UNITARY LIGHTGUIDE

• US 20200132909A1
• Filed: 06/25/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Liu, Tao, Lu, Yongshang, Mercord, David C., Ostlie, Brian W.
• Granted Patent: US 10,935,713 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0018 Redirecting means on the surface of the light guide
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0028 Light guide, e.g. taper
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0035 provided on the surface of the light guide or in the bulk of it
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0036 2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0038 Linear indentations or grooves, e.g. arc-shaped grooves or meandering grooves, extending over the full length or width of the light guide
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0075 Arrangements of multiple light guides G02B6/0028 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0091 of the light source relative to the light guide G02B6/0021 takes precedence

Abstract

A unitary lightguide including a first lightguide section extending along a first direction and a second lightguide section extending along a second direction is described. The second lightguide section includes a plurality of light extractors for extracting light that would otherwise propagate within and along the second lightguide section. The unitary lightguide includes a boundary region disposed between and joining the first and second lightguide sections and including a plurality of spaced apart light redirecting features. Each light redirecting feature includes a first portion extending substantially parallel to the first direction, and a second portion extending from proximate the first end of the first portion toward the second lightguide section and making an angle with the first portion in a range from about 10 degrees to about 70 degrees.

Claims

1. A unitary lightguide extending along mutually orthogonal first and second directions and comprising:

a first lightguide section extending along the first direction between opposing first and second ends of the first lightguide section and having a minimum length L1 along the first direction and a maximum width W1 along the second direction, L1/W1≥

10;

a second lightguide section extending along the second direction and comprising;

a minimum length L2 along the second direction and a maximum width W2 along the first direction; and

a plurality of light extractors for extracting light that would otherwise propagate within and along the second lightguide section; and

a boundary region disposed between and joining the first and second lightguide sections, the boundary region substantially coextensive in length with the length of the first lightguide section and the width of the second lightguide section, the boundary region comprising a plurality of spaced apart light redirecting features, each light redirecting feature comprising;

a first portion extending substantially parallel to the first direction between first and second ends of the first portion; and

a second portion extending from proximate the first end of the first portion toward the second lightguide section between first and second ends of the second portion and making an angle with the first portion in a range from about 10 degrees to about 70 degrees, wherein the lightguide has a unitary construction.

2. The unitary lightguide of claim 1, wherein when a light source is disposed at the first end of the first lightguide section, light emitted by the light source enters the unitary lightguide from the first end of the first lightguide section, the first portions of the light redirecting features directing the entered light toward the second end of the first lightguide section, the second portions of the light redirecting features directing the entered light toward and into the second lightguide section, the light extractors extracting light propagating within the second lightguide section, the extracted light exiting the unitary lightguide from an emission surface of the second lightguide section.

3. The unitary lightguide of claim 1, wherein the first portion of each light redirecting feature is a recess in the boundary region of the unitary lightguide, the recess having a minimum length L3 between the first and second ends of the first portion, a maximum width W3, and a minimum depth D3 along a thickness direction of the unitary lightguide, L3/W3≥

1, D3/W3≥

1.

4. The unitary lightguide of claim 1, wherein at least one light redirecting feature is at least partially embedded in the boundary region.

5. The unitary lightguide of claim 1, wherein the second portion of each light redirecting feature is a recess in the boundary region of the unitary lightguide, the recess having a minimum length L4 between the first and second ends of the second portion, a maximum width W4, and a minimum depth D4 along a thickness direction of the unitary lightguide, L4/W4≥

1, D4/W4≥

1.

6. The unitary lightguide of claim 1, wherein the first portion of each light redirecting feature comprises a substantially vertically oriented first planar surface making an angle of less than about 20 degrees with a normal to the unitary lightguide.

7. The unitary lightguide of claim 1, wherein each light redirecting feature further comprises a third portion extending from proximate the second end of the first portion toward the second lightguide section between first and second ends of the third portion and making angle with the first portion in a range from about 10 degrees to about 70 degrees.

