1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting device as well as to a lens used in the light-emitting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to cause a side surface of a rod-shaped element formed from a transparent resin, and the like, to illuminate, a light-emitting device configured so as to introduce light from an LED lamp serving as an LED light source to an end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element has already been put forward (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
Since the end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element has a small area, light from an LED chip must be converged to the end face in order to sufficiently introduce light into the rod-shaped light-emitting element. For this reason, in Patent Document 1, an LED lamp is placed in a case-shaped joined element, and light from the LED lamp is converged to an end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element by utilization of a reflection surface of the interior surface of the joined element.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2005-29030
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2006-13087
An invention described in Patent Document 1 is on the premise that a plurality of LED lamps are arranged with respect to an end face of a rod-shaped light-emitting element (see FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1, and the like). The reason for this is that a sufficient quantity of light is ensured and that the light is supplied to a peripheral surface of the rod-shaped light-emitting element, thereby reliably illuminating the peripheral surface.
From the viewpoint of a reduction in the number of components, realizing an LED lamp as a single component has been requested. The present inventors have conducted a study to meet such a request and found the following problem.
Specifically, in a single LED lamp, the centerline of the LED lamp is aligned to the centerline of the rod-shaped light-emitting element in order to uniformly supply light to the end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element. In order to converge light from the LED lamp and reliably irradiate the end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element with the light, a lens must be interposed between the LED lamp and the rod-shaped light-emitting element.
When a common condensing lens is used, light from the LED lamp can be reliably converged to an end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element. However, light in proximity to the centerline of the LED lamp becomes substantially parallel to the centerline. Accordingly, light still remains substantially parallel to the centerline even in a rod-shaped light-emitting element and hardly goes out of a side surface (a light-emitting face) of the rod-shaped light-emitting element.
The present invention has been conceived to solve the problem and defined as follows:
A light-emitting device having a rod-shaped light-emitting element, an LED light source, and a lens for converging light from the LED light source to an end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element, wherein
the lens has a scattering area around a centerline of an extremity of the lens, and a scattering area scatters light in proximity to the centerline, to thus irradiate an inner peripheral surface of the rod-shaped light-emitting element with the light.
In the first curved surface of the thus-defined invention, the scattering area forcefully refracts light around the centerline of the lens, whereupon the light is radiated so as to become distant from the centerline. As a consequence, the light is also radiated onto the internal peripheral surface of the rod-shaped light-emitting element while deviating from the center of the rod-shaped light-emitting element. Thus, the light undergoes multiple refraction within the rod-shaped light-emitting element, so that brightness of a circumferential wall of the rod-shaped light-emitting element is increased.
In a second phase of the present invention, the geometry of the scattering area is defined as follows. Specifically, the scattering area has a curved surface formed such that the light passed through a refraction plane of the scattering area, to thus be refracted toward the centerline, and that the light passes through a point in the centerline that becomes further distant from the extremity of the lens according as a point on the refraction plane passed by the light becomes further distant from the centerline in a radial direction.
In the thus-defined second phase of the invention, the light close to the centerline is greatly refracted, to thus pass through a point in the centerline (an extension) located immediately before the lens. The thus-refracted light is radiated on an inner peripheral surface close to the end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element; hence, the light greatly contributes to illumination of the peripheral surface of the rod-shaped light-emitting element.
Providing only the extremity of the lens with a curved surface differing from that imparted to the other area of the lens during manufacture of the lens imposes a heavy burden on manufacturing processes. Therefore, it is desirable to produce the entirety of the lens as defined by third to fifth aspects of the invention. Specifically, the lens is formed such that the light passed through a refraction plane of the lens, to thus be refracted toward a centerline, and that the light passes through a point in the centerline that becomes further distant from the extremity of the lens according as a point on the refraction plane passed by the light becomes further distant from the centerline in a radial direction.
A convex area or a concave area can also be provided in the extremity of the lens in order to scatter light in proximity to the centerline of the lens. The light passed through the convex area or the concave area undergoes refraction on the refraction plane of the lens, so as not to indiscriminately travel in substantially parallel to the centerline. Consequently, the light reaches a point on the internal peripheral surface close to the end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element and iteratively undergoes reflection within the rod-shaped light-emitting element, thereby illuminating the circumferential wall of the rod-shaped light-emitting element more brightly.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described hereunder.
