JP3538586B2 - Surface emitting device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an edge light type surface light emitting device used as a backlight of an illuminated signboard.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a surface light emitting device of this type, a rod-shaped lamp is provided on an end face side of a transparent plate so as to extend along the end face, and light from the lamp is made incident on the end face of the transparent plate and emitted from the plate face of the transparent plate. Things. The edge light type surface light emitting device can be made thinner than a direct type surface light emitting device in which a plurality of fluorescent lamps are arranged in a case having a translucent front panel, and the light of the fluorescent lamps is parallel lines. It has the characteristic that it does not appear as a lamp-shaped image.

[0003]

However, in order to manufacture a surface emitting device having a large area, it is necessary to use a lamp having a large luminance and increase the thickness of the transparent plate. It is difficult to illuminate the area uniformly, and there is a limit to practical use in terms of the burden of weight increase and cost.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, it has been proposed to arrange a plurality of surface light-emitting units (3) formed of a combination of a transparent plate (4) and a rod-shaped lamp (5) in the same plane. . In this case, the reflector (6) which covers each lamp (5) and concentrates the light of the lamp on the end face of the transparent plate (4) is formed of resin so as to transmit a part of the light.
Although the translucent base plate (2) is covered with an interval from (3), the space between the adjacent surface light-emitting units (3) darkens like a band,
Again, it is not possible to illuminate a large surface uniformly, and it is hardly practical.

The present invention discloses a surface emitting device which can emit light as uniformly as possible over a large area.

[0006]

A surface light emitting device according to the present invention comprises a transparent plate.
A rod-shaped lamp (5) facing the end face of (4) and along the end face.
And let the lamp (5) transmit some light and
Reflector that reflects the light from the edge of the transparent plate (4)
A surface emitting unit (3) comprising (6), comprising a plurality of surfaces
The light emitting units (3) and (3) are arranged adjacently in substantially the same plane,
Between the reflectors (6) and (6) of the surface light emitting units (3) and (3)
A transparent strip-shaped light collector (8) is provided along the lamp.
And two transparent plates over the lamps (5) and (5) and the light collector (8)
(4) Put the prism (7) in the longitudinal direction of the lamp over (4).
Along the side opposite to the prism body (7) of the light collector (8)
The light from the condenser (8) is reflected to the prism (7) side at the position.
A reflector (9) is provided.

[0007]

[Operation and Effect] Light is transmitted through the reflector (6) and the transparent plate (4), is incident on the prism (7), is collected, and is repeatedly reflected in the prism (7) and emitted. There is no inferior brightness between the light emitted from the prism body (7) and the light emitted from the emission surface of the transparent plates (4) and (4), and a wide area extending over the plurality of transparent plates (4) and (4). The base plate (2) can be substantially uniformly illuminated. At least one of the entrance side and the exit side of the prism body (7) is a fine uneven surface that diffusely reflects light, so that the prism body (7) is linear in comparison with the other parts. It can be prevented from shining brightly.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the present invention is applied to a backlight of an illuminated signboard. A plurality of, in this embodiment, three surface light-emitting units (3) are provided in a frame (1). ) (3) (3) are arranged close to each other in a substantially same plane.

A translucent base plate (2) is fitted into the opening of the transparent plate (4). The base plate (2) hides the surface light-emitting unit (3) from the outside and plays a role to diffusely reflect light from the surface light-emitting unit (3) and emit the light to the outside. It can be a milky white translucent plate made of (lacquered) synthetic resin.

Each surface light-emitting unit (3) is a rectangular transparent plate.
At both end surfaces along the longitudinal direction of (4), a rod-shaped lamp (5) is provided along the end surface, and as shown in FIG.
A reflector (6) is attached to both sides of the transparent plate (4) in the longitudinal direction surrounding the (5) (the reflector is omitted in FIG. 1).

The transparent plate (4) is formed of a highly transparent resin such as an acrylic resin in order to reduce the weight, and the end face on the lamp (5) side and the emission face (41) on the base plate (2) side are formed. It is mirror finished.

On the surface of the transparent plate (4) opposite to the exit surface (41), as is well known, fine grooves whose groove depth and groove width gradually differ by gradation printing (dot printing) or laser. The light reflecting sheet (43) is applied, and the light incident from the end face is emitted almost uniformly from the emission surface (41) regardless of the distance from the lamp (5). Can be.

The reflector (6) is made of synthetic resin, and functions to concentrate most of the light from the lamp (5) on the end face of the transparent plate (4) and to transmit a part of the light through the reflector (6). Make

Between the reflectors (6) and (6) of the adjacent surface emitting units (3) and (3), a strip-shaped light collector (8) having a rectangular cross section is interposed along the lamp (5). The right-angle prism body (7) straddles both the transparent plates (4) and (4) across the lamps (5) and (5) and the light collector (8). Lamp towards the side
It is provided along the longitudinal direction of (5).

The prism body (7) is a transparent or almost transparent semi-transparent body, and the width of the bottom surface (72) on the surface light emitting unit (3) side is equal to the distance between the adjacent transparent plates (4) and (4). Greater than L1,
The light emitted from the reflection surface (41) of the transparent plate (4) and the reflector (6)
Can be made to enter the prism body (7).

