TWI772002B - Lens and fabrication method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A lens includes a first lens element, a light guide and a second lens element arranged in order in an axis direction of the lens. The light guide has a first end and a second end opposite the first end, and an inner surface of the light guide touches at least a part of an outer edge of the second lens.

Description

Lens and method of making the same

The present invention relates to a lens and a manufacturing method thereof.

In the current car lamp projection lens, the light-emitting surface of the lens is prone to the phenomenon of uneven brightness distribution of bright and dark areas. For example, as shown in Figure 1, there will be obvious dark areas on the periphery of the light-emitting surface, that is, the light cannot fill the entire lamp lens. range, resulting in poorer visual effects and lower light utilization efficiency.

The "prior art" paragraph is only used to help understand the present disclosure, so the content disclosed in the "prior art" paragraph may contain some that do not constitute the prior art known to those with ordinary skill in the art. The content disclosed in the "Prior Art" paragraph does not represent the content or the problem to be solved by one or more embodiments of the present invention, and has been known or recognized by those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field before the application of the present invention.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be further understood from the technical features disclosed in the present invention. In order to make the above-mentioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the following specific embodiments are given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and are described in detail as follows.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a lens is provided, comprising a first lens, a light guide member and a second lens arranged in sequence along the axial direction of the lens, wherein the light guide member has opposite first ends and second ends, and guides the light The inner surface of the member contacts at least a portion of the outer edge of the second lens.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lens comprising a lens along the axis of the lens A first lens with a positive diopter, a light guide with openings at both ends, and a second lens are arranged in the direction of the direction, wherein the end of the light guide farthest from the second lens is the first end, and the light guide is closest to the second lens One end of the light guide is the second end, the area surrounded by the inner circumference of the second end of the light guide is smaller than the radial area of the second lens, and the opening of the second end of the light guide is set to the effective light of the lens along the axial direction. at the narrowest point of the area.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a lens is provided, comprising a first lens, a light guide and a second lens arranged in sequence along the axial direction of the lens, openings are provided at both ends of the light guide, and the first end of the light guide is The opening area is larger than the opening area of the second end, and at least a part of the second lens is arranged in the opening of the second end of the light guide member, wherein the inner surface of the light guide member and the outer edge of the second lens are provided at the relative position. The latch structure is fixed to each other.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lens including a light guide, a first lens and a second lens. The light guide has opposite first ends and second ends, the first lens is arranged at the first end of the light guide, and the second lens is arranged at the second end of the light guide. The surface of the first end of the light guide member covers at least a part of the surface of the first lens, and the surface of the second end of the light guide member covers at least a part of the surface of the second lens.

According to the above aspects of the present invention, the provision of the light guide member can increase the peripheral light quantity of the lens, reduce the area of the peripheral dark area, and improve the overall brightness uniformity, thereby improving the visual taste. Furthermore, according to the above-mentioned aspects of the present invention, since the inner surface of the light guide member can contact at least a part of the outer edge of the second lens, the opening at the second end of the light guide member can be disposed at the effective light area of the lens along the axial direction. At the narrowest position, or the second end surface of the light guide can cover at least a part of the surface of the second lens, so that, for example, most of the light entering the light guide can be stray light outside the effective light area of the lens. , so the stray light can be recovered to reduce the loss of light energy, thereby improving the light utilization efficiency. In addition, with the design of the latching structure at the relative position between the inner surface of the light guide and the outer edge of the lens, the light guide itself can be matched with the lens barrel to obtain the effect of fixing multiple lenses in the lens barrel, and the spacing, for example, can be omitted. additional fixation to fix the lens, etc. pieces.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be further understood from the technical features disclosed in the present invention. In order to make the above-mentioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the following specific embodiments are given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and are described in detail as follows.

10, 10a-10f: Lens

12: Light guide

12a: Inner surface of light guide

12b: Outer surface of light guide

12c: Light guide flange

121: First End

122: Second End

121a, 122a: Opening

123a: Inner week

123b: Periphery

14: Aperture

16: Optical axis

18: Light source

22: Lens barrel

26: Adhesive layer

I: effective light

IS: Stray Light

L1-L4: Lenses

LP: Lens flange

LS: Lens outer edge

M: light guide axis

N: lens axis

PA: Peripheral dark area

R: rough surface

S1, S2: Surface

S: Surface

Figure 1 shows the brightness distribution of the light-emitting surface of the lens.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a light guide member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a light guide member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows the brightness distribution of the light-emitting surface of the lens of FIG. 2 .

