by a broken line in the reflecting member 26 is determined, and the distribution in the other region is determined in such a manner that it is line-symmetric with respect to 2 diagonal directions and 2 opposite-side directions.

Further, if the light intensity distribution of the light-emitting source 21 is designed to be uniform and the color uniformity is improved, the divided reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … may be arranged randomly and have different curved surface constants, as in the reflection member 26 of modification example 2 shown in fig. 18. However, when the reflection regions are arranged at random, the color unevenness of the light-emitting source 21 becomes large although the degree of freedom in design becomes large. That is, as described with reference to fig. 4, in order to reduce color unevenness of the light-emitting source, it is necessary to arrange the reflection regions for vertically emitting the light of each color in a predetermined order in consideration of the order of arrangement of the light-emitting elements. On the other hand, since the light emitting elements and the reflective regions are arranged in a 2-dimensional pattern, even if the reflective regions are regularly defined in each diagonal direction or each diagonal direction, a region in which light of the same color is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction is generated in the adjacent reflective regions. Therefore, the reflection area needs to be adjusted so that such an area is not generated.

Next, a method of designing each reflection region will be described. First, a design method for changing the curvature CV of the above expression (1) for each reflection region will be described with reference to fig. 19. Here, since 3 areas adjacent in the diagonal direction or the direction parallel to the side are handled as one set, only the adjacent 3 reflection areas thereof are shown in fig. 19. The 3 reflection regions are 28R, 28G, and 28B, and the curvatures thereof are CVr, CVg, and CVb, respectively. Here, the reflective region 28R is a reflective region designed to emit red light emitted from the light emitting element 24R perpendicularly to the front direction, the reflective region 28G is a reflective region designed to emit green light emitted from the light emitting element 24G perpendicularly to the front direction, and the reflective region 28B is a reflective region designed to emit blue light perpendicularly to the front direction. As shown in fig. 19, if the red light-emitting element 24R, the green light-emitting element 24G, and the blue light-emitting element 24B are arranged in this order from the left side facing the drawing, in order to reduce color unevenness of the light-emitting element 21, it is necessary to arrange the reflective regions in this order from the left side facing the drawing as a reflective region 28B for emitting blue light in the front direction, a reflective region 28G for emitting green light in the front direction, and a reflective region 28R for emitting red light in the front direction (see fig. 4). If the color of light reflected by the reflection region and emitted perpendicularly to the front direction is referred to as the control color of the reflection region, the reflection region 28R is referred to as a reflection region whose control color is red, the reflection region 28G is referred to as a reflection region whose control color is green, and the reflection region 28B is referred to as a reflection region whose control color is blue.

The curvature CV of the conical surface can change the traveling direction of the light reflected by each reflecting region, and if the curvature CV is small, the light reflected by the reflecting region is inclined outward, and if the curvature CV is large, the light reflected by the reflecting region is inclined inward. Therefore, if the curvatures CVr, CVg, CVb, etc. of the adjacent reflection regions 28R, 28G, 28B are designed in consideration of the pitch interval Q between the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, 24B, the distance H between the light emitting surfaces of the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, 24B and the surface of the mold section 22, the positions of the reflection regions 28R, 28G, 28B, etc., the light emitting direction in the reflection regions 28R, 28G, 28B can be adjusted. Therefore, if the order of priority of the control colors and the like of the adjacent reflection regions is determined according to the arrangement of the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B, and the curvatures CVr, CVg, CVb and the like are designed in consideration of these factors, it is possible to enlarge the white light region (the region hatched in fig. 19) where the region AR of the red light LR, the region AG of the green light LG, and the region AB of the blue light LB overlap, and it is possible to realize uniform white light without color unevenness. For example, in the configuration shown in fig. 19, the red light LR is emitted perpendicularly to the front side in the reflection region 28R, the green light LG is emitted perpendicularly to the front side in the reflection region 28G, and the blue light LB is emitted perpendicularly to the front side in the reflection region 28B, so that the curvature CVr of the reflection region 28R closer to the center side is larger than CVg and the curvature CVb of the reflection region 28B farther from the center is smaller than CVg with respect to the curvature CVg of the reflection region 28G in the center.

However, when the curvature of the reflection region is determined as described above, the curvature changes depending on the positions of the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B. In practice, since the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B are not necessarily arranged in a line, the positions and the pitch intervals Q thereof vary depending on the viewing direction. For example, as shown in fig. 20(a), when the curved surface constants of the reflective regions 28R, 28G, and 28B in the opposite-side direction K1 are determined, and when the curved surface constants of the reflective regions 28R, 28G, and 28B in the diagonal direction K2 are determined, the arrangement of the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B needs to be handled as different cases.

For example, when the reflective regions 28R, 28G, and 28B located in the facing direction K1 in fig. 20(a) are considered, the curved surface constants of the reflective regions 28R, 28G, and 28B are determined by the virtual light-emitting elements 32R, 32G, and 32B obtained by projecting the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B on a straight line in the facing direction K1, as shown in fig. 20 (B). That is, the curved surface constant of the reflective region 28R in the opposite direction K1 is determined such that the red light emitted from the virtual light-emitting element 32R is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction, the curved surface constant of the reflective region 28G in the opposite direction K1 is determined such that the green light emitted from the virtual light-emitting element 32G is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction, and the curved surface constant of the reflective region 28B in the opposite direction K1 is determined such that the blue light emitted from the virtual light-emitting element 32B is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction. When the reflection regions 28R, 28G, and 28B located in the diagonal direction K2 in fig. 20(a) are considered, as shown in fig. 20(B), it is necessary to determine the curved surface constants of the reflection regions 28R, 28G, and 28B using the virtual light-emitting elements 33G, 33R, and 33B obtained by projecting the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B on a straight line in the diagonal direction K2. That is, the curved surface constant of the reflection region 28R in the diagonal direction K2 is determined such that the red light emitted from the virtual light emitting element 33R is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction, the curved surface constant of the reflection region 28G in the diagonal direction K2 is determined such that the green light emitted from the virtual light emitting element 33G is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction, and the curved surface constant of the reflection region 28B in the diagonal direction K2 is determined such that the blue light emitted from the virtual light emitting element 33B is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction.

In the example shown in fig. 20, the virtual light-emitting elements 32R, 32G, and 32B projected on the straight line in the opposite direction K1 are arranged at equal intervals, and the virtual light-emitting elements 33G, 33R, and 33B projected on the straight line in the diagonal direction K2 are also arranged at equal intervals, so that the design of the respective reflection regions is facilitated.

Fig. 21(a) and (b) show a case where 5 light-emitting elements are used. For example, when red, green, and blue light emitting elements are used, the luminance of these light emitting elements is different, and therefore, in some cases, the light emitting elements are combined at a certain ratio in order to uniformly balance the luminance of each color. For example, in fig. 21(a), since the luminance of the red light-emitting element 24R is high, 1 red light-emitting element 24R is used, and two green and blue light-emitting elements 24G and 24B are used.

