CN219606854U - Lighting unit, glass assembly and window assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a lighting unit, a glass assembly, and a window assembly. The illumination unit is adapted to be attached to a surface of the glass assembly and includes a light source and a light guide configured to guide incident light emitted by the light source into the glass assembly in a reflective manner after collimated propagation in a predetermined direction for total reflection within the glass assembly. The illumination unit of the present disclosure can obtain an optimized illumination effect while providing an illumination function by controlling a propagation path of incident light and guiding out the adjusted incident light at an appropriate angle, applied to a glass assembly. The lighting unit has small volume, simple structure and convenient pre-assembly, provides more feasibility for structural design and functional design of products, and is widely applicable to various occasions.

Description

Lighting unit, glass assembly and window assembly

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of glass technology, and in particular, to a lighting unit, a glass assembly having the lighting unit, and a window assembly using the glass assembly.

Background

With the rapid development of the automobile industry and the increasing demands of consumers for vehicle functions, glass with lighting effects has been widely appreciated by vehicle manufacturers and favored by consumers. In general, glass having an illumination effect uses a pattern area to which an illumination enamel (enamel) or ink is applied based on a pattern design on a surface of the glass, and incident light emitted from a light source provided at a side surface of the glass or integrated in the glass is transmitted through the pattern area by scattering or diffusion, thereby achieving illumination of different effects.

In one illumination mode, as shown in fig. 1, the glass assembly 10 includes a first glass body 11, a second glass body 12, and a third glass body 13 laminated therebetween, and an illumination unit 14 is provided at an edge of the third glass body 13 to make incident light incident on the third glass body 13 and totally reflect, as shown by an arrow, to illuminate a pattern 15 when light contacts a surface of the third glass body 13. In this way, the placement of the light source at the glass edge may require cutting and polishing the glass edge, which has a large impact on light transmission and light efficiency. In addition, the components required for the light source, such as the driving and holding members, place greater space requirements on the vehicle body, the overall size of the glass assembly is larger and heavier than conventional products, which counter the trend of compactness and portability followed by vehicle development and causes an increase in cost.

In another illumination mode, shown in fig. 2, the glass assembly 20 includes a first glass body 21 and a second glass body 22, and an opening 23 is formed in the second glass body 22 to accommodate an illumination unit 24, so that incident light is incident on the second glass body 22 and totally reflected, and the pattern is illuminated when the light contacts a pattern 25 on the surface of the second glass body 22. The overall size and weight of the glass assembly 20 is reduced compared to that shown in fig. 1, however, the glass strength is compromised by the way the holes are opened, thereby presenting more risk to subsequent processes (e.g., glass bending and lamination), resulting in reduced yields. In addition, the roughness is difficult to control at a stable level in the process of opening holes, and then part of light can be diffused to form a halo phenomenon at the opening, so that the intensity of incident light is reduced, and light loss exists.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present disclosure to improve the prior art and to propose a lighting unit for a glass assembly and an application thereof, which provides a lighting function while obtaining an optimized lighting effect with a simplified structural design and an improved light path design.

To this end, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a lighting unit for a glass assembly, wherein the lighting unit is adapted to be attached to a surface of the glass assembly, and includes a light source and a light guide configured to guide incident light emitted from the light source into the glass assembly in a reflective manner after collimated propagation in a predetermined direction, so as to be totally reflected within the glass assembly.

The present disclosure may further include any one or more of the following optional forms according to the above technical idea.

In some alternatives, the predetermined direction is substantially parallel to a surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters.

In some alternatives, the light guide includes an entrance face facing the light source and configured to convert incident light from at least a light source beam centerline into a collimated beam.

In some alternatives, the entrance face is configured to convert the incident light into a collimated beam within a positive and negative angle with respect to a source beam centerline, the angle being 60 degrees or 45 degrees or 30 degrees or 15 degrees or 10 degrees.

In some alternative forms, the incident surface is configured as any one or combination of a convex lens, a concave lens, and a fresnel lens.

In some alternative forms, the lighting unit includes a plurality of light sources and a plurality of light guides respectively corresponding to the light sources, and the incident surface of each light guide is the same or different.

