Planar light source

• US 9,703,032 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2014
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Coretronic Corporation
• Original Assignee: Young Lighting Technology Inc. (Coretronic Corporation)
• Inventors: Wu, Jhong-Hao, Liu, Chin-Ku
• Primary Examiner(s): Coughlin, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cattanach, Colin
• Application Number:
  US14/297,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20140376258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• 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 6/0045 by shaping at least a portion of the light guide
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0055 Reflecting element, sheet or layer

Abstract

A planar light source including a light guide plate (LGP) and a light source device is provided. The LGP includes a plate portion and at least one prism portion. The plate portion has a light incident surface, a reflective surface, a bottom surface, and a light exiting surface. The prism portion is disposed on the bottom surface of the plate portion, and has a first plane and a second plane. An included angle between the first plane and the bottom surface is smaller than an included angle between the second plane and the bottom surface, and a shortest distance between the first plane and the light incident surface is smaller than a shortest distance between the second plane and the light incident surface. The light source device is disposed adjacent to the light incident surface. The disclosure provides planar light source with good light uniformity.

Claims

1. A planar light source, comprising:

a light guide plate, comprising;

a plate portion, having a light incident surface, a reflective surface opposite to the light incident surface, a bottom surface, and a light exiting surface opposite to the bottom surface, wherein the light incident surface and the reflective surface are respectively connected to the bottom surface and the light exiting surface, and a height of the light incident surface, a height of the reflective surface, and a thickness of the plate portion are substantially the same; and

at least one prism portion, disposed on the bottom surface of the plate portion, wherein the prism portion has a first plane and a second plane, the first plane adjoins the second plane, an included angle between the first plane and the bottom surface is smaller than an included angle between the second plane and the bottom surface, and a shortest distance between the first plane and the light incident surface is smaller than a shortest distance between the second plane and the light incident surface, wherein a distance exists between the second plane and the reflective surface, and the distance is parallel to the light exiting surface, wherein a plurality of printed dots or micro-structures is disposed on the distance;

a light-absorbing material, directly adhered only to the second plane to mitigate bright lines caused by the light beam emitted out of the light guide plate due to reflection of the second plane; and

a light source device, disposed adjacent to the light incident surface.

2. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein an area of the first plane is greater than an area of the second plane.

3. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distance is a part of the bottom surface, and a length of the distance is smaller than a length of the prism portion on the bottom surface along a direction from the light incident surface towards the reflective surface.

4. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the included angle between the first plane and the bottom surface is between 0 and 30 degrees, and the included angle between the second plane and the bottom surface is between 0 and 90 degrees.

5. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of the at least one prism portion is plural, and the prism portions from the reflective surface towards the light incident surface have the included angles between the first plane and the bottom surface gradually decreased.

6. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reflective surface comprises a curved surface.

7. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reflective surface comprises a plurality of planes.

8. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reflective surface comprises a roughened surface.

9. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light incident surface is parallel to the reflective surface, and the light incident surface is parallel to an extending direction of the light source device.

10. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light guide plate further comprises a reflective coating disposed on the reflective surface.

11. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light guide plate further comprises a reflector disposed on the reflective surface.

12. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a bottom reflection plate disposed under the prism portion.

13. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one optical film disposed above the light exiting surface.

14. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein a relationship between a thickness H of the plate portion and a thickness H3 of a thickest part of the light guide plate having the prism portion along a direction is 1<

H 3/H≦

10.

15. The planar light source as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of optical micro-structures is configured on the light incident surface, the optical micro-structures are at least one of micro-lenses, V-cut structures, a reflective material with a scattering property and a combination thereof.

16. The planar light source as claimed in claim 15, wherein the light source device comprises a plurality of light-emitting diode elements, and the reflective material with the scattering property is disposed at intervals between the adjacent light-emitting diode elements.