At this time, in the opposite direction K1, as shown in fig. 21(B), it can be considered that the green and blue virtual light-emitting elements 32G and 32B are repeatedly arranged at the same position on both sides of the red virtual light-emitting element 32R, and therefore the control color and the curvature CV of each reflection region can be determined in accordance with the arrangement of the virtual light-emitting elements. In the opposite direction K1, a reflection region 28R is designed corresponding to the red dummy light emitting element 32R, a reflection region 28GB adjacent to the reflection region 28R on the inner peripheral side is designed corresponding to the green and blue dummy light emitting elements 33G and 33B on the left side of the facing surface in the opposite direction K1, and a reflection region 28GB adjacent to the reflection region 28R on the outer peripheral side is designed corresponding to the green and blue dummy light emitting elements 33G and 33B on the right side of the facing surface in the opposite direction K1.

In the diagonal direction K2, as shown in fig. 21(B), it can be considered that 1 red virtual light-emitting element 33R and 2 green virtual light-emitting elements 33G are repeatedly arranged at the same position in the middle between the blue virtual light-emitting elements 33B, and therefore the control color and the curvature CV are determined in accordance with the pair of virtual light-emitting elements. For example, the reflection region 28RG in the diagonal direction K2 is designed to correspond to the red and green dummy light emitting elements 33R and 33G, the reflection region 28B adjacent to the reflection region 28RG on the inner peripheral side is designed to correspond to the dummy light emitting element 24B located on the upper left side in the diagonal direction K2, and the reflection region 28B adjacent to the reflection region 28RG on the outer peripheral side is designed to correspond to the dummy light emitting element 24B located on the lower right side in the diagonal direction K2.

Similarly, in the diagonal direction K3, as shown in fig. 21(B), it can be considered that 1 red virtual light-emitting element 33R and 2 blue virtual light-emitting elements 33B are repeatedly arranged at the same position in the middle between the green virtual light-emitting elements 33G, and therefore the control color and the curvature CV are determined in accordance with the positions of such virtual light-emitting elements. For example, the reflection region 28RB in the diagonal direction K3 is designed to correspond to the red and blue dummy light emitting elements 33R, 33B, the reflection region 28G adjacent to the reflection region 28RB on the inner peripheral side is designed to correspond to the dummy light emitting element 33G located on the lower left side in the diagonal direction K3, and the reflection region 28G adjacent to the reflection region 28RB on the outer peripheral side is designed to correspond to the dummy light emitting element 33G located on the upper right side in the diagonal direction K3.

Next, a design method when the conic coefficient CC of the above expression (1) is changed for each reflection region as a surface constant will be described. The conical coefficient CC can change the degree of diffusion of the light reflected by the reflection region, and if the conical coefficient CC is decreased, the degree of diffusion of the light reflected by the reflection region is increased, and if the conical coefficient CC is increased, the degree of diffusion of the light reflected by the reflection region is decreased. Therefore, in designing the conic coefficient CC, the conic coefficient CC can be determined based on the distance H between the light exit surface of the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, 24B and the surface of the mold section 22, the distances D1, D2 between the reflection region and the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, 24B, and the like, so that the luminance or the degree of color mixture of the light emitted from each region of the light emitting source 21 becomes uniform.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 22, the conic coefficient CC may be decreased in the reflection regions 28R, 28G, and 28B where the distance D1 from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is short, and may be increased in the reflection regions 128R, 128G, and 128B where the distance D2 from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is long. As a result, in the reflection regions 28R, 28G, and 28B close to the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B, the spread of the emitted light is increased, and the directivity is wide. In the reflection regions 28R, 28G, and 28B close to the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B, although the amount of light reaching is large, the light path length is short, and therefore, light of the respective colors is difficult to mix, but the degree of color mixing can be improved while suppressing luminance by dispersing light by reducing the conic constant CC and expanding the directivity of reflected light. On the other hand, in the reflection regions 128R, 128G, and 128B distant from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B, although the optical path length is long to cause color mixing, the amount of light reaching is small, but the conical coefficient CC is increased to narrow the directivity of the reflected light, thereby reducing the dispersion of light and improving the luminance even if the degree of color mixing is sacrificed to a small extent. Therefore, according to this design method, the light intensity can be made uniform over the entire light-emitting source 21, and the degree of color mixing can be balanced over the entire light-emitting source 21, thereby achieving color uniformity. However, this design method is not preferable, and the light intensity and the degree of color mixture on the irradiation surface (target surface) fixed to the design in front of the light-emitting source are designed to be optimal, so that the light intensity and the degree of color mixture on the target surface are designed to be optimal, and the diffusion of light in the reflection region near the light-emitting element may be narrowed.

On the other hand, when the respective reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … of the reflection surface 26 are designed along continuous axes (lines), ray tracing and fine adjustment are easy. Therefore, when designing the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, the reflection regions located in the diagonal direction or the opposite direction are first designed. After the curved surface coefficient CC of the reflection region located in the diagonal direction K2 or the opposite direction K1 is determined, the conical coefficient CC of each reflection region is determined so that the conical coefficient CC becomes larger in the reflection region located farther from the center of the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B as shown by the solid arrow in fig. 23. Then, the surface constants of the reflective regions adjacent to these reflective regions are designed. At this time, as shown by the broken-line arrow in fig. 23, the more inclined from the opposite-side direction to the diagonal direction, the larger the conic coefficient CC may be made.

Next, a method of specifically designing the reflecting member 26 according to the above-described principle will be described. Fig. 24(a) and (B) are a front view of the light-emitting source 21 in which 1 light-emitting element 24R emitting red light, light-emitting element 24G emitting green light, and light-emitting element 24B emitting blue light are arranged in the center, and a front view of the light-emitting source except the mold portion 22, and fig. 25 is a cross-sectional view in a diagonal direction thereof. The external dimensions of the light-emitting light source 21 as viewed from the front thereof were 30mm in vertical and horizontal directions. The reflecting member 26 is divided into 15 times in the longitudinal and transverse directions to form mesh-like reflecting regions 28a, 28b, …, and the reflecting regions 28a, 28b, … are each 2mm in the longitudinal and transverse directions. The light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B are arranged in a triangular shape, the red light emitting element 24R and the blue light emitting element 24B are arranged in a direction parallel to the upper and lower sides of the reflecting member 26, and are arranged on the left and right sides of the front, and the green light emitting element 24G is arranged on the upper side thereof. The diameter of the direct emission region 29 is 5mm, the inner diameter (diameter) of the bottom surface of the groove 25 is 5.5mm, the outer diameter (diameter) of the upper surface of the groove 25 is 10mm, and the depth of the groove 25 is 1.8 mm.

First, a procedure of determining the control color of each of the respective reflection areas 28a, 28b, … will be described. Initially, the arrangement of control colors in 4 diagonal directions K2, K3, K5, K6 and 4 opposite direction K1, K4, K7, K8 was determined. Since the arrangement of the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is the same as that shown in fig. 20, it is clear from the description of fig. 20 that the dummy light-emitting elements 33G, 33R, and 33B are arranged from the upper left side to the lower right side in the diagonal directions K2 and K6. In this way, the control colors are in the order of green (G), red (R), and blue (B) from the inside to the outside in the diagonal direction K2 on the upper left side of the head-on, and the control colors are in the order of blue (B), red (R), and green (G) from the inside to the outside in the diagonal direction K6 on the lower right side.

Since the dummy light emitting elements 33R, 33B, and 33G are arranged from the lower left to the upper right in the diagonal directions K3 and K5, the control colors are red (R), blue (B), and green (G) in this order from the inner side to the outer side in the diagonal direction K3 on the lower left of the head-on, and the control colors are green (G), blue (B), and red (R) in this order from the inner side to the outer side in the diagonal direction K5 on the upper right.

