Back light unit for outside mirror of vehicle

• US 9,676,335 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2014
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), JS Automotive Inc., Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.), SL Mirrortech Corporation
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), JS Automotive Inc., Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.), S L Mirrortech Corporation
• Inventors: Kim, Geon Jin, Park, Byoung Gyu, Bae, Jong Sik, Choi, Chan Mook, Yang, Seung Ju, Oh, Se Been, Choi, Byoung Gon, Lee, Hyun Dong, Shin, Dae Soo
• Primary Examiner(s): Gyllstrom, Bryon T
• Application Number:
  US14/570,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20150251603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 911 Days
• Field of Search: 362494
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/081 avoiding blind spots, e.g. by using a side-by-side association of mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/1207 with lamps; with turn indicators
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/002 by shaping at least a portion of the light guide, e.g. with collimating, focussing or diverging surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0036 2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0051 Diffusing sheet or layer
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0053 Prismatic sheet or layer; Brightness enhancement element, sheet or layer
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/006 to produce indicia, symbols, texts or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0061 to provide homogeneous light output intensity

Abstract

A back light unit for an outside mirror of a vehicle for optimizing a light-emitting structure of an LED to improve uniformity of light emission and brightness of light so that night visibility for a driver can be improved may include a bottom case, a light source seated on an inner lower side of the bottom case and emitting light when an electric power is supplied, a light guide plate positioned on an inner upper side of the bottom case and uniformly diffusing light emitted from the light source and transferring the light to a prism plate, the prism plate disposed in front of the light guide plate at the inner upper side of the bottom case and refracting and refocusing light from the light guide plate to increase surface brightness, and a top case coupled to a front end of the bottom case.

Claims

1. A backlight unit for an outside mirror of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

a glass including an etched portion at a front side of the glass and a mirror surface at a rear side of the glass, wherein the etched portion is etched with an indicator icon and configured to notice that an obstacle approaches to a driver;

a bottom case attached to the rear side of the glass;

a light source seated on an inner lower side of the bottom case and emitting light;

a light guide plate positioned on an inner upper side of the bottom case and uniformly diffusing light emitted from the light source and transferring the light to a prism plate;

the prism plate directly disposed in front of the light guide plate at the inner upper side of the bottom case and refracting and focusing light from the light guide plate to increase surface brightness;

a diffuser sheet disposed in front of the prism plate; and

a top case coupled to a front end of the bottom case,

wherein the prism plate includes;

a base layer; and

a prism layer laminated on the base layer,

wherein the base layer faces the light guide plate in the bottom case and the prism layer faces the diffuser sheet to increase the surface brightness of the backlight unit,

wherein the emitted light is transferred to the rear side of the glass and emitted toward the mirror surface of the glass through the etched portion of the glass.

2. The backlight unit of claim 1, further comprising the diffuser sheet disposed in front of the prism plate at the inner upper side of the bottom case and uniformly diffusing light from the prism plate forward.

3. The backlight unit of claim 1, wherein the top case is made in the form of a frame with an open center portion and a protect plate is securely coupled to the open center portion through which light is transmitted.

4. The backlight unit of claim 1, further comprising a reflector disposed at a rear side of the light guide plate in the inner upper side of the bottom case and reflecting light leaking from the rear side of the light guide plate.

5. The backlight unit of claim 1, wherein the light guide plate includes irregular patterns formed on a rear side of the light guide plate and diffusing the light emitted from the light source, and the patterns are relatively loose near to the light source and compact away from the light source.

6. The backlight unit of claim 1, wherein the prism layer includes micro-lenses protruding from a surface on which a plurality of prisms are continuously formed throughout.