The rod-shaped light-emitting element 3 is made from an optically transparent resin material (acryl, and the like). The length and diameter of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3 are arbitrarily selected according to an application. It is preferable that a scattering agent be dispersed such that light is uniformly emitted from the side surface of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3. Moreover, in order to cause a leading-end side (an end apart from a light inlet surface) to sufficiently illuminate, light must be reflected within the rod-shaped light-emitting element. Accordingly, it is preferable that the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3 be provided with a two-layer structure consisting of a core for guiding light and a clad for scattering and emitting light.
The LED lamp 10 is used as the light source. The LED lamp has various advantages, such as compactness, low drive power, a low heating value, and long life. No specific limitations are imposed on the type of an LED lamp, and various types of LED lamps, such as a shell-type (lens-type) LED lamp, a surface-mount (SMD)-type LED lamp, and a chip-on-board (COB)-type LED lamp, can be used.
In the present embodiment, the number of LED lamp used is one, and the centerline of the LED lamp is aligned to the centerline of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3. A plurality of LED chips can be accommodated in the LED lamp. The color and output of the LED lamp can be arbitrarily selected according to the use and objective of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3.
The lens 20 is interposed between the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3 and the LED lamp 10, and collects light from the LED lamp 10 and guides the thus-collected light to an end face of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3. The centerline of the lens 20 coincides with the centerline of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3 (the center of the end face 4) and the centerline of the LED lamp 10. The structure of the lens 20 will be described in detail later.
As can be seen in a perspective view shown in
Since the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3 formed from resin greatly expands and contracts in its axial direction in accordance with changes in ambient temperature. Therefore, in order to prevent exertion of unnecessary stress between the casing 30 and the lens support 31, it is desirable to impel the casing 30 in the axial direction of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3 by means of a compression coil spring 50, to thus cause the casing to follow contraction and expansion of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3. Accordingly, it is preferable to align the centerline of the compression coil spring 50 to an extension of the centerline of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3.
The lens support 31 is made movable with respect to the lamp support 41 along the direction of the centerline of the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3, and a compression coil spring may also be interposed between the lamp support 41 and the lens support 31.
The lamp support 41 has a portion 43 for holding the LED lamp 10 and a connector 45.
The lens support 31 and the lamp support 41 are separate resin components and respectively formed by means of injection. Embodying the lens support and the lamp support separately from each other makes it easy to hold the lens 20, and assembly of the respective support sections is facilitated. The lens support 31 and the lamp support 41 can be integrally formed.
The above embodiment describes a structure in which the lens support 31 for supporting the characteristic lens 20 is attached to the general-purpose lamp support 41.
It may also be possible to omit the lens 20 and impart following characteristics of the lens 20 to a lens portion itself of the LED lamp 10. In this case, the lens support becomes a cylindrical member that solely supports the rod-shaped light-emitting element 3. In such an LED lamp, an LED chip serving as the LED light source is positioned on the centerline of the lens portion.
As is evident from
In the meantime, as shown in
In the embodiment shown in
A curved surface of the lens shown in
As shown in
θ1+θ2=θ3−θ4
n2*sin θ2=n3*sin θ3 . . . Snell's law
The geometry (points) of the lens is computed by repetition of operations (1) and (2). Points determined through computation are subjected to fitting, to thus determine the final geometry.
As a consequence, the geometry of the refraction plane of the lens 20 shown in
y=−0.0072x4+0.0212x3−0.1637x2−0.4086x+5.2822
The geometry of the refraction plane of the lens 23 shown in
Y=−0.0068x4+0.0185x3−0.151x2−0.5224x+5.6088
The entire refraction surfaces of the lenses 20 and 23 of the present embodiment are produced in accordance with the same design philosophy. However, the design philosophy may be applied solely to an area around the centerline of the lens (i.e., the extremity), and the other area of the lens may also be embodied as an ordinary lens refraction plane shown in
A lens 120 of the present embodiment has a hemispherical protrusion 121 at its extremity. Light in proximity to the centerline is scattered by the protrusion 121, thereby increasing an angle that the scattered light forms with the centerline. Thus, the light in proximity to the centerline is also reliably radiated onto the inner peripheral surface of the rod-shaped light-emitting element.
The present invention is not limited to the descriptions about the mode of implementation of the present invention and the embodiment of the present invention. The present invention encompasses various modifications without departing from descriptions provided in claims and within a range where those who are versed in the art can readily conceive the invention. All contents of a thesis, a Laid-Open Patent Publication, and a Patent Gazette, all of which are exemplified in the specification, are cited by reference.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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P.2008-087600 | Mar 2008 | JP | national |