Since the dummy light-emitting elements 32R, 32G, and 32B are arranged in the horizontal direction from the left side to the right side, the colors to be controlled are red (R), green (G), and blue (B) in order from the inside to the outside in the horizontal facing direction K1 on the left side of the head, and the colors to be controlled are blue (B), green (G), and red (R) in order from the inside to the outside in the horizontal facing direction K4 on the right side.

In addition, since the 1 red dummy light emitting element 32R and the 1 blue dummy light emitting element 32B are repeatedly arranged at the same position in the vertical direction and the green dummy light emitting element 32G is arranged adjacent to the same position, the colors are controlled to be green (G), Red (RB), and blue (RB) from the inside to the outside in the vertical opposite direction K7 on the upper side and to be red, blue (RB), and green (G) from the inside to the outside in the vertical opposite direction K8 on the lower side. Fig. 26 shows a state in which the order of the control colors in the respective directions K1 to K8 is determined in this way.

After the order of the control colors in the respective directions K1 to K8 is determined as described above, as shown in fig. 27, the control colors of the respective reflection areas in one direction, for example, the diagonal direction K2 on the upper left side are first determined. For example, if the control color of the reflection area in the upper left corner is arbitrarily determined, the control color in the diagonal direction K2 is uniquely determined.

Next, taking the arrangement of the control colors in the diagonal direction K2 as a starting point, the control colors of the reflection regions located in the outer peripheral portion of the reflection member 26 are determined while the control colors of the reflection regions adjacent to each other in the vertical and horizontal directions are not made to be the same. In this case, the positions of the control colors are shifted only in the directions K1, K3 to K8 in the directions K1, K3 to K8 other than K2 without changing the order of the control colors determined as described above. Fig. 27 shows a state in which the control color of the outer peripheral portion is determined in this manner.

As shown in fig. 28, based on the control color of each reflection region in the directions K1, K2, K4, K5, and K7 and the control color of each reflection region in the outer peripheral portion, the control color of the reflection region in the space is determined in the upper half area of the reflection member 26 without making the control colors of the adjacent reflection regions in the upper, lower, left, and right directions the same.

In this case, in the control color assignment state shown in fig. 28, the green control color is adjacent to the right and left in the portion α. When the control colors of the same color are continuous in the vertical direction, the control colors of the adjacent reflection regions are adjusted to be different by replacing the control colors of the control colors in the vertical direction. Fig. 29 shows a case where the control colors of red, green, and blue are replaced one by one in the portion α of fig. 28 and the vicinity thereof, and are not continuous.

Next, as shown in fig. 30, the control colors of the reflective areas of the lower half are determined so as to form line symmetry with the control colors of the reflective areas of the upper half with respect to the horizontal direction K1-K4. The control colors of the reflective regions of the lower half determined by such line symmetry operation coincide with the order of the control colors determined initially. In this case, there is no problem when the number of the vertically arranged reflective regions is odd, but when the number of the vertically arranged reflective regions is even, the control colors between the reflective regions adjacent vertically in the horizontal direction in the upper and lower center portions are the same. Therefore, in this case, it is necessary to try and replace the control color at that position so that the control colors of the adjacent reflection regions are different. Therefore, it is preferable that the number of the reflective regions is an odd number.

In addition, when such a symmetric operation is not desired, the control color of the reflection region of the lower half portion is determined separately as in the case of determining the control color of the reflection region of the upper half portion, and the adjustment may be performed when the control colors of the same color are continuous in the upper, lower, left, and right between the upper half portion and the lower half portion. After the control color is thus determined for the entire reflecting member 26, the control color assignment operation is terminated.

In addition, depending on the number of divisions or the shape of the reflection regions, the control color may be the same between the upper, lower, left, and right adjacent reflection regions regardless of how the control color distribution is adjusted. In such a case, it is necessary to preferentially prevent control colors at positions far from the light-emitting element from overlapping, and to make the same control colors adjacent to each other in a reflection region near the light-emitting element. As described above, since the reflection region near the light emitting element is controlled to diffuse the reflected light, the color mixing property of the light emitting source 21 is hardly affected, and hence the wrinkling treatment can be performed near the light emitting element.

After the control color of each reflection region is determined in this way, the constant, particularly the curvature CV, of each reflection region can be designed so that the light of the color is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction. However, the reflection regions for controlling the colors Red and Blue (RB) are designed such that red and blue light emitted from the red and blue dummy light emitting elements 32R and 32B located at the same positions in a certain direction is emitted perpendicularly to the front direction.

After the control color of each reflection region is determined in this way, the curvature or shape of each reflection region is determined in accordance with the control color, and the light is emitted in the front direction. Specifically, when the reflection region is formed of a conical surface, the conical coefficient CC or the curvature CV can be determined as a parameter thereof.

First, it is considered that the cone coefficient CC is determined so that light is uniformly emitted from the entire light-emitting source 21. The light emitted from the light-emitting light source 21 can be divided into light directly emitted from the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B and light emitted after being reflected by the reflecting member 26. Therefore, it is necessary to know the light quantity distribution of the light directly emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B. As shown in fig. 12, this is the light exiting from the direct exit area 29.

Fig. 31 shows a distribution of the amount of irradiation light generated by light emitted from the direct emission region 29 of the light-emitting source 21. The irradiation light amount is an irradiation light amount of an irradiation surface (target surface) located at a distance of 20mm from the front surface of the light emission source 21. In fig. 31, the horizontal axis represents the distance measured in the diagonal direction from the center of the light-emitting source 21, and the vertical axis represents the relative value of the irradiation light amount, which is normalized so that the maximum value becomes 1. Further, a curve C29 in fig. 32 is a curve showing the light amount distribution in fig. 31 in a partially enlarged manner. Therefore, if the diagonal direction of the light-emitting source 21 as shown in fig. 24 and 25 is considered, it is preferable that 5 reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e are arranged in this order from the inside in the cross section, and the irradiation light amount of the light emitted from these reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e in the front direction supplements the irradiation light amount distribution of the light emitted from the direct emission region 29 on the target surface, and obtains a substantially uniform light amount distribution as a whole.

For example, if the distribution of the amount of light irradiated with the light emitted from the direct emission region 29 shown in fig. 31 is such that the distribution of the amount of light irradiated with the light emitted after being reflected by the respective reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28C, 28d, and 28e is as shown by C28a, C28b, C28C, C28d, and C28e in fig. 32, the entire distribution of the amount of light irradiated Ctotal has a substantially uniform light amount distribution. However, in the case where a plurality of light-emitting sources 21 are arranged at the end of the light-emitting source 21, the lights of the adjacent 4 light-emitting elements 21 overlap, so that the amount of light at the end can be small in a single light-emitting source 21.

Therefore, when the light amount distribution of the light emitted from the direct emission region 29 is the distribution shown in fig. 31, the peak values of the irradiation light amounts of the light reflected by the reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e may be 1 time, 1.8 times, 2 times, and 1 time the peak value of the light emitted from the direct emission region 29, as shown in fig. 32. Since the amount of light incident on the reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e decreases sharply as the distance from the center increases, when the conic coefficients CC of the reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e are determined in consideration of this point, the conic coefficients CC are-5, -2, -1.5, -1, and-1 in this order.