In some alternatives, the light guide includes a light guide surface opposite the incident surface, the light guide surface configured as a bevel having an oblique angle relative to a surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters to reflectively guide the collimated incident light into the glass assembly.

In some alternatives, the light guide comprises a first light guide and a second light guide, the first light guide comprising the entrance face and an exit face opposite the entrance face, the exit face configured as a substantially perpendicular plane relative to a surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters; the second light guide is disposed adjacent to the exit face and is provided with a reflection slope having an inclination angle with respect to a surface on which incident light of the glass member enters, so as to guide the collimated incident light guided to the exit face into the glass member in a reflective manner.

In some alternatives, the reflective bevel is chrome plated or aluminized to form the mirror surface.

In some alternative forms, the illumination unit includes a light-deflecting layer, the light-deflecting layer and the light guide being disposed on opposite surfaces of the glass assembly, respectively, the light-deflecting layer being configured such that the incident light directed into the glass assembly is totally reflected within the glass assembly.

In some alternative forms, the tilt angle is determined based on a plurality of factors in the refractive index of the glass, the total reflection angle, the refractive index of the light guide, and the deflection structure of the light deflection layer.

In some alternative forms, the light deflecting layer is made of polyethylene terephthalate or metal.

In some alternative forms, the light guide is made of any one of polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyolefin, polyvinyl chloride.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a glass assembly comprising: a glass body comprising oppositely disposed first and second surfaces; and the lighting unit is arranged on the first surface or the second surface of the glass body, and enables incident light emitted by the light source to enter the glass body through the light guide piece and be totally reflected in the glass body.

In some alternatives, the lighting unit includes a light deflecting layer, the light deflecting layer and the light guide being disposed on the first and second surfaces of the glass assembly, respectively.

In certain alternative forms, the glass body is a first glass body, the glass assembly further comprises a second glass body attached to the first glass body by an interlayer, the second glass body comprising a third surface facing the second surface and an oppositely disposed fourth surface, the lighting unit being disposed at either the first surface or the fourth surface.

In some alternatives, the lighting unit includes a light deflection layer, the light deflection layer and the light guide being disposed on a first surface and a fourth surface of the glass assembly, respectively; or the light guide is arranged on the first surface or the fourth surface of the glass component, and the light deflection layer is arranged on the second surface or the third surface.

In some alternative forms, the lighting unit is attached to the glass body by an adhesive.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a window assembly comprising the glass assembly described above, wherein the window assembly comprises a door, a window, a curtain wall, a window glass, an aircraft glass or a ship glass.

In some alternatives, the window assembly is a window glass, including a front windshield, a rear windshield, a sunroof glass, a door glass, or an angle glass.

The illumination unit of the present disclosure can obtain an optimized illumination effect while providing an illumination function by controlling a propagation path of incident light and guiding out the adjusted incident light at an appropriate angle, applied to a glass assembly. The lighting unit has small volume, simple structure and convenient pre-assembly, provides more feasibility for structural design and functional design of products, and is widely applicable to various occasions.

Drawings

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be better understood from the following detailed description of alternative embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters identify the same or similar parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of one illumination pattern of a glass assembly showing illumination units disposed at the edges of a glass body;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of another illumination mode of the glass assembly, showing an illumination unit disposed within the glass body opening;

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of a glass assembly showing the distribution of lighting units according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a glass assembly showing a plurality of lighting units disposed on a surface of a glass body, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a lighting unit showing the distribution of light sources and light guides in the lighting unit, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic view of portion A of FIG. 5;

fig. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams of design principle of incident surfaces of the light source and the light guide;

fig. 8A to 8D are schematic cross-sectional views of light guides, respectively, showing different designs of the incident surface according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a glass assembly showing a light guide in one piece according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9B is an enlarged schematic view of portion B of FIG. 9A, showing the path of light rays entering the glass body in a reflected manner after collimated propagation in a predetermined direction;

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a glass assembly showing an illumination unit including a light-deflecting layer according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a glass assembly showing a light deflecting layer and a light guide in a split form according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The making and using of the embodiments are discussed in detail below. It should be understood, however, that the specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the disclosure, and do not limit the scope of the disclosure. The structural position of the various components as described, such as the directions of up, down, top, bottom, etc., is not absolute, but rather relative. When the individual components are arranged as shown in the figures, these directional expressions are appropriate, but when the position of the individual components in the figures changes, these directional expressions also change accordingly.

