WO2003067290B1 - Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides for general lighting luminaire - Google Patents

Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides for general lighting luminaire

Info

Publication number
WO2003067290B1
WO2003067290B1 PCT/US2003/003173 US0303173W WO03067290B1 WO 2003067290 B1 WO2003067290 B1 WO 2003067290B1 US 0303173 W US0303173 W US 0303173W WO 03067290 B1 WO03067290 B1 WO 03067290B1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
light
luminaire
tetrahedrally
propagating
shaped groove
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2003/003173
Other languages
French (fr)
Other versions
WO2003067290A3 (en
WO2003067290A2 (en
Inventor
Edward R Kraft
Original Assignee
Edward R Kraft
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US10/066,476 external-priority patent/US20030147232A1/en
Priority claimed from US10/066,010 external-priority patent/US20030147259A1/en
Priority claimed from US10/066,006 external-priority patent/US6796700B2/en
Application filed by Edward R Kraft filed Critical Edward R Kraft
Priority to EP03737594A priority Critical patent/EP1481269A2/en
Priority to AU2003210819A priority patent/AU2003210819A1/en
Publication of WO2003067290A2 publication Critical patent/WO2003067290A2/en
Publication of WO2003067290A3 publication Critical patent/WO2003067290A3/en
Publication of WO2003067290B1 publication Critical patent/WO2003067290B1/en

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/0001—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems
    • G02B6/0011—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being planar or of plate-like form
    • G02B6/0013—Means for improving the coupling-in of light from the light source into the light guide
    • G02B6/0015—Means for improving the coupling-in of light from the light source into the light guide provided on the surface of the light guide or in the bulk of it
    • G02B6/0018—Redirecting means on the surface of the light guide
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/0001—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems
    • G02B6/0005—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being of the fibre type
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/0001—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems
    • G02B6/0011—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being planar or of plate-like form
    • G02B6/0013—Means for improving the coupling-in of light from the light source into the light guide
    • G02B6/0023—Means for improving the coupling-in of light from the light source into the light guide provided by one optical element, or plurality thereof, placed between the light guide and the light source, or around the light source
    • G02B6/0028—Light guide, e.g. taper
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/0001—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems
    • G02B6/0011—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being planar or of plate-like form
    • G02B6/0033—Means for improving the coupling-out of light from the light guide
    • G02B6/0035—Means for improving the coupling-out of light from the light guide provided on the surface of the light guide or in the bulk of it
    • G02B6/0038—Linear indentations or grooves, e.g. arc-shaped grooves or meandering grooves, extending over the full length or width of the light guide
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/0001—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems
    • G02B6/0011—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being planar or of plate-like form
    • G02B6/0033—Means for improving the coupling-out of light from the light guide
    • G02B6/0035—Means for improving the coupling-out of light from the light guide provided on the surface of the light guide or in the bulk of it
    • G02B6/0045—Means for improving the coupling-out of light from the light guide provided on the surface of the light guide or in the bulk of it by shaping at least a portion of the light guide
    • G02B6/0046—Tapered light guide, e.g. wedge-shaped light guide
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/0001—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems
    • G02B6/0011—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being planar or of plate-like form
    • G02B6/0066—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being planar or of plate-like form characterised by the light source being coupled to the light guide
    • G02B6/0068—Arrangements of plural sources, e.g. multi-colour light sources
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
    • G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
    • G02B2006/12035—Materials
    • G02B2006/12069—Organic material
    • G02B2006/12071—PMMA

Landscapes

  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Light Guides In General And Applications Therefor (AREA)
  • Planar Illumination Modules (AREA)

Abstract

A unique solid flat panel lighting emitting luminaire (light panel) has been created that utilizes a light source remote from the luminaire. The light panel luminaire is fed light flux via a light pipe and/or a fiber optic system into one or two edges of the flat panel. The light panel has imbedded irregular tapered tetrahedron shaped light guides that emit light in a uniform controlled fashion over the length of the emitting surface. The subject lighting luminaire provides light without generating heat. The luminaire is unaffected by environmental temperatures and pressures within the boundaries of the base construction materials utilized. The luminaire is specifically designed to provide general or task lighting in any application that would normally use a fluorescent, filament or arc type light bulb without the inherent limitations of usual light sources such as space requirements, access, heat generation, environmental temperature, moisture sensitivity, possible explosive ignition and/or crush or explosion due to hypo or hyper baric pressures.