8. The unitary lightguide of claim 7, wherein the third portion of each light redirecting feature is a recess in the boundary region of the unitary lightguide, the recess having a minimum length L5 between the first and second ends of the third portion, a maximum width W5, and a minimum depth D5 along a thickness direction of the unitary lightguide, L5/W5≥

1, D5/W5≥

1.

9. The unitary lightguide of claim 7, wherein when a first light source is disposed at the first end of the first lightguide section and a second light source is disposed at a second end of the first lightguide section, light emitted by the first light source enters the unitary lightguide from the first end of the first lightguide section, the first portions of the light redirecting features directing the entered light from the first light source toward the second end of the first lightguide section, the second portions of the light redirecting features directing the entered light from the first light source toward and into the second lightguide section,

light emitted by the second light source enters the unitary lightguide from the second end of the first lightguide section, the first portions of the light redirecting features directing the entered light from the second light source toward the first end of the first lightguide section, the third portions of the light redirecting features directing the entered light from the second light source toward and into the second lightguide section,

the light extractors extracting light propagating within the second lightguide section, the extracted light exiting the unitary lightguide from an emission surface of the second lightguide section.

10. A unitary lightguide comprising:

a first lightguide section having a major surface having an area A1;

a second lightguide section having a major surface having an area A2≥

A1; and

a row of spaced apart light redirecting features formed in the unitary lightguide and separating the first and second lightguide sections from each other, each light redirecting feature having a polygonal prism shape having a plurality of sides, each side of the polygonal prism substantially planar making an angle of less than about 20 degrees with a normal to the unitary lightguide.

11. The unitary lightguide of claim 10, wherein at least one light redirecting feature in the row of spaced apart light redirecting features is a concave polygonal prism.

12. The unitary lightguide of claim 10, wherein at least one light redirecting feature in the row of spaced apart light redirecting features is a slot formed in the unitary lightguide.

13. The unitary lightguide of claim 10, wherein the second lightguide section comprises a plurality of light extractors for extracting light that would otherwise propagate within and along the second lightguide section.

14. The unitary lightguide of claim 10, wherein for at least one light redirecting feature, a first side of the polygonal prism is shorter and a second side of the polygonal prism is taller along a thickness direction of the unitary lightguide.

15. A unitary lightguide comprising a row of spaced apart first light redirecting recesses formed in the unitary lightguide spaced from and generally along a first edge of the unitary lightguide, the first light redirecting recesses dividing the lightguide into a first lightguide section having a major surface having an area A1 and a second lightguide section having a major surface having an area A2≥

A1, each first light redirecting recess comprising first and second adjacent sides, each side substantially perpendicular to the unitary lightguide and extending into the unitary lightguide to a depth that is at least 0.5 times a local thickness of the unitary lightguide, the first, but not the second, side substantially parallel to the first edge.

16. The unitary lightguide of claim 15, wherein for each first light redirecting recess, the first and second adjacent sides define an angle greater than about 20 degrees therebetween.

17. The unitary lightguide of claim 15, wherein when light enters the first lightguide section from an input edge of the unitary lightguide near a first end of the row of the spaced apart first light redirecting recesses, the first sides of the first light redirecting recesses, in cooperation with the first edge, confine a portion of the entered light in the first lightguide section and direct the confined light toward an opposing second end of the row of the spaced apart first light redirecting recesses, and the second sides of the first light redirecting recesses direct another portion of the entered light into the second lightguide section.

18. The unitary lightguide of claim 15 further comprising a plurality of second light redirecting recesses formed in the second lightguide section of the unitary lightguide for redirecting light propagating within and along the second lightguide section to different locations in the second lightguide section.

19. The unitary lightguide of claim 15, wherein for at least one first light redirecting recess, each of the adjacent first and second sides extends into the unitary lightguide to a depth that is at least 0.7 times a local thickness of the unitary lightguide.

20. The unitary lightguide of claim 15, wherein the second lightguide section comprises a plurality of light extractors for extracting light that would otherwise propagate within and along the second lightguide section.