The terms "comprising," "including," and "having," and the like, herein, are open ended and do not exclude additional unrecited elements, steps, or components. The expression "consisting of …" excludes any element, step or ingredient not specified. The expression "consisting essentially of …" means that the scope is limited to the specified elements, steps, or components, plus any elements, steps, or components that are optionally present that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristics of the claimed subject matter. It should be understood that the expression "comprising" encompasses the expressions "consisting essentially of …" and "consisting of …".

The terms "first," "second," and the like herein do not denote a limitation of order or quantity of components, unless otherwise indicated.

Herein, "plurality", "multilayer" means two or more, unless specifically defined otherwise.

Herein, unless specifically limited otherwise, terms such as "mounted," "connected," "attached," and the like are to be construed broadly and may be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed, for example; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communicated with the inside of two elements or the interaction relationship of the two elements. The specific meaning of the terms herein above will be understood by those skilled in the art as the case may be.

The glass is an amorphous inorganic nonmetallic material, and is generally prepared by taking various inorganic minerals (such as quartz sand, borax, boric acid, barite, barium carbonate, limestone, feldspar, sodium carbonate and the like) as main raw materials and adding a small amount of auxiliary raw materials. Its main components are silicon dioxide and other oxides. In the various embodiments described, the thickness of the glass is that commonly used in the art, and the thickness of each laminate structure on the glass is suitable for conventional ranges and is not limited by the specific descriptions shown in the figures below. In addition, although shown as a flat glass, the glass of the present disclosure may also be a curved glass. In various embodiments, described as a separate glass body or glass sheet, however, in some cases, special coatings may also be used on the surface of the glass body to enhance thermal insulation and/or comfort, and functional layers may also be sandwiched for laminated glass to achieve multiple functions or effects.

Hereinafter, the application of the glass assembly to a window glass is described, but it is not excluded that the glass assembly can be applied to the field of construction of doors, windows, curtain walls and the like, and in the environment of other vehicles such as aircraft glass or ship glass. When the glass assembly describes a window glass for a vehicle, "outer" and "inner" are directions relative to the vehicle body, "outer" refers to a direction away from the vehicle body, and "inner" refers to a direction facing the vehicle body. It should be appreciated that vehicle glazings according to embodiments of the present disclosure, including but not limited to front windshields, rear windshields, sunroof glasses, door glasses or quarter glasses, may provide different lighting effects based on different needs.

Currently, more and more automobile manufacturers are focusing on intelligent cabs with intelligent devices to provide passengers and drivers with a more convenient, smooth and safe experience. Interior lighting to facilitate interaction is also an important component of intelligent cabs, and automotive manufacturers wish to expand the area of interior ambient lighting and play an increasing role in cabs. Vehicle sun roof glass, which occupies most of the surface area, is a good choice, and sun roof glass has been added to the entire ambient lighting system as a new lighting function carrier in vehicles. It has been appreciated that in the glass assembly shown in fig. 1 and 2, the lighting unit does not achieve good illumination range and uniformity of illumination of the entire glass assembly, and also increases process difficulty and processing costs by perforating the glass body.

According to the conception of the present disclosure, on the basis of not significantly increasing the overall size of the glass assembly, an illumination unit for realizing specific propagation or distribution of light is designed, so that an opening mode on a glass body is avoided, incident light is collimated and propagated in a predetermined direction through a light guide member, and then is incident into the glass body in a reflection mode, and the light can be totally reflected to a farther area in the glass body, so that the illumination range is increased, the illumination loss is reduced, and a better luminous visual effect is obtained. It should be understood that "collimation" herein includes collimation and near collimation. Ideally, the incident light is desirably collimated to 0 degrees, i.e., the light rays propagate perfectly parallel to the surface of the glass where the incident light enters. In practice, there may be a range of deviations, for example, a deviation of plus or minus 10 degrees.

