This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 096147989 filed in Taiwan, Republic of China on Dec. 14, 2007, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an optical film assembly and, in particular, to an optical film assembly for a direct-type light emitting unit.
2. Related Art
Since the liquid crystal display technology has been developed recently, the conventional CRT displays are gradually replaced by the LCD displays. In the LCD display, the liquid crystal can not emit light by itself, so a backlight module is needed to be the light source.
As shown in
The diffuser B can scatter the light emitted from the light sources S of the backlight module 1, so that the diffuser B can achieve the function of a plane light source. The light sources S have an interval P, and the light source S and the diffuser B have a distance D. In the prior art, the ratio D/P must be larger than or equal to 0.65 so as to form a uniform plane light source without mura by the diffuser B. The definition of the “uniform plane light source” is to satisfy the condition that the ratio of the measured brightness of any point on the light-emitting surface of the diffuser B to the maximum measured brightness of the light-emitting surface of the diffuser B must be larger than or equal to 70%. The light emitted from the diffuser B has larger light shape, so that the optical film assembly 10 is configured on the diffuser B to adjust the light shape of the emitted light.
In general, the optical film assembly 10 includes a prism sheet 11 and diffusion sheets 12 and 12′, and the prism sheet 11 is disposed between the diffusion sheets 12 and 12′. Thus, after passing through the optical film assembly 10, the light from the diffuser B can have a light shape of a concentrated and uniform plane light source. In addition, the design of the backlight module 1 is based on the consideration of obtaining stronger light intensity at the place perpendicular to the light-emitting surface F, so that the gain of the projection point F1 of the light source S, which is projected to the light-emitting surface F of the optical film assembly 10, is greater than 1. The definition of the “gain” is the ratio of the light intensity of the projection point F1 perpendicular to the light-emitting surface with passing through the diffuser B and the optical film assembly 10 to that without passing through the diffuser B and the optical film assembly 10.
Compared to the thinner optical film assembly 10, the diffuser B is thicker (about 1.5 mm to 2.0 mm), so that the material cost thereof is more expensive. In addition, since the thickness of the diffuser B is much larger than that of the optical film assembly 10, more energy loss may occur when the light beam R of the light source S passes through the diffuser B, thereby decreasing the brightness of the backlight module 1. To be noted, the optical film assembly 10 and the diffuser B are not drawn in actual relative proportion, and, in fact, the diffuser B is thicker than the optical film assembly 10. In addition, since the backlight module is developed toward larger size, the requirements of light and thin are desired. In the prior art, the diffuser B is manufactured by injection molding or press molding. However, these methods have the limitation on fluidity (viscosity), so the concentration of the diffusion particles can not be increased continuously. Thus, if it is desired to enhance the scatter effect, the total thickness and weight of the diffuser B must be increased. This will increase the entire thickness of the backlight module 1 and affect the assembling cost and design cost of the LCD device.
Therefore, it is an important subject to provide a light emitting unit and its optical film assembly that can increase the light scatter effect, decrease the thickness and weight, and reduce the cost.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention is to provide a light emitting unit and an optical film assembly thereof that can increase the light scatter effect, decrease the thickness and weight, and reduce the cost.
To achieve the above, the present invention discloses an optical film assembly, which is applied to a light emitting unit. The light emitting unit has at least two light sources emitting light beams respectively. The optical film assembly includes a first prism element and a first diffusion element. The first prism element, which is a sheet thinner than 0.5 mm, has a first substrate and at least one first prism layer disposed on the first substrate. The first diffusion element, which is a sheet thinner than 0.5 mm, is disposed adjacent to the first prism element. The light beams are emitted to the first prism element or the first diffusion element directly. The light sources have a plurality of projection points projected to a light-emitting surface of the optical film assembly, and the gain of each of the projection points is less than 1.
In addition, the present invention also discloses a light emitting unit, which includes at least two light sources and an optical film assembly. The light sources emit light beams respectively, and the light beams are emitted to the optical film assembly directly. The light sources have a plurality of projection points projected to a light-emitting surface of the optical film assembly, and the gain of each projection point is less than 1. The optical film assembly is disposed adjacent to the light sources and includes a first prism element and a first diffusion element. The first prism element, which is a sheet thinner than 0.5 mm, has a first substrate and at least one first prism layer disposed on the first substrate. The first diffusion element, which is a sheet thinner than 0.5 mm, is disposed adjacent to the first prism element.