In the embodiment, the bottom surface of the prism body (7) is large enough to completely cover the reflectors (6) and (6) and protrude into the transparent plate (4). The exit surfaces (73) and (73) on both sides of the ridge line (71) of the prism body (7) are irregular surfaces on which fine irregularities (pearskin processing) are performed so as to diffusely reflect light.

The prism (7) side edge of the condenser (8) is fitted into a groove (74) formed on the bottom surface of the prism (7). A reflection plate (9) for preventing light from being emitted from the side edge to the outside is provided on a side edge opposite to the transparent plate (4).
And are provided in parallel.

Devices (not shown) such as an inverter required for the configuration of the surface light emitting device can be installed in the space between the bottom plate (11) of the frame (1) and the surface light emitting unit (3). No.

However, the light of the lamp (5) is directly or reflected by the reflector (6) and enters from the end face of the transparent plate (4), and the light is emitted from the exit surface (41) of the transparent plate (4) to a brightness level. It is emitted without any spots.

Part of the light of the lamp (5) is
After passing through (6), it is incident on the prism body (7).
The prism body enters from (8) and enters from the end face on the prism body (7) side.
(7). Further, light is incident on both longitudinal side edges of the bottom surface (72) of the prism body (7) directly from the emission surface (41) of the transparent plate (4) or through the reflector (6).

The light that has entered the prism body (7) is repeatedly reflected in the prism body (7) and is emitted, whereby the light emitted from the prism body (7) and the transparent plate (4) are emitted.
The brightness of the light emitted from the emission surface of (4) is comparable to that of the base plate (2).
The wide base plate (2) straddling (3), (3) and (3)) appears to shine almost uniformly.

The exit surfaces (73) and (73) of the prism body (7) are minute uneven surfaces for irregularly reflecting light, so that the prism body (7) portion is linearly brighter than other portions. It can be prevented from shining. The rear surface of the base plate (2), the corresponding positions of the prisms (7), Oge by sticking a translucent film (21) is not allowed even feel the shadow difference to the base plate (2).

FIG. 3 shows another example . Place the lamp (5) between the transparent plates (4) and (4) that are adjacent
The reflector (6) is arranged along the end face of (4), and the reflector (6) in the form of a strip extends along the length of the lamp (5) across the lamp (5) and the transparent plates (4) and (4). And a strip-shaped reflector (9) for totally reflecting the light of the lamp (5) is provided on the opposite side of the reflector (6) with respect to the lamp (5) across the transparent plates (4) and (4). are doing.

The reflector (6) is covered with the bottom surface of the right-angle prism (7).

The light of the lamp (5) is reflected directly on the reflector (6) or the reflecting plate (9), enters the end face of the transparent plate (4), and exits from the exit surface (41).

A part of the light of the lamp (5) is reflected by the reflector (6).
Passes through and enters the prism body (7).
Light is incident on the both side edges in the longitudinal direction of the bottom surface of (7) from the emission surface (41) of the transparent plate (4) directly or through the reflector (6). Thus, in the same manner as described above, the brightness of the light emitted from the prism body (7) and the brightness of the light emitted from the emission surfaces of the transparent plates (4) and (4) are not inferior.

In implementing the present invention, the prism (7)
The cross-sectional shape is not limited as long as the above-mentioned effects are obtained. However, it is desirable that the ridge line (71) on the side of the base plate (2) is narrower so as to be linear as shown in the drawing. If it becomes planar, this part will be too bright.

In the above embodiment, the projections and depressions (73) and (73) of the prism body (7) have fine irregularities. However, only the bottom (72), which is the entrance plane, or the bottom (72) is formed. It is also possible to provide fine irregularities on both surfaces of the light emitting surface (73).

The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an arrangement state of a plurality of surface light emitting units.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

(2) Base plate (3) Surface emitting unit (4) Transparent plate (5) Rod lamp (6) Reflector (7) Prism body (8) Condenser

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI // F21Y 103: 00 F21Y 103: 00 (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F21V 8/00 G02B 5 / 00-6/00 G02F 1/00 G09F 13/00 F21Y 103: 00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transparent plate (4) opposing an end face of the transparent plate (4).
A rod-shaped lamp (5) is provided as shown in FIG.
Light is transmitted and most of the light is reflected to the end face of the transparent plate (4).
A surface emitting unit (3) with a reflector (6)
A plurality of surface light-emitting units (3) and (3) are configured in substantially the same plane.
The adjacent surface emitting units (3) and (3)
A transparent strip-shaped light collector (8) is used as a lamp between the collectors (6) and (6).
The lamps (5) and (5) and the light collector (8) are provided along
Run the prism body (7) across both transparent plates (4) and (4).
The prism of the condenser (8) is provided along the longitudinal direction of the condenser.
Light from the condensing body (8) is located on the opposite side of the body (7) from the prism body
(7) A surface light emitting device provided with a reflector (9) for reflecting light to the side .