Fig. 3 illustrates a glass assembly 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the glass assembly 100 including a plurality of lighting units 200, three lighting units 200 being exemplarily illustrated in the drawing, and the number of omitted lighting units being denoted by n, which may be determined according to an actual pattern area P designed on the glass assembly. In certain embodiments, the glass component may be selected as a monolithic glass or a laminated glass. For some vehicle glazings, when a single piece of glass is employed, as shown in fig. 4, the glass body of the glass assembly 100 has a first surface 110 facing the exterior of the vehicle, and a second surface 120 facing the interior of the vehicle, and the lighting unit 200 may be disposed on the second surface 120 to achieve a lighting effect in the vehicle. In some embodiments, the lighting units may also be arranged on the first surface to achieve certain specific lighting effects.

When applied to a front windshield or a sunroof glass in a window glass, a laminated glass may be selected, comprising at least two glass bodies and an interlayer (e.g. PVB, i.e. polyvinyl butyral, or EVA, i.e. ethylene vinyl acetate) bonding the two together. As in the embodiment shown in fig. 9A, the glass assembly 300 includes a first glass body 310 and a second glass body 320, which are attached to each other by an interlayer 330. Wherein the first glass body 310 has a first surface 311 and a second surface 312, the second glass body 320 has a third surface 321 facing the second surface 312 and an oppositely disposed fourth surface 322, and the lighting unit 200 may be disposed on the first surface 311 of the first glass body 310 or the fourth surface 322 of the second glass body 320. Taking a sunroof glass as an example, the first glass body 310 may be referred to as an outer glass, the second glass body 320 may be referred to as an inner glass, and the lighting unit 200 is arranged at a fourth surface 322 facing the interior of the vehicle.

The present disclosure places the lighting units on the surface of the glass body rather than into the glass body, reduces the process costs incurred by means such as tapping, is more suitable for wide-ranging applications, and avoids the problem of light loss caused by tapping. Depending on the different lighting requirements, the glass assembly may include a plurality of lighting units arranged along one surface of the glass body. Fig. 4 illustrates three lighting units 200 spaced apart on the second surface 120 of the glass assembly 100. Alternatively, the lighting unit may be attached to the glass body by an adhesive, enabling reduction of production costs and use costs, facilitating improvement of production efficiency. Of course, the lighting unit may also be attached to the glass body by means of a mechanical fixation, such as a clamp.

Fig. 5 shows an embodiment of a lighting unit 200, as an example, the lighting unit 200 comprises a housing 210 and a light source 220 and a light guide 230 housed within the housing 210. In this embodiment, the lighting unit 200 includes a plurality of light sources 220 and a plurality of light guides 230 respectively corresponding to the respective light sources 220 arranged in sequence therein, and fig. 6 shows one light source 220 and the light guide 230 corresponding thereto in fig. 5. The light source is, for example, a point-like or line-like light source, such as a single-or three-color Light Emitting Diode (LED) bead or LED light bar, one or more LED beads may be arranged according to different needs. In addition, in combination with the design and control of the light source, such as the lighting state and/or color and/or light intensity and/or lighting time of one or more LEDs, dynamic/static lighting effects, such as flowing water, blinking, breathing, sense of depth, etc., can be achieved separately or simultaneously, which can further enrich the lighting effect of the glass assembly and meet the needs of certain specific scene atmospheres.

Advantageously, the light guide is arranged to propagate the incident light in a parallel manner, i.e. the incident light is collimated in a predetermined direction in the propagation direction substantially parallel to the surface of the glass assembly into which the incident light enters. Therefore, the light guide piece plays roles of condensing and changing the light propagation direction, more incident light can be condensed and the light propagation direction can be controlled, so that the incident light can be fully utilized, and the intensity of the light which is reflected into the glass body for propagation and total reflection is enhanced.