FIG. 6 shows a comparison diagram of the X-axis illuminance distribution of the conventional design without the light guide and the embodiment of FIG. 2 of the present design. FIG. 7 shows a comparison diagram of the Y-axis illuminance distribution of the conventional design without the light guide and the embodiment of FIG. 2 of the present design.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a lens composition of a lens according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to another embodiment of the present invention.

10 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to another embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to another embodiment of the present invention.

12 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to another embodiment of the present invention.

13 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to another embodiment of the present invention.

14 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The foregoing and other technical contents, features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings. The directional terms mentioned in the following embodiments, such as: up, down, left, right, front or rear, etc., are only for referring to the directions of the attached drawings. Therefore, the directional terms used are intended to illustrate and not to limit the invention.

2 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a lens according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a light guide according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the lens 10 may include a lens barrel (not shown in the figure), a first lens L1, a second lens L2, a third lens L3, and a fourth lens L4 arranged along the lens axis N, and a guide lens The light element 12 may be disposed adjacent to the first lens L1, the lens barrel may be a cylindrical body surrounding the lens axis N to form a accommodating space, and each of the lenses L1-L4 and the light guide element 12 are accommodated in the lens barrel. In this embodiment, the light guide member 12 is a structural member that guides the light emitted by the light source (eg, LED) to a desired position, and the light emitted by the light source will be transmitted through the light guide member 12 and the respective lenses LL-L4 without entering. lens barrel. The structure of the light guide member 12 is not limited, for example, it can be a hollow cone or cylinder, a light guide plate or a light pipe. The first lens L1 may have positive refractive power, for example, the second lens L2 may have negative refractive power, and the shape of each lens may be bi-concave, bi-convex, plano-concave, plano-convex or crescent shape, etc. without limitation. As shown in FIG. 2 , in this embodiment, the first lens L1 , the light guide member 12 and the second lens L2 are arranged in sequence along the lens axis N, and the light guide member 12 has an inner surface 12 a and an outer surface opposite to each other. 12b, and the inner surface 12a of the light guide 12 contacts at least a part of the outer edge LS of the second lens L2.

As shown in FIG. 3 , in this embodiment, the two ends of the light guide member 12 in the axial direction M are the first end 121 and the second end 122 respectively. The first end 121 has an opening 121 a and the second end has an opening 122 a , and the area of the opening 121a at the first end may be larger than the area of the opening 122a at the second end. In other embodiments, the area of the first end opening 121a may also be smaller than or equal to the area of the second end opening 122a. In this embodiment, the light guide member 12 is illustrated as having a hollow cone shape, which is not limited. Since the light guide member 12 is a hollow body, one end has an inner circumference 123a and an outer circumference 123b opposite to each other. For example, FIG. The area surrounded by the dotted line of the inner circumference 123a shown in 3 represents the area surrounded by the inner circumference 123a of the second end 122. Furthermore, in an embodiment, the light guide 12 can be configured so that the first lens L1, the light guide One end 121 , the second lens L2 , the second end 122 of the light guide member, and the third lens L3 are arranged in sequence along the axial direction M of the light guide member 12 .

Referring to FIG. 2 again, in this embodiment, the first lens L1 , the first end 121 of the light guide 12 , the second lens L2 , and the second lens of the light guide 12 can be sequentially disposed along the axial direction N of the lens. The end 122, the third lens L3, the second lens L2 can be entirely or partially disposed within the second end opening 122a of the light guide 12, and the area surrounded by the inner circumference 123a of the second end of the light guide 12 (The range enclosed by the dotted line of the inner circumference 123a shown in FIG. 3) is smaller than the radial area of the third lens L3. Here, the "radial area" of a lens is defined as the area of the lens along the axial direction N projected onto a plane orthogonal to the axial direction N. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the area surrounded by the inner circumference of the light guide member 12 closest to the end (the second end 122 ) of the second lens L2 is smaller than the radial area of the second lens L2 . In other embodiments, more than one lens may be disposed in the light guide member 12 , or no lens may be disposed in the light guide member 12 .