As mentioned above, in the light emitting unit and optical film assembly of the present invention, the light beams are directly emitted from the light sources to the first prism or diffusion element, which has a thickness of 0.5 mm, so as to make the light beams more uniform. Compared with the prior art, the optical film assembly of the invention, which is used to diffuse the light beams emitted from the light sources and make it more uniform, is much thinner, so that the material cost can be reduced and the energy loss after passing through the sheets can be decreased, thereby increasing the lighting brightness of the light emitting unit.
Moreover, the scatter function of the optical film assembly can be enhanced by the structural change of the optical film assembly. For example, each prism element may include two prism layers, the substrate of the diffusion element may be doped with diffusion materials, the shape of the prism element may be changed, or a second prism sheet and a second diffusion sheet may be added. In the invention, when the ratio of the distance between the light source to the optical film assembly to the interval between the light sources is smaller than 0.65, which means D/P<0.65, the light emitting unit can serve as a plane light source. In addition, each light source has a plurality of projection points projected to the light-emitting surface of the optical film assembly, and the gain of each projection point is less than 1. This means that the optical film assembly can have the light-splitting effect so as to increase the light intensity at the place, which is not in front of the light-emitting surface. Furthermore, the invention can increase the light diffusion effect of the light emitting unit by way of stacking or attaching (roller to roller) a plurality of optical sheets. This can increase the throughput of the product, decrease the material cost, and reduce the weight of the light emitting unit.
The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and accompanying drawings, which are given for illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements.
With reference to
The light source S can be a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL), a hot cathode fluorescent lamp (HCFL), an external electrode fluorescent lamp (EEFL), a light-emitting diode (LED) or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED). In this embodiment, the light source S is a CCFL for example, and the light sources S emit light beams R, respectively.
The optical film assembly 20 is disposed adjacent to the light sources S and includes a first prism element 21 and a diffusion element 22. The light beams R are emitted from the light sources S to the first prism element 21 or the first diffusion element 22 directly. In the following description, the light beams R are emitted to the first prism element 21 for example.
The first prism element 21 can be a sheet thinner than 0.5 mm and have a first substrate 211 and at least one first prism layer 212 disposed on the first substrate 211. In this embodiment, the first prism element 21 has only one first prism layer 212. The first prism element 21 is attached or stacked to the first diffusion element 22 through a surface of the first substrate 211.
The material of the first substrate 211 can be at least one of polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), methylstyrene (MS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The first prism layer 212 can be integrally formed with the first substrate 211 by way of hot rolling or hot pressing. Alternatively, the first prism layer 212 can be made of UV curing resin or thermosetting resin, which is disposed on the first substrate 211 by rolling and then cured by UV light. In addition, the first prism layer 212 includes a plurality of first prisms L1. The shape of the cross-section of the first prism L1 can be selected from the group consisting of arc, semicircle, sector, triangle, polygon, irregular shape and the combination thereof. In the present embodiment, the shape of the cross-section of the first prism L1 is triangle.
The first diffusion element 22 can be a sheet thinner than 0.5 mm and be disposed adjacent to the first prism element 21. The first diffusion element 22 can be formed by press molding, press-spread molding, printing or coating. In the embodiment, the first diffusion element 22 has a first diffusion layer 221 formed on the first substrate 211 of the first prism element 21. The first diffusion layer 221 includes a diffusion material, which includes at least one of TiO2, BaSO4 and organic diffusion particles.
According to the prisms of the first prism layer 212 of the first prism element 21, the peak of the strongest light intensity can be split and then form the image on the first diffusion element 22. Next, the first diffusion layer 221 of the first diffusion element 22 can make the light beams be more uniformly diffused, thereby transforming the line light source of the light beams R emitted from the light sources S into the uniform plane light source. According to the optical film assembly 20 of the embodiment, the plane light source can be provided as the ratio of D/P is less than 0.65, which is smaller than the required ratio of D/P in the prior art, so that the thickness of the light emitting unit 2 can be decreased. Herein, “D” represents the distance between the light source S and the optical film assembly 20, and “P” represents the interval between the light sources S. In addition, each light source S has a plurality of projection points F1 projected to a light-emitting surface F of the optical film assembly 20, and the gain of each projection point F1 is less than 1. Referring to
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
In this embodiment, the first prism element 31 and the first diffusion element 32 can also make the light beams R emitted from the light sources S be diffused more uniformly, so that the light beams R emitted from the light sources S can be transformed from the line light source to the uniform plane light source. In addition, referring to the optical film assembly 30′ shown in
In the first diffusion element 32 of this embodiment, accepting the first diffusion layer 321, the first diffusion substrate 322 can also be doped with the diffusion material to enhance the scatter effect.