According to the present disclosure, the light guide 230 includes an incident surface and an exit surface, wherein the incident surface refers to a surface on which incident light enters the light guide, and is illustrated as an incident surface 231 in fig. 6; the exit surface is the surface that directs or emits the incident light out of the light guide, and is shown as exit surface 232 in fig. 6. The incident surface faces the light source 220 and is configured to convert incident light into a collimated light beam (or approximately parallel light), for example, any one or a combination of a plurality of forms of convex lens, concave lens, and fresnel lens, wherein each of the convex lens, concave lens, and fresnel lens can function to gather light. Advantageously, the entrance face is configured to convert incident light of at least the light source optical axis (light source beam centerline) into a collimated light beam. Preferably, the entrance face is configured to convert incident light within a range of positive and negative angles with respect to the optical axis of the light source, such as 60 degrees, 45 degrees, 30 degrees, 15 degrees, 10 degrees, for example, of the light receiving angle of the entrance face, hereinafter referred to as the collimated light beam.

As shown in fig. 7A and 7B, for example, the effect of gathering light by the incident surface 231 in the form of a convex lens is related to the arc height h of the convex lens and the distance D between the incident surface and the light source, wherein the arc height h is the longest vertical line segment formed from the arc of the convex lens to the chord corresponding to the arc, and the distance D is the distance from the vertex of the arc to the light source. When the arc height h increases and the distance D decreases, the gathering and collimating effects of the light rays are improved, but the light receiving angle of the incident surface is reduced from a1 in fig. 7A to a2 in fig. 7B. The length L and the width W of the light guide are also related to the optical effect that the light guide can achieve. Based on the above, the form of the incident surface of the light guide member, the distance D between the light guide member and the light source, the light receiving angle of the incident surface, the length L and the width W of the light guide member, and other factors can be reasonably designed according to actual needs, so as to collect the incident light as much as possible and transmit the light to the required area. For example, the design is such that a light source 220 in the form of one LED bead and a corresponding light guide 230 can illuminate a pattern area P of about 10-30mm at the exit face 232.

Fig. 8A to 8D illustrate several embodiments of the entrance face of the light guide, wherein different entrance face forms may be employed based on different needs, in case the lengths L of the light guides are substantially the same. The light guide 230a shown in fig. 8A is provided with an incident surface 231a in the form of a convex lens and an exit surface 232a in the form of a plane, and the incident surface 231a has a large arc-shaped height h. Here, the configuration of the exit face to be a plane substantially perpendicular to the surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters can simplify design and manufacturing costs. The incident surface 231B of the light guide 230B shown in fig. 8B has a smaller arc-shaped height h compared to the manner shown in fig. 8A. In addition, the light guide in this manner is similar to that shown in fig. 6 in that the entrance face also includes portions adjacent to each end of the arcuate region to facilitate more efficient collection and deflection of light rays traveling at a desired angle. The light guide 230C shown in fig. 8C is provided with an entrance surface 231C in the form of a fresnel lens. The lens surface of the Fresnel lens is provided with concentric circles from small to large, the Fresnel lens is formed by a series of sawtooth-shaped grooves in section, the central part is an elliptical arc, each groove is different from the adjacent grooves in angle, each groove can be regarded as an independent small lens, and light rays are adjusted into parallel light, so that incident light can be collimated after passing through the incident surface 231c, and the emergent light is more uniform and lower in cost. The light guide 230D shown in fig. 8D is similar to the light guide 230c, with an entrance face 231D in the form of a fresnel lens, except that the face of the fresnel lens having grooves faces away from the light source 220. The light guides in the individual lighting units may have different entrance surfaces for the different lighting units. The entrance face may be set to be the same or different for a plurality of light guides within the same lighting unit, and it is advantageous to set the entrance face of each light guide to be the same.

According to the present disclosure, the light guide guides incident light into the glass body in a reflective manner after the incident light is collimated and propagated in a predetermined direction, thereby contributing to total reflection of light within the glass body. In particular, in some embodiments, the light guide includes a light guide surface opposite the incident surface, the light guide surface configured as a slope having an oblique angle relative to a surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters to reflect the collimated incident light for introduction into the glass assembly.

