JP2017010700A - Luminaire - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a luminaire comprising a light transmission body enabling side-face emission and a light-emitting element, which can obtain a light quantity increase effect in the whole light transmission body, without changing the outer dimension of the light transmission body.SOLUTION: A light transmission body 1 has a core/clad structure in which a core 3 is surrounded by a clad 2, and also has a function for performing side-face emission. A surface area of the core 3 in an incident end part 4 of the light transmission body 1 is made larger than a cross sectional area of the core 3 obtained in cutting the light transmission body 1 perpendicularly to the length direction of the light transmission body 1, without increasing the outer diameter of the clad 2.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an illumination device that combines a light source and an optical transmission body.

  2. Description of the Related Art There is known an illumination device that combines a light emitting element and an optical transmission body that emits side light, which is used for illumination applications, decoration applications, and the like. The thing of patent document 1 etc. are known as such an illuminating device.

In the illumination device (linear light emitter) described in Patent Document 1, a light emitting diode is disposed on an end face of an optical transmission tube in which a core in which diffusing particles are dispersed is injected into a clad, and light incident from the light emitting diode is optically transmitted. It is configured to emit light from the side surface of the tube.

That is, it can be said that the illuminating device described in Patent Literature 1 obtains side light emission by diffusing the light incident on the light transmission tube with the diffusing particles dispersed in the core.

Patent Document 2 describes an optical fiber configured to obtain side light emission by dispersing diffusing particles (zinc oxide particles) in a clad and a light emitting device in which a light source is combined therewith.

The magnitude of the amount of light in various lighting devices is one of the important parameters indicating the performance of the lighting device, and various measures have been taken to increase the amount of light. The same applies to an illuminating device that uses an optical transmission body that emits side light, and various studies have been conducted to increase the amount of light emitted from the side surface of the optical transmission body.

  As a method of increasing the amount of light in an illumination device using a side-emitting light transmitter, the concentration of diffusion particles contained in the core or cladding is increased, the amount of light of the light source itself is increased, and the core diameter at the incident end face of the optical transmitter is increased. Although the method of increasing is known, the following problems exist.

The method of increasing the concentration of the diffusing particles increases the amount of light in the vicinity of the light source, while decreasing the amount of light at a location away from the light source, and thus is a difficult method to increase the amount of light in the entire optical transmission body. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to devise such as increasing the concentration distribution of the scatterer (diffuse particles) toward the tip side, as in the light scattering portion constituting the light irradiation fiber described in Patent Document 3, A complicated operation of controlling the concentration distribution occurs in the manufacturing process.

The method of increasing the amount of light of the light source itself can be expected to increase the amount of light in the entire optical transmitter without any special contrivance on the side of the optical transmitter, but the power consumption tends to increase as the amount of light increases. However, it is not necessarily a preferable method in a situation where energy conservation is advanced.

The method of increasing the core diameter at the incident end face of the optical transmission body described in Patent Document 4 allows light to be incident on the optical transmission body without changing the light amount of the light source itself, so that light can be emitted without increasing power consumption. Although the amount of light in the entire transmission body can be increased, the cladding diameter of the incident end face also increases, so it is necessary to secure an installation space for the optical transmission body in the equipment to be installed. Tend to decrease.

JP 2000-131529 A JP 2006-317844 A JP 2008-216907 A JP-A-9-113742

The subject of this invention is providing the illuminating device which can acquire the light quantity increase effect in the whole optical transmission body by simple operation | work, without changing the outer dimension of the optical transmission body which carries out side light emission.

As a result of earnestly examining the structure of the optical transmission body that emits side light, the inventor paid attention to the fact that the surface area of the core at the incident end face affects the amount of light of the optical transmission body. The inventors have found that the above-mentioned problems can be solved by increasing the core surface area without increasing the outer diameter of the cladding.

An illuminating device of the present invention has a core / structure in which a core is surrounded by a clad and has a function of emitting light from a side surface, and a light emitting element that makes light incident on an incident end of the light transmitter. The optical transmission body is configured such that the surface area of the core cuts the optical transmission body perpendicular to its length direction without increasing the outer diameter of the cladding at the incident end. The cross-sectional area of the core obtained at this time is larger.

Furthermore, in the lighting device of the present invention, the surface area of the core is such that the core is formed in a substantially concave shape at the incident end, so that when the optical transmission body is cut perpendicularly to its length direction, The cross-sectional area of the obtained core is preferably larger.

Furthermore, in the illuminating device of this invention, it is preferable that this light emitting element is inserted in this core formed in the substantially concave shape of this incident end part.

Furthermore, in the illuminating device of this invention, it is preferable that the substantially concave core is formed by cutting the incident end of the optical transmission body into a V-shape.

