JP2017045520A - Light guide body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light guide body capable of preventing deterioration of appearance caused by the color of a bracket being viewed from the front side during non-lighting time.SOLUTION: A light guide body 1: includes an optical system 2 including an incident surface 5 and reflection surfaces 4, 6, 7 for reflecting the light entering from the incident surface 5 and for emitting the same from an emission surface 9; and is supported by a bracket 10 in which the opposite side of the emission surface has a chromatic color. At one part of the opposite side of the emission surface, a groove-shaped air layer 11 is formed across the whole length of the bracket 10. Also, a knurl for light diffusion is provided on an inner surface 1a and an outer surface 1b of a wall 1B on the outer end side for forming the air layer 11 of the light guide body 1. As the light entered the light guide body 1 from the emission surface 9 on the front during non-lighting time is diffused by the air layer 11, the color of the bracket 10 (for example, black) appears to be mottle, and the color of the bracket 10 is not viewed directly from the front, and the deterioration of the light guide body 1 during non-lighting time is prevented.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a light guide that emits light by reflecting light incident from a light source in the process of guiding the light.

  For example, LEDs (light emitting diodes) having advantages such as high luminous efficiency, high luminance, and power saving are being used as light sources for vehicle lamps such as position lamps arranged on the left and right sides of the vehicle. Since light with strong directivity is emitted from this LED, the light with strong directivity is guided to the light guide and the entire light guide is emitted. That is, the light guide emits light by being reflected by the reflecting surface and emitted from the emitting surface in the process of guiding the light incident from the incident surface facing the light source inside.

  By the way, in Patent Document 1, for example, a flat light guide is used, and light emitted from a light source whose optical axis extends in the vertical direction with respect to a horizontally installed light guide plate is reflected with respect to the optical axis. The light guide is formed with a reflection surface that radially reflects in an orthogonal direction, and a reflection surface that reflects the horizontal light reflected left and right by the reflection surface toward an elongated rectangular emission surface on the front side. A light emitting device that emits light on the elongate exit surface is proposed.

  Here, an example of a plate-like light guide used for a vehicle lamp such as a position lamp is shown in FIG.

  That is, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional light guide, and the front surface of the illustrated plate-like light guide 101 is a reflective surface that is elongated in the lateral direction (perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 8). The light exit surface of the light guide is supported by a chromatic (for example, black) bracket 110 having an L-shaped cross section. In such a light guide 101, when a light source (not shown) such as an LED disposed on the back side emits light, the light emitted from the light source is reflected by a plurality of reflection surfaces (not shown) of the light guide 101. Since horizontal light is emitted from the emission surface 109, the emission surface 109 of the light guide 101 emits light in an elongated manner.

Japanese Patent No. 4458359

  However, in the conventional light guide 101 shown in FIG. 8, since the color (for example, black) of the bracket 110 can be directly seen from the front emission surface when the light is not turned on, the appearance of the light guide 101 when the light is not turned on is poor. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a light guide that can prevent deterioration in appearance due to the color of the bracket being visible from the front side when not lit. .

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 includes an optical system including an incident surface and a reflecting surface that reflects light incident from the incident surface and emits the light from the emitting surface, and the counter-emitting surface side has a chromatic color. In the light guide supported by the bracket, a groove-like air layer is formed over the entire length of the bracket on a part of the light-exiting surface side.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, knurls for light diffusion are provided on the inner and outer surfaces of the outer end side wall forming the air layer.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the light that has entered the light guide from the front emission surface is diffused by the air layer when not lit, the color of the bracket (for example, black) looks mottled, The color is not directly visible from the front, and the appearance of the light guide when it is not lit is prevented from being deteriorated.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the light diffused by the air layer is further diffused by the knurling, the color of the bracket becomes more difficult to see from the front of the light guide when not lit, and the light guide The deterioration of the appearance at the time of lighting can be prevented more effectively.

It is a top view of the light guide which concerns on this invention. It is a front view of the light guide which concerns on this invention. It is the A section enlarged detail drawing of FIG. It is the B section enlarged detail drawing of FIG. It is CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the DD sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the EE sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is sectional drawing of the conventional light guide.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 is a plan view of a light guide according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the light guide, FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of part A in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail view of part B in FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line DD in FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG.

  A light guide 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a plate-like member that is long in the lateral direction and is used as an inner lens of a position lamp, and has an end portion (the right end of FIGS. 1 and 2 in a plan view and a front view). Part) has a bent shape. The light guide 1 is integrally formed of a resin material having high light guide properties such as acrylic and polycarbonate, and a plurality (10 in the illustrated example) of optical systems 2 are arranged at appropriate intervals in the lateral direction. It is installed side by side.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 6, LEDs 3 that are light sources are arranged corresponding to the respective optical systems 2 on the back surface side (the lower surface side of FIG. 2) of the light guide 1. The optical axis x is installed perpendicular to the vertical direction. And on the back surface facing the LED 3 of the light guide 1, a truncated cone-shaped convex portion 1 </ b> A is integrally projected downward for each optical system 2, and the side surface of the convex portion 1 </ b> A is convex. The curved first reflecting surface 4 is provided. In addition, a concave groove-shaped incident surface 5 is formed at the center of the lower portion of each frustoconical convex portion 1A.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a V-cut second reflecting surface is provided at a position facing the incident surface 5 and the first reflecting surface 4 of each optical system 2 on the surface of the light guide 1 (upper surface in FIG. 6). 6 is formed, and a third arc-shaped third reflecting surface 7 is formed on a part of the outside of the second reflecting surface 6. Each optical system 2 includes the incident surface 5 and the first reflecting surface. The surface 4, the second reflection surface 6, and the third reflection surface 7 are included. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the arc-shaped third reflecting surfaces 7 of the two adjacent optical systems 2 are connected to each other by a V-shaped inclined surface 8. In the present embodiment, As shown in FIGS. 3, 5, and 7, a stepped portion 8 a is integrally formed on a part of the V-shaped slope 8 (a tip portion of the V shape).

