Prism sheet

• US 5,844,720 A
• Filed: 11/15/1995
• Issued: 12/01/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Goyo Paper Working Co. Ltd. (Goyo Service KK)
• Original Assignee: Goyo Paper Working Co. Ltd. (Goyo Service KK)
• Inventors: Kawashima, Kenji, Kawaguchi, Osamu, Ohara, Shuzo, Taen, Tetsuro, Tsuyama, Yu, Kosugi, Takumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Shafer, Ricky D.
• Application Number:
  US08/558,183
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: 359/599, 359/619, 359/831, 359/837, 362/26, 362/31, 362/331, 362/339, 349/62, 349/63, 349/64, 349/65, 349/95, 349/112
• US Class Current: 359/599
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/02 of prismatic shape F21V5/04 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/045 Prism arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0053 Prismatic sheet or layer; Brightness enhancement element, sheet or layer

Abstract

A prism sheet having a plurality of substantially triangular prism-shaped lens units with their longitudinal axes almost parallel to each other arranged on one side and having the other side roughened, and with a characteristic value of 100 when said roughned side is smooth, the characterstic values are not less than 50 in glossiness, not more than 70 in internal reflective ability, and not more than 70 in friction coefficient when the plane including the prism peaks is rubbed by the roughened surface. The prism sheet of the present invention is therefrom free from interference fringes, substantially safe from scratching and uniform and high in brightness, being thus useful for liquid crystal devices etc.

Claims

1. A prism sheet having arranged on one side a plurality of substantially triangular prism-shaped lens units with their longitudinal axes almost parallel to each other and having a roughened surface on the other side, and with 100 assigned as a reference characteristic value for each of glossiness. reflective ability and friction coefficient when said other side is smooth, said characteristic value is not less than 50 in glossiness, not more than 70 in internal reflective ability, and not more than 70 in friction coefficient when the side containing the lens units is in contact with a roughened surface of another prism sheet which is identical to said roughened surface on said other side of said prism sheet.

2. The prism sheet of claim 1, wherein the vertical angle of said triangular prism-shaped lens units is in a range of 70°

-110° and

the distance between adjacent prism units is in a range of 10-100 μ

m.

3. The prism sheet of claim 1 or 2, wherein the each said roughened surface has a ten-point average roughness Rz of 0.4-2.0 μ

m and the average distance Sm between adjacent peaks of each said roughened surface is 30-200 μ

m.

4. The prism sheet of claim 3, wherein the relationship among the roughened surface in 10-point average roughness Rz, the average distance Sm between the adjacent peaks and the prism height h is as shown in the following equation (1), and the proportional constant K is in a range of 1×

10³ -4×

10³ ;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">h=K×

Rz/Sm.