Quartz fiber-based light guide material for automobile atmosphere lamp assembly

Abstract

The invention discloses a silica fiber-based light guide material for an automobