JP2011029006A - Luminous body - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a change in chromaticity of output light emitted from a luminous body containing a light diffusing agent and emitting light in a light guiding manner by controlling the particle size distribution of the light diffusing agent. <P>SOLUTION: A luminous body has a light guide plate base containing diffusing particles having a particle size distribution of center particles sizes b<SB>0</SB>(b<SB>0</SB>>0) set out of such a range where the ratio ηB(b<SB>0</SB>)/ηR(b<SB>0</SB>) of a blue scattering efficiency to a red scattering efficiency, which corresponds to a phase delay amount ϕ (rad) of the diffusing particles is 0.75 or greater and 1.25 or less. The base has the diffusing particles dispersed in such a way that the red-green-blue ratios μB/μR, μR/μG of the effective diffusion coefficient per a unit travel distance taking the number-of-layers distribution of the particle sizes of the diffusing particles into account becomes 0.9 or greater and 1.1 or less. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a light emitter to which light is supplied using a light guide system.

  In the light guide type surface light emitter, as seen in the backlight light source device of the liquid crystal display device, the light guide plate surface is provided with a scattering function by unevenness and dot printing, etc., and the light guide plate is refracted from the base resin. There is a configuration in which a light diffusing material having a rate difference is internally added.

  In the light guide plate in which the light diffusing material is internally added, when the particle size of the light diffusing material is small or the refractive index difference between the light diffusing material and the base resin is small, the light source incident side end face of the light guide plate It has been known so far that chromaticity changes may occur between light observed in the vicinity and light observed in the vicinity of the opposite end face.

  The change in chromaticity can be grasped by calculating the scattering efficiency of the Mie scattering theory. The smaller the particle size of the light diffusing material and the smaller the difference in refractive index between the light diffusing material and the base resin, the narrower the particle size and refractive index difference range of the light diffusing material that does not cause chromaticity change. .

As seen in Patent Document 1, in order not to cause a change in chromaticity, a diffusing material having a large particle size is used, or the scattering efficiency ratio (ηB (b) / ηR (b)) in Mie theory is 0. It was necessary to use a diffusing material having a specific particle size within 75 to 1.25.
Further, in the scattering efficiency calculation according to the conventional Mie scattering theory, it is not easy to understand the scattering efficiency change when the material and the particle diameter change simultaneously.

No. 3874222

  The present invention improves the change in chromaticity of output light emitted from a light emitter by controlling the particle size distribution of the light diffuser in a light emitter that emits light by a light guide system in which the light diffuser is internally added. For the purpose.

To solve the above problems, one aspect of the luminous body according to the present invention, by incorporating diffusing particles into the light guide plate substrate, a light-emitting element which emits light by the light guide system, diffusing particles, the median particle diameter b ₀ The particle size distribution of (b ₀ > 0), and the central particle size b ₀ is defined as the ratio of the blue scattering efficiency to the red scattering efficiency ηB (b ₀ corresponding to the phase delay amount φ (rad) of the diffusing particles. ) / ΗR (b ₀ ) is outside the range of 0.75 or more and 1.25 or less, and the base material has an effective scattering coefficient red / green / blue ratio μB per unit mileage in consideration of the layer number distribution of the particle diameter of the diffusing particles. The diffusion particles were dispersed so that / μR and μR / μG were 0.9 or more and 1.1 or less. Thereby, even if it is a light-emitting body using the diffused particle which is conventionally expected to cause a color change, the color change can be suppressed.

  Here, the phase delay amount φ (rad) indicates that when the difference in refractive index between the refractive index of the substrate and the refractive index of the diffusing particles is Δn, the light of wavelength λ (μm) is diffused particles (light diffusing material). ) And the optical distance difference bΔn between those not passing through the diffusing particles and expressed as a phase difference of wavelength λ (μm). The scattering efficiency is calculated using the phase delay amount φ (rad). Further, the effective scattering coefficient is calculated using the scattering efficiency and the volume particle size distribution P (b) of the diffusing particles. As described above, in the present invention, the scattering efficiency is calculated by defining the phase delay amount φ (rad). The phase delay amount includes both of two parameters that affect the color change (the particle size of the light diffusing material and the refractive index difference between the light diffusing material and the base resin), even if the material and the particle size change simultaneously. The change in scattering efficiency can be easily understood.

  According to one aspect of the illuminant of the present invention, it is used by controlling the particle size distribution even in a light diffusing material in which chromaticity change is expected to occur at a specific particle size by the scattering efficiency calculation of the Mie scattering theory. Can be possible.