In connection with the glass assembly 300 of the embodiment shown in fig. 9A, in this embodiment, the light guide 430 of the illumination unit has an incident surface 431 in the form of a convex lens and a light guide surface 432 inclined with respect to the surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters. As shown in the enlarged schematic view of fig. 9B, the incident light collimated by the incident surface 431 is reflected at the light guiding surface 432, and the reflected light is refracted (β is a refractive angle) at the surface of the second glass body 320 after being guided out from the light guiding member 430 and enters the second glass body 320, and then totally reflected in the second glass body 320, and when reaching or contacting the pattern area 340 as shown in fig. 9A, the light is scattered or diffused out of the glass body, so that the pattern is observed and visible.

The light guiding surface 432 may be planar or may incorporate surface structures such as textures, patterns, etc. in some ways to aid in light direction or diffusion. In the illustrated embodiment, the inclination angle θ of the light guide surface 432 is related to the refractive index of the glass, the total reflection angle, and the refractive index of the light guide member, specifically:

wherein alpha is the total reflection angle, gamma is the reflection angle of light rays at the light guide surface, and n _glass Is the refractive index of glass, n _collimator Is the refractive index of the light guide. The above relation is based on the absence of a medium between the light guide and the glass body that significantly affects the light propagation, e.g. when the lighting unit is attached to the glass body by means of an adhesive, the refractive index of the adhesive may be similar to the refractive index of the light guide or the glass. These parameter ranges may vary based on actual needs without departing from the concepts of the present disclosure, and, in different embodiments, the factors that determine the tilt angle θ vary accordingly.

As described above, the lighting unit is attached to the glass body by the adhesive. In some cases, the surface of the glass body is not perfectly planar, and the lighting unit cannot fully contact the surface of the glass body, so that there is an air gap between the two that affects light propagation. As shown in one embodiment of fig. 10, there is a gap S between the light guide 430 of the lighting unit and the surface of the second glass body 320, which is shown along the surface of the light guide 430 facing the glass body, but is only an example. The creation of gaps may be due to the lack of (or failure of) adhesive in certain areas, or may be due to the use of non-transparent adhesive, where gaps are required to avoid the effect of the non-transparent adhesive on the light transmission in these areas. In these cases, the illumination unit includes light-deflecting layers 500, the light-deflecting layers 500 and the light guides 430 being disposed on opposite surfaces of the second glass body 320, respectively, the light-deflecting layers 500 being configured such that incident light introduced into the second glass body 320 is totally reflected within the second glass body 320. That is, the light deflection layer plays a role of expanding a reflection angle, thereby correcting a propagation path of light rays injected into the glass body through air, so that the reflection angle of the corrected light rays can be large enough for total reflection. To this end, for example, the surface or the inside of the light deflection layer 500 may be provided with micro-texture structures (including, for example, micro-lens structures) so that the reflection angle can be enlarged in proportion to avoid conventional specular reflection. In this way, the inclination angle θ of the light guiding surface 432 is related to the refractive index of the glass, the total reflection angle, the refractive index of the light guiding member, and the deflection structure design of the light deflection layer. It will be appreciated that the tilt angle θ needs to be set so as to be able to reflect light onto the light deflecting layer. In the embodiment shown in fig. 10, the light deflection layer 500 is sandwiched between the second glass body 320 and the intermediate layer 330, that is, is disposed on the third surface 321 of the second glass body 320. In addition, the light-deflecting layer may be directly attached to the surface of the glass body, for example, the light-deflecting layer may be attached to the first surface 311 of the first glass body 310 as light propagates throughout the glass assembly. Further, for example, when light propagates only by total reflection within the intermediate layer 330, the light deflecting layer may be interposed between the first glass body 310 and the intermediate layer 330, that is, disposed at the second surface 312 of the first glass body 310. That is, the position of the light deflection layer may be correspondingly set according to the layer in which light is totally internally reflected. In addition, when a single glass layer is used, the light deflection layer may be directly attached to the surface of the single glass layer.