With reference to
Since the first prism element 41 includes two prism layers 412 and 413, the scatter effect of the first prism element 41 regarding to the light beams R emitted from the light sources S can be further enhanced.
In addition, similar to the previous embodiment, the first prism element 41 can also be disposed at the other side of the first diffusion element 42, and the first diffusion substrate 422 of the first diffusion element 42 can also be doped with the diffusion material as the first diffusion layer 421 to enhance the scatter effect.
With reference to
The material of the second substrate 531 may be the same as that of the first substrate 511, such as at least one of PS, PC, MS, PMMA and PET. The third prism layer 532 can also be the same as the first prism layer 512, which can be integrally formed with the second substrate 531 by way of hot rolling or hot pressing, or can be made of UV curing resin or thermosetting resin, which is disposed on the second substrate 531 by rolling and then cured by UV light. In addition, the third prism layer 532 includes a plurality of third prisms L3. The shape of the cross-section of the third prism L3 can be selected from the group consisting of arc, semicircle, sector, triangle, polygon, irregular shape and the combination thereof. In the present embodiment, the shape of the cross-section of the third prism L3 is triangle. To be noted, the shape of the third prism L3 may be the same as or different from that of the first prism L1, and the material of the second substrate 531 may be the same as or different from that of the first substrate 511. In the embodiment, the shape of the third prism L3 is the same as that of the first prism L1, and the material of the second substrate 531 is the same as that of the first substrate 511.
In addition,
It is noted that the first prism layer 512 and the third prism layer 532 can be disposed away from the light sources S, and a plurality of air gaps A can be formed as attaching or stacking the prism layers 512 and 532 to the surface of any substrate. In addition, the second prism element 53 may include two prism layers, which have the same or different cross-section shapes as that of the above-mentioned first prism element 41. In the embodiment, the prisms L1 and L3 are, for example, triangles. The various aspects of the structures of the first prism element 51 and the second prism element 53 are described in the previous embodiments, so the detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.
With reference to
In this embodiment, the material of the second diffusion substrate 542 may be the same as that of the first diffusion substrate 522, such as at least one of PS, PC, MS, PMMA and PET. The second diffusion layer 541 includes a diffusion material, which includes at least one of TiO2, BaSO4 and organic diffusion particles. The second diffusion layer 541 is formed on a surface of the second diffusion substrate 542 by printing or coating. To be noted, the second diffusion layer 541 and the first diffusion layer 521 can be made of the same or different materials, and the first diffusion substrate 542 and the second diffusion substrate 522 can also be made of the same or different materials. The structure changes and arrangements of the first prism element 51, the first diffusion element 52, the second prism element 53 and the second diffusion element 54 are not limited to this embodiment, and they can have various aspects according to the previous embodiments.
With reference to
With reference to
To be noted, the arrangement of the first prism element 61, the first diffusion element 62 and the second diffusion element 64 is not limited, and the structure thereof can be changed according to the various aspects in the previous embodiments.
Referring to
The various aspects of the optical film assembly 20 have been described in the above-mentioned embodiments, such as the optical film assembly 30, 30′, 40, 50a, 50b, 50c, 50d, 50e or 60, so the detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.
To sum up, in the light emitting unit and optical film assembly of the present invention, the light beams are directly emitted from the light sources to the first prism or diffusion element, which has a thickness of 0.5 mm, so as to make the light beams more uniform. Compared with the prior art, the optical film assembly of the invention, which is used to diffuse the light beams emitted from the light sources and make it more uniform, is much thinner, so that the material cost can be reduced and the energy loss after passing through the sheets can be decreased, thereby increasing the lighting brightness of the light emitting unit.
Moreover, the scatter function of the optical film assembly can be enhanced by the structural change of the optical film assembly. For example, each prism element may include two prism layers, the substrate of the diffusion element may be doped with diffusion materials, the shape of the prism element may be changed, or a second prism sheet and a second diffusion sheet may be added. In the invention, when the ratio of the distance between the light source to the optical film assembly to the interval between the light sources is smaller than 0.65, which means D/P<0.65, the light emitting unit can serve as a plane light source. In addition, each light source has a plurality of projection points projected to the light-emitting surface of the optical film assembly, and the gain of each projection point is less than 1. This means that the optical film assembly can have the light-splitting effect so as to increase the light intensity at the place, which is not in front of the light-emitting surface. Furthermore, the invention can increase the light diffusion effect of the light emitting unit by way of stacking or attaching (roller to roller) a plurality of optical sheets. This can increase the throughput of the product, decrease the material cost, and reduce the weight of the light emitting unit.
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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096147989 | Dec 2007 | TW | national |