Patent Application
20120075866
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to optical field and, particularly, to a lens and a light source module having the lens.
2. Description of Related Art
At present, the light emitted from many types of light sources, such as light emitting diodes, discharge lamps, and halogen lamps etc., has a large divergence angle. When one of these types of light sources is provided for long-distance illumination, a focus lens is generally required at the front of it to reduce the divergence angle and focus the light near the optical axis. However, in some products, such as vehicle lamp etc., not only long-distance illumination for illuminating the distant place ahead of the vehicle is needed, but also short-distance illumination for illuminating the ground near the vehicle is required. Therefore, the conventional focus lens could not satisfy the above described application.
What is needed is a lens which can ameliorate the problem of the prior art.
Many aspects of the present lens and light source module can be better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principle of the lens and light source module. In the drawings, all the views are schematic.
Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
The lens 20 includes a light incident surface 21, a first light emitting surface 22, a second light emitting surface 23, and a connecting surface 24. The connecting surface 24 connects the first light emitting surface 22 to the second light emitting surface 23. The first light emitting surface 22 and the second light emitting surface 23 are opposite to the light incident surface 21.
The light incident surface 21 can be a convex surface, a concave surface or a flat surface. In the present embodiment, the light incident surface 21 is a flat surface.
The first light emitting surface 22 is a Fresnel surface. The first light emitting surface 22 and the light incident surface 21 cooperatively form a Fresnel lens portion. The Fresnel lens portion can focus the light emitted from the light source 10. The light emitted from the light source 10 has a relatively small divergence angle after being focused by the Fresnel lens portion, and thus can be used for long-distance illumination. When the light source module 100 is used in a vehicle lamp, the light emitted from the first light emitting surface 22 can be used for illuminating the distant place ahead of the vehicle. The Fresnel lens portion has an optical axis O and a focal point located at a side of the lens 100 adjacent to the light incident surface 21. The light source 10 is located at the focal point; thus, the light emitted from the first light emitting surface 22 is substantially parallel light. In the present embodiment, the optical axis O is substantially perpendicular to the light incident surface 21. The first light emitting surface 22 includes a number of concentric annular surfaces 221 and a first border 222 intersecting with some of the concentric annular surfaces 221.
The second light emitting surface 23 is located at a side of the first light emitting surface 22 adjacent to the first border 222. An angle formed between any tangent plane of the second light emitting surface 23 and a plane perpendicular to the optical axis O is smaller than an angle formed between any tangent plane of the concentric annular surfaces 221 passing any point on the first border 222 and the plane perpendicular to the optical axis O. Thus, the second light emitting surface 23 has a relatively small converging light power than that of the first light emitting surface 22, and accordingly, the light emitted from the second light emitting surface 23 will deflect away from the optical axis O and from the light emitted from the first light emitting surface 22. When the light source module 100 is used in a vehicle lamp, the second light emitting surface 23 can be arranged at a side of the first light emitting surface 22 adjacent to the ground, and the light emitted from the second light emitting surface 23 can be used for short-distance illumination to illuminate the ground. The second light emitting surface 23 can be a flat surface or a curved surface. If the second light emitting surface 24 is a flat surface, the tangent plane thereof will be the second light emitting surface 24 itself. In the present embodiment, the second light emitting surface 24 is a flat surface.
In the present embodiment, the projection area of the second light emitting surface 23 on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis O is smaller than that of the first light emitting surface 22; thus, most of the light emitted from the light source 10 can be used for long-distance illumination.
The connecting surface 24 can reflect the light incident thereon from the light source 10 towards the first light emitting surface 22 for long-distance illumination. In the present embodiment, the light connecting surface 24 is substantially parallel to the optical axis O, and most of the light incident on the connecting surface 24 experiences a total reflection. The light connecting surface 24 can further have a light reflective film formed thereon.
In the present embodiment, the lens 20 further includes a ring-shaped protrusion 25 protruding outwardly from a circumference surface of the lens 20. The ring-shaped protrusion 25 is configured for holding the lens 20 conveniently. In the present embodiment, the projections of the first light emitting surface 22, the second light emitting surface 23, and the connecting surface 24 on the plane perpendicular to the optical axis O cooperatively form a circle.
While certain embodiments have been described and exemplified above, various other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing disclosure. The disclosure is not limited to the particular embodiments described and exemplified, and the embodiments are capable of considerable variation and modification without departure from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 099132509 | Sep 2010 | TW | national |