Claims

AMENDED CLAIMS[received by the International Bureau on 14 October 2003 (14.10.03); claims 1-8 amended, claims 9-20 added]
1 . A luminaire comprising : a light source; at least one optical light pipe having two ends, one said end coupled to said light source; and at least one light emitting panel coupled to the other said end of said light pipe, said light emitting panel comprising: a tapered light-injection area having a narrow end and a wide end, said narrow end coupled to said light pipe, a light-emitting zone having a proximal end and a distal end, said proximal end joined to said wide end, and at least one irregular tetrahedrally-shaped light guide embedded in said light-emitting zone, said light guide extending continuously from said proximal end to said distal end and forming a groove that increases in surface area from said proximal end to said distal end.
2. The luminaire of claim 1 further comprising multiple said optical light pipes connected to respective multiple said light emitting panels.
3. The luminaire of claim 1 comprising multiple embedded irregular tetrahedrally-shaped light guides embedded in said light-emitting zone, said multiple light guides arranged in parallel with respect to each other.
. The luminaire of claim 1 wherein said light-emitting zone comprises a mirror layer, a silicone layer, and a base layer, said mirror layer interfacing 15 said silicone layer and said silicone layer interfacing said base layer, said light guide being cast or machined into said base layer.
5. The luminaire of claim 4 wherein said base layer comprises plastic or glass.
6. The luminaire of claim 5 wherein said plastic or glass has a transmittance of at least 91% and a refractive index of between 1.49 and 1.51.
7. The luminaire of claim 1 wherein said light guide has two interior surfaces treated with a reflective material.
8. The luminaire of claim 7 wherein said reflective material is a highly reflective paint.
9. The luminaire of claim 1 wherein said light guide has a surface that is abraded, etched, chemically treated, silk screened, or laminated.
10. The luminaire of claim 1 wherein said tapered light-injection area is bent over a radius of about 10 times one-half its thickness.
11. A method of illuminating an area, said method comprising: generating a light flux from a light source; transporting said light flux via an optical light medium to a tapered enclosure of a light-emitting panel; and propagating said light flux from said tapered enclosure through a tetrahedrally-shaped groove 16 embedded in said light-emitting panel, said tetrahedrally-shaped groove having a surface area that increases in the direction of said propagating.
12. The method of claim 11 further comprising propagating said light flux from said tapered enclosure through multiple tetrahedrally-shaped grooves embedded in said light-emitting panel, each said tetrahedrally-shaped groove having a surface area that increases in the direction of said propagating.
13. The method of claim 11 further comprising propagating said light flux from said tapered enclosure through multiple tetrahedrally-shaped grooves embedded in said light-emitting panel, said multiple grooves embedded in parallel with respect to each other, each said tetrahedrally-shaped groove having a surface area that increases in the direction of said propagating.
14. The method of claim 11 wherein prior to said propagating said method further comprises casting or machining said tetrahedrally-shaped groove in a base layer of said light-emitting panel.
15. The method of claim 11 wherein prior to said propagating said method further comprises casting or machining said tetrahedrally-shaped groove in a plastic or glass base layer of said light-emitting panel.
16. The method of claim 11 wherein prior to said propagating said method further comprises casting or machining said tetrahedrally-shaped groove in a plastic or glass base layer of said light-emitting panel, said plastic or glass layer having a transmittance of at least 91% and a refractive index of between 1.49 and 1.51. 17
17. The method of claim 11 wherein prior to said propagating said method further comprises treating two interior surfaces of said tetrahedrally-shaped groove with a reflective material.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein said treating comprises treating two interior surfaces of said tetrahedrally-shaped groove with a highly reflective paint .
19. The method of claim 11 wherein prior to said propagating said method further comprises abrading, etching, chemically treating, silk screening, or laminating a surface of said tetrahedrally-shaped groove.
20. The method of claim 11 wherein prior to said transporting said method further comprises bending said tapered area over a radius of about 10 times one-half its thickness.
PCT/US2003/003173 2002-02-02 2003-01-31 Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides for general lighting luminaire WO2003067290A2 (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP03737594A EP1481269A2 (en) 2002-02-02 2003-01-31 Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides yielding controlled light extraction for general lighting luminaire
AU2003210819A AU2003210819A1 (en) 2002-02-02 2003-01-31 Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides for general lighting luminaire

Applications Claiming Priority (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US10/066,476 2002-02-02
US10/066,476 US20030147232A1 (en) 2002-02-02 2002-02-02 Remote light source general lighting system
US10/066,006 2002-02-02
US10/066,010 US20030147259A1 (en) 2002-02-02 2002-02-02 Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides yielding controlled light extraction for general lighting luminaire
US10/066,006 US6796700B2 (en) 2002-02-02 2002-02-02 Flat panel luminaire with remote light source and hollow light pipe for back lit signage applications
US10/066,010 2002-02-02