After the conic coefficients CC of the reflective regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e are obtained in this way, the curvatures CV of the reflective regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e are obtained from the control colors obtained, and light adjusted so that the control colors are emitted from the reflective regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e in the front direction, thereby improving color mixing properties on the target surface of the light-emitting source 21 and ensuring color uniformity. Specifically, the curvature CV of each of the reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, and 28e is 1/5, 1/29, 1/28, 1/31, and 1/31 in this order. After the conical coefficients CC or the curvatures CV of the respective reflection regions 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, 28e are obtained in the diagonal direction in this way, the conical coefficients CC or the curvatures CV of the remaining reflection regions are obtained in the same manner, and the shape of each reflection region is determined. The light intensity distribution shown in fig. 16 represents the distribution of the irradiation light amount on the target surface of the light emitting source 21 in which the curved surface constant is thus determined.

As another example, a light source of fig. 33 in which a red light emitting element 24R is disposed in the center, green light emitting elements 24G are disposed on both sides in one diagonal direction K2, K6, and blue light emitting elements 24B are disposed on both sides in the other diagonal direction K3, K5 is considered. This light emitting element arrangement is substantially the same as that shown in fig. 21, and the number of vertical and horizontal arrangements of the reflective regions 28R, 28G, and 28B is also 15. At this time, as can also be understood from the explanation related to fig. 21, the colors of green (G) and red/blue mixed color (RB) are controlled in the upper left diagonal direction K2 and the lower right diagonal direction K6, the colors of blue (B) and red/green mixed color (RG) are controlled in the lower left diagonal direction K3 and the upper right diagonal direction K5, the colors of red (R) and green/blue mixed color (GB) are controlled in the horizontal directions K1 and K4, and the colors of red (R) and green/blue mixed color (GB) are also controlled in the vertical directions K7 and K8.

Therefore, in this case, as shown in fig. 33, green (G) and a mixed color (RB) of red/blue are alternately assigned as control colors in the diagonal direction K2 on the upper left side and the diagonal direction K6 on the lower right side. In the diagonal direction K3 on the lower left side and the diagonal direction K5 on the upper right side, blue (B) and a mixed color (RG) of red/green are alternately assigned as control colors. In the horizontal directions K1, K4, red (R) and a mixed color (GB) of green/blue are alternately assigned as control colors. Further, in the vertical directions K7, K8, a mixed color (GB) of red (R) and green/blue is also alternately assigned as a control color.

However, since the control colors at both ends are the same in the arrangement of 3 kinds of control colors in any one of the diagonal direction, horizontal direction, and vertical direction, if they are repeatedly arranged, the control colors of the same color are continuous in the diagonal direction, horizontal direction, or vertical direction, and color unevenness occurs. For example, considering the diagonal direction K2, the 2 green dummy light-emitting elements 33G are divided into the dummy light-emitting elements 33G (1) and the dummy light-emitting elements 33G (2). If the control color of the virtual light-emitting element 33G (1) is G (1) and the control color of the virtual light-emitting element 33G (2) is G (2), the arrangement of the control colors in the diagonal direction K2 is as shown in fig. 37. At this time, it is seen from the outgoing light rays from the respective dummy light emitting elements 33G (1), 33R, 33B, and 33G (2) shown in fig. 37 that green light is concentrated and dense in a part, and green light is sparse and uneven in color occurs in a part.

Therefore, in such a case, as shown in fig. 38, it is preferable that only light from one dummy light emitting element (dummy light emitting element on the side close to the reflection region) is emitted to the front. For example, in the diagonal direction K2, only the control color of the green dummy light-emitting element 33G (1) near the reflective region and the control colors of the red/blue dummy light-emitting elements 33R and 33B in the diagonal direction K2 are alternately arranged, and the control color of the dummy light-emitting element 33G (2) is not used. As can be seen from the light ray diagram of fig. 38, a uniform light distribution without color unevenness can be obtained.

Therefore, after the control colors in the respective directions are determined, only the control colors of the dummy light-emitting elements on the side close to the corresponding reflection region are considered for the repeated control colors, and the control colors of the same color are not continued. Thus, as shown in fig. 34, a green control color (G) and a red/blue control color (RB) are alternately arranged in the diagonal directions K2, K6 on the upper left and lower right sides, and a blue control color (B) and a red/green control color (RG) are alternately arranged in the diagonal directions K3, K5 on the lower left and upper right sides. In addition, red control colors (R) and green/blue control colors (GB) are alternately arranged in the horizontal directions K1, K4 and the vertical directions K7, K8. However, the control color G in the diagonal direction K2 is based on the virtual light-emitting element 33G (24G) located on the upper left side, and the control color G in the diagonal direction K6 is based on the virtual light-emitting element 33G (24G) located on the lower right side. The same applies to the other directions.

After the control colors in the reflection areas in the diagonal direction, the horizontal direction, and the vertical direction are determined in this way, as shown in fig. 34, the control colors are determined along at least one side located at the outer peripheral portion of the reflection member 26. When the control colors are determined, 6 kinds of control colors are applied to control colors of the same color discontinuously in the upper, lower, left, and right directions, and the control colors of the respective reflection regions are tentatively determined.

Also, in the region where the surrounding control colors have been determined (for example, the region between the diagonal directions K2 and K3), for the reflection region of the margin, the control colors are applied such that the control colors of the same color are discontinuous in the upper, lower, left, and right directions, as shown in fig. 35, for example, the control colors are determined over a region of about 1/4. After that, the control colors that have been determined are transferred to the remaining regions symmetrically with respect to the diagonal line, and as shown in fig. 36, the control colors are assigned for the whole.

After the control color of each reflection region is determined in this way, a surface constant such as a conic coefficient CC or a curvature CV can be determined so that uniform light is emitted in the front direction, as in the case of 3 light emitting elements.

In the above embodiment, the reflecting member 26 having a quadrangular shape is divided into the plurality of reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … having a quadrangular shape, but may have various forms. Fig. 39 to 42 show modification 3 of light-emitting source 21, in which reflection member 26 having a hexagonal shape when viewed from the front is divided into hexagonal reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … having the same outer shape. Fig. 39(a) is a front view of the luminescent light source of modification 3. Fig. 39(b) (c) are a cross-sectional view in the diagonal direction and a cross-sectional view in the opposite direction of the corresponding light-emitting light source, respectively. Fig. 40(a) and (b) are respectively a perspective view of the mold section 22 having the reflective member 26 formed on the rear surface thereof, viewed from the front side, and a perspective view thereof viewed from the rear side. Fig. 41(a) is a front view, fig. 41(b) is a rear view, fig. 41(c) is a right side view, and fig. 41(d) is a bottom view of the mold. Fig. 42 is a front view schematically showing the reflecting member 26 used in the light source. The light emitting source 21 is formed in a hexagonal shape when viewed from the front, and the reflecting member 26 is also formed in a hexagonal shape. The hexagonal reflecting member 26 is divided into a plurality of hexagonal reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … without any gap.

In the reflective regions 28i, 28j, 28K, and … having such shapes as in modification 3, the reflective regions are continuous in the opposite-side direction K9-K9 shown in fig. 42, but the reflective regions are discrete (partially pass through the boundaries between the reflective regions) in the opposite-side direction K10-K10 shown in fig. 42. In such a case, the curved surface constants, for example, the curvature CV and the conic coefficient CC, may be designed for the reflection regions arranged in the opposite direction, and then the curved surface constants may be determined sequentially for the reflection regions adjacent to the reflection regions. In addition, since a part of the reflection region located at the edge of the reflection member 26 is cut off to form a truncated shape, the effective area thereof becomes small. In the reflection region of the hexagonal notched edge, the design may be made assuming that the reflection shape of the edge is hexagonal first, and a larger value is assigned to the hexagonal notched reflection region than to the conic coefficient determined as hexagonal. When the outer shape of the reflecting member 26 is the same as the shape of each of the reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and …, the curved surface constant such as the curvature CV or the conic coefficient CC can be easily adjusted because the design can be performed as described above.

