JP6286838B2 - Surface emitting module - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a surface light emitting module using an organic EL panel.

  Conventionally, incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps have been widely used as illumination devices. On the other hand, in recent years, surface-emitting lighting equipment has been attracting attention as next-generation lighting because of its soft impression light and energy saving performance, and organic electroluminescence (organic EL (Electro Luminescence), OEL: Organic Electro Luminescence). Inorganic electroluminescence, or a combination of a light emitting diode and a light guide plate has been developed. In particular, organic EL has been attracting attention because it can reduce the size and weight of the device and generate little heat.

  Organic EL refers to a phenomenon in which energy is applied as energy to a light-emitting material made of an organic substance and energy is released as the excited light-emitting material returns to its original state. An organic EL light-emitting element that is a light-emitting element using organic EL technology includes an organic layer containing a light-emitting material made of an organic substance, and two electrodes (a cathode and an anode) facing each other so as to sandwich the organic layer. A structure in which layers are sequentially stacked is generally used.

  Since the organic EL light emitting element can change the emission wavelength by changing the type of the light emitting material, for example, white light can be obtained by mixing three types of light emitting materials of red, green, and blue. Further, for example, two or more types of light emitting elements containing different light emitting materials are alternately formed in a stripe shape, and a surface emitting illumination of a variable color organic EL (hereinafter referred to as an organic EL panel) that allows current to flow independently for each color. Description) can be obtained.

The organic EL panel can be used for lighting applications, buildings, interiors in vehicles, exteriors, etc. by making use of characteristics such as thinness, lightness, and soft light emission. The following patent document 1 is mentioned as an example using the surface emitting illumination using organic EL as general illumination.
In addition, a technique for forming a larger light emitting module by arranging a plurality of organic EL panels in order to make the surface emitting illumination have a larger area and higher luminance is also known (Patent Document 2).

  When surface emitting lighting is used outdoors or indoors where water may be splashed, the surface emitting illumination needs to be waterproof. Patent Document 3 discloses outdoor illumination in which an organic EL panel is covered with a waterproof hermetically sealed light-transmitting cover.

JP 2011-18483 A JP 2009-152137 A JP 2011-28890 A

As shown in Patent Document 3, a waterproof function can be obtained by enclosing the organic EL panel in a sealed structure. However, this structure has another problem that condensation occurs inside when the temperature drops.
When the temperature drops and becomes lower than the dew point of the air inside the sealed structure, the moisture in the air becomes liquid and causes dew condensation on the surface of the organic EL panel. Water droplets due to condensation cause the light emitting surface of the organic EL panel to become cloudy and block the generated light, thereby causing a reduction in the amount of light. Moreover, a short circuit may be caused by dew condensation in electrical wiring parts such as a control circuit and a power supply line. In the case of an organic EL panel other than the electric wiring portion, since an electrode is disposed on the entire light emitting surface in order to supply current to the light emitting layer, there is an extremely high risk of short circuit when condensation occurs. Furthermore, it causes corrosion of the metal inside.

  In order to prevent dew condensation, there is a method in which air circulation between the inside and outside of the sealed structure is improved and a moisture content equivalent to that of outside air is maintained inside the structure. However, it is difficult to improve air circulation while maintaining a waterproof function. As another method, there is a method in which a low-humidity air or a gas such as nitrogen is sealed inside the sealed structure to completely block the air flow from the outside. However, in order to form a sealed structure that can completely enclose gas over a long period of time, it is necessary to make the entire structure robust, such as metal, which increases the size and weight of illumination and increases the manufacturing cost. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a surface light emitting module of the present invention includes an organic EL panel that is a light emitting surface that emits light on one side, and a housing that houses the organic EL panel, and at least the light emission of the housing. The portion corresponding to the surface is transparent, and both the light emitting surface and the opposite surface of the organic EL panel are covered with a transparent elastic body, and the transparent elastic body is in close contact with the housing at least on the light emitting surface. It is characterized by that.

