Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
  • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
  • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
  • G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
  • G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
  • G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
  • G02F1/133305—Flexible substrates, e.g. plastics, organic film
• • 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
  • G02B6/0081—Mechanical or electrical aspects of the light guide and light source in the lighting device peculiar to the adaptation to planar light guides, e.g. concerning packaging
  • G02B6/0086—Positioning aspects
  • G02B6/0091—Positioning aspects of the light source relative to the light guide
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
  • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
  • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
  • G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
  • G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
  • G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
  • G02F1/1335—Structural association of cells with optical devices, e.g. polarisers or reflectors
  • G02F1/1336—Illuminating devices
  • G02F1/133602—Direct backlight
  • G02F1/133603—Direct backlight with LEDs
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
  • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
  • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
  • G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
  • G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
  • G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
  • G02F1/1335—Structural association of cells with optical devices, e.g. polarisers or reflectors
  • G02F1/1336—Illuminating devices
  • G02F1/133602—Direct backlight
  • G02F1/133608—Direct backlight including particular frames or supporting means
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
  • G09F21/00—Mobile visual advertising
  • G09F21/02—Mobile visual advertising by a carrier person or animal
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
  • G09F21/00—Mobile visual advertising
  • G09F21/04—Mobile visual advertising by land vehicles
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
  • G09F9/00—Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements
  • G09F9/30—Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements
  • G09F9/33—Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements being semiconductor devices, e.g. diodes
• • 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
  • G02B6/0036—2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces
• • 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
  • G02B6/004—Scattering dots or dot-like elements, e.g. microbeads, scattering particles, nanoparticles
  • G02B6/0043—Scattering dots or dot-like elements, e.g. microbeads, scattering particles, nanoparticles provided 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
  • G02B6/0011—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
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K1/00—Printed circuits
  • H05K1/18—Printed circuits structurally associated with non-printed electric components
  • H05K1/189—Printed circuits structurally associated with non-printed electric components characterised by the use of a flexible or folded printed circuit
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K3/00—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing printed circuits
  • H05K3/0058—Laminating printed circuit boards onto other substrates, e.g. metallic substrates

