Woven fabric

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11268218-B2
Application number	US-201816222987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2018
Priority date	Dec 19, 2017
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

A woven fabric including: a first region where a first fiber as an optical fiber is woven with a second fiber as a non-optical fiber; a second region adjacent to the first region, in which the first fiber is not woven; and a third region adjacent to the second region, in which the first fiber is connected to a light source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A woven fabric that are woven with wefts extending in a longitudinal direction and warps extending in a lateral direction, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and having front and back surfaces in a thick direction, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal and lateral directions, comprising:
a first area where a plurality of first fibers, which are the wefts and optical fibers to illuminate through their outer circumference, are woven with a plurality of second fibers, which are the warps and not optical fibers;
a second area, which is adjacent to the first area in the longitudinal direction, where the first fibers extends from the first area through the second area such that the first fibers are not woven with the second fibers and other fibers that are not the first fibers or the second fibers are disposed on the back surface of the second area; and
a third area, which is adjacent to the second area in the longitudinal direction, where light sources to emit lights are disposed such that the first, second and third areas are aligned in this order in the longitudinal direction and the light sources are connected to the first fibers and arranged to emit the lights in the longitudinal direction, wherein
the light sources are grouped into three types, each of which emits a different color, wherein a red type of the light sources emits red light, a yellow type of the light sources emits yellow light and a blue type of the light sources emits blue light,
among the first fibers, some of the first fibers that are connected to the red type of the light sources are defined as red fibers, some of the first fibers that are connected to the yellow type of the light sources are defined as yellow fibers, and some of the first fibers that are connected to the blue type of the light sources are defined as blue fibers,
the second area is formed with four layers accumulated in the thickness direction, each of the four layers being made by weaving the second fibers and the other fibers such that three horizontal gaps, which expand in the longitudinal and lateral directions, are formed between two of the four layers that are adjacent, the horizontal gaps being defined as a top gap, a middle gap and a bottom gap in this order from the front surface to the back surface,
each one of the top gap, the middle gap and the bottom gap contains only one of the red fibers, the yellow fibers and the blue fibers.

2. The woven fabric according to claim 1 , wherein
in the first area, two of the second fibers, which are adjacent, intersect with one of the first fibers and then positions of both of the second fibers are switched in a leno weave.

3. The woven fabric according to claim 1 , wherein
the first area has two layers in the thick direction that are a first layer facing the front surface and a second layer facing the back surface,
the other fibers are wefts and extends over the first and second areas,
in the first layer, the first fibers and third fibers are woven with the second fibers,
in the second layer, the first fibers are not woven with the second fibers, and the other fibers are woven with the second fibers,
the woven fabric further comprises a fixing area in which the first fibers and the other fibers are woven with the second fibers.

4. The woven fabric according to claim 3 , wherein
in the fixing area, a weaving pattern is repeated in which one of the first fibers is located on rear portions of three of the second fibers and is located on a front portion of one of the second fibers wherein the rear portions of the second fibers face the back surface of the woven fabric and the front portion of the second fibers faces the front surface of the woven fabric.

5. The woven fabric according to claim 3 , wherein
in fixing area, a weaving pattern is repeated in which one of the first fibers is located on front portions of 12 or 13 of the second fibers, and is located on a rear portion of one of the second fibers wherein the front portions of the second fibers face the front surface of the woven fabric and the rear portion of the second fibers faces the back surface of the woven fabric.

6. The woven fabric according to claim 1 , wherein
a tenth area is located within the first area, and
in the then area, the first fibers are not woven with any fibers.

7. The woven fabric according to claim 1 , wherein
the other fibers, which are disposed on the back surface of the second area, are wefts and extend over the first regions from the second area.

Assignees

• Daiki Kk

Inventors

• Yamamoto Takayoshi
• Ikeda Junnji
• Yamada Takamasa
• Sakoh Mitsutaka

Classifications

• D03D15/547 Primary

  with optical functions other than colour, e.g. comprising light-emitting fibres · CPC title

• B32B2551/00

  Optical elements · CPC title

• D03D25/00

  Woven fabrics not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• D03D11/02

  Fabrics formed with pockets, tubes, loops, folds, tucks or flaps (fabrics consisting of a single tube D03D3/02) · CPC title

• D03D1/0088

  Fabrics having an electronic function · CPC title