Light emitting optical fiber assemblies and method for forming the same
First Claim
1. A light emitting panel assembly comprising supporting frame means having a front face and a rear face, a plurality of elongated light emitting fiber means mounted upon said supporting frame means and extending on the front face thereof, said light emitting fiber means being of the type which leak light traveling therethrough when said light emitting fibers are bent, and being mounted on said frame means in a manner such that there are no bends in those light emitting fiber means large enough to cause an undesirably high percentage of light to leak from said light emitting fiber means, said light emitting fiber means being operative to emit light along the length thereof, at least one of the ends of each of said plurality of elongated light emitting fiber means being bundled together with the ends of other light emitting fiber means to form a unitary bundle, said unitary bundle being positioned adjacent the rear face of said supporting frame means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The light emitting optical fiber assemblies include light emitting panels that employ a nonwoven geometric grid of light emitting optical fibers which can be arranged to permit air to pass through the panel or to define apertures providing access through the panel. Also, such nonwoven fiber grids can be arranged to permit the panels to be cut or sectioned without losing all light emitting capability. Panels are provided which include the encapsulation of light emitting fibers in a light transmitting laminate, and the laminate is provided with light scattering formations which permit light to be emitted from the encapsulating layer. The panels and other light emitting units are provided with light or electromagnetic radiation from lightpipe harness assemblies which are designed to supply light to a plurality of use devices.
140 Citations
27 Claims
- 1. A light emitting panel assembly comprising supporting frame means having a front face and a rear face, a plurality of elongated light emitting fiber means mounted upon said supporting frame means and extending on the front face thereof, said light emitting fiber means being of the type which leak light traveling therethrough when said light emitting fibers are bent, and being mounted on said frame means in a manner such that there are no bends in those light emitting fiber means large enough to cause an undesirably high percentage of light to leak from said light emitting fiber means, said light emitting fiber means being operative to emit light along the length thereof, at least one of the ends of each of said plurality of elongated light emitting fiber means being bundled together with the ends of other light emitting fiber means to form a unitary bundle, said unitary bundle being positioned adjacent the rear face of said supporting frame means.
- 10. A light emitting panel assembly comprising light transmitting encapsulating means, a plurality of light emitting fiber means mounted in contact with said light transmitting encapsulating means, said light emitting fiber means being formed to emit light at intervals along the lengths thereof into said light transmitting encapsulating means and light scattering means located with respect to said light emitting fiber means for deflecting the light emitted from said light emitting fiber means to an angle greater than a critical angle which is associated with total internal reflection within said encapsulating means so said emitted light can escape from said encapsulating means.
- 14. A light emitting panel assembly comprising light transmitting encapsulating means, a plurality of elongated optical fibers mounted in said light transmitting encapsulating means, each of said optical fibers having at leat one notch means cut in the surface thereof for deflecting light emitted from said each optical fiber to a specified angle, said notch means having a first wall which is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said optical fiber and a second wall inclined at an acute angle to said longitudinal axis.
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25. A light emitting panel assembly comprising a plurality of cladless light emitting fiber means each having a core, a light transmitting encapsulating means in which said cladless light emitting fiber means are located, said light transmitting encapsulating means having an index of refraction which is less than the index of refraction of said light emitting fiber means core, said light emitting fiber means being formed to emit light along the lengths thereof into said light transmitting encapsulating means, and light scattering means included in said light transmitting encapsulating means for deflecting the light emitted from said light emitting fiber means to an angle greater than a critical angle which is associated with total internal reflection within said encapsulating means so said emitted light can escape from said encapsulating means.
Specification