Furthermore, in the illumination device of the present invention, it is preferable that a first reflecting member that reflects light incident on the light transmission body from the light emitting element is provided at an emission end of the light transmission body.

Furthermore, in the lighting device of the present invention, it is preferable that a second reflecting member is provided in the vicinity of the light emitting element.

The lighting device of the present invention has the following excellent effects.

-Increases the amount of light in the entire optical transmission body.

-Since the outer dimensions of the optical transmission body do not increase, it can be easily mounted on equipment with limited mounting space.

-Even after the optical transmission body is created, the amount of light can be increased by simply performing additional processing on the optical transmission body. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to an existing optical transmission body, and can be implemented without changing the existing manufacturing method of the optical transmission body.

Furthermore, in the more preferable aspect of the illuminating device of this invention, it also has the effect shown below.

-The volume at the coupling portion between the light transmitter and the light emitting element can be reduced, leading to further miniaturization of the lighting device.

It is a basic structure of the illuminating device of this invention. It is an example of the shape of the incident end part in this invention. It is the example which added the reflection member to the illuminating device of this invention. It is an example of the Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the light quantity measuring method of this invention. It is the measurement result of the light quantity in each Example of this invention.

Hereinafter, the aspect of the illumination device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, 1 is an optical transmission body, 2 is a cladding of the optical transmission body, 3 is a core of the optical transmission body, 4 is an incident end of the optical transmission body, 5 is an emission end of the optical transmission body, and 6 is a light emitting element. It is.
The optical transmission body 1 used in the present invention has a core / cladding structure in which a core 3 is surrounded by a clad 2 and has a function of emitting side light.

What is characteristic of the present invention is that the surface area of the core 3 is perpendicular to the length direction of the optical transmission body 1 without increasing the outer diameter of the cladding 2 at the incident end 4 of the optical transmission body 1. It is larger than the cross-sectional area of the core 3 (hereinafter referred to as a standard cross-sectional area) obtained when the core 3 is cut.

Since the amount of light that can be received by the optical transmission body 1 from the light emitting element 6 varies depending on the surface area of the core 3 at the incident end 4, the surface area of the core 3 is made larger than the standard cross-sectional area. , The amount of light that can be received by the light transmission element 1 from the light emitting element 6 is increased by making the surface of the core 3 larger than the surface area when the surface of the core 3 is formed in a plane perpendicular to the length direction of the light transmission element 1. The amount of light increases throughout the body 1.

  In addition, by increasing the surface area of the core 3 without increasing the outer diameter of the cladding 2, the amount of light can be increased while maintaining the outer dimensions of the optical transmission body 1. Even when the mounting space is limited, it can be easily mounted and the number of scenes where the optical transmission body 1 can be used can be increased.

As the core 3 used in the present invention, a material conventionally used as a core of an optical transmission body that emits side light may be appropriately selected and used. Specifically, resin materials such as silicone resin, epoxy resin, and polyurethane can be used.

For the clad 2 used in the present invention, a material having a refractive index lower than that of the core 3 may be appropriately selected from materials conventionally used as a clad for an optical transmission body that emits side light. Specific examples include resin materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, PFA (tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer), and FEP (tetrafluoroethylene / hexafluoropropylene copolymer).

  The optical transmission body 1 used in the present invention may be a light transmission body 1 provided with a side light emission function by containing diffusing particles in the core 3 or the cladding 2 or using another known method.

As a method for making the surface area of the core 3 larger than the standard cross-sectional area without increasing the outer diameter of the clad 2, it is particularly preferable to form the core 3 in a substantially concave shape at the incident end 4.
By forming the core 3 in a substantially concave shape, the surface area of the core 3 can be increased while keeping the dimensions of the clad 2 unchanged.

In addition, forming the core 3 in a substantially concave shape is also a preferable method in that the light emitting element 6 can be inserted into the core 3 formed in a substantially concave shape.
By inserting the light emitting element 6 into the core 3 formed in a substantially concave shape, the volume at the coupling portion of the optical transmission body 1 -the light emitting element 6 can be reduced, which leads to further downsizing of the lighting device.
Moreover, since the light emitted from the side peripheral surface of the light emitting element 6 also enters the core 3, it can contribute to an increase in the amount of light of the optical transmission body 1.

  Specific examples of the substantially concave shape include (a) a V shape, (b) a spherical shape, and (c) a conical shape shown in FIG. In the present invention, a V-shape is particularly preferable.