Furthermore, it is preferable to have a circuit surface on the opposite surface of the organic EL panel.
The transparent elastic body is preferably a gel.
The transparent elastic body is preferably rubber.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the transparent elastic body covers the entire surface of the organic EL panel.
In that case, it is preferable that the transparent elastic body is filled with no gap between the organic EL panel and the housing.

Moreover, it is preferable that the said organic EL panel couple | bonds with the said housing | casing in positions other than the said light emission surface.
Moreover, it is preferable that the said transparent elastic body contains at least 1 type chosen from a ultraviolet absorber and light-scattering particle | grains.

  By using the surface light emitting module having the above-described configuration, it is possible to prevent internal condensation while maintaining a waterproof function, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in light amount, a short circuit, corrosion, and the like due to condensation.

It is the schematic diagram which looked at the surface emitting module from the side, and the schematic diagram seen from the upper part. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of an organic electroluminescent panel. It is a perspective view of the organic electroluminescent panel which concerns on this Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the organic electroluminescent panel which concerns on this Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on examples and modifications with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the content demonstrated below, In the range which does not change the summary, it can change arbitrarily and can implement. The drawings used for explaining each embodiment schematically show the illumination system according to the present invention, and are partially emphasized, enlarged, reduced, or omitted to deepen the understanding. In some cases, the scale and shape of each constituent member are not accurately represented. Furthermore, the various numerical values used in each embodiment are merely examples, and can be variously changed as necessary.

An example of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 1A is a sectional view, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view. The surface emitting module 1 includes at least an organic EL panel 2 and a housing 3 that houses the organic EL panel 2.
The organic EL panel 2 may be hard to deform using a hard material such as glass for the substrate, or may be deformable using a flexible material such as a resin film for the substrate. The organic EL panel 2 can take various shapes such as a square, a triangle, a circle, and a donut shape.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the organic EL panel 2 has a light emitting surface 21 that emits light on one side, and the opposite side is a circuit surface having electric wiring for supplying power to and controlling the organic EL panel 2 22 The circuit surface 22 may be a circuit board on which a circuit is formed, or may be a circuit board that is not provided with a circuit board and is simply electrically wired. A structure having a heat sink made of aluminum, copper, or the like on a circuit board may also be used.

The housing 3 has a box-like structure made of a resin such as polycarbonate or acrylic, a metal such as aluminum or iron, or a combination thereof, and an organic EL panel is formed from an opening provided on any surface of the housing 3. 2 is stored. A portion of the housing 3 facing the light emitting surface 21 becomes a transparent portion 31 formed of transparent glass or resin so as to transmit light.
The light emitting surface 21 and the circuit surface 22 are covered with the transparent elastic body 4. The transparent elastic body 4 covering the light emitting surface 21 side is in close contact with the light emitting surface 21 and further in close contact with the transparent portion 31 of the housing 3. By doing so, no air is present between the housing 3 and the light emitting surface 21, so that no condensation occurs on the light emitting surface 21, and a decrease in the amount of light due to water droplets due to condensation can be prevented. Further, since no condensation occurs on the circuit surface 22 as well, it is possible to prevent a short circuit or corrosion of the metal electrodes of the electric wiring or the organic EL light emitting element.

Examples of the transparent elastic body 4 include gels such as silicone gel, urethane gel, and acrylic gel, and rubbers such as silicone rubber and urethane rubber. In order to completely adhere to the transparent portion 31 without a gap, it is preferable to use a highly flexible gel, and it is more preferable to use a silicone gel having high insulation and heat resistance and excellent transparency.
Various additives may be added to the transparent elastic body 4. Specifically, by mixing light-scattering particles having a diameter of about 0.5 μm to 30 μm, light emitted from the organic EL panel 2 can be scattered and made uniform. In this case, the light diffusion film normally used for the organic EL panel 2 becomes unnecessary. The light scattering particles can be appropriately selected as long as they have a refractive index difference from that of the transparent elastic body 4, and examples thereof include inorganic particles such as TiO ₂ , ZrO ₂ , and Al ₂ O ₃ . It is also possible to reduce the deterioration of the organic layer due to ultraviolet rays from the outside by adding an ultraviolet absorber to the transparent elastic body 4. Examples of the ultraviolet absorber include benzophenone, benzotriazole, saltylate, acrylonitrile, metal complex, hindered amine, and ultrafine titanium oxide. This is particularly effective when the surface emitting module of the present invention is used outdoors.