It is a figure which shows the definition of the amount of phase delays of the surface emitting body concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the definition of the scattering cross section of the surface emitting body concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between scattering efficiency (eta) ((phi)) and phase delay amount (phi) of the surface emitting body concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between scattering efficiency (eta) (b) and the diffusion particle diameter b of the surface-emitting body concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of scattering efficiency ratio (eta) B (b) / (eta) R (b) of the surface light-emitting body concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between scattering efficiency (eta) (b) and the diffusion particle diameter b of the surface-emitting body concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between (eta) B (b) / (eta) R (b), (eta) B (b) / (eta) G (b), and the diffusion particle diameter b of the surface light emitter concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the scattering efficiency ratio (eta) B (b) / (eta) R (b) of the surface light-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention, and the particle size distribution spread of a diffusion particle. It is a figure which shows an example of the scattering efficiency ratio (eta) B (b) / (eta) R (b) of the surface light-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention, and the particle size distribution spread of a diffusion particle. It is a figure which shows an example of the scattering efficiency ratio (eta) B (b) / (eta) R (b) of the surface light-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention, and the particle size distribution spread of a diffusion particle. It is a figure which shows an example of the scattering efficiency ratio (eta) B (b) / (eta) G (b) of the surface light-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention, and the particle size distribution spread of a diffusion particle. It is a figure which shows an example of the scattering efficiency ratio (eta) B (b) / (eta) G (b) of the surface light-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention, and the particle size distribution spread of a diffusion particle. It is a figure which shows an example of the scattering efficiency ratio (eta) B (b) / (eta) G (b) of the surface light-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention, and the particle size distribution spread of a diffusion particle. It is a figure which shows an example of the calculation result of effective scattering coefficient ratio (B / R) by particle size distribution control of the surface-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the calculation result of the effective scattering coefficient ratio (B / G) by particle size distribution control of the surface-emitting body concerning the Example of this invention.

Embodiment 1
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a surface light emitter is described as an example.
In the present invention, the scattering efficiency is calculated by defining a phase delay amount. When the scattering efficiency is calculated using the conventional Mie scattering theory, two parameters that affect the color change, specifically, the particle size of the light diffusing material, the light diffusing material and the base resin (base material) In many cases, the calculation is performed with one of the differences in the refractive index fixed. In this case, it is easy to understand the change in scattering efficiency when the particle size of the light diffusing material with the same material is small or when the refractive index is small with the same particle size, but the particle size of the material and the light diffusing material is It was not easy to understand the scattering efficiency change at the same time. That is, when the refractive index difference and the particle size change at the same time, it is difficult to grasp the change in scattering efficiency and the change in effective scattering coefficient. The phase delay amount includes both of two parameters (particle size of the light diffusing material and refractive index difference between the light diffusing material and the base resin) that affect the color change, even when the material and the particle size change simultaneously. The scattering efficiency change can be easily understood.

  The phase delay amount φ (rad) in the present invention is defined below.

b (b> 0) is the particle diameter (μm) of the light diffusing material, Δn is the difference between the refractive index of the light diffusing material and the refractive index of the substrate, and λ (μm) is the wavelength of light. Hereinafter, the “particles of the light diffusing material” are appropriately referred to as “diffusing particles”. As shown in FIG. 1, the phase delay amount φ (rad) passes through the particle center of the light diffusing material 2 existing in the base material 1 and the light diffusing material 2 in the light of the wavelength λ (μm). In this case, the optical distance difference bΔn is expressed by the phase difference of the wavelength λ (μm).
Here, as the value of the refractive index n, it is assumed that air is n = 1, the base material 1 is n = n1, and the light diffusing material 2 is n = n2. The refractive index difference Δn is set to a value (n2−n1) obtained by subtracting the refractive index n1 of the base material 1 from the refractive index n2 of the light diffusing material 2.

Scattering efficiency is defined as follows. The scattering efficiency η of one diffusing particle is represented by scattering cross section A / apparent circular area πa ² , and a (a> 0) is a particle radius (μm). FIG. 2 shows the definition of the scattering cross section. The scattering cross section A is defined as a weighted integral of the particle cross section πa ² by the square of the optical electric field disturbance effect caused by the particles, and it is known that it can be approximated by equation (2). In this case, φ (r) is the phase delay amount of the particles with respect to the light incident at a distance r from the light incident optical axis passing through the center of the particles of the light diffusing material 2. Note that the phase delay amount φ (r) is calculated by the equation (1).