Referring to FIG. 2 again, in one embodiment, the shortest distance from the first end 121 of the light guide to the lens L1 may be smaller than the shortest distance from the second end 122 of the light guide to the lens L1. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the lens L1 may be provided with a first surface S1 and a second surface S2 opposite to each other, and the shortest distance from the first end 121 of the light guide to the first surface S1 may be greater than the first end of the light guide. 121 The shortest distance to the second surface S2. In addition, an aperture 14 may be added to the lens 10. The aperture 14 may be disposed adjacent to the second end 122 of the light guide, and may be configured such that the first surface S1 of the lens, the second surface S2 of the lens, the first end 121 of the light guide and the aperture 14 are arranged in sequence along the axis N. In one embodiment, the shortest distance between the second end 122 of the light guide and the aperture 14 may be less than 20 mm, but not limited. In another embodiment, the shortest distance between the second end 122 of the light guide and the aperture 14 may be less than 10 mm, and in yet another embodiment, the shortest distance between the second end 122 of the light guide and the aperture 14 may be less than 5 mm. In one embodiment, the aperture 14 can completely fall within the area enclosed by the outer circumference 123b of the second end 122 of the light guide.

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a light guide member according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 As shown, in one embodiment, the effective light I of the lens 10 can be the light whose traveling path will pass through the curved surface S with refractive power of the second lens L2 and enter the first lens L1, and the distribution of the effective light I in the lens 10 The area can be regarded as the effective light area of the lens (the dashed arrow in FIG. 4 schematically depicts part of the effective light area of the lens). In this embodiment, the opening of the light guide member 12 at the farthest end of the first lens L1 (illustrated as the opening 122a of the second end 122 in FIG. 4 ) is disposed at the narrowest position along the axis N of the effective light area of the lens. place. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the light guide member 12 can be disposed outside the effective light I distribution area of the lens 10, that is, outside the effective light area of the lens, so the light entering the light guide member 12 is mainly stray light IS, The traveling or imaging of the effective light I will not be affected, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, part of the light guide member 12 may be located within the effective light area of the lens and the rest of the light guide member 12 may be located outside the effective light area of the lens, and the effect of absorbing stray light IS can also be obtained. By selecting the position of the light guide member 12 relative to the effective light area of the lens, the light quantity of the stray light IS and the effective light I entering the light guide member 12 can be adjusted according to actual needs. In addition, since this embodiment utilizes stray light, the stray light enters the light guide member and travels after total reflection in the light guide member, so as to improve the light uniformity of the light exit surface of the lens, so this embodiment does not need to set an aperture. Furthermore, with the proper angle design of the wall surface of the light guide member 12, the stray light IS (or adding part of the effective light I) entering from the second end 122 of the light guide member can be totally reflected in the light guide member 12 and travel through the light guide member 12. The first end 121 of the optical element emits light and guides the light to the peripheral area of the first surface S1 (lens light-emitting surface), thus reducing the dark area around the first surface S1 and improving the light uniformity of the light-emitting surface of the lens. Furthermore, in an embodiment, the first end 121 of the light guide may be provided with a rough surface R (or microstructure) to improve the light extraction efficiency.

FIG. 5 shows the brightness distribution of the first surface S1 (lens light-emitting surface) of the lens L1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Compared with FIG. 1 without a light guide, the above-mentioned embodiment can increase the peripheral light quantity of the lens and reduce the peripheral dark area PA. area and improve the overall brightness uniformity, which can improve the visual taste. FIG. 6 shows a comparison diagram of the X-axis illuminance distribution between the conventional design without the light guide and the embodiment of FIG. 2 , and FIG. 7 shows the conventional design without the light guide and the present design. A comparison diagram of the Y-axis illuminance distribution of the embodiment of pattern 2. It can be seen from FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 that the embodiment of the lens provided with the light guide member can obviously increase the amount of peripheral light and improve the overall brightness uniformity.

