GB2427955A

GB2427955A - An illuminated article

Info

Publication number: GB2427955A
Application number: GB0513313A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Malcolm Fredrick Thomas Potts
Original assignee: TORNADO SHOW SUPPORT Ltd
Current assignee: TORNADO SHOW SUPPORT Ltd
Priority date: 2005-07-01
Filing date: 2005-07-01
Publication date: 2007-01-10
Also published as: GB0513313D0

Abstract

A prefabricated article 20 comprises at least one side emitting light fibre 22 attached to its outer surface. The at least one fibre is preferably in the form of a tail 22 that comprises a bundle of fibre optic strands contained within a polymer sheath. The side emitting light fibre may be of polymer construction or may contain cracked glass strands. Two or more fibre tails 22 may be attached to the article and they can either be interwoven with one another or they can be separate. The prefabricated article is preferably the hull of a boat or a panel of a motor vehicle such as a car, and is preferably formed from layers of fibres 24 impregnated with resin 26, such as fibreglass. A light emitting diode can be used as an alternative to the fibre optic.

Description

Illuminated Article This invention relates to the embellishment of

articles while on display and is concerned more specifically with the illumination of automobile features at motoring events in order to draw attention to the vehicles.

Systems are available for the purpose of illuminating features and panels within vehicle interiors. These take the form of a light projector powered by either a mains supply or a 12V battery, connected to a series of fibre optic tails that carry light from the source to the item which needs to be illuminated.

Such systems are utilised by manufacturers in order to emphasise a particular feature of the vehicle. This may be an internal, or external detail, or perhaps an under bonnet feature. The systems, however, are not limited to use with cars. They may be used with any item for which specific illumination is required but where it would be inconvenient to provide an external, bulky and potentially hot light source. For example, the system may be utilised in caravan interiors, or perhaps on boats.

When powered by 12V supplies, the system may be connected to the vehicle power supply and left in the vehicle to enable it to be used in mobile show cars while allowing the vehicle to remain drivable.

Though an external fibre optic tail is very capable of providing a small spotlight to draw attention to a previously dimly lit feature, it is advantageous to draw the eye to any feature that the manufacturer feels would give their company an edge over the competition.

Several methods have shown attempts to illuminate principally resin impregnated fibre materials, such as carbon fibre, FRP and GRP by incorporating a mesh of fibre optic tails into the material during its construction.

US6 628 885 discloses a sheet made from woven tails of optic fibres. The sheet is woven on a loom and the fibres may make up the warp and/or the weft. In order to form an object, the sheet is described as being able to be incorporated into a casting or translucent resin to form a solid object.

US4 234 907 teaches bundles of fibres having breaks cut or scratched into their surface along their length woven with suitable material such as cotton, nylon and wool. The weave creates a light emitting fabric. Again the weave is described as being incorporatable into the structure of a glass fibre panel to create illuminated boat hulls and other such decorative panels.

US4 885 663 describes a light emitting panel using woven optical fibres either coated or otherwise to enhance the characteristics of the light emitted from the fibre.

This may include for example polarising the light. This enables the panel to be suitable for back lighting an LCD panel.

US application 2004/0037091 relates again to woven optical fibres but for the purpose of providing a directional light source that may be followed in the event of an emergency, such as exiting an aircraft. Bending the fibres produces high points in the weave that allow leakage of light from the fibre. By providing an opaque coating with holes arranged to coincide with the high points in the weave, it is possible to create a fabric which can appear to be illuminated depending on the viewpoint of the observer.

Though it is clear there is much prior art relating to illuminating fabrics or weaves of optic fibres, potentially with a view to fabricating glowing panels, there does not appear to be a suitable teaching of how to illuminate an existing panel using fibre optics.

With a view to avoiding the foregoing disadvantage, the present invention provides a prefabricated article having an outer surface to which at least one side emitting light fibre is attached.

The light fibres may be the form of a tail that comprises a bundle of light fibres contained within a polymer sheath.

The side emitting light fibre may be of continuous emitting glass, cracked glass or polymer construction.

Advantageously, two or more tails of optic fibre may each be separately attached to an article without being interwoven with one another.

The light fibres may be sideways emitting only at selected points along their length, such as would be achieved with cracked glass type fibre optic tails.

The article may be made from any material that allows the transmission of light through it, but is preferably made from layers of fibres encased in with resin. Such materials include fibreglass, carbon fibre, or any kind of associated weave such as KevlarTM.

Articles made in this way may include the hull of a boat, a panel of a motor vehicle or a seat.

The light output may be advantageously increased by applying a reflective coating to the outer surface of the article and light fibres to reflect emitted light through the article.

The article may be made from any suitable material, through which light can be transmitted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is a method of illuminating an article comprising; forming the article, and subsequently attaching one or more light sources to an outer surface of the article.

Preferably the light source is a side emitting fibre optic and the method further includes the step of connecting a free end of the fibre optic to a light source.

Preferably the step of attaching includes bonding the fibre optic using an adhesive.