In certain embodiments, the light deflecting layer comprises a coating, film, or the like, attached to the surface of the glass body, such as by coating, printing, adhering, or sandwiching. Advantageously, the light deflecting layer is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or metal. In addition, the size of the light deflection layer (for example, the length Lr in the cross section shown in the drawing) is advantageously set to slightly exceed the light guide to ensure deflection of the introduced light, and whether or not light leakage or the like is generated needs to be considered. When applied to a vehicle window glass, lr can be set to be not beyond the black printing edge at the edge of the glass in general so as to achieve the effect of beautifying the appearance.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 9A and 10, the light guide surface 432 of the light guide 430 is configured as a slope having an inclination angle θ, in other words, the light guide 430 combines the functions of collimation and reflection derivation of incident light as a single component. In this way, the exit surface of the light guide is directed directly towards the glass body or parallel to the surface of the glass body where the incident light enters. In some embodiments, the light guide may employ an exit surface in the form of a plane as shown in fig. 6 or fig. 8A-8D. As shown in fig. 11, in this embodiment, the light guide member includes a first light guide member and a second light guide member, and the first light guide member may employ a light guide member 230a shown in fig. 8A having an exit surface 232a in the form of a plane substantially perpendicular to a surface on which incident light of the glass body enters. The second light guide 600 is disposed adjacent to the exit surface 232a and provided with a reflection slope 610 having an inclination angle θ with respect to a surface of the glass member into which incident light is incident, so as to reflect the incident light exiting the exit surface 232a and guide the reflected incident light into the glass member. Similar to the embodiment of fig. 10, this embodiment also has a problem of guiding light from air into the glass to affect light propagation, so that the light deflecting layer 500 is also provided to ensure total reflection of light within the second glass body 320. Similarly, in this manner, the inclination angle θ of the reflection inclined surface 610 is related to the refractive index of the glass, the total reflection angle, and the deflection structure design of the light deflection layer. Also, the inclination angle θ needs to be set so as to be able to reflect light onto the light deflection layer.

The split light guide design shown in fig. 11 is relatively simple and more flexible for use in the application scenario. When the light guide member of the integrated form shown in fig. 9A or 10 is limited in space or cannot be installed due to other factors, for example, interference with other functional components and the light guide member of the integrated form cannot be accommodated, the light guide member of the separated form may be employed. In this case, the design of the part adjacent to the first light guide member based on the inclination angle can be changed, the inclined surface structure area is reserved, and the reflecting mirror surface is formed by aluminizing or chromeplating, so that the aim of guiding the collimated incident light into the glass can be achieved. Thus, based on the conception of the present disclosure, different light guide modes can be selected according to different needs, and the application is wide.

Advantageously, the materials of the light guide and the adhesive in the above embodiments are selected to have a refractive index similar to that of glass, so that the incident direction is not substantially changed when the incident light is transmitted to the glass body via the light guide and the adhesive. Alternatively, the material of the light guide member includes, but is not limited to, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyolefin (PO), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and other suitable composite plastics. The adhesive includes, but is not limited to, any one of photo-curing glue (UV glue), thermosetting glue, unsaturated polyester glue, epoxy glue, polyurethane glue, and organic silica gel. For the second light guide 600 of fig. 11, the reflective chamfer 610 may be chrome plated or aluminized to form a reflective mirror surface, considering that the actual shape of the reflective chamfer or roughness somewhere may affect the propagation of light.

According to the light guide device, through the optimal design of the light guide piece in the lighting unit, incident light can be guided into the glass body in a reflecting mode after being collimated and totally reflected in the glass body, the lighting range and the uniformity are greatly improved, and the luminous visual effect is better. Meanwhile, the lighting unit does not need to carry out processes such as perforating and the like on the glass body, the structural strength of the glass assembly is ensured while the light loss is reduced to obtain enhanced illumination effect, and the lighting unit is simple in structure, easy to assemble and suitable for application occasions of various glass assemblies.

It should be understood herein that the embodiments shown in the figures only show alternative shapes, sizes and arrangements of the various alternative components of the lighting unit and glass assembly according to the present disclosure, however, they are merely illustrative and not limiting, and that other shapes, sizes and arrangements may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

While the technical contents and features of the present disclosure have been disclosed above, it will be understood that those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the above disclosed concept under the inventive concept of the present disclosure, but all fall within the scope of the present disclosure. The above description of embodiments is illustrative and not restrictive, and the scope of the disclosure is defined by the claims.

Claims (20)

1. A lighting unit for a glass component, the lighting unit being adapted to be attached to a surface of the glass component and comprising a light source and a light guide configured to direct incident light emitted by the light source into the glass component in a reflective manner for total reflection within the glass component after collimated propagation in a predetermined direction.