  On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a part of the second reflecting surface 6 constituting each optical system 2 of the light guide 1 has a V-shaped slope as shown in FIGS. A reflecting portion 6 a that reflects light toward the stepped convex portion 8 a formed in a part of 8 is formed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 and 7, the front surface of the light guide 1 is a long and narrow exit surface 9, and the exit surface 9 is provided with a lens cut for light distribution.

  By the way, as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, the light guide 1 has a chromatic color (this embodiment) having an L-shaped cross section at the end (left end in FIG. 6) on the side opposite to the light emitting surface. In this embodiment, the bracket 10 is supported by the bracket 10, and a groove-shaped air layer 11 that opens toward the surface is formed over the entire length of the bracket 10 in the portion supported by the bracket 10. . The inner surface 1a and the outer surface 1b of the wall 1B on the outer end side that forms the air layer 11 of the light guide 1 are provided with light knurls.

  Thus, in the light guide 1 configured as described above, when current is supplied to each LED 3 and each LED 3 emits light, the light emitted upward from each LED 3 is as shown in FIG. The light enters the light guide 1 from the incident surface 5 in each optical system 2 of the light guide 1. The light incident on the inside of the light guide 1 is reflected by the first reflecting surface 4 of each optical system 2 toward the optical axis x direction of the LED 3 (upward in FIG. 6). The reflection surface 6 reflects radially in a direction (horizontal direction) orthogonal to the optical axis x of the LED 3. A part of the light reflected by the second reflecting surface 6 is directly directed to the front-side emitting surface 9, and the other part is emitted from the third reflecting surface 7 at the front side as indicated by L in FIG. Since these lights are finally emitted from the emission surface 9 toward the front surface, the emission surface 9 that is elongated in the lateral direction emits light, and the position lamp including the light guide 1 has its original function. To demonstrate.

  By the way, in this Embodiment, a part of V-shaped slope 8 which connects the arc-shaped 3rd reflective surfaces 7 provided in two adjacent optical systems 2 arranged in parallel with the light guide 1 is connected. 7 is formed on the second reflecting surface 6 of each optical system 2, so that a part of the light reflected by the second reflecting surface 6 is as shown in FIG. The light is reflected by the reflecting portion 6a toward the stepped convex portion 8a of the inclined surface 8, reflected by the stepped convex portion 8a toward the light emitting surface 9 on the front side, and finally emitted from the light emitting surface 9 to the front side. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the limit of the light L1 toward the exit surface 9 in one of the two adjacent optical systems 2 (left side in FIG. 3) is the third in the optical system 2 in the other (right side in FIG. 3). The limit of the light L2 reflected by the reflecting surface 7 and traveling toward the exit surface 9 is approached, and the width of the dark portion between the two becomes narrow. For this reason, the effect that the whole emission surface 9 of the light guide 1 emits light uniformly is obtained.

  In addition, in the light guide 1 according to the present embodiment, the groove-like air layer 11 is formed over the entire length of the bracket 10 on a part on the side opposite to the emission surface, so that the light guide 1 is guided from the emission surface 9 on the front side when not lit. Light incident on the inside of the light body 1 is diffused by the air layer 11. For this reason, the color of the bracket 10 (black in the present embodiment) looks mottled from the front, and the color of the bracket 10 is not directly visible from the front, so that the light guide 1 looks good when not lit. Reduction is prevented. And in this Embodiment, since the knurling for light diffusion was given to the inner surface 1a and the outer surface 1b of the wall 1B of the outer end side which forms the air layer 11 of the light guide 1, the light diffused by the air layer 11 Further diffused by the knurling, the color of the bracket 10 becomes more difficult to see from the front of the light guide when not lit, and the deterioration of the appearance when the light guide 1 is not lit can be more effectively prevented.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a light guide used as an inner lens of a position lamp has been described. However, the present invention also applies to a light guide used in any other lamp. Of course, it is applicable to. In the above embodiment, an LED is used as a light source. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a light guide that emits light from light of an arbitrary light source other than an LED such as a bulb. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light guide 1A Convex part of a light guide 1B Wall of a light guide 1a Inner surface of the wall of a light guide 1b Inner surface of the wall of a light guide 2 Optical system of a light guide 3 LED (light source)
4 First reflective surface 5 Incident surface 6 Second reflective surface 6a Reflective portion of second reflective surface 7 Third reflective surface 8 Slope 8a Stepped portion of reflective surface 9 Outgoing surface 10 Bracket 11 Air layers L1 and L2 Light x LED optical axis

Claims (2)

In a light guide that includes an incident surface and an optical system that includes a reflecting surface that reflects light incident from the incident surface and emits the light from the emitting surface, and the anti-emitting surface side is supported by a chromatic bracket,
A light guide body, wherein a groove-like air layer is formed over a whole length of the bracket on a part on the side opposite to the light emitting surface. 2. The light guide according to claim 1, wherein knurls for light diffusion are provided on the inner and outer surfaces of the outer end side wall forming the air layer.

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