The core 3 and the clad 2 used in the present invention often use various resin materials as described above.
Since such a resin material can be easily cut, the core 3 can be formed in a substantially concave shape with little effort by cutting the end of the optical transmission body 1 into a V shape.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, a first reflecting member 7 that reflects light transmitted from the light emitting element 6 to the light transmitting body 1 is reflected at the exit end 5 of the light transmitting body 1. Is preferably provided.
By providing the reflecting member 7 at the emission end portion 5 of the optical transmission body 1, the light reaching the emission end portion 5 is reflected and transmitted again through the optical transmission body 1. Can be increased more.

  As the reflection member 7, a material having a high surface reflectance such as a metal foil or a white resin plate may be appropriately selected and used.

In addition, in the present invention, it is preferable to cover the second reflecting member 8 in the vicinity of the light emitting element 6 as shown in FIG.
By covering the vicinity of the light emitting element 6 with the reflecting member 8, the light that has not entered the core 3 from the light emitting element 6 and the light that has entered, but do not satisfy the condition of total reflection at the interface of the core 3 -cladding 2. Since the light leaking to the outside of the optical transmission body 1 can be reflected and a part of the light can enter the core 3, the light quantity of the optical transmission body 1 can be further increased.

  The range in the vicinity of the light emitting element 6 indicates a range in which the effect of increasing the amount of light of the optical transmission body 1 can be obtained by the presence of the second reflecting member 8 at that location.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the second reflecting member 8 is usually provided so as to cover the surface of the clad 2 existing in the vicinity of the incident end 4, but is limited to this method. However, it is possible to change such as providing directly on the light emitting element 6 within a range where the light transmission effect of the optical transmission body 1 can be obtained.

  As the second reflecting member 8, similarly to the first reflecting member 7, a material having a high surface reflectance may be appropriately selected and used. In consideration of covering the surface of the clad 2, the metal foil Such as a flexible pipe or a metal pipe formed in the same shape as the outer shape of the clad 2 is preferable.

Hereinafter, the illumination apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As a material for the clad 2, a PFA tube having an outer diameter of 3.5 mm and an inner diameter of 3 mm was used.

As the material of the core 3, polyurethane having silica particles uniformly contained as diffusion particles was used.

The PFA tube used as the clad 2 was filled with the polyurethane used as the core 3, and the polyurethane was cured to complete the optical transmission body 1 that emits side light, and was cut into a length of 550 mm. At this stage, the incident end portion 4 and the emission end portion 5 of the optical transmission body were formed in a flat shape by cutting perpendicularly to the length direction when the optical transmission body 1 was cut. That is, the surface area of the core 3 at the incident end 4 has a standard cross-sectional area.

By forming the core 3 in a substantially concave shape at the incident end 4 of the optical transmission body 1, the surface area of the core 3 is made larger than the standard cross-sectional area without increasing the outer diameter of the cladding 2.

The V shape shown in FIG. 2A was selected as the substantially concave shape. The incident end portion 4 of the optical transmission body 1 that was cut into the predetermined length and was formed into a flat shape was cut into a V shape with a blade to form a V-shaped concave portion. The dimensions of the recess were such that the V-shaped depth was 2 mm and the vertex of the V-shaped was positioned on the central axis of the optical transmission body 1.

A bullet type LED having a diameter of 3 mm was used as the light emitting element 6. As shown in FIG. 4, a power cable 9 is connected to the LED 6. The material and outer diameter of the protective coating of the power cable 9 were the same PFA as the clad 2 and φ3.5 mm.

After the light emitting portion of the LED 6 is inserted into the recess formed in the optical transmission body 1, the length is sufficient to cover the outer periphery of the cladding 2 near the incident end 4 and the outer periphery of the end of the protective covering of the power cable 9. As shown in FIG. 4, the protective tube 10 having the above structure was put on the vicinity of the incident end 4 of the optical transmission body 1 and joined to the clad 2 and the power cable 9 by heat fusion.

As the protective tube 10, a PFA tube having an inner diameter of 3.5 mm and a wall thickness of 0.3 mm was used. Since it is the same material as the clad 2 and the protective coating of the power cable 9, it is possible to reliably perform bonding by heat fusion.

As described above, the lighting apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention was completed.

The amount of light of the completed lighting device of the first embodiment was compared with that of a conventional lighting device.
As a conventional lighting device, prepare an illumination device created under the same conditions as the completed lighting device, except that the incident end is formed flat and the tip of the LED is in contact with the incident end. did.

  A method for measuring the amount of light is shown in FIG. A block provided with an insertion hole through which the optical transmission body 1 can be inserted is prepared, and a light receiving element 11 of a light meter is provided in the block. The block is moved from the incident end 4 side to the exit end 5 side, and the change in the light amount accompanying the change in the distance from the incident end 4 is measured. The measurement range was 40 mm to 500 mm from the incident end 4.

FIG. 6 shows the measurement result of the light amount of the illumination device of the first example as a ratio with respect to the case where the light amount in the conventional illumination device is 100% over the entire length of the optical transmission body.

