Illumination apparatus and automobile equipped with same

• US 9,982,864 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2015
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Fukui, Atsushi, Mochida, Shohroh, Yamaguchi, Takayuki, Ogata, Tomoyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Breval, Elmito
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cadima, Omar Rojas
• Application Number:
  US15/109,451
• Publication Number:
  US 20160334074A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,190 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/265 Composite lenses; Lenses with a patch-like shape
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/275 Lens surfaces, e.g. coatings or surface structures
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 41/322 the reflector using total internal reflection
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 43/14 Light emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 43/26 Refractors, transparent cover plates, light guides or filters not provided in groups F21S43/235 - F21S43/255
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 43/315 using total internal reflection
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 43/40 characterised by the combination of reflectors and refractors
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 19/0061 the light source comprising a LED semiconductor devices with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier specially adapted for light emission H01L33/00

Abstract

An illumination apparatus including: multiple LEDs; and a lens unit that is placed correspondingly to the respective LEDs, wherein the lens unit includes a transmission lens, a first total-reflection lens, and a second total-reflection lens, wherein an incidence surface and an emission surface of the transmission lens, as well as incidence surfaces, emission surfaces and total-reflection surfaces of the first total-reflection lens and the second total-reflection lens are two-axis anamorphic aspherical surfaces, a microlens array is formed on at least one of the incidence surface and the emission surface of the transmission lens, a microlens array is formed on at least one of the emission surfaces, the total-reflection surfaces and the incidence surfaces of the first total-reflection lens and the second total-reflection lens, and the microlens arrays each have a structure in which microlenses are periodically arrayed, and are arrayed along the vertical and horizontal directions of the illumination apparatus.

Claims

1. An illumination apparatus, comprising:

multiple light sources;

wherein each of the multiple light sources is a light emitting diode; and

multiple lens units, wherein each of the multiple lens units is placed correspondingly to a respective one of the multiple light sources, wherein

each of the multiple lens units include

a transmission lens that is placed correspondingly to each of the multiple light sources,

a first total-reflection lens that is placed in a position adjacent to the transmission lens in a direction parallel to an array direction of the multiple light sources, and

a second total-reflection lens that is placed in a position adjacent to the transmission lens in a direction vertical to the array direction of the multiple light sources, wherein

an incidence surface and an emission surface of the transmission lens are two-axis anamorphic aspherical surfaces,

an incidence surface, an emission surface and a total-reflection surface of the first total-reflection lens and the second total-reflection lens are two-axis anamorphic aspherical surfaces,

a microlens array is formed on at least one of the incidence surface and the emission surface of the transmission lens,

a microlens array is formed on at least one of the emission surfaces, the total-reflection surfaces and the incidence surfaces of the first total-reflection lens and the second total-reflection lens,

the microlens arrays of the transmission lens, the first total-reflection lens and the second total-reflection lens each have a structure in which microlenses are periodically arrayed, and

each of the lens units is disposed corresponding to the respective light source.

2. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the multiple light sources each correspond to the multiple lens units one-on-one.

3. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first total-refection lens, the second total-reflection lens and the transmission lens have a square shape when the illumination apparatus is viewed from the front.

4. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein two of the first total-reflection lenses and two of the second total-reflection lenses surround four directions of the transmission lens, and the first total-reflection lens, the second total-reflection lens, and the transmission lens have a square shape, when the illumination apparatus is viewed from the front.

5. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, compared to the horizontal direction of the illumination apparatus, divergence of the light to the horizontal direction is broader.

6. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cross-section of the microlens is formed by four arcs, and two adjacent arcs among the four arcs are continuous such that slopes of their tangent lines are consistent.

7. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional shape of the microlens is a shape that is formed by joining arcs with a line.

8. An automobile comprising the illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the multiple lens units in the illumination apparatus do not have any spaces therebetween when the automobile is viewed from the front.

9. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first total reflection lens protrudes toward a light source side from the transmission lens, the second total reflection lens protrudes toward the light source side from the transmission lens.

10. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a part of the light from the respective light source directly enters the first total reflection lens, a part of the light of the respective light source directly enters the second total reflection lens, a part of the light from the respective light source directly enters the transmission lens.

11. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width of the transmission lens is larger than a width of the first total-reflection lens and a width of the second total-reflection lens, when the illumination apparatus is viewed from the front.