  The transparent elastic body 4 that covers the circuit surface 22 side does not necessarily need to be in close contact with the housing 3, but the circuit surface 22 side completely prevents condensation and further releases heat from the circuit surface 22 to the housing 3. For the purpose, it is preferable that the transparent elastic body 4 is in close contact with the circuit surface 22 and the housing 3 also on the circuit surface 22 side. In this case, it is preferable that at least a part of the portion of the housing 3 that is in close contact with the transparent elastic body 4 is a heat radiating plate 32 made of a high heat conductive material such as aluminum, copper, or high heat conductive ceramics.

As a method for forming the transparent elastic body 4, the transparent elastic body 4 is applied to the organic EL panel 2 in advance.
A method of storing in the housing 3 after curing is also possible. However, after the organic EL panel 2 is housed in the housing 3, a method of injecting a stock solution of the transparent elastic body 4 between the housing 3 and the organic EL panel 2 and curing it is performed, so that the light emitting surface 21 side and the circuit surface The transparent elastic body 4 on the 22 side can be formed at the same time, and the casing 3 and the transparent elastic body 4 can be reliably adhered to each other, which is more preferable. As a method for curing the stock solution, a method such as heat curing, two-component curing, ultraviolet curing, or a combination thereof is appropriately selected depending on the type of the transparent elastic body. By this curing method, the stock solution is polymerized and cross-linked to be gelled or rubberized to form a transparent elastic body.

  However, since the heating process may deteriorate the circuit and light emitting element of the organic EL panel 2, it is preferable to cure at room temperature. Further, in the ultraviolet curing, there is a risk that the undiluted solution of the opaque portion of the housing 3 is not exposed to ultraviolet rays and the curing is insufficient. Therefore, it is preferable to use two-component curing in which the main agent and the curing agent are mixed and cured. You may add additives, such as a viscosity modifier and surfactant.

  In order to protect the entire organic EL panel 2 from condensation, the transparent elastic body 4 covers the entire surface of the organic EL panel 2 in addition to the light emitting surface 21 and the circuit surface 22 of the organic EL panel 2 as well as the side surfaces. preferable. Further, if the transparent elastic body 4 is filled between the organic EL panel 2 and the housing 3 with no gap, almost no air is present between the organic EL panel 2 and the housing 3, so that almost no condensation occurs. It can be completely prevented. Furthermore, since the heat generated by the organic EL panel 2 can move to the housing 3 via the transparent elastic body 4, higher heat dissipation is realized compared to the space between the organic EL panel 2 and the housing 3. And the temperature rise of the organic EL panel 2 can be suppressed.

  The organic EL panel 2 is housed in the housing 3 from the opening, and after the transparent elastic body 4 is injected and cured, the housing 3 is sealed for waterproofing. In the present embodiment, the lid 33 is removable from the housing 3, and the opening is generated by removing the lid 33. When the organic EL panel 2 needs to be replaced, the lid 33 is fixed by screwing or the like with a waterproof packing sandwiched in the opening of the housing 3. When the organic EL panel 2 does not need to be replaced, the lid 33 may be adhered to the housing 3 with a waterproof adhesive such as acrylic or epoxy, or double-sided tape. Glass frit fusion may be used. A method of ultrasonic welding using the housing 3 and the lid 33 as a resin is also possible. In FIG. 1, the lid 33 (opening) is provided on the side surface of the housing 3, but the transparent portion 31 of the housing 3 may be the lid 33, and the opposite side of the transparent portion 31 may be the lid 33.