With the designs of the above-mentioned embodiments, the provision of the light guide member 12 can increase the peripheral light quantity of the lens, reduce the area of the peripheral dark area, and improve the overall brightness uniformity, thereby improving the visual taste. Furthermore, since most of the light entering the light guide member 12 is the stray light IS outside the effective light area of the lens, the stray light IS can be recovered to reduce the loss of light energy and improve the light utilization efficiency.

FIG. 8 and Table 1 below show the design parameters and shapes of each lens of the lens according to an embodiment of the present invention. 8 shows that the first lens L1, the second lens L2, the aperture are sequentially arranged on an optical axis 16 from the image magnifying side OS (eg, the light-emitting side of the vehicle lamp) to the image reducing side IS (eg, the light-incident side near the light source 18 ). 14. The design parameters and shapes of the third lens L3 and the fourth lens L4 are shown in Table 1 below.

Table I

It should be noted that in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the shape of the light guide member and the number of lenses to be matched are not limited at all, and can be changed according to the light output requirements. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the lens 10a may only have the first lens L1, the second lens L2 and the third lens L3, and in other embodiments, the lens L2 may not be disposed in the light guide member 12, The lens L1 can be disposed at the first end 121 of the light guide and the surface of the first end 121 of the light guide covers at least a part of the surface of the lens L1, and the lens L3 is disposed at the second end 122 of the light guide and the second end of the light guide The surface of 122 covers at least a part of the surface of lens L3.

As shown in FIG. 10 , in another embodiment, the light guide member 12 of the lens 10b may have, for example, an asymmetrical structural design (for example, the sidewalls of the light guide member 12 may have different inclination angles) to meet specific light output requirements. And the light guide member 12 can be matched with only two lenses L1 and L2, for example. Furthermore, in the above embodiments, if the light guide 12 is designed to be sufficient to take away most of the stray light at the periphery, one end of the light guide 12 can be used as a stop and the aperture 14 added to the lens can be omitted. . Furthermore, in one embodiment, the light guide member 12 can be made of a plastic material (eg PC or PMMA), and each lens can be made of a glass material, but the invention is not limited thereto.

With the designs of the above embodiments, the present invention can provide an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a lens. First, a lens barrel is provided, a first lens and a second lens are fixed in the lens barrel, and a light guide member with openings at both ends is fixed in the lens barrel. The two axial ends of the light guide are respectively a first end and a second end, and the opening area of the first end is larger than that of the second end. Furthermore, the light guide is configured such that the first lens, the first end of the light guide, the second lens and the second end of the light guide are arranged in sequence along the axial direction, and the inner surface of the light guide is configured to contact At least a portion of the outer edge of the second lens.

Different embodiments of the fixing method between the light guide 12 and the lens are described below. As shown in FIG. 11 , the light guide 12 of the lens 10c can form a flange 12c, so the top of the light guide 12 can abut against the lens L1 and the flange 12c can press against the lens L2, for example. With this design, the light guide 12 itself can cooperate with the lens barrel 22 to obtain the effect of fixing a plurality of lenses in the lens barrel 22 , and additional fixing members such as spacers for fixing the lenses can be omitted. As shown in FIG. 12 , in another embodiment, the lens L2 can also form a flange LP, the top end of the light guide 12 of the lens 10d can press against the lens L1 and the bottom end can press against the flange LP of the lens L2 , the effect of fixing a plurality of lenses on the lens barrel 22 by only using the light guide member 12 can also be obtained. In one embodiment, the light guide flange 12c or the lens flange LP may be annular. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the flange 12c is provided on the inner surface of the light guide member 12 and the flange LP is provided on the outer edge of the lens L2, but it is not limited. In various embodiments of the present invention, the position, shape and structural form of the latch structure for fixing the light guide and the lens are not limited, and the lens fixed by the latch structure is not limited to the exemplary lens L2.

