WO2024089103A1

WO2024089103A1 - Light guide, lighting device and vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2024089103A1
Application number: PCT/EP2023/079781
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xian Zhang; Chen Chen; Qiang Hu
Original assignee: Valeo Vision
Priority date: 2022-10-26
Filing date: 2023-10-25
Publication date: 2024-05-02
Also published as: CN218993172U

Abstract

The present invention provides a light guide (1), a lighting device and a vehicle. The light guide (1) comprises: a light incident portion (11) configured to receive light from a light source and cause the light to propagate inside the light guide substantially along a first direction (30), so as to achieve a first light function; and a reflective surface (21) configured to reflect a first part of the light from the light incident portion (11), so that the first part of the light propagates inside the light guide (1) substantially along a second direction (40) different from the first direction (30), so as to achieve a second light function different from the first light function. The light guide (1) can not only simultaneously achieve multiple light functions, but also save installation space of the lighting device while reducing the cost.

Description

LIGHT GUIDE, LIGHTING DEVICE AND VEHICLE

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of vehicle lamps, and more specifically, to a light guide, a lighting device and a vehicle.

The description of background provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the background of the present disclosure. To the extent described in this Background Art section, the work of the presently named inventors, and aspects of the description that may not constitute the prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor implicitly considered as the prior art for the present disclosure.

The lighting device is used to provide light for illumination and/or optical indication functions and is widely used in various fields. For example, lighting devices such as vehicle lamps are used in motor vehicles to ensure safe driving. In motor vehicles, various types of vehicle lamps are often required to implement different functions, including headlamps, fog lights, tail lights, turn signal lights, brake lights, side marker lights, parking lights, etc.

Light guides are commonly used in lighting devices to guide light in the desired manner. In some cases, such as limited installation space for lighting devices and the need to reduce costs, it is desired that light guides can simultaneously achieve multiple light functions. In the prior art, these light functions typically have a substantially consistent light emission direction. However, when the light emission directions of these light functions are different or even greatly different, how to design the light guide is a major challenge for technicians.

Summary of the Invention

An objective of the present invention is to overcome at least one of the above-described problems and shortcomings in the prior art.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a light guide is provided. The light guide comprises: a light incident portion configured to receive light from a light source and cause the light to propagate inside the light guide substantially along a first direction, so as to achieve a first light function; and a reflective surface configured to reflect a first part of the light from the light incident portion, so that the first part of the light propagates inside the light guide substantially along a second direction different from the first direction, so as to achieve a second light function different from the first light function.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an included angle between the first direction and the second direction is greater than or equal to 45 degrees.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an included angle between the first direction and the second direction is greater than or equal to 90 degrees.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the light guide has a first side surface and a second side surface opposite to each other in a thickness direction transverse to the first direction and the second direction; and a groove recessed from one of the first side surface and the second side surface toward the other of the first side surface and the second side surface is formed in the light guide, and a side wall of the groove forms the reflective surface.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a filling medium in the groove comprises a medium with a refractive index smaller than that of the light guide.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a second part of the light from the light incident portion is configured to pass through a part between the groove and the first side surface or the second side surface and/or through the side wall of the groove and continue to propagate substantially in the first direction, so as to achieve the first light function.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the groove has a substantially trapezoidal cross-section in the thickness direction.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the reflective surface is configured to totally reflect the first part of the light from the light incident portion.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second light function comprises a side marker light function.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the light incident portion comprises a collimator, a reflector, or a combination of the collimator and the reflector.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a lighting device. The lighting device comprises: any light guide as described above; and a light source emitting light towards the light guide.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a vehicle. The vehicle comprises any lighting device as described above.

The light guide provided in the present invention can not only simultaneously achieve multiple light functions (that is, the light guide can have different light emission directions), but also can change the installation space of the lighting device as little as possible while reducing the cost.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The present disclosure will be more fully understood from the detailed description and accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings illustrate one or more embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the written description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. Where possible, the same reference signs are used throughout the accompanying drawings to refer to the same or similar elements of the embodiments. In the accompanying drawings:

is a front view of a light guide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a left side view of the light guide according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a top view of the light guide according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

is a partial enlarged view of a light guide having a C-shaped groove according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

is another partial enlarged view of the light guide having the C-shaped groove according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments

The present disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are shown. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in different embodiments and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein. These embodiments provided in the present disclosure are intended to make the present disclosure thorough and complete, and to fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to a person skilled in the art. In the accompanying drawings, the thickness of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Throughout the description, the same reference signs are used to refer to the same elements. Elements may have different mutual relationships and different locations for different embodiments.

The present application provides a light guide capable of achieving multiple functions. The light guide can not only simultaneously achieve multiple light functions (that is, the light guide can have different light emission directions), but also can save the installation space of the lighting device while reducing the cost.

FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a light guide according to an embodiment of the present disclosure in various views, and, C-shaped grooves in a light guide according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are clearly shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the light guide 1 includes: a light incident portion 11 configured to receive light from a light source and cause the light to propagate inside the light guide substantially along a first direction 30, so as to achieve a first light function; and a reflective surface 21 configured to reflect a first part R1 of the light from the light incident portion 11, so that the first part of the light propagates inside the light guide 1 substantially along a second direction 40 different from the first direction 30, so as to achieve a second light function different from the first light function.

In this embodiment, the light incident portion 11 causes the received light to propagate in the light guide 1. The first direction 30 may be a main emission direction of the first light function. The second direction 40 is a main emission direction of the light reflected by the reflective surface 21, so as to achieve the second light function different from the first light function, that is, the second direction 40 is a main emission direction of the second light function.

In this embodiment, the direction of a vehicle body is defined as an X-axis direction, and the direction of a vehicle width is defined as a Y-axis direction. As a non-limiting example, when the first light function is a position light, and the regulations of the position light are from 45° inside to 80° outside with the vehicle body direction as a reference, the first direction 30 may be substantially along the X-axis direction. When the second light function is a side marker light, and the regulations of the side marker light are from 31.5° inside to 45° outside with the vehicle width direction as a reference, the second direction 40 may be substantially along the Y-axis direction.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an included angle between the first direction 30 and the second direction 40 may be greater than or equal to 45 degrees. Further, the included angle between the first direction 30 and the second direction 40 may be greater than or equal to 90 degrees. According to the embodiments of the present invention, by providing the reflective surface, the light guide can be used to achieve two different light functions with different main emission directions or even large differences.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the light guide 1 has a first side surface 13 and a second side surface 14 opposite to each other in a thickness direction 50 transverse to the first direction 30 and the second direction 40. A groove 20 is formed in the light guide 1. The groove 20 is recessed from one of the first side surface 13 and the second side surface 14 toward the other of the first side surface 13 and the second side surface 14. The side wall of the groove 20 facing the light incident portion 11 may form the reflective surface 21.

Specifically, the first side surface 13 and the second side surface 14 may be substantially parallel to an X-Y plane, and the thickness direction 50 may be a Z-axis direction. The groove 20 is recessed in the thickness direction 50. Preferably, the first side surface 13 is parallel to the second side surface 14.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the groove 20 is formed between the first side surface 13 and the second side surface 14. The side wall of the groove 20 facing the light incident portion 11 forms the reflective surface 21, thereby increasing the light amount (luminous flux) of the first part R1 of the light.

In this embodiment, the groove 20 is recessed from the second side surface 14 toward the first side surface 13, but does not reach the first side surface 13 in the thickness direction 50, that is, the bottom of the groove 20 is spaced apart from the first side surface 13 by a certain distance. When the light guide is cut along the thickness direction 50, that is, on a plane parallel to the Z-axis direction, the side surface of the groove 20 resemble a trapezoid. Another advantage of setting the cross section of the groove 20 to be trapezoid is that it facilitates de-moulding during the injection moulding process.

In other embodiments, the other side wall of the groove, such as the rear side wall opposite to the front side wall, may also be formed as a total reflection surface.

In other embodiments, the groove 20 is recessed from the first side surface 13 toward the second side surface 14 but does not reach the second side surface 14 in the thickness direction 50, that is, the bottom of the groove 20 is spaced apart from the second side surface 14 by a certain distance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a filling medium in the groove 20 includes a medium with a refractive index smaller than that of the light guide 1. In other words, the light can enter an optically sparse medium from an optically dense medium, and the incident angle of light is greater than the critical angle, so that total reflection can occur. For example, but not so as to limit, the filling medium in the groove 20 may be air, and the groove 20 may an air gap.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a second part R2 of the light from the light incident portion 11 is configured to pass through a part between an end of the groove 20 and the first side surface 13 or the second side surface 14, and/or through a side wall of the groove 20 and continue to propagate substantially along the first direction 30, so as to achieve the first light function.