The amount of light in the first embodiment is about 40% at the maximum in the vicinity of the incident end portion 4 of the optical transmission body 1, and about 15% in the vicinity of the output end portion 5, which is higher than that of the conventional illumination device. The effect of increasing the amount of light was confirmed.
Note that the amount of light in the vicinity of the incident end 4 is larger than that in the vicinity of the output end 5 because the diffused particles are uniformly dispersed in the core 3, and as a result, the light incident on the incident end 4 is This is because the light in the optical transmission body 1 is attenuated toward the exit end 5 because it travels toward the exit end 5 while being diffused (side light emission) in the vicinity of the entrance end 4 and consumed. This is a tendency generally seen in an optical transmission body that emits side light.

  Furthermore, the light quantity of the illuminating device of the 2nd-4th Example which added one or both of the 1st reflective member 7, the 2nd reflective member 8, was also measured.

The specifications of the illumination devices of the second to fourth embodiments are as follows.

Second embodiment: The first reflecting member 7 is added to the first embodiment.
Third embodiment: A second reflecting member 8 is added to the first embodiment.
Fourth embodiment: Both the first reflecting member 7 and the second reflecting member 8 are added to the first embodiment.

  An aluminum foil tape having a thickness of 0.05 mm was used for the first reflecting member 7 and was provided so as to close the emission end 5 of the optical transmission body 1.

  As the second reflecting member 8, the same aluminum foil tape as the first reflecting member 7 is used, and as shown in FIG. 3, the surface of the clad 2 existing near the incident end 4 is covered with the aluminum foil tape. After the LED 6 is hidden, the protective tube 10 is provided.

  The measurement result of the light quantity of the illuminating device of the 2nd-4th Example is shown in FIG.

In the second embodiment in which only the first reflecting member 7 is provided, a maximum of about 40% in the vicinity of the incident end portion 4 of the optical transmission body 1 and about 28% in the vicinity of the output end portion 5, a conventional illumination device. The amount of light increased.

The increase in the amount of light near the exit end 5 is higher than the vicinity of the entrance end 4 because the light reflected by the first reflecting member 7 is diffused near the exit end 5 while entering the end 4. It can be said that this is because the reflected light is mainly consumed for side emission in the vicinity of the emission end portion 5 because it goes to the side.

In the third embodiment in which only the second reflecting member 8 is provided, a maximum of about 43% in the vicinity of the incident end portion 4 of the optical transmission body 1 and about 25% in the vicinity of the output end portion 5, a conventional illumination device. The amount of light increased.

  Since the second reflecting member 8 is for improving the light incident from the LED 6 to the incident end 4, it can be said that it has contributed mainly to an increase in the amount of light in the vicinity of the incident end 4.

  In the fourth embodiment in which both the first reflecting member 7 and the second reflecting member 8 are provided, about 45% in the vicinity of the incident end 4 and about 30% in the vicinity of the exit end 5, The amount of light increased from the apparatus, and the effect of increasing the amount of light by synergy of the two reflecting members could be obtained.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for various types of lighting male devices using an optical transmission body that emits side light, including lighting and decoration.
In addition, the method of increasing the amount of light by forming the incident end of the optical transmission body in a substantially concave shape can be used even when the type of the optical transmission body emitting side light changes or when the light emitting element is changed to another light source. Available.
Furthermore, within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention, it can be used in combination with other light quantity increasing methods in the side-emitting light transmission body.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical transmission body 2 Cladding 3 Core 4 Incident end part 5 Outgoing end part 6 Light emitting element 7 1st reflection member 8 2nd reflection member 9 Power cable 10 Protection tube 11 Light receiving element

Claims (6)

An optical transmission body having a core / cladding structure in which a core is surrounded by a clad and having a function of emitting side light;
A lighting device composed of a light emitting element that makes light incident on an incident end of the optical transmission body,
The optical transmission body is obtained when the surface area of the core is cut perpendicularly to the length direction of the optical transmission body without increasing the outer diameter of the cladding at the incident end. An illuminating device characterized by being larger than the cross-sectional area.   The surface area of the core is larger than the cross-sectional area of the core obtained when the optical transmission body is cut perpendicularly to the length direction by forming the core in a substantially concave shape at the incident end. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein: The lighting device according to claim 2, wherein the light emitting element is inserted into the core formed in a substantially concave shape at the incident end. The illumination device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the substantially concave core is formed by cutting an incident end of the optical transmission body into a V shape.   5. The first reflecting member for reflecting light incident on the light transmission body from the light emitting element is provided at an emission end of the light transmission body. 6. The lighting device according to item 1. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein a second reflecting member is provided in the vicinity of the light emitting element.

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