It is advantageous for the adhesive to be releasable to allow reuse of the article and the light fibre(s) Alternatively, the light source may be an LED (light emitting diode) The light output of the article may be increased by applying a reflective coating to the outer surface of the article and the light fibres to reflect light emitted from the fibres through the article.

By attaching the fibres after production of the article, illuminating the article can be a two stage process, thus the fibres themselves may be sold to any individual wishing to accentuate the appearance of a suitably light transmitting article.

The present invention avoids the need for the manufacturer of the article to have any knowledge of the desired illumination or further use of the item. This itself is important in that the article can be made to the normal quality expected by someone in the field of moulding such articles, such as one skilled in the preparation of pre- impregnated carbon fibre.

In situations where this material is made for the body of a car or a boat, the material is chosen for its lightness and strength. Should the owner of such a vehicle wish to illuminate a panel for the purposes of display, prior art solutions would require the use of fabrication of a whole new and expensive panel. Apart from needing to be finished to the same quality so as not to detract from the exterior finish of the vehicle, it would compromise the mechanical strength of the panel and increase its weight significantly.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention allows for the modification to illuminate any desired panel to be temporary and applicable to an existing and already fitted panel, without the need for disassembly and replacement.

The proposed invention may be employed with articles having a complex shape. By using the prior teachings, it would prove complicated to universally illuminate objects of complex shape, for example those present in race style vehicle seats having apertures to allow the passing through of seat belts.

The prior art teaches the use of a web or mesh of fibre optic tails during construction of an article, wherein the mesh becomes an integral component of the material during manufacture of the article. When an article is made in this way it is almost impossible to ensure that the entire surface of the article can be illuminated. For this, multiple meshes of appropriate size would need to be individually woven and positioned correctly. One would also need to take account of the routing of the free end of the tails for connection to a light source. In practise such a task is prohibitively time consuming, bulky, complex, expensive and less than effective.

If the article were made with one large mesh bonded in place during construction prior to any apertures or cut-outs being stamped, the stamping would sever the tails inside the material causing the light to be transmitted from the severed ends of the tails, but no further.

The present invention avoids these problems by applying individual tails to an already manufactured article, allowing an individual light emitting tail to be positioned taking into account the shape of the article and the position of any cut-outs. The invention recognises the advantage or weaving a mesh of fibres prior to adhering to a prefabricated article, and thus does not preclude its use within the scope of the present invention.

Specific positioning of one or more fibres or tails allows complex patterns to be created in light, specifically lettering or wording to allow signs to be made. This has applications such as illuminating the name of a boat or illuminating the logo of a vehicle manufacturer into one of the panels of a concept vehicle. Alternatively if suitable intensity can be achieved, the light output from the fibre optic strands can be used to create indicators, reversing lights, or fog lights from behind the bodywork panels so as not to disturb the lines of exterior design of the vehicle.

Prior to this, signs showing illuminated letterings were of the type having a wave-guide such as a Perspex block with the desired lettering etched within the surface so that light would escape from the etched nonreflective areas and thus illuminate the lettering. Though effective, this is unsuitable for the purposes described above due to most articles not being made of suitable material to act as a wave-guide. b -7-..

The present invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an expanded view showing the stages of construction of prior art illuminatable composite fibrous material such as fibreglass, Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a woven mesh of fibre optic tails as would be seen I the prior art, Figure 3 is a similar view to that of Figure 1, showing the layers introduced during the construction of a

prior art embodiment,

Figure 4 is a cross section through the prior art

embodiment shown in Figure 3 after construction, Figure 5 shows an embodiment of the present invention having external fibre optics attached to the surface of a prefabricated article extending in to a loom for connection to a light source, and Figure 6 shows a cross section through the article shown in figure 5.

The production process of fibreglass and "wet laid" carbon fibre is well known in the art and details of specifics of manufacture are not necessary here as they add nothing to the implementation of the present invention within the composite fibrous material. Figures 1 to 4 and their associated descriptions below show how articles made in this way can be made to glow by incorporating a web of interwoven optic fibre during manufacture.

Figure 1 is a representation of the fabrication process of a composite material such as fibreglass. Such materials are made in layers, the main layer, in this example, is a glass fibre mesh or matting 14, but is often similar in appearance to wire wool. The matting is made from multiple strands of interwoven glass fibres. By weaving them in this way and setting them in resin to prevent them moving relative to one another, the resultant material has strength and some degree of flexibility in every direction.

To create items from this material, the matting 14 can be placed in a mould to assume its shape, on top of a previously poured layer of liquid resin 12. A second layer of resin, also designated 12, is then applied on top of the matting 14. The resin layers 12 permeate the matting and together, once cured form a solid. The composite material of fibres and cured resin is then released from the mould yielding a lightweight yet rigid article with a shape defined by the shape of the mould.

Some trimming is often necessary to remove sections of the matting that protrude beyond the edges of the mould.

It is often the case that multiple layers of matting will be used together, sandwiching layers of resin between them in order to build up the thickness and hence increase the strength of the composite material. Figure 1 shows the production of a composite material using a fibreglass matting 14, but the preferred embodiment invention uses a matting 16 as shown in Figure 2 in order to achieve the same effect in a composite material, but having a further useful property.