Specifically, the second part R2 of the light emitted from the light incident portion 11 may pass through a part between the bottom of the groove 20 and the first side surface 13 and propagate all the way along the first direction 30, thereby achieving the first light function. Alternatively, the second part R2 of the light emitted from the light incident portion 11 passes through the front and rear side walls of the groove 20 without satisfying the critical angle of total reflection, and then continues to propagate substantially along the first direction 30, thereby achieving the first light function. Alternatively, a part of the second part R2 of the light emitted from the light incident portion 11 passes through the part between the bottom of the groove 20 and the first side surface 13, and the other part first passes through the front and rear side walls of the groove 20, and then continues to propagate substantially along the first direction 30, thereby achieving the first light function. In this case, the first light function has the largest light emission area.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the first part R1 of the light emitted from the light incident portion 11 may be reflected by the front side wall of the groove 20 and then propagate substantially along the second direction 40, thereby achieving the second light function. For example, the second light function includes a side marker light function.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the reflective surface 21 may be configured to totally reflect the first part R1 of the light from the light incident portion 11. For example, the refractive index of the material of the light guide and the refractive index of the material of the medium in the groove, as well as the shape of the groove, such as a curved shape in the XY plane, may be set so that the incident angle of the light is greater than the critical angle, thereby ensuring that total reflection occurs on the side walls of the groove.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the groove 20 is substantially C-shaped in the plane defined by the first direction 30 and the second direction 40. For example, in this embodiment, the groove 20 is substantially C-shaped in the XY plane. In other embodiments, the groove 20 may have other shapes, such as a straight shape, depending on the light required or so as to meet specific needs.

The light guides of various embodiments in the present disclosure can meet the requirements of various regulations. For example, they can meet the requirements of regulations for side signs from 31.5 degrees inside to 45 degrees outside, and for position lights from 45 degrees inside to 80 degrees outside.

In an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the light incident portion 11 includes a collimator 111 and a reflector 112. The collimator 111 guides light received from a light source to the reflector 112 in a substantially collimated manner. The light enters the interior of the light guide after being reflected by the reflector 112 and proceeds within the light guide substantially along the first direction 30 until it encounters the groove 20. The first part R1 of the light is reflected by the groove 20 and emitted along the second direction 40, as shown in . The second part R2 of the light may continue to proceed along the first direction 30 and exit through an end of the light guide, as shown in .

As a variant, the light incident portion 11 may also include only the collimator 111 or the reflector 112. For example, the light incident portion may only include a collimator (not shown). The collimator and the light source are oppositely oriented in the first direction 30, and the collimator directly and substantially collimates the light from the light source and guides it along the first direction 30 to the interior of the light guide. For another example, the light incident portion may only include at least one reflector, such as a parabolic reflector, a planar reflector, or a combination of both.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a lighting device. The lighting device includes any light guide as described above and a light source that emits light toward the light guide.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a vehicle. The vehicle includes any lighting device as described above.

As used herein, the terms such as "first," "second," etc. are used to describe various members, components, regions, layers and/or parts. However, it will be apparent that the members, components, regions, layers and/or parts should not be defined by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one member, component, region, layer or part from another member, component, region, layer or part. Therefore, a first element, component, region, layer or part described could also be referred to as a second element, component, region, layer or part without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

The foregoing description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description only, and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. In order to explain the principles of the present disclosure and practical applications thereof, the embodiments were chosen and described, so as to enable other persons skilled in the art to utilize the present disclosure and various embodiments with various modifications suitable for particular uses contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to a person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments described therein.

Claims

A light guide (1), characterized by comprising:
a light incident portion (11) configured to receive light from a light source and cause the light to propagate inside the light guide substantially along a first direction (30), so as to achieve a first light function; and
a reflective surface (21) configured to reflect a first part of the light from the light incident portion (11), so that the first part of the light propagates inside the light guide substantially along a second direction (40) different from the first direction (30), so as to achieve a second light function different from the first light function.
The light guide according to claim 1, characterized in that an included angle between the first direction (30) and the second direction (40) is greater than or equal to 45 degrees.
The light guide according to claim 1, characterized in that an included angle between the first direction (30) and the second direction (40) is greater than or equal to 90 degrees.
The light guide according to claim 1, characterized in that the light guide has a first side surface (13) and a second side surface (14) opposite to each other in a thickness direction (50) transverse to the first direction (30) and the second direction (40); and
a groove (20) recessed from one of the first side surface (13) and the second side surface (14) toward the other of the first side surface (13) and the second side surface (14) is formed in the light guide, and a side wall of the groove (20) forms the reflective surface (21).
The light guide according to claim 4, characterized in that a filling medium in the groove (20) comprises a medium with a refractive index smaller than that of the light guide.
The light guide according to claim 4, characterized in that a second part of the light from the light incident portion (11) is configured to pass through a part between the groove (20) and the first side surface (13) or the second side surface (14) and/or through the side wall of the groove (20) and continue to propagate substantially in the first direction (30), so as to achieve the first light function.
The light guide according to claim 4, characterized in that the groove (20) has a substantially trapezoidal cross-section in the thickness direction (50).
The light guide according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the reflective surface (21) is configured to totally reflect the first part of the light from the light incident portion (11).
The light guide according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the second light function comprises a side marker light function.
The light guide according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the light incident portion (11) comprises a collimator, a reflector, or a combination of the collimator and the reflector.
A lighting device, characterized by comprising:
the light guide according to any one of claims 1 to 10; and
a light source emitting light towards the light guide.
A vehicle, characterized by comprising the lighting device according to Claim 11.