  When the light emitting surface 21 and the circuit surface 22 of the organic EL panel 2 are covered with the transparent elastic body 4, the position of the organic EL panel 2 surrounded by the elastic body becomes unstable, and the direction of the light emitting surface 21 is desired. There is a risk of deviation from the direction. In order to prevent this, the organic EL panel 2 is preferably coupled and fixed to the housing 3 at a position other than the light emitting surface 21. In order to completely cover the light emitting surface 21 and the circuit surface 22 with the transparent elastic body 4, the position where the light emitting surface 21 and the circuit surface 22 are coupled to the housing 3 is preferably the side surface of the organic EL panel 2. As a specific method, a method of connecting the organic EL panel 2 and the housing 3 with screws, an adhesive, a tape or the like through the connecting member 34, or a groove in the housing 3 or the lid 33 without using the connecting member 34. And the organic EL panel 2 is fixed by fitting the side surface of the organic EL panel 2 into the groove.

However, if the coupling member 34 completely divides the transparent elastic body 4 on the light emitting surface 21 side and the circuit surface 22 side, there is a risk of peeling due to curing shrinkage at the end of the transparent elastic body 4. Therefore, it is preferable to arrange the coupling member 34 so that the transparent elastic body 4 in the housing 3 is integrated as a whole.
Between the housing 3 and the organic EL panel 2, a power line 5 for supplying power for causing the organic EL panel 2 to emit light is disposed. A signal line 6 (for example, a signal line corresponding to DALI, DMX, etc.) for controlling light emission may be further provided.

The power flowing through the power line 5 and the signal flowing through the signal line 6 are supplied from the outside of the surface emitting module 1 to the organic EL panel 2 through the terminals 35 provided on the housing 3.
When a part of the coupling member 34 forms at least one terminal of the power line 5 and the signal line 6 and the organic EL panel 2 is fixed to the casing 3 by the coupling member 34, the casing 3 side and the organic EL panel 2 side It is preferable that at least one of the power line 5 and the signal line 6 is coupled. When the coupling member 34 is not used, the power line 5 and the signal line 6 are provided at the groove portion provided in the housing 3 and the lid 33 and the fitting portion of the organic EL panel 2 so that the coupling and connection can be performed simultaneously. You may be made to be.

<Organic EL panel>
Next, the organic EL panel will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
Here, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the organic EL panel according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the organic EL panel according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 3, the organic EL panel 2 includes a transparent substrate 11, an organic EL light emitting element 12, a light diffusion part 13, and a sealing part 14. The organic EL light emitting element 12 is classified into three types: an organic EL light emitting element 12R whose emission color is red, an organic EL light emitting element 12G whose emission color is green, and an organic EL light emitting element 12B whose emission color is blue. The

  The transparent substrate 11 in the present embodiment is a glass substrate. The transparent substrate 11 may be a substrate having a property of transmitting visible light. For example, the transparent substrate 11 is made of a transparent resin such as polyester, polymethacrylate, polycarbonate, polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, or polysulfone; May be.

  As a more specific configuration of the organic EL panel 2, a plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12R, organic EL light emitting elements 12G, and organic EL light emitting elements 12B are provided on the organic EL light emitting element forming surface 11a of the transparent substrate 11. Adjacent elements are arranged in a striped manner so as to be separated from each other. These organic EL light emitting elements are repeatedly arranged in the order of the organic EL light emitting elements 12R, 12G, and 12B. With such a configuration, the red light emitted from the organic EL light emitting element 12R, the green light emitted from the organic EL light emitting element 12G, and the blue light emitted from the organic EL light emitting element 12B are synthesized, and organic The combined light of uniform color is emitted from the EL panel 2 as a whole. For example, the light emitted from the light emitting surface can be made to appear as white light by adjusting the light emission amounts of red light, green light, and blue light. It is possible to radiate light of colors other than white light by adjusting the light emission amounts of red light, green light, and blue light, that is, a variable-color organic EL panel can be obtained. . The number of each of the organic EL light emitting elements 12R, 12G, and 12B that emit light of each color may be one. When mixing these, it is preferable to arrange many organic EL light emitting elements 12R, 12G, and 12B in parallel.