Matting 16 is an interwoven mesh of fibre optic tails.

A fibre optic tail consists of a bundle of individual fibre optic strands, each capable of transmitting a beam of light.

The tail typically has a diameter of 1.5 mm. In the most prior art arrangements, specifically those referred to in the introduction, the bundles are contained by an outer sheath made from a translucent polymer. The completed tail by virtue of the packing of the individual optic fibres may be bent up to a point whilst still allowing light to travel along the length of the fibres without escaping. If the tails are bent beyond this point, some of the internal strands or fibres break or crack which allows light to leak sideways at the break or crack. By intentionally breaking the fibres in this way, the tails can be made to intentionally emit sideways. Alternatively, the tails can be made using side emitting glass fibre strands which will allow light to leak along their length without the need for pre cracking or over-bending. These can be of glass construction, or in recent developments, the strands of the fibres themselves have been made from a polymer.

Their flexibility allows the tails to be interwoven in order to produce a matting 16 which is suitable for use in the construction of fibrous materials such as those made in a similar way to that of figure 1. The matting 16 is not intended to replace the matting 14 used in conventional composite materials, but merely to provide the layer of matting closest to the surface of the finalised material. If a material were to use three layers of matting, the surface layers being the woven fibre optic matting 16, the structure shown in Figures 3 and 4 would result.

Figures 5 and 6 show how fibre optic tails are used to illuminate an article according to the present invention.

The principle distinction over the prior art articles as shown above is that the fibre optics are applied to the outer surface of an article 20 after it has been manufactured.

Using the same example of a resin impregnated fibrous material such as those shown in figures 1 to 4, there is no - lo - need to incorporate a mesh of fibre optics during manufacture. The resulting construction of the article is therefore the same as that of, for example, fibreglass or carbon fibre. These have a weave or matting of fibres 24 and are encased in a resin 26 to produce an article 20.

The fibre optic tails 22, identical to those described with reference to the prior art are then adhered to an outer surface of the article 20 by any suitable means. Figures 5 and 6 show their use in a regular lattice, but the fibre optics may of course be applied in any desired pattern that is practicable. This may include in the shape of lettering on order to spell out words that may be desirable for use on boat hulls or motor vehicle panels. Equally complex shapes including logos or trademarks may be created.

Figure 6 shows attachment of the fibre optics tails 22 to the article 20 by means of an adhesive 28. The adhesive is preferably transparent or translucent so as not to prevent the transmission of light through the article 20.

Ideally a releasable adhesive should be used, thereby allowing the article to be returned to a standard appearance at any point in time. This also allows reuse of the fibre optics for further applications, which is particularly useful should the tails be used to illuminate the name of a boat from inside its hull.

When a more permanent fixing can be utilised, the fibre optic tails 22 can be secured in place by means of an extra layer of fibreglass or simply fibreglass resin. This provides a strong, and unreleasable attachment method but also provides some degree of protection for the light fibres 22.

The light from the fibres will be emitted in all directions, though it is primarily intended for transmission through the article 20. The outer layer of the article 20 - 11 - and the tails 22 may therefore be painted, coated or backed in a reflective paint or material to maximise use of otherwise wasted light.

Claims

- 12 - Claims 1. A prefabricated article having an outer surface to which

at least one side emitting light fibre is attached.
2. An article as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one light fibre is in the form of a tail that comprises a bundle of fibre optic strands contained within a polymer sheath.
3. An article as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the side emitting light fibre is of polymer construction.
4. An article as claimed in claim 2, wherein the side emitting light fibre tail contains cracked glass strands.
5. An article as claimed in any claim depending from claim 2, wherein two or more tails are each separately attached to the article without being interwoven with one another.
6. An article as claimed in claims 1 to 4, wherein two of more tails are interwoven prior to attachment to the article.
7. An article as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the light fibres are sideways emitting only at selected points along their length.
8. An article as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the prefabricated article is made from layers of fibres impregnated with resin.
9. An article as claimed in claim 8, wherein the article is made from fibreglass.

- 13 -
10. An article as claimed in claim 9, wherein the article is made from carbon fibre.
11. An article as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the article is a hull of a boat.
12. An article as claimed in claims 1 to 10, wherein the article is a panel of a motor vehicle.
13. An article as claimed in any preceding claim, further having a reflective coating applied to the outer surface of the article and light fibre to reflect emitted light through the article.
14. A method of illuminating an article comprising: forming the article, and subsequently attaching one or more light sources to an outer surface of the article.
15. A method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the light source is a side emitting fibre optic and further including the step of connecting a free end of the fibre optic to a light source.
16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the step of attaching includes bonding the fibre optic using an adhesive.
17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the adhesive is releasable.
18. A method as claimed in claims 15 to 17, wherein the fibre optic is rendered to be side emitting my cracking or cutting the fibres.

- 14 -
19. A method as claimed in claims 14 to 18, wherein the article is made from any material through which light can be transmitted.
20. A method as claimed in claims 15 to 19, further including the step of applying a reflective coating to the outer surface of the article and the light fibres to reflect light emitted from the fibres through the article.
21. A method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the light source is an LED.
22. An article substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.