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2003067290A2 WO2003067290A2 (en) 2003-08-14
WO2003067290A3 WO2003067290A3 (en) 2003-12-11
WO2003067290B1 true WO2003067290B1 (en) 2004-04-08

Family

ID=27738985

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US2003/003173 WO2003067290A2 (en) 2002-02-02 2003-01-31 Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides for general lighting luminaire

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1481269A2 (en)
AU (1) AU2003210819A1 (en)
WO (1) WO2003067290A2 (en)

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN110418989B (en) * 2017-02-10 2021-03-05 赫普塔冈微光有限公司 Light guide and manufacture of light guide

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5005108A (en) * 1989-02-10 1991-04-02 Lumitex, Inc. Thin panel illuminator
DE69220870T2 (en) * 1991-08-22 1998-02-05 Tosoh Corp Rear lighting device
EP0544332B1 (en) * 1991-11-28 1997-01-29 Enplas Corporation Surface light source device
EP0676218B1 (en) * 1994-03-25 2002-06-12 Novartis AG Light diffuser and process for the manufacturing of a light diffuser
US5836669A (en) * 1996-01-17 1998-11-17 Troy Investments, Inc. Remote illumination and light apportionment in appliances
US6863428B2 (en) * 1997-10-24 2005-03-08 3M Innovative Properties Company Light guide illumination device appearing uniform in brightness along its length

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2003067290A3 (en) 2003-12-11
WO2003067290A2 (en) 2003-08-14
AU2003210819A1 (en) 2003-09-02
AU2003210819A8 (en) 2003-09-02
EP1481269A2 (en) 2004-12-01

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US6908204B2 (en) Flat panel luminaire having embedded light guides
EP1237019A3 (en) Optical wiring substrate, method of manufacturing optical wiring substrate and multilayer optical wiring
KR880009236A (en) Lighting device and method
US20030169997A1 (en) Illuminating waveguide
US5675678A (en) Flexible system for linearly distributed illumination
WO1995007435A1 (en) Flat panel display lighting system
KR20020091255A (en) Light pipe fixture with internal extractor
ATE428949T1 (en) LIGHTING SYSTEM
KR880014306A (en) Lighting fixtures providing normal power
DE69623974D1 (en) LAYER WITH STRUCTURED SURFACE FOR UNLOCKING LIGHT AND LIGHTING SYSTEM
DE60234365D1 (en) MICROSTRUCTURED LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING POLARIZED LIGHT
MX159333A (en) METHOD FOR COATING THE END OF AN OPTICAL FIBER WITH A SMOOTH FLAT LIGHT TRANSMITTING SURFACE AND THE FIBER OPTIC COATED AT ITS END, OBTAINED
KR920002983A (en) Luminaire with profile intensity reflector of uniform intensity
ATE340967T1 (en) LIGHT SOURCE ELEMENT WITH SIDED OBLIQUE LIGHT COUPLING
JPH02273404A (en) Lighting apparatus
US20030147259A1 (en) Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides yielding controlled light extraction for general lighting luminaire
US6796700B2 (en) Flat panel luminaire with remote light source and hollow light pipe for back lit signage applications
ATE440247T1 (en) LAMP
WO2003067290B1 (en) Light emitting flat panel with embedded light guides for general lighting luminaire
US6767106B2 (en) Edge-lit luminaire having prismatic optical control
US6198213B1 (en) Lamp envelope with integrated optics
KR20190138685A (en) Optocoupler
US20020048176A1 (en) Cusp illuminator and flat panel illuminator made thereby
ATE147844T1 (en) DISTRIBUTED LIGHTING DEVICE
SU985556A1 (en) Illumination device

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AK Designated states

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): AE AG AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY BZ CA CH CN CO CR CU CZ DE DK DM DZ EC EE ES FI GB GD GE GH GM HR HU ID IL IN IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MA MD MG MK MN MW MX MZ NO NZ OM PH PL PT RO RU SC SD SE SG SK SL TJ TM TN TR TT TZ UA UG UZ VC VN YU ZA ZM ZW

AL Designated countries for regional patents

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): GH GM KE LS MW MZ SD SL SZ TZ UG ZM ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HU IE IT LU MC NL PT SE SI SK TR BF BJ CF CG CI CM GA GN GQ GW ML MR NE SN TD TG

121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application
B Later publication of amended claims

Effective date: 20031014

WWE Wipo information: entry into national phase

Ref document number: 2003737594

Country of ref document: EP

WWP Wipo information: published in national office

Ref document number: 2003737594

Country of ref document: EP

WWW Wipo information: withdrawn in national office

Ref document number: 2003737594

Country of ref document: EP

NENP Non-entry into the national phase in:

Ref country code: JP

WWW Wipo information: withdrawn in national office

Country of ref document: JP