Fig. 43 is a front view showing the structure of the reflecting member 26 in modification 4. The triangular reflecting member 26 is divided into a plurality of triangular reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … in the reflecting member 26. At this time, if the reflection regions on the line segment K11-K11 connecting the vertex and the center of the side shown in fig. 43 are considered, the distances from the center of the reflection regions located on the outermost sides (i.e., the reflection region located at the vertex and the reflection region located at the center of the side) are not the same. Therefore, in this modification, the reflection regions on the line segments K11-K11 may not be designed in parallel, but the reflection regions 28h located at the vertices may be designed. That is, if a conic coefficient or the like is first designed for the reflection region 28h located at the 3-point vertex, adjacent reflection regions are sequentially designed with the reflection region 28h located at the vertex as a starting point, and the curve is advanced inward, it is easy to adjust the curve constant such as the curvature CV or the conic coefficient CC.

Fig. 44, 45, and 46 show modifications in which the reflecting member 26 is divided into the reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … having shapes different from the outer shapes thereof. Modification 5 shown in fig. 44 and modification 6 shown in fig. 45 are modifications in which the quadrangular reflection member 26 is divided into a plurality of triangular reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and …, and modification 7 shown in fig. 46 is a modification in which the hexagonal reflection member 26 is divided into a plurality of triangular reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and …. According to these modifications 5 to 7, the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … can be further subdivided. On the other hand, the light emitted radially from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is dispersed in the direction of the reflection region, and thus the design of each reflection region becomes difficult. Therefore, in the case of these modifications, it is preferable to design as follows.

In modifications 5 and 6 of fig. 44 and 45 in which the quadrangular reflection member 26 is divided into the triangular reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28K, and …, the reflection regions are arranged continuously in the diagonal direction K13-K13, although the reflection regions are boundaries between the reflection regions in the opposite direction K12-K12. Thus, in this case, it is possible to first design a curved surface constant such as a conic coefficient for the reflection regions arranged in the diagonal directions K12-K12, and then design the reflection regions adjacent to the respective reflection regions in order.

Further, in modification 7 of fig. 46 in which the hexagonal reflecting member 26 is divided into the plurality of triangular reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28K, …, the reflecting regions are arranged continuously in the diagonal direction K14-K14, but the reflecting regions are arranged continuously in the opposite direction K15-K15. Accordingly, in this case, the reflection regions arranged in the opposite side directions K15 to K15 may be first designed with a surface constant such as a conic coefficient, and then the reflection regions adjacent to the respective reflection regions may be designed in sequence.

Fig. 47 to 49 are modifications in which the reflecting member 26 is divided into concentric annular bands around the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B, and the annular band-shaped region is divided into a plurality of regions in the circumferential direction. That is, in the reflecting member 26 of modification 8 shown in fig. 47, the reflecting member 26 having a square shape is divided into a belt shape and a radial shape to form a plurality of reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …. In the reflecting member 26 of modification 9 shown in fig. 48, the hexagonal reflecting member 26 is divided into concentric circles and radial shapes to form a plurality of reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …. In the reflecting member 26 of the embodiment 10 shown in fig. 49, the triangular reflecting member 26 is divided into concentric circles and radially to form a plurality of reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …. Further, as in modification 11 shown in fig. 50, the reflection regions in the respective azimuths may be shifted in the radial direction.

In these modifications 8 to 11, since the size of the reflection region near the center portion is reduced, it is difficult to manufacture the reflection region near the center portion. Therefore, the number of divisions can be increased in the outer band-shaped region, and the number of divisions of the reflection region near the center can be decreased. In these modifications, since the light emitted radially from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B can be arranged radially in the same manner in each direction, the design of the reflecting member 26 and the adjustment of the curved surface constant are facilitated.

Fig. 51 and 52 show a modification in which the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … having the same shape as the outer shape of the reflection member 26 are rotated to divide the reflection member 26 into the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and …. Modification 12 shown in fig. 51 is an example in which a quadrangular reflection member 26 is divided into quadrangular (i.e., rhombic) reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … rotated by 45 °. Modification 13 shown in fig. 52 is an example in which the hexagonal reflective member 26 is divided into hexagonal reflective regions 28i, 28j, 28k, and … rotated by 30 ° or 90 °. In these modifications 12 and 13, since the reflection regions are continuous in the diagonal direction in which the light amount tends to be insufficient, the design of the reflection regions becomes easy. However, since many reflection regions having a shape in which a part is cut off are easily generated in the peripheral portion, light loss is easily generated. In such a modification, since the reflective regions are continuous in the diagonal direction, it is easy to design the reflective regions arranged in the diagonal direction. Further, by designing the reflection regions in order from the reflection region adjacent to the reflection region in the diagonal direction, the design of the reflection member 26 and the adjustment of the curved surface constant are facilitated.

Fig. 53 to 55 show modified examples in which reflective regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, 28x, 28y, 28z, and … having different shapes or sizes are arranged according to the distances from light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B. That is, in modification 14 shown in fig. 53, the reflecting members 26 are formed with quadrangular reflecting regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, 28x, 28y, 28z, …, and the size of the reflecting region increases as the distance from the center increases. In order to design the reflecting member 26, the entire reflecting member 26 is divided into the largest reflecting regions, and the outermost reflecting regions are divided into 1 part (i.e., not divided), 2 parts, 3 parts, and … in the vertical and horizontal direction.

In modification 15 shown in fig. 54, hexagonal reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, 28x, 28y, 28z, and … are formed in the hexagonal reflection member 26, and the sizes of the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, 28x, 28y, 28z, and … increase as the distance from the center increases. In this case, the entire hexagonal reflection member 26 may be divided uniformly in accordance with the hexagonal reflection region having the largest size, and then the inside of the hexagonal reflection region having the largest size may be divided.

In modification 16 shown in fig. 55, triangular reflective regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, 28x, 28y, 28z, … are formed in the triangular reflective member 26, and the sizes of the reflective regions 28i, 28j, 28k, …, 28x, 28y, 28z, … increase as the distance from the center increases. According to this modification, the degree of freedom in design becomes large, and the uniformity of light intensity or color improves. In this case, the entire triangular reflecting member 26 may be divided uniformly in accordance with the largest triangular reflecting area, and then the inside of the largest triangular reflecting area may be divided.

In modifications 14 to 16 shown in fig. 53 to 55, the reflecting member 26 can be easily designed because the reflecting member 26 is first divided into the reflecting regions having the same size and each curved surface constant is designed, and the curved surface shape of the divided reflecting regions can be finely adjusted by dividing each reflecting region. In addition, in the modification, the light quantity of the light emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is large, so that the degree of freedom in design is increased and the uniformity of the light intensity is improved.