  FIG. 3 shows the scattering efficiency η (φ) with respect to the horizontal axis phase delay amount φ. If the horizontal axis of this figure is converted from the phase delay amount φ (rad) = 2πΔnb / λ to the particle diameter corresponding to each wavelength of blue, green, and red, it can be converted into the relationship of scattering efficiency often seen in the past. Conversely, by defining the phase delay amount φ, it is possible to represent the scattering efficiency of blue, green, and red on one curve.

  In the horizontal axis phase delay amount φ (rad) = 2πΔnb / λ in FIG. 3, the refractive index difference Δn = 0.1 is fixed, blue light λ = 0.45 (μm), green light λ = 0.55 (μm). ), The respective diffused particle diameters b (μm) with respect to the red light λ = 0.63 (μm) are obtained, and the result is taken on the horizontal axis to obtain FIG.

Here, the phase delay amount φ_R (rad) of the red light is obtained from the equation (1):
φ_R (rad) = 2πΔn * b / λ = 6.28 * 0.1 * b / 0.63≈b (μm). Therefore, η (φ) in FIG. 3 and ηR (b) in FIG. 4 are almost the same value.
The red / blue ratio of the scattering efficiency of a specific particle size is obtained by ηB (b) / ηR (b).

In this calculation, Δn does not take wavelength dependency into consideration, but the same calculation may be performed even in consideration thereof.
When Δn is negative, the value of the phase delay amount φ is also negative. However, as can be seen from Equation (2), the scattering efficiency η is an even function with respect to the phase delay amount φ, and the positive values of Δn and the phase delay amount φ are positive. Regardless of negative, it is 0 or a positive value. In FIG. 3, the value of the scattering efficiency η is shown only when the value of the phase delay amount φ is 0 or more, but the scattering efficiency η when the value of the phase delay amount φ is negative is omitted for the above reason.

  The effective scattering coefficient blue-red ratio, blue-green ratio μB / μR, μB / μG calculation method is as follows. In order to clarify how much the particle size distribution should be expanded quantitatively, the effective scattering coefficient is defined using the concept of “the number distribution of diffused particle diameters”. The number of layers means the reciprocal of the mean free path, and is an index that can grasp how much diffusion particles are spread in the surface light emitting body. The number of layers 1 is defined as the case where the total cross-sectional area of the diffusing particles existing in the surface emitting body is calculated and is equal to the bottom area. From this, the state of the number of layers 1 corresponds to that when light is incident from the direction perpendicular to the bottom surface, it collides with the diffusing particles once on average, regardless of the position of light incident on the bottom surface. Yes. The number of layers of diffusing particles may be rephrased as the average number of collisions of light.

The apparent number S of diffusing particles per unit travel distance is defined by Equation (3) assuming that the particle size is uniform and there is no variation.
N ₃ : Particle number density, V ₃ : Particle volume fraction, S: Number of layers, a: Particle radius, b = 2a: Particle diameter

Multiplying the number of layers by the scattering efficiency η (φ = 2πΔn * b / λ) and taking into account the volume particle size distribution P (b) of the diffusing particles, the “layer number distribution of diffusing particle diameter” was taken into account. Effective scattering coefficients μB, μG, and μR per unit travel distance are obtained. Formula (4) specifically shows the calculation formula. V _3Σ is the total volume ratio of all particles. Moreover, the formula (5) shows the calculation formulas of the diffusion efficiency ratios B / R and B / G.

  Since b is arranged in the denominator of the addition function of equation (4), it is understood that it is not an average value simply based on the diffusion particle density, but an average value that takes into consideration the “layer number distribution of diffusion particle diameter”. The That is, by finding this equation, the influence of the particle size distribution on the effective scattering coefficient can be correctly evaluated. An example in which a cosine square distribution is used as a typical example of the diffusing material particle size distribution will be described later.

  The red / blue ratio ηB (b) / ηR (b) of the scattering efficiency of a specific particle size is 1 when the light guide plate in which only the light diffusion material of this specific particle size is internally added is created. It shows that there is no change in chromaticity of light observed near the surface. In the same configuration, when ηB (b) / ηR (b) is 1 or more, the hue of light observed near the light source incident side end surface is bluish, and the blue light component is reduced near the opposite surface. It shows that it is reddish. In addition, when ηB (b) / ηR (b) is 1 or less, the color of light observed near the end surface on the light source incident side is reddish, and the red light component is reduced near the opposite surface. Shows bluish.