In another embodiment, the light guide 12 and the at least one lens can also be integrally formed by in-molding of the lens. For example, as shown in FIG. ) After the in-mold integral injection molding, the top end of the light guide member 12 can abut against the lens L1 to keep each lens fixed in the lens barrel 22 . In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14 , a rough surface R can also be formed on the outer edge of the lens L2 of the lens 10f or the inner surface of the light guide 12 , and the lens L2 can be kept fixed relative to the light guide 12 by frictional resistance. Without sliding upward on the lens axis, or an adhesive layer 26 such as a dispensing layer can be arranged between the lens L2 and the light guide member 12, so that the lens L2 is adhered to the light guide member 12 and abuts against the lens barrel 22, so that the lens L2 can be A fixed effect is maintained within the barrel 22 .

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone skilled in the art can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention The scope of protection shall be regarded as the attached patent application. whichever is defined by the perimeter shall prevail. In addition, any embodiment of the present invention or the scope of the claims is not required to achieve all of the objects or advantages or features disclosed herein. In addition, the abstract section and the title are only used to assist the search of patent documents and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

10: Lens

12: Light guide

12a: Inner surface of light guide

12b: Outer surface of light guide

121: First End

121a: Opening

122: Second End

122a: Opening

14: Aperture

L1-L4: Lenses

N: lens axis

S1, S2: Surface

Claims (10)

A lens, comprising: a first lens, a light guide and a second lens arranged in sequence along an axial direction of the lens, wherein the light guide has an opposite first end and a first lens Two ends, the first end is a light exit end and the second end is a light entrance end, the opening area of the light exit end of the light guide is larger than the opening area of the light entrance end, and the inner surface of the light guide contacting at least a portion of the outer edge of the second lens. A lens, comprising: a first lens with positive diopter provided along an axial direction of the lens, a light guide member with openings at both ends and a second lens, wherein the light guide member is farthest from the second lens The far end is a first end, the end of the light guide that is closest to the second lens is the second end, and the area surrounded by the inner circumference of the second end of the light guide is smaller than the radial direction of the second lens Area, the opening of the second end of the light guide is arranged at the narrowest position of the effective light area of the lens along the axial direction, and at least a part of the second lens is arranged in the light guide. A lens, comprising: a first lens, a light guide and a second lens arranged in sequence along an axial direction of the lens, wherein the two ends of the light guide are provided with openings, and the first lens of the light guide is provided with openings. The opening area of the end is larger than the opening area of the second end, and at least a part of the second lens is arranged in the light guide member, wherein the inner surface of the light guide member and the outer edge of the second lens are provided at a relative position card structure to be fixed to each other. The lens of claim 3, wherein the locking structure comprises at least one of the following structures: (a) a flange formed on the light guide member; (b) a flange formed on the second lens ; (c) a rough surface arranged between the light guide and the second lens; (d) an adhesive layer arranged between the light guide and the second lens. The lens according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lens satisfies one of the following conditions: (1) the second lens and the light guide member are integrally formed in-mold; (2) the second lens has Negative diopter. The lens according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a third lens, and the area surrounded by the inner circumference of the second end of the light guide is smaller than the radial area of the third lens. A lens, comprising: a light guide member having a first end and a second end opposite to each other; a first lens set at the first end of the light guide member, wherein the first end of the light guide member a surface covering at least a part of the surface of the first lens; and a second lens disposed at the second end of the light guide, wherein the second lens of the light guide The surface of the end covers at least a part of the surface of the second lens. The lens according to any one of claims 1-3 and 7, further comprising: an aperture, adjacent to the second end, the shortest distance between the second end and the aperture is less than 20mm, and the aperture completely falls into the guide within the area enclosed by the outer circumference of the second end of the optical element. The lens according to any one of claims 1-3 and 7, wherein the lens satisfies one of the following conditions: (1) at least part of the light guide member is disposed outside the effective light distribution area of the lens; (2) ) The light guide is a hollow cone. A lens manufacturing method, comprising: providing a lens barrel; fixing a first lens and a second lens in the lens barrel; and fixing a light guide member with openings at both ends in the lens barrel, and between the light guide member The two axial ends are respectively a first end and a second end, the opening area of the first end is larger than the opening area of the second end, and the light guide member is configured to make the first lens, the light guide The first end of the member, the second lens, and the second end of the light guide member are sequentially arranged along the axial direction, and are configured so that the inner surface of the light guide member contacts at least a part of the outer surface of the second lens edge.

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