  In the example described above, the organic EL panel 2 includes three types of organic EL light emitting elements 12 (an organic EL light emitting element 12R that emits red light, an organic EL light emitting element 12G that emits green light, and an organic EL light emitting element 12B that emits blue light). Although provided, it is not limited to this. For example, the organic EL element may be composed of two kinds of organic EL light emitting elements 12 selected from the above-described three kinds of organic EL light emitting elements 12R, 12G, and 12B. Even in this case, the light emitted from the organic EL panel 2 can be changed to a variable color.

Further, in each of the organic EL light emitting elements 12 described above, a plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12R are used as one red light emitting element group, a plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12G are used as one green light emitting element group, and a plurality of organic EL light emitting elements are used. Although it is assumed that the element 12B is controlled as one blue light emitting element group, the present invention is not limited to such control. For example, the plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12R may be divided into a plurality of light emitting element groups. Similarly, the plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12G and the plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12B may be divided into a plurality of light emitting element groups, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the organic EL light emitting element 12R whose emission color is red includes an anode (transparent electrode) 15R formed on the transparent substrate 11, an organic layer 16R formed on the anode 15R, and an organic layer 16R. It is comprised from the cathode (metal electrode) 17R formed on the top. Similarly, the organic EL light emitting element 12G whose emission color is green was formed on the anode (transparent electrode) 15G formed on the transparent substrate 11, the organic layer 16G formed on the anode 15G, and the organic layer 16G. An organic EL light emitting device 12B composed of a cathode (metal electrode) 17G and emitting blue is an anode (transparent electrode) 15B formed on the transparent substrate 11, an organic layer 16B formed on the anode 15B, organic It consists of a cathode (metal electrode) 17B formed on the layer 16B. When any of the anodes 15R, 15G, and 15B is not designated, it is simply referred to as the anode 15, and when any of the organic layers 16R, 16G, and 16B is not designated, it is simply referred to as the organic layer 16, and the cathodes 17R and 17G. , 17B may be simply referred to as the cathode 17 when not designated. That is, the anode 15, the organic layer 16, and the cathode 17 constituting each organic EL light emitting element 12 are sequentially laminated on the transparent substrate 11.

Further, the planar shapes (that is, areas) of the anode 15, the organic layer 16, and the cathode 17 are substantially the same. Therefore, the side surfaces of the anode 15, the organic layer 16, and the cathode 17 are the same plane, and the shape of the organic EL light emitting element 12 is a rectangular parallelepiped.
The anode 15 in the present embodiment is made of indium tin oxide (ITO). For this reason, the anode 15 has a function of injecting holes into the organic layer 16 and has translucency for light emission from the organic layer 16. That is, the anode 15 functions as a transparent electrode. The anode 15 is formed by a sputtering method, a vacuum deposition method, or the like. On the surface of the anode 15, it is preferable to form the organic layer 16 after ultraviolet irradiation or ozone treatment from the viewpoint of removing impurities on the anode 15 and improving hole injection properties by adjusting ionization potential.

  The anode 15 is not limited to being composed of indium tin oxide, and has a function of injecting holes into the organic layer 16 and is transmissive to light emitted from the organic layer 16. For example, metal oxides such as indium zinc oxide, metals such as aluminum, gold, silver, nickel, palladium and platinum, metal halides such as copper iodide, carbon black, poly (3-methyl (Thiophene), a conductive polymer such as polypyrrole, or the like. Moreover, the anode 15 may be comprised from a different material for every organic EL light emitting element 12R, 12G, 12B.