  In FIG. 5, those having a particle size of about 3 μm or less, about 4 to 6 μm, and about 7 to 8.5 μm have a blue-red ratio ηB (b) / ηR (b)> 1.25 or <0.75 of the scattering efficiency. It has become. For this reason, when a light guide plate including this particle size is produced, it is expected that a change in chromaticity of light observed near both end faces will occur. The prior art is the idea of specifying the particle size, and the ideal particle size distribution is a single particle size. In Patent Document 1, the corresponding particle size is not used in order not to cause a change in chromaticity of light observed near both end faces.

  The present invention, on the other hand, expands the particle size distribution of the light diffusing material even if the particle size is expected to change the chromaticity of the light observed near both end surfaces. This is to improve the chromaticity change of the emitted light.

  The present invention is different from the conventional idea in this point. Further, the conventional idea is that the change in chromaticity is reduced when the particle diameter is large or when the difference in refractive index between the substrate and the fine particles is large. Unlike the prior art, the present invention can reduce the change in chromaticity even when the particle diameter of the fine particles is, for example, 5 μm or less, or even when the refractive index difference between the substrate and the fine particles is 0.1 or less.

  In order to obtain a surface light emitter with minimal change in chromaticity on both end faces, it is preferable that the blue-red ratio, blue-green ratio μB / μR, and μB / μG of the effective scattering coefficient are 0.9 or more and 1.1 or less. When the blue-red ratio, the blue-green ratio μB / μR, and μB / μG substantially approach 1, the color change at both end faces of the surface light emitter can be suppressed. Therefore, 0.92 or more and 1.08 or less are more preferable, and 0.95 or more and 1.05 or less are particularly preferable.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the phase delay amount is one element used for calculating the scattering efficiency, and the particle size of the light diffusing material and the refractive index difference between the light diffusing material and the base resin are calculated. It is a parameter. Therefore, the amount of phase delay makes it possible to show how the scattering efficiency changes according to changes in at least one of the material and particle size, and especially when the material and particle size change at the same time. Can be shown.
In addition, even diffusing particles having a particle diameter that has conventionally been required to be excluded as a light diffusing material, the change in chromaticity can be suppressed by controlling the particle size distribution. This makes it possible to increase the width of the particle diameter that can be used as a light diffusing material.

Other Embodiments In Embodiment 1, the surface light emitter has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to the surface light emitter, and can be applied to light emitters of other shapes. For example, other shapes such as a column shape having a curved cross section (end surface) such as a circle, an ellipse, and a wave shape, a column shape having a polygonal cross section (end surface), or a cylindrical shape having these outer shapes may be used. In this case, the number of layers is calculated according to the surface light emitter. The number of layers in the case of not being plate-shaped is calculated by regarding the maximum distance in the light guide direction in the light emitting member as the light guide distance of the light emitting member.

Moreover, the light emitter of the present invention is manufactured as follows. First, for a light diffusing material having a particle size distribution with a central particle size b ₀ (b ₀ > 0), the scattering efficiency is calculated using the phase delay amount φ (rad) of the diffusing particles. Subsequently, the effective scattering coefficient per unit mileage considering the layer number distribution of the particle diameter b (b> 0) is calculated using the scattering efficiency, and the red / blue / blue ratios μB / μR and μR / μG of the effective scattering coefficient are calculated. The diffusing particles are dispersed in the base material so that it becomes 0.9 or more and 1.1 or less. According to this manufacturing method, it is possible to use diffusing particles having a particle size that is conventionally considered to cause a color change. That is, the luminous body has a ratio ηB (b ₀ ) / ηR (b ₀ ) of blue scattering efficiency and red scattering efficiency corresponding to the phase retardation amount φ (rad) of the diffusing particles in a range of 0.75 or more and 1.25 or less. Even in the case of including diffusing particles having a particle size distribution with a center particle size b ₀ outside, color change can be suppressed. Thereby, the range of the light-diffusion material which can be used for a light-emitting body can be expanded. In addition, by evaluating the diffusion particles using the phase delay amount φ (rad), it is possible to cope with changes in both the particle size of the light diffusing material and the refractive index difference between the light diffusing material and the base resin. And Thereby, the improvement of production efficiency can be aimed at.

  The particle size distribution in the present invention is a weight-converted distribution and can be measured by a light scattering particle measurement method.

