Lighting unit for vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10180229-B2
Application number	US-201314653089-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2013
Priority date	Dec 17, 2012
Publication date	Jan 15, 2019
Grant date	Jan 15, 2019

Abstract

Provided is a lighting unit for a vehicle capable of implementing surface light emission from a single light emitting surface. The light unit can function to implement a light emitting region in which at least two light colors are displayed or different light colors are implemented, or to locally emitting light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting unit for a vehicle, comprising:
a light source module including a plurality of light emitting elements;
a light guide module adapted to guide light emitted from the light source module and to emit the light;
an optical pattern provided on a top surface of the light guide module, and
a reflection member in contact with the light guide module,
wherein the light source module includes:
a printed circuit board; and
a plurality of light emitting elements provided on the printed circuit board,
wherein the plurality of light emitting elements include a plurality of first light emitting elements that emit light having a first color in a first direction and a plurality of second light emitting elements that emit light having a second color in a second direction opposite to the first direction,
wherein at least one of the plurality of first light emitting elements and at least one of the plurality of second light emitting elements are provided in a line together between a first lateral surface and a second lateral surface of the light guide module, the first lateral surface opposite to the second lateral surface,
wherein the first color is different from the second color,
wherein the light guide module includes a first region and a second region, the first region being an area between the first lateral surface of the light guide module and the plurality of first light emitting elements and the second region being an area between the second lateral surface of the light guide module and the plurality of second light emitting elements,
wherein the light having the first color is emitted through the first region and the light having the second color is emitted through the second region,
wherein the optical pattern is overlapped with the at least one of the plurality of light emitting elements in a vertical direction,
wherein the light guide module has a plurality of grooves concaved from a bottom surface thereof,
wherein each of the plurality of light emitting elements is provided in each of the plurality of grooves,
wherein the light guide module includes a first portion and a second portion in a third direction in which the plurality of light emitting elements are arranged,
wherein the first portion is provided between each of the plurality of grooves and the top surface of the light guide module,
wherein the second portion is provided between the reflection member and the top surface of the light guide module,
wherein a thickness of the first portion is smaller than a thickness of the second portion,
wherein the reflection member is vertically overlapped with an edge region of the optical pattern, and
wherein the third direction is in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction.

2. The lighting unit of claim 1 ,
wherein each of the plurality of first light emitting elements and each of the plurality of second light emitting elements are provided in each of the plurality of grooves, and
wherein at least one of the plurality of first light emitting elements and at least one of the plurality of second light emitting elements are mounted to the printed circuit board to cross each other.

3. The lighting unit of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of grooves is composed of an upper surface of a hole formed in an inner direction of the light guide module, and a lower surface and an inner side of an opening structure, wherein the upper surface and the lower surface have a same width, or a width of the lower surface is formed larger than a width of the upper surface.

4. The lighting unit of claim 3 , wherein at least one curvature part having curvature is formed in an edge part formed by the upper surface and the inner side of each of the plurality of grooves.

5. The lighting unit of claim 4 , wherein the curvature part has a curvature radius (R) corresponding to ½or less of a length of a short side of an upper surface of each of the plurality of grooves.

6. The lighting unit of claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of grooves has a height (Y) corresponding to 1.3 to 1.4 times of a height (y) of each of the plurality of light emitting elements.

7. The lighting unit of claim 6 , wherein each of the plurality of grooves has a width (X) corresponding to 1.1 to 1.2 times of a width (x) of each of the plurality of light emitting elements.

8. The lighting unit of claim 7 , wherein an end of a lower width in an upper edge portion of each of the plurality of grooves has a gradient of 5 to 10°.

9. The lighting unit of claim 7 , wherein a radius of an imaginary circle formed by curvature formed by an outer edge of a side of each of the plurality of grooves is formed in a range corresponding to 1.1x ˜1.4y times based on the width x and the height y of each of the plurality of light emitting elements.

10. The lighting unit of claim 4 , further comprising a diffusion member provided on the top surface of the light guide module.

11. The lighting unit of claim 10 , further comprising a second optical pattern formed on the bottom surface of the light guide module; and
wherein the optical pattern is provided between the top surface of the light guide module and the diffusion member,
wherein a portion of the optical pattern is overlapped with a portion of the second optical pattern in a vertical direction.

12. The lighting unit of claim 4 , wherein the reflection member contacts the bottom surface of the light guide module and lateral surfaces of the printed circuit board,
wherein the reflection member includes a reflection pattern having a reflective ink containing any one of TiO 2 , CaCO 3 , BaSO 4 and Al 2 O 3 .

13. The lighting unit of claim 1 ,
wherein the optical pattern is overlapped with at least one of the plurality grooves, and
wherein a width of the optical pattern is greater than a width of each of the plurality of grooves.

14. The lighting unit of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of grooves are spaced apart from each other by the second portion of the light guide module.

15. The lighting unit of claim 14 , wherein the light guide module is formed of a resin material, and the plurality of light emitting elements and the resin material are directly or indirectly attached.

16. The lighting unit of claim 14 , wherein the first color is a single red color, and the second color is a single amber color.

17. The lighting unit of claim 14 , wherein the optical pattern includes at least one light shielding ink layer printed on the light guide module,
wherein a width of the optical pattern is greater than a width of each of the plurality of grooves, and
wherein the optical pattern is a white-printed ink on a surface of a polymer film.

18. The lighting unit of claim 14 , wherein the optical pattern includes an overlapped structure of a diffusion pattern and a light shielding pattern,
wherein the diffusion pattern is formed on a lower surface of a polymer film in a light emitting direction having a light shielding ink containing at least one material selected from among TiO 2 , CaCO 3 , BaSO 4 , Al 2 O 3 , and the light shielding pattern has a light shielding ink containing Al or a mixture of Al and TiO 2 .

Assignees

• Lg Innotek Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ahn Kyoung Soo
• Lee Jeong Oh

Classifications

• F21S48/2243 Primary

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• G02B6/0073

  Light emitting diode [LED] · CPC title

• G02B6/0051

  Diffusing sheet or layer · CPC title

• F21S43/239 Primary

  plate-shaped · CPC title

• G02B6/0068

  Arrangements of plural sources, e.g. multi-colour light sources · CPC title