  Although not illustrated in FIG. 4, the organic EL light emitting device may further include a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, an electron transport layer, and / or an electron injection layer. In that case, it is preferable to have a structure in which a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer are laminated in this order from the anode 15 side. In the case of such a laminated structure, the organic layer 16 may be composed of a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer, or may be composed of a part of these layers. May be. That is, the layers constituting the organic layer 16 differ depending on whether or not an organic material is used for the material of each layer.

The hole injection layer and the hole transport layer described above are preferably formed of a hole transport material, and include aromatic amine derivatives, phthalocyanine derivatives, porphyrin derivatives, oligothiophene derivatives, polythiophene derivatives, benzylphenyl derivatives, fluorenes. Compounds in which tertiary amines are linked by a group, hydrazone derivatives, silazane derivatives, silanamine derivatives, phosphamine derivatives, quinacridone derivatives, polyaniline derivatives, polypyrrole derivatives, polyphenylene vinylene derivatives, polythienylene vinylene derivatives, polyquinoline derivatives, polyquinoxaline derivatives, carbon, etc. Is mentioned. The electron transport layer is preferably formed of an electron transport material, for example, a metal complex such as an aluminum complex of 8-hydroxyquinoline, a metal complex of 10-hydroxybenzo [h] quinoline, an oxadiazole derivative. , Distyryl biphenyl derivatives, silole derivatives, 3-hydroxyflavone metal complexes, 5-hydroxyflavone metal complexes, benzoxazole metal complexes, benzothiazole metal complexes, trisbenzimidazolylbenzene, quinoxaline compounds, phenanthroline derivatives, 2-t-butyl- 9,10-N, N′-dicyanoanthraquinone diimine, n-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide, n-type zinc sulfide, n-type zinc selenide and the like can be mentioned. The electron injection layer is preferably made of a metal having a low work function. Examples include alkali metals such as sodium and cesium, and alkaline earth metals such as barium and calcium.

The following are mentioned as a luminescent material used for the light emitting layer mentioned above. Examples of the light-emitting material that gives red light emission include DCM (4- (dicyanomethylene) -2-methyl-6- (p-dimethylaminostyryl) -4H-pyran) compounds, benzopyran derivatives, rhodamine derivatives, benzothioxanthene derivatives, aza Examples include benzothioxanthene. Examples of the light emitting material that gives green light emission include quinacridone derivatives, coumarin derivatives, and aluminum complexes such as Al (C ₉ H ₆ NO) ₃ . Furthermore, examples of the light emitting material that gives blue light emission include naphthalene, perylene, pyrene, anthracene, coumarin, p-bis (2-phenylethenyl) benzene, and derivatives thereof. In addition, any one kind may be used for the luminescent material mentioned above, and two or more types may be used together by arbitrary combinations and ratios.

  In Examples 1 and 2, the cathode 17 does not need to have translucency, and thus is made of aluminum. That is, the cathode 17 is a metal electrode. The cathode 17 is formed by a sputtering method, a vacuum evaporation method, or the like. In addition, the cathode 17 is not limited to aluminum, For example, metals, such as tin, magnesium, indium, calcium, silver, those alloys, etc. are used. Specific examples include low work function alloy electrodes such as magnesium-silver alloys, magnesium-indium alloys, and aluminum-lithium alloys. Moreover, the cathode 17 may be comprised from a different material for every organic EL light emitting element 12R, 12B, 12G.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the light diffusion portion 13 is formed so as to cover the entire surface of the organic EL light emitting element non-formation surface 11 b of the transparent substrate 11. The light diffusing unit 13 has an effect of diffusing the light of each color emitted from the organic EL light emitting element 12 to uniformly mix the colors. Due to such an effect, the member composed of the transparent substrate 11 that is a glass substrate and the light diffusion part 13 functions as a single light source as a whole. In Examples 1 and 2, the light diffusion part 13 is composed of a film in which fine particles are dispersed in a transparent resin. In addition, the light-diffusion part 13 is not limited to this film, For example, it can form by roughening the substrate surface.