The shape of the mold part 22 may be changed in various ways. For example, in modification 17 shown in fig. 56, the direct emission region 29 is formed into a curved surface such as a conical shape, a circular truncated cone shape, or a spherical shape. If the direct emission region 29 is formed as such a curved surface, the reflection direction of the light totally reflected by the inclined total reflection region 32 and incident on the direct emission region 29 can be adjusted according to the inclination angle, curvature, or the like thereof, thereby improving the degree of freedom in designing the reflecting member 26.

Fig. 57 is a cross-sectional view in the diagonal direction for explaining the state of light in modification 17 in which direct emission region 29 is formed in a conical shape. If the direct emission region 29 is formed in a conical shape and the direct emission region 29 has an appropriate inclination angle, the lights emitted from the direct emission region 29 can be made substantially parallel to each other as shown in fig. 57.

The shape of the front surface of the mold part 22 or the groove 25 may be changed in various ways. For example, in modification 18 shown in fig. 58, annular grooves 25 and circular direct emission regions 29 are formed in the light-emitting source 21 having a rectangular outer shape. In modification 19 shown in fig. 59, a rectangular annular groove 25 and a rectangular direct emission region 29 are formed in the light source having a rectangular outer shape. In modification 20 shown in fig. 60, a hexagonal annular groove 25 and a hexagonal direct emission region 29 are formed in a light-emitting source having a hexagonal outer shape. In modification 21 shown in fig. 61, a triangular annular groove 25 and a triangular direct emission region 29 are formed in a light source having a triangular outer shape.

In modification 18 shown in fig. 58, the direct emission region 29 can be designed in accordance with the light beams radially emitted from the light-emitting source 21 disposed at the center, and therefore the design of the direct emission region 29 is easy. In modifications 19 to 21 shown in fig. 59 to 61, the degree of freedom in design is increased, and the uniformity of light intensity and color is improved.

In modification 22 shown in fig. 62, a groove 25 having a quadrangular outer shape is provided in a light-emitting source 21 having a quadrangular outer shape, and a circular direct emission region 29 is provided at the center thereof. In modification 23 of fig. 63, a hexagonal groove 25 is provided in a light-emitting source having a hexagonal outer shape, and a circular direct emission region 29 is provided at the center thereof. In modification 24 shown in fig. 64, a light-emitting source 21 having a triangular outer shape is provided with a groove 25 having a triangular outer shape, and a circular direct emission region 29 is provided at the center thereof.

The advantages of modifications 22 to 24 in which the outer peripheral shape of the groove 25 is made to correspond to the outer shape of the light-emitting source 21 and the direct emission region 29 is made circular as shown in fig. 62 to 64 will be described while comparing with modifications 18 and 19 shown in fig. 58 and 59. Fig. 65(a) and (b) show modification 18 of fig. 58 in which annular grooves 25 of a constant width are provided, fig. 65(a) showing a cross section in a diagonal direction thereof, and fig. 65(b) showing a cross section in an opposite direction thereof. As shown in fig. 65(a) and (b), the lengths of the reflection regions 28p, 28q, 28r, and … in the cross section in the opposite direction are shorter than the lengths of the reflection regions 28s, 28t, 28u, and … in the cross section in the diagonal direction, and the reflection regions 28p, 28q, 28r, and … are located more toward the center side in the opposite direction than in the diagonal direction. Therefore, for example, as shown in fig. 65(a), even if light emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B and reflected by the total reflection region 31 on the bottom side of the groove 25 is designed to enter the entire 2 nd reflection region 28s from the inside in the cross section in the diagonal direction, light reflected by the total reflection region 31 enters not only the 2 nd reflection region 28p from the inside but also the 3 rd reflection region 28q from the inside in the cross section in the opposite direction shown in fig. 65 (B). Therefore, the light reflected by the total reflection region 31 is also received in the reflection region 28q, and the design of the reflection region 28q becomes complicated.

On the other hand, fig. 66(a) and (b) show a modification 19 of fig. 59 in which a groove 25 having a constant width is formed in a quadrangular ring shape corresponding to the outer shape of the light-emitting source 21, fig. 66(a) shows a cross section in the diagonal direction, and fig. 66(b) shows a cross section in the opposite direction. In this case, the lengths of the reflection regions 28p, 28q, 28r, and … in the cross section in the opposite direction are shorter than the lengths of the reflection regions 28s, 28t, 28u, and … in the cross section in the angular direction, and the reflection regions 28p, 28q, 28r, and … are shifted toward the center side in the opposite direction compared to the diagonal direction. However, in modification 18 of fig. 58 and 65(a) (b), the position of the groove 25 is not determined by the cross-sectional direction but is constant, whereas in modification 19 of fig. 59 and 66(a) (b), the position of the groove 25 is shifted toward the center side in the cross-sectional plane in the opposite direction compared to the cross-sectional plane in the diagonal direction. Therefore, it is possible to design that light emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B and reflected by the total reflection regions 31 on the bottom side of the groove 25 enters the entire 2 nd reflection region 28s from the inside in the cross section in the diagonal direction shown in fig. 66(a), and that light reflected by the total reflection regions 31 enters the entire 2 nd reflection region 28p from the inside in the cross section in the opposite direction shown in fig. 66 (B). Therefore, according to modification 19, the design of the reflection region is facilitated. However, such modification 19 has the following disadvantages: since the direct emission region 29 has a quadrangle shape, light emitted radially from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is reflected or transmitted by the quadrangle direct emission region 29, and diffused light increases. The same disadvantage is present in modifications 20 and 21 of fig. 60 and 61.

In contrast, in modification 22 of fig. 62 in which the outer shape of groove 25 is formed in a quadrangular shape corresponding to the outer shape of light-emitting source 21 and circular direct emission region 29 is provided at the center thereof, light reflected by total reflection region 31 can be made incident on specific reflection regions 28s and 28p in either the diagonal direction or the opposite direction, as in fig. 66(a) and (b). Further, according to modification 22, since the direct emission region 29 has a circular shape, light emitted radially from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B can be reflected or transmitted uniformly in each direction by the direct emission region 29, and generation of stray light can be suppressed. This effect is also exhibited in modifications 23 and 24 in fig. 63 and 64.

The modification 25 shown in fig. 67 is a light-emitting source 21 in which the total reflection region 31 on the bottom surface of the groove 25 is divided into a plurality of divided regions 31a, 31b, …. Fig. 68(a) is a perspective view showing the structure of the direct emission region 29 and the total reflection region 31 of the light-emitting source 21. Fig. 68(b) (c) are views showing the state of light in the light-emitting source 21, fig. 68(b) is a schematic sectional view of the light-emitting source 21 in the opposite direction, and fig. 68(c) is a front view thereof. In fig. 68(b), the total reflection region 31 indicated by a dashed-dotted line indicates a part of the total reflection region 31 closer to the observation side than the cross section of the figure. According to this modification 25, the degree of freedom in design is increased, and the uniformity of light intensity or color can be improved. In modification 25, total reflection region 31 is divided into 8 equal parts, and divided regions 31a and 31b are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction. The divided regions 31a and 31b are arranged in such a manner that the inclination directions thereof are opposite to each other in the circumferential direction, and the light emitted in the opposite direction is diffused to both sides, and the light emitted in the diagonal direction is concentrated in the diagonal direction.

