JP2001014918A - Lighting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively transmit light rays from a light source. SOLUTION: In this lighting system, light rays emitted from a light source 3 are made incident on the incident ends of plural optical fibers 1a,..., 1a, and is emitted from emission ends of the optical fibers 1a,..., 1a as illumination. An inlet body 100 is provided between the light source 3 and the optical fibers 1a,..., 1a. Here, the inlet body 100 has an incident side end face 100a to cause the light rays from the light source 3 to be incident, and branch end parts 100b,..., 100b dispersing the incident light rays from the incident side end face 100a, including emission side end faces for emitting the dispersed light rays to the incident ends of the respective optical fibers 1a,..., 1a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lighting device using a plurality of optical fibers for efficiently guiding light from a light source to an arbitrary position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows a conventional lighting apparatus using an optical transmission body. This device includes an optical transmitter 1 in which optical fibers 1a are bundled, a reflector 2 having a spheroidal shape, and a light source 3 such as a lamp.
1b is a coating material for coating the optical fiber 1a. The light source 3 is arranged at the first focal point of the reflector 2, and the incident end of the optical transmission body 1 is arranged at the second focal point of the reflector 2. With the above-described configuration, the light beam from the light source 3 is condensed on the incident end of the optical transmission body 1 by the reflection plate 2, travels through the optical transmission body 1, and is emitted from the emission end.

[0003]

However, in the illumination device having the above-described structure, a plurality of optical fibers 1a,
.. 1a are bundled, as shown in FIG. 5, there are claddings 1d of the individual optical fibers 1a and gaps 1e formed between the optical fibers 1a,. Even if it does, it is not transmitted, so that there is a problem that the incident light beam is lost. In particular,
The light beam condensed by the reflector 2 has the highest illuminance at the center of the incident end. However, in the conventional illuminating device, the clad 1d and the gap 1e are present at the center of the incident end, so that the efficiency is extremely high. Was bad.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an illuminating device capable of efficiently transmitting light from a light source. is there.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In an illuminating device that causes light rays emitted from a light source to enter the input ends of a plurality of optical fibers and emits the light rays as illumination at the output ends of the optical fibers, an incident-side end face through which light rays from the light source are incident, and an incident-side end face And a branch body having a branch end portion having an emission side end surface for emitting the dispersed light beam to the input end of each optical fiber is added between the light source and the optical fiber. It is characterized by the following.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the illuminating device according to the first aspect, a total cross-sectional area of the introducing body is increased from the incident side end face to the emission side end face. Things.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a lighting device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those of the lighting device described in the section of the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The difference between the illuminating device according to the present embodiment and the conventional illuminating device is that, as shown in FIG. That is, an introduction body 100 that transmits light is provided. The introduction body 100 has a substantially columnar shape, and is provided at one end in the longitudinal direction with an incident-side end face 100a on which the light beam reflected by the reflection plate 2 enters, and at the other end, a plurality of optical fibers 1
.. 100b, which form an optical path branching structure, each of which is individually attached to the emission side end face thereof.

In the illuminating device having the above-described guide 100, the light from the light source 3 is reflected by the reflector 2 into the guide 10.
., 100b are condensed on the incident side end face 100a of the zero and transmitted through the introducer 100 while being reflected inside the introducer 100, and are dispersed to the individual branch ends 100b,. ,... 100b are output from the output side end face, and are further branched and output.
.. 1a are radiated from the exit side end faces of the optical fibers 1a,. This introduction body 1
Since the cladding 1d and the gap 1e of the optical fibers 1a,... 1a do not exist in the incident side end face 100a of FIG. ,... 1a. Also, since the branch ends 100b,... 100b are designed on the assumption that the light rays incident on the introduction body 100 are branched at the branch ends 100b,. The loss can be minimized.

Further, the incident side end face 1 at which the illuminance is highest.
Since the light beam at the center of 00a can be transmitted and transmitted to the optical fiber 1a, the loss of the incident light beam can be reduced. Also, the light beam incident on the introduction body 100 is
Evenly distributed inside the incident body 100, the branch end 100
.. 100b, it is possible to output uniform outgoing light at the outgoing-side end faces of the individual optical fibers 1a,.

If the introduction member 100 is made of glass, light rays are condensed by the reflection plate 2 so that even if the incident side end face 100a becomes high temperature, the introduction member 100 is made of glass.
0 is not damaged and the optical fiber 1a or the like does not care about deterioration due to temperature rise, which is convenient.

Further, as shown in FIG.
If the total area of the vertical cross-section becomes larger from the incident side end face 100a toward the emission side end face, the number of light ray reflections inside the introducer 100 can be reduced.
This is because, as shown in FIG. 3, when a light ray travels while reflecting on a light guide whose cross-sectional area gradually increases, the angle between the light ray and the optical axis of the light guide becomes smaller as the light ray travels. . In the configuration described above, the loss of light rays due to reflection can be reduced,
Since the optical path length can also be shortened, it becomes possible to increase the light transmission efficiency in the introduction body 100.

[0013]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a light beam emitted from a light source is made incident on the input ends of a plurality of optical fibers, and the light beams are used as illumination at the output ends of the optical fibers. In a lighting device that emits light, a branch end having an incident side end face on which light rays from a light source are incident, and an emission side end face for dispersing light rays incident from the incident side end face and emitting the dispersed light rays to the incident end of each optical fiber. The light source incident on the incident side end face of the introducer is dispersed individually and emitted from the emission side end face without causing loss, since the introducing body having the portion is added between the light source and the optical fiber. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to provide a lighting device that can efficiently transmit a light beam from a light source.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the illuminating device according to the first aspect, since the total cross-sectional area of the introducing body increases from the incident side end face to the emission side end face, the number of reflections can be reduced. Since the light loss can be reduced, the light loss due to reflection can be reduced, and the optical path length can be shortened. Therefore, there is an effect that the light transmission efficiency can be increased in the introduction body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a lighting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are cross-sectional views of an introduction body that constitutes a lighting device according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG.
(B) shows an emission-side end face.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state of a light beam that travels while reflecting inside a light guide.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional lighting device.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an optical transmission body constituting a conventional lighting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a Optical fiber 2 Reflector 3 Light source 100 Incident body 100a Incident side end face 100b Branch end

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An illumination device in which a light beam emitted from a light source is made incident on an input end of a plurality of optical fibers, and the light beam is emitted as illumination at an output end of the optical fiber. A light guide is added between the light source and the optical fiber, the light guide having a branch end having an output side end face for dispersing the light ray incident from the incident side end face and emitting the dispersed light ray to the input end of each optical fiber. A lighting device characterized in that: 2. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein a total cross-sectional area of the introduction body increases from an incident side end face to an emission side end face.