  As described above, the transparent substrate 11 has a characteristic of transmitting the light of each color emitted from each organic EL light emitting element 12. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 4, the light emitted from each organic EL light emitting element 12 passes through the transparent substrate 11 and the light diffusing unit 13 and is emitted from the organic EL panel 3 to the outside. In addition, as described above, when the transparent elastic body 4 includes light scattering particles, the light diffusion portion 13 can be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sealing portion 14 has a function of covering each organic EL light emitting element 12 and preventing the light emitting material of each organic EL light emitting element 12 from being oxidized and deteriorated by the atmosphere. Moreover, the sealing part 14 is formed so that the space | gap 18 is filled and the organic electroluminescent light emitting element formation surface 11a of the transparent substrate 11 is not exposed. In Example 1 and 2, the sealing part 14 is an epoxy resin provided with translucency. In addition, the sealing part 14 may be other transparent resin provided with translucency, such as a silicone resin other than an epoxy resin.

  Moreover, the sealing part 14 is not limited to being comprised from resin as mentioned above. For example, the sealing part 14 may be a translucent member such as plastic that covers the plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12 as a whole. In such a case, the gap 18 is not filled with the sealing portion 14. In the gap 18 between the light emitting elements, a partition made of an insulating resin or the like different from the material used for the sealing portion 14 described above may be formed.

  Although the bottom emission type organic EL panel 2 is used in the present embodiment, a top emission type organic EL panel may be used. In this case, various opaque support substrates can be used in place of the transparent substrate 11 that supports the plurality of organic EL light emitting elements 12. The layer structure may be formed from the anode to the cathode in the opposite direction to the bottom emission type. Moreover, in this Embodiment mentioned above, although the organic layer 16 from which luminescent color differs for every organic EL light emitting element 12 was used, the organic layer 16 of all the organic EL light emitting elements 12 is light emission for red light. The material, the green light emitting material, and the blue light emitting material may be composed of a polymer dispersion type EL material in which the light emitting material is uniformly dispersed. In addition, a stacked organic EL light emitting element in which a layer made of a light emitting material for red light, a layer made of a light emitting material for green light, and a layer made of a light emitting material for blue light may be used. Alternatively, a stacked organic EL light emitting element including a layer in which two color light emitting materials are mixed and a layer made of the remaining one color light emitting material may be used.

  The surface emitting module having a waterproof function according to the present invention can be used outdoors exposed to rain, in a place where there is a possibility of getting wet such as a fountain, a pond, a bath, a washroom, or in water, It can be applied to lighting or decorative purposes.

1 surface emitting module 2 organic EL panel 21 light emitting surface 22 circuit surface
3 Housing 31 Transparent part 32 Heat sink 33 Lid 34 Coupling member 35 Terminal
4 Transparent elastic body 5 Power line
6 Signal Line 11 Transparent Substrate 12 Organic EL Light-Emitting Element 13 Light Diffusing Portion 14 Sealing Portion 15 Anode 16 Organic Layer 17 Cathode

Claims (6)

It has an organic EL panel that is a light emitting surface that emits light on one side, and a housing having a box-like structure that houses the organic EL panel, and at least a portion corresponding to the light emitting surface of the housing is transparent ,
The entire surface of the organic EL panel is covered with a transparent elastic body,
A surface-emitting module, wherein the transparent elastic body is filled between the organic EL panel and the casing without any gap . The surface emitting module of Claim 1 which has a circuit surface in the opposite surface to the light emission surface of the said organic electroluminescent panel.   The surface emitting module according to claim 1, wherein the transparent elastic body is a gel.   The surface emitting module according to claim 1, wherein the transparent elastic body is rubber. Surface emitting module according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the organic EL panel is coupled to the housing at a position other than the light emitting surface. The surface emitting module according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the transparent elastic body contains at least one kind selected from an ultraviolet absorber and light scattering particles.

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