Fig. 69(a) is a perspective view showing total reflection region 31 having a uniform inclination angle with respect to the axial center of direct emission region 29. Fig. 69(b) (c) is a view showing a state of light in the light-emitting source, fig. 69(b) is a schematic sectional view of the light-emitting source 21 in the opposite direction, and fig. 69(c) is a front view thereof. In the comparative example having such total reflection regions 31, as shown in fig. 69(B) and (c), since the light emitted from the light emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B is diffused in a radial shape after being reflected by the total reflection regions 31, the light is distributed uniformly in each direction, and as a result, the amount of light is insufficient in the diagonal direction. In contrast, in modification 25 shown in fig. 67, as shown in fig. 68(b) and (c), the divided regions 31a and 31b are arranged so that the light emitted in the opposite direction is diffused to both sides and the light emitted in the diagonal direction is concentrated in the diagonal direction, so that the light is converged in the diagonal direction more than in the opposite direction, and a larger amount of light is distributed in the diagonal direction, whereby the light intensity and color uniformity on the front surface of the light-emitting source 21 can be improved.

Fig. 70(a) is a perspective view showing the structure of direct emission region 29 and total reflection region 31 of light-emitting light source 21 according to modification 26. Fig. 70(b) (c) are views showing the state of light in the light-emitting source 21, fig. 70(b) is a schematic sectional view of the light-emitting source 21 in the opposite direction, and fig. 70(c) is a front view thereof. In fig. 68(b), the total reflection region 31 indicated by a dashed-dotted line indicates a part of the total reflection region 31 closer to the observation side than the cross section of the figure. In modification 26, in the light-emitting source 21 of fig. 67, a circular groove-shaped divided region 31c is further formed between the divided region 31a and the divided region 31b of the total reflection region 31. According to this modification 26, the light emitted from the light-emitting elements 24R, 24G, and 24B can be further diffused by the circular groove-shaped divided regions 31c, and therefore, the uniformity of the light intensity and color on the front surface of the light-emitting light source 21 can be further improved.

Further, modification 27 in fig. 71 is a modification in which the surface of direct emission region 29 is divided into a plurality of divided regions 29a, 29b, and …, and the inclination direction or inclination angle is different for each of divided regions 29a, 29b, and …. Since the light quantity distributed to each of the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … can also be adjusted by adjusting the inclination direction or inclination angle of each of the divided regions 29a, 29b, … by dividing the direct emission region 29, the uniformity of the light intensity and color on the front surface of the light-emitting light source 21 can be further improved. As in modification 28 of fig. 72, total reflection region 31 on the bottom surface of groove 25 may be divided into a plurality of divided regions 31a, 31b, and …, and the surface of direct emission region 29 may be divided into a plurality of divided regions 29a, 29b, and ….

Fig. 73 is a front view showing the luminescent light source 21 of modification 29. In modification 29, total reflection region 30 is divided into a plurality of divided regions 30a, 30b, … in the shape of a checkerboard, and a convexo-concave pattern is formed on the surface of total reflection region 30. In the light-emitting light source 21 having the flat total reflection regions 30, as in the comparative example shown in fig. 75(a) (b), light may leak from the outer peripheral surface of the mold portion 22 to cause a loss of light amount, and the light amount may be insufficient in the corner portion located in the diagonal direction farthest from the light-emitting element, so that the corner portion is easily darkened. On the other hand, when the total reflection region 30 is divided into a plurality of divided regions 30a, 30b, … as in modification 29 of fig. 73, light can be introduced into any of the reflection regions 28i, 28j, 28k, … of the reflection member 26 by adjusting the inclination or inclination angle of each of the divided regions 30a, 30b, … of the total reflection region 30 as shown in fig. 74(a) (b). This improves the degree of freedom in design, and thus, the difference in the amount of light reaching each reflection region of the reflection member 26 can be reduced, and the uniformity of the light intensity or color on the front surface of the light-emitting source can be improved.

In modification 29, for example, on the opposite side, the light is diffused by bending the region of total reflection region 30 in a concave lens shape, or the light is reflected in the diagonal direction by inclining the region of total reflection region 30 in the diagonal direction, so that the amount of light distributed in the diagonal direction is increased, and the corners in the diagonal direction can be prevented from being darkened. In order to reduce the loss light leaking from the outer peripheral surface of the light-emitting light source 21 and to efficiently use the light, the end regions of the total reflection region 30 in the diagonal direction are preferably inclined toward the center side or the opposite side.

In addition, when the total reflection region 30 is a flat light-emitting source, light is uniformly emitted from the total reflection region 30 as in the comparative example shown in fig. 77, but the light emitted from the end of the total reflection region 30 has a long optical path length from the light-emitting element, and therefore, the intensity of light is weak, and the light becomes dark easily at the edge of the light-emitting source. In addition, light may leak from the outer peripheral surface of the light-emitting light source and become lost light, which may result in low light utilization efficiency. In modification 29, at such a timing, as shown in fig. 76, by inclining the divided regions 30a, 30b, and … other than the outer peripheral portion in the total reflection region 30 toward the outer peripheral side, the light reflected by the divided regions 30a, 30b, and … other than the outer peripheral portion can be transmitted to the outer peripheral portion, and the outer peripheral portion of the light-emitting source 21 can be prevented from being darkened. Further, by inclining the divided regions 30a, 30b, … in the outer peripheral portion of the total reflection region 30 toward the inner peripheral side, it is possible to reduce the loss light leaking from the outer peripheral surface of the light emitting source 21. Therefore, according to modification 29, the degree of freedom in design is increased, and the uniformity of light intensity and color can be improved.

[ example 2 ]

Fig. 78 is a front view showing the luminescent light source array 50 of embodiment 2 of the present invention. The light-emitting source array 50 is a light-emitting source array in which the light-emitting sources 21 of the present invention are arranged in the same plane with no gap or with a slight gap. The light-emitting source array 50 is used as a backlight for a liquid crystal display or a liquid crystal television, or as an illumination device, and has advantages of being thin, excellent in color reproducibility, and difficult to cause color unevenness, and having high color uniformity.

In addition, when the light-emitting source array 50 using the light-emitting source 21 of the present invention is used as a backlight, the space in front (the space between the target surface and the light-emitting source array) required for the light intensity equalization and the color mixture equalization is short, and therefore, the thickness of an information display device (for example, a liquid crystal display described later) in which the light-emitting source array 50 is incorporated as a backlight can be reduced, and the information display device can be made thin.

In the light-emitting source array 50 using the light-emitting sources 21, the light-emitting elements are not densely packed even if the light-emitting sources 21 are arrayed, so that the heat dissipation performance is improved, and the heat dissipation mechanism can be simplified. Further, simplification of the heat dissipation mechanism contributes to thinning of an information display device such as a liquid crystal display.

[ example 3 ]

Fig. 79 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display device) 51 according to example 3 of the present invention. The liquid crystal display 51 is configured by disposing a backlight 53 on the rear surface of a liquid crystal panel 52. The liquid crystal panel 52 is a general panel, and is configured by laminating a polarizing plate 54, a liquid crystal cell 55, a retardation plate 56, a polarizing plate 57, and an antireflection film 58 in this order from the back side.

The backlight 53 is a backlight in which a light diffusion film 61, a prism sheet 62, and a luminance enhancement film 63 are disposed in front of a light emitting source array 50 in which a plurality of light emitting sources 21 are arranged. The light-emitting sources 21 are square in front view as described later, and 100 light-emitting sources 21, about 100 to several hundreds thereof, are arranged in a checkerboard pattern to constitute a light-emitting source array 50. The light diffusion film 61 diffuses the light emitted from the light source array 50, thereby achieving uniformity of luminance and also functioning to uniformly mix the light of each color emitted from the light source array 50. The prism sheet 62 is a member that refracts or internally reflects obliquely incident light and transmits the light in a meandering manner in the vertical direction in the prism sheet 62, thereby improving the front luminance of the backlight 53.

