Light emitting panel assemblies for use in automotive applications and the like
First Claim
1. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a plurality of relatively rigid light guides in overlying relation to one another, each of said light guides having at least one light input surface, at least one light source positioned along said light input surface for supplying light to said light guides, and a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one surface of each of said light guides for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, said light guides being positioned relative to one another such that the light emitted from at least one of said light guides passes through another of said light guides in a desired direction or output ray angle distribution.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Light emitting panel assemblies include in one form of the invention a light emitting panel member made of a transparent resiliently deformable elastomeric material that absorbs impact without breakage for use in automotive lighting applications of various types. In another form of the invention, a rigid light emitting panel member may be used with dome switches for switch area lighting or to backlight control buttons/key pads. Also, a rigid light emitting panel member may be used as a structural member, and two or more such light emitting panel members may be stacked together and used to light an instrument panel or the like.
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Citations
19 Claims
- 1. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a plurality of relatively rigid light guides in overlying relation to one another, each of said light guides having at least one light input surface, at least one light source positioned along said light input surface for supplying light to said light guides, and a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one surface of each of said light guides for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, said light guides being positioned relative to one another such that the light emitted from at least one of said light guides passes through another of said light guides in a desired direction or output ray angle distribution.
Specification