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a flexible backlight unit, and more particularly to a flexible backlight unit having a light guide panel made of soft synthetic resin material to make free flexural deformation and having a flexible PCB provided with a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source, thus being applicable in a wide variety of areas as effective advertisement and display means.
• a flexible backlight unit having a light guide panel made of soft synthetic resin material to make free flexural deformation and having a flexible PCB provided with a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source, thus being applicable in a wide variety of areas as effective advertisement and display means.
• LEDs light emitting diodes
• a backlight unit is generally used for advertisement, illumination, LCD, exhibition lighting, decoration, etc., and comprises a light guide panel made of a transparent acrylic board and having prominences and depressions in the form of dots or grooves on one side thereof to induce refraction and scattering of light, and a light source provided at one side end of the light guide panel.
• Fig. 1 is a rear view of a conventional backlight unit (100), and Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view of Fig. 1 taken along the line A-A.
• a light source (120) for radiating light is provided at one side end of a light guide panel (110).
• the light guide panel (110) is made of translucent material, and its front side has a display film (140) attached thereto, while its backside is provided with a plurality of horizontal and vertical V-shaped grooves (112) to uniformly scatter and refract the light emitted from the light source (120) to the front side.
• the rear surface of the light guide panel (110) is covered with a reflection sheet (150) made of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) material.
• the conventional light guide panel (110) was made of hard acrylic material, it was only fixably installed on a wall or by a stand. Thus, its application could be limited even though it showed excellent display and advertisement function.
• the light guide panel were made of flexible material, if the light source was a plurality of LEDs, there could be another problem that each of the LEDs and their respective power supply members had to be installed individually on the light guide panel, not to restrain the flexural bending of the light guide panel. This problem could deteriorate the productivity of backlight units. Thus, it has been demanded that the light source comprising a plurality of LEDs should be provided on the light guide panel efficiently.
• an object of the present invention is to provide a flexible backlight unit including a light guide panel made of soft synthetic resin material to make free flexural deformation or to be rolled, so that the flexible backlight unit can be applied in a wide variety of areas as effective advertisement and display means and it can be conveniently carried around and kept, with occupying a little space in a roll.
• Another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible backlight unit which can be independently and detachably installed to be used in various areas, e.g., banners on automobiles or delivery bags, cheering tools for night games, pickets, radiating bands or armbands worn by traffic policemen or sanitation workers in the night time and hanging billboards for sandwich men.
• a further object of the present invention is to provide a flexible backlight unit including a flexible PCB provided with a plurality of LEDs as a light source, so that the light source comprising the plural LEDs can be assembled with the light guide panel efficiently and the productivity of backlight units can be greatly enhanced.
• the present invention provides a flexible backlight unit comprising a flexible light guide panel made of translucent and soft synthetic resin material and having a plurality of V-shaped grooves, rugged dots or printed dots on one side thereof; a plurality of LEDs as a light source; more than one printed circuit board (PCB) provided with the LEDs and electronic elements; and a reflection sheet provided on a rear side of the light guide panel, wherein the PCB has a flat surface to be partially connected to one side surface of the light guide panel.
• PCB printed circuit board
• the PCB is made of flexible material.
• the flexible light guide panel may be provided with a detachable means, which may be a velcro fiber or an adhesive sheet attached with a release paper.
• the flexible backlight unit since the flexible backlight unit includes the light guide panel made of soft synthetic resin material, it can be flexibly deformed and rolled, and thus it can be conveniently carried and kept, with occupying a little space in a roll. [16] Further, since the flexible backlight unit can be independently provided by the detachable means, it can be applied to various areas, e.g., banners on automobiles or delivery bags, cheering tools for night games, pickets, radiating bands or armbands worn by traffic policemen or sanitation workers in the night time and hanging billboards for sandwich men. [17] Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the flexible backlight unit includes the flexible PCB provided with a plurality of LEDs, the light source comprising the plural LEDs can be assembled with the light guide panel efficiently and the productivity of backlight units can be greatly enhanced.
• Fig. 1 is a rear view of the conventional light guide panel
• FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view taken along the line A-A of Fig. 1 ;
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a backlight unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view of Fig. 3;
• Fig. 5 is a partial sectional view of Fig. 3 according to another embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 6 is a partial sectional view of Fig. 3 according to a further embodiment of the present invention
• Figs. 7 to 9 show examples of use of the flexible backlight unit according to the present invention
• Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a backlight unit according to a still further embodiment of the present invention.
• the present invention provides a flexible backlight unit
• (1) comprising a flexible light guide panel (10) made of translucent and soft synthetic resin material and having a plurality of V-shaped grooves (11), rugged dots or printed dots on one side thereof; a plurality of LEDs (20) as a light source; more than one printed circuit board (PCB; 30) provided with the LEDs (20) and electronic elements; and a reflection sheet (40) provided on a rear side of the light guide panel (10), wherein the PCB (30) has a flat surface (31) to be partially connected to one side surface of the light guide panel (10).
• the LEDs (20) may be directly mounted on a surface of the PCB (30) as in Fig. 4, or may be connected to the PCB (30) by means of curved connecting terminals as in Fig. 5.
• the LEDs (20) may be a SMD type (20a) with high brightness as in Fig. 4 or a general type (20b) as in Fig. 5.
• the LEDs and the PCBs may be installed on at least one lateral side of the light guide panel (10).
• the flexible light guide panel (10) is made of soft and translucent resin material so that it can be rolled up in any directions.
• the PCB (30) is preferably connected to the flexible light guide panel
• the flat surface (31) of the PCB (30) is partially covered with adhesives or provided with a double-sided adhesive tape (51).
• the PCB (30) may be connected to the flexible light guide panel
• a connecting means which is for example a piece or a rivet.
• the PCB (30) is made of soft material having flexibility. It may also be made of a thin film, which has been conventional material of PCB.
• a reflection cover (50) made of soft material, e.g., a synthetic resin sheet, may be provided to enclose the LEDs (20) and the PCB (30).
• the reflection cover (50) serves to block the loss of light from the LEDs (20) and protect the LEDs (20) and the PCB (30) from moisture or foreign substances.
• a connecting part for power supply or a battery may be accompanied with the PCB (30).
• the battery is connected to the LED light source (20) through a cable and provided separately from the light source (20). It is contained in a battery case with a switch thereon. Therefore, the backlight unit of the present invention can be independently applied to and used in the above-mentioned various areas.
• the PCB (30) has its flat surface (31) in partial contact with one side surface (13) of the flexible light guide panel (10). That is, since the flat surface (31) of the PCB (30) is connected in a parallel direction with the one side surface (13) of the flexible light guide panel (10), the PCB (30) can be freely deformed together with the flexible light guide panel (10).
• the PCB (30) can also be rolled up simultaneously.
• PCB (30) can be attached to the flexible light guide panel (10) at once, a lot of LEDs can be efficiently provided in the backlight unit of the present invention, thereby promoting productivity of backlight units.
• the flexible backlight unit (1) of the present invention can be easily applied to any structures such as automobiles having curved external surfaces. As shown in Figs. 7 to 9, it can be attached to moving objectives such as automobiles and human body, to serve as a dynamic advertising means or displaying means in the night time due to its excellent eye-catching power.
• the flexibe backlight unit (1) may be attached to the objectives by using a connecting means such as a duble-sided adhesive tape or a piece.
• a detachable means (70) may be provided to attach the panel (10) to the objectives. It may be a velcro fiber as shown in Fig. 10 or an adhesive sheet covered with a release paper. With this detachable means (70), the backlight unit (1) can be mounted on clothes or caps and can be detached for washing.
• the flexible backlight unit (1) of the present invention can be rolled up, it is convenient to keep and carry it around regardless of its size.
• the flexible backlight unit including the light guide panel made of soft synthetic resin material according to the present invention can be conveniently carried around and kept, with occupying a little space, and can be applied to various areas, e.g., banners on automobiles or delivery bags, cheering tools for night games, pickets, radiating bands or armbands worn by traffic policemen or sanitation workers in the night time and hanging billboards for sandwich men.
• areas e.g., banners on automobiles or delivery bags, cheering tools for night games, pickets, radiating bands or armbands worn by traffic policemen or sanitation workers in the night time and hanging billboards for sandwich men.
• the flexible backlight unit including the flexible PCB provided with a plurality of LEDs increases the productivity of backlight units.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (13)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (3)

• 2005
  • 2005-06-22 KR KR1020050053771A patent/KR100643604B1/ko active IP Right Grant
  • 2005-10-24 WO PCT/KR2005/003539 patent/WO2006137623A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (3)

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