The luminance improving film 63 is a thin film that transmits and reflects linearly polarized light in a polarization plane perpendicular to the polarization plane, and has an effect of improving the utilization efficiency of light emitted from the light emitting source array 50. That is, the luminance enhancement film 63 is disposed so that the polarization plane of the transmitted light coincides with the polarization plane of the polarizing plate 54 used in the liquid crystal panel 52. Therefore, of the light emitted from the light source array 50, the light having the polarization plane matching the polarizing plate 54 transmits through the luminance improving film 63 and enters the liquid crystal panel 52, but the light having the polarization plane perpendicular to the polarizing plate 54 is reflected by the luminance improving film 63, returns, is reflected by the light source array 50, and enters the luminance improving film 63. The light reflected and returned by the luminance improving film 63 has a polarization plane rotated before being reflected by the light-emitting source array 50 and entering the luminance improving film 63, and therefore a part of the light passes through the luminance improving film 63. By repeating such an operation, most of the light emitted from the light-emitting light source array 50 is utilized by the liquid crystal panel 52, and the luminance of the liquid crystal panel 52 is improved.

Fig. 80 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a modification of example 3. In the liquid crystal display 64 of this modification, the prism sheet 62 and the luminance improving film 63 disposed between the light-emitting source array 50 and the liquid crystal panel 52 in the liquid crystal display 51 of fig. 79 are omitted. Of course, any one of the prism sheet 62 and the luminance improving film 63 may be omitted. According to the light source array 50 of the present invention, the direction or diffusion of light emitted from the light source 21 can be adjusted with high accuracy, and therefore, a prism sheet used in a conventional liquid crystal display device or backlight can be eliminated. In addition, when the light-emitting source array 50 of the present invention is used, the direction of light emitted from the light-emitting source 21 or the diffusion thereof can be adjusted to increase the light intensity, so that a luminance increasing film used in a conventional liquid crystal display device can be eliminated.

Thus, according to this modification, the prism sheet or the luminance improving film can be omitted, and as a result, the liquid crystal display 64 can be thinned, and the assembly cost can be reduced. Also, since there is no prism sheet or light loss in the brightness enhancement film, the light utilization efficiency can be improved.

[ example 4 ]

Fig. 81 is a perspective view showing an illumination device 72 for indoor illumination using the light-emitting source array of the present invention. The lighting device 72 includes a light source array 73 of the present invention in a housing 74, and a power supply device 75 is provided on the housing 74. When a plug 76 drawn out from a power supply device 75 is inserted into an outlet of a commercial power supply or the like and a switch is turned on, an ac power supplied from the outlet of the commercial power supply is converted into a dc power by the power supply device 75, and the light-emitting light source array 73 is caused to emit light by the dc power. Therefore, the lighting device 72 can be used in, for example, a wall-mounted indoor lighting device.

Claims (19)

1. A luminescent light source having: a reflecting member for reflecting light, a light guide portion disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element for projecting light to the light guide portion,

the light emitting element is disposed in a central region of the reflecting member, the light guide portion has a light emitting surface that emits light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member to the outside, the reflecting member has a light reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light emitting surface of the light guide portion, and the light reflecting surface is configured by a plurality of reflecting regions arranged in at least 2 directions.

2. A luminescent light source having: a reflecting member for reflecting light, a light guide portion disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element for projecting light to the light guide portion,

the light emitting element is disposed in a central region of the reflecting member, the light guide portion has a light emitting surface that emits light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member to the outside, the reflecting member has a light reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light emitting surface of the light guide portion, and the light reflecting surface is formed by arranging a plurality of reflecting regions in a mosaic shape.

3. A luminescent light source as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the reflection area is square, rectangular, hexagonal, triangular or fan-shaped.

4. The luminescent light source according to claim 1 or 2, wherein characteristic quantities characterizing the respective reflection regions are different from each other between the reflection regions adjacent in each direction in which the reflection regions are arranged.

5. The luminescent light source according to claim 1 or 2, wherein characteristic quantities characterizing the respective reflection regions are different from each other between the reflection regions adjacent in the direction between the directions in which the reflection regions are arranged.

6. The luminescent light source according to claim 4, wherein the characteristic amount is a displacement amount of each of the reflection regions in an optical axis direction of the reflection member.

7. The luminescent light source according to claim 4, wherein each of the reflection regions is a conical surface, and the characteristic quantity is a radius of curvature indicating the conical surface.

8. The luminescent light source according to claim 4, wherein each of the reflection regions is a conical surface, and the characteristic quantity is a conical coefficient representing the conical surface.

9. The luminescent light source according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a plurality of the luminescent elements having different luminescent colors.

10. The luminescent light source according to claim 9, wherein the adjacent reflection regions reflect light of the respective light emitting elements so that light emitted from the different light emitting elements is emitted substantially perpendicularly to a front direction.

11. The luminescent light source according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the surface of the light guide portion is divided into a plurality of regions, and the inclination angle or the inclination direction of the surface is changed for each of the divided regions.

12. An array of light sources, wherein a plurality of light sources according to claim 1 or 2 are arranged.

13. A method for setting an optical path of a light source having a reflecting member for reflecting light, a light guide portion disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element for projecting light to the light guide portion, the method comprising: disposing the light emitting element in a central region of the reflecting member; forming a light emitting surface in the light guide portion so that light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member are emitted to the outside; and a step of forming, in the reflecting member, a light reflecting surface that reflects light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light emitting surface of the light guide portion by a plurality of reflecting regions arranged in at least 2 directions, and setting a reflecting direction of the reflected light generated in each reflecting region.

14. A light emission method of a light emission source including a reflecting member that reflects light, a light guide portion disposed on a light reflecting surface side of the reflecting member, and a light emitting element that projects light to the light guide portion, the light emission method comprising: disposing the light emitting element in a central region of the reflecting member; forming a light emitting surface in the light guide portion so that light emitted from the light emitting element and light of the light emitting element reflected by the reflecting member are emitted to the outside; and a step of forming, in the reflecting member, a light reflecting surface for reflecting light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the light exit surface of the light guide portion by a plurality of reflecting regions arranged in at least 2 directions, and adjusting an emission direction and a luminous intensity distribution of the light emitted from the light exit surface of the light guide portion by setting a reflecting direction of the reflected light generated by each reflecting region.

15. An illumination device having: a light source array in which a plurality of light sources according to claim 1 or 2 are arranged, and a power supply device for supplying power to the light source array.

16. A backlight characterized in that a plurality of the light-emitting sources according to claim 1 or 2 are arranged in the same plane.

17. A liquid crystal display device has: a light source array in which a plurality of light sources according to claim 1 or 2 are arranged, and a liquid crystal display panel disposed to face the light source array.

18. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 17, wherein no optical member is provided between the light-emitting source array and the liquid crystal display panel to direct the traveling direction of the light emitted from the light-emitting source array toward the front direction of the liquid crystal display panel.

19. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 17, wherein an optical member for increasing the luminance of light for illuminating the liquid crystal display panel is not provided between the light emitting source array and the liquid crystal display panel.

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