2. A lighting unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the predetermined direction is substantially parallel to a surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters.

3. A lighting unit as recited in claim 1, wherein said light guide comprises an entrance face which is oriented towards said light source and is configured to convert incident light of at least a light source beam centerline into a collimated beam.

4. A lighting unit as recited in claim 3, wherein said entrance face is configured to convert said incident light into a collimated light beam at positive and negative angles with respect to a light source beam centerline, said angles being 60 degrees or 45 degrees or 30 degrees or 15 degrees or 10 degrees.

5. A lighting unit as recited in claim 3, wherein said entrance face is configured as any one or combination of a convex lens, a concave lens, a fresnel lens.

6. A lighting unit as recited in claim 5, wherein said lighting unit comprises a plurality of light sources and a plurality of light guide members each corresponding to a respective light source, which are arranged in order, and said incident surfaces of the respective light guide members are the same or different.

7. A lighting unit as recited in claim 3, wherein said light guide comprises a light guide surface opposite said incident surface, said light guide surface being configured to have an oblique surface at an oblique angle relative to a surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters to reflectively direct said collimated incident light into the glass assembly.

8. A lighting unit as recited in claim 3, wherein said light guide comprises a first light guide and a second light guide, said first light guide comprising said entrance face and an exit face opposite said entrance face, said exit face being configured as a plane that is substantially perpendicular relative to a surface of the glass assembly into which incident light enters; the second light guide is disposed adjacent to the exit face and is provided with a reflection slope having an inclination angle with respect to a surface on which incident light of the glass member enters, so as to guide the collimated incident light guided to the exit face into the glass member in a reflective manner.

9. A lighting unit as recited in claim 8, wherein the reflective bevel is chrome plated or aluminum plated to form a mirror surface.

10. A lighting unit as recited in claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the lighting unit comprises light-deflecting layers, the light-deflecting layers and the light-guiding members being disposed on opposite surfaces of the glass assembly, respectively, the light-deflecting layers being configured such that the incident light directed into the glass assembly is totally reflected within the glass assembly.

11. A lighting unit as recited in claim 10, wherein the tilt angle is determined from a plurality of factors in a refractive index of the glass, a total reflection angle, a refractive index of the light guide, and a deflection structure of the light deflection layer.

12. A lighting unit as recited in claim 10, wherein the light deflection layer is made of polyethylene terephthalate or metal.

13. A lighting unit as recited in claim 1, wherein the light guide is made of any one of polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyolefin, and polyvinyl chloride.

14. A glass assembly, comprising:

a glass body comprising oppositely disposed first and second surfaces; and

the lighting unit according to any one of claims 1 to 13, which is arranged at the first surface or the second surface of the glass body, and causes incident light emitted from a light source to enter the glass body via the light guide and to be totally reflected inside the glass body.

15. The glass assembly of claim 14, wherein the lighting unit comprises a light deflection layer, the light deflection layer and the light guide being disposed on a first surface and a second surface of the glass assembly, respectively.

16. The glass assembly of claim 14, wherein the glass body is a first glass body, the glass assembly further comprising a second glass body attached to the first glass body by an interlayer, the second glass body comprising a third surface facing the second surface and an oppositely disposed fourth surface, the lighting unit being disposed on the first surface or the fourth surface.

17. The glass assembly of claim 16, wherein the illumination unit comprises a light deflection layer, the light deflection layer and the light guide being disposed on a first surface and a fourth surface of the glass assembly, respectively; or the light guide is arranged on the first surface or the fourth surface of the glass component, and the light deflection layer is arranged on the second surface or the third surface.

18. The glass assembly according to claim 14 or 16, wherein the lighting unit is attached to the glass body by an adhesive.

19. A window assembly comprising a glass component according to any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the window assembly comprises a door, window, curtain wall, glazing, aircraft glazing or ship glazing.

20. A window assembly according to claim 19, wherein the window assembly is a glazing, the glazing comprising a front windscreen, a rear windscreen, a sunroof, a door glazing or an angle glazing.