Examples and comparative examples are shown below. The effective scattering coefficient ratio (B / R = μB / μR, B / G = μB / μG) taking into account the volume particle size distribution P (b) of the light diffusing material was calculated.
Regarding the scattering efficiency η (b) used when calculating the effective scattering coefficient μ, the relationship between ηB (b), ηG (b), ηR (b) and the diffusing particle diameter b is shown in FIG. 6, and ηB (b) / ηR FIG. 7 shows the relationship between (b), ηB (b) / ηG (b) and the diffusion particle diameter b.

It is assumed that the volume particle size distribution follows a cosine square distribution in consideration of not giving a distribution to a particle size of ₀ μm, and scattering when the center particle size b ₀ (μm) and K = bpp / b ₀ are changed. The efficiency ratio was calculated. The center particle size b ₀ is an intermediate value of the particle size width. bpp is the half width of the particle size distribution.

  8A to 8C, the volume particle size distribution P (b) (frequency distribution) according to the cosine square distribution is added to the relationship between ηB (b) / ηR (b) and the diffusion particle diameter b shown in FIG. Is. Further, in FIG. 8C, the phase delay amount φ_R (rad) of the red light has a relationship of the diffusion particle diameter b≈phase delay amount φ_R (rad) as described above.

8A to 8C, the center particle diameter b ₀ is selected at three positions that become the extreme points of the ηB (b) curve of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8A shows the distribution when K is changed at b ₀ = 3.0 μm. And ηB (b) / ηR (b). Similarly, FIG. 8B shows that at b ₀ = 5.5 μm, and FIG. 8C shows that at b ₀ = 7.8 μm. FIG. 10 shows the calculation results of the effective scattering coefficient ratio (B / R = μB / μR) when b ₀ and K in FIGS. 8A to 8C are changed. 9A to 9C and FIG. 11 show the results obtained by performing the same process as described above for ηB (b) / ηG (b).
8A to 8C and 8A to 9C, the specified upper limit of the scattering efficiency ratio (ηB (b) / ηR (b) or ηB (b) / ηG (b) is 0.75) and the specified lower limit of the scattering efficiency ratio. (ΗB (b) / ηR (b) or ηB (b) / ηG (b) is 1.25) is indicated by a dotted line.
10 and 11, the specified upper limit (B / R or B / G is 1.1) of the effective scattering coefficient ratio and the specified lower limit (B / R or B / G is 0.9) of the effective scattering coefficient ratio. Is indicated by a dotted line.

Consider B / R = μB / μR. From FIG. 10, when b ₀ = 3.0 μm, even if the value of K is changed from 0 to 1, B / R is not within 0.9 to 1.1, and there is little change in chromaticity at both end faces. It turns out that a surface light emitter cannot be obtained.

From FIG. 10, when b ₀ = 5.5 μm, considering a distribution such that K≈0.8 to 1.0, B / R is within 0.9 to 1.1, and the chromaticity at both end faces It can be seen that a surface light emitter with little change can be obtained. At this time, the average particle diameter b ₀ = 5.5 μm is smaller than 0.75 in ηB (b) / ηR (b), and may be a particle diameter range that is conventionally expected to cause a color change. It can be seen from FIG. 8B.

From FIG. 10, when b ₀ = 7.8 μm, considering a distribution such that K≈0.45 to 1.0, B / R is within 0.9 to 1.1, and chromaticity is obtained at both end faces. It can be seen that a surface light emitter with little change can be obtained. At this time, the average particle size b ₀ = 7.8 μm is larger than 1.25 in ηB (b) / ηR (b), and may be a particle size range that is conventionally expected to cause a color change. It can be seen from FIG. 8C.
The above can be considered for the case of B / G = μB / μG.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a light-emitting body that has a configuration including fine particles that cause a change in chromaticity in the related art and has a minimum change in chromaticity. A plurality of fine particles having different particle size distributions may be mixed.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  1 base material, 2 light diffusion material

Claims (1)

A luminescent material that contains diffusion particles in the base material of the light guide and emits light by a light guide method,
The diffusion particles have a particle size distribution with a center particle size b ₀ (b ₀ > 0), and the center particle size b ₀ is a blue scattering efficiency corresponding to the phase delay amount φ (rad) of the diffusion particles. And the ratio of red scattering efficiency ηB (b ₀ ) / ηR (b ₀ ) is outside the range of 0.75 to 1.25,
The base material has a red / green / blue ratio μB / μR, μR / μG of an effective scattering coefficient per unit mileage in consideration of a layer number distribution of the particle diameter of the diffusing particles to be 0.9 or more and 1.1 or less. A light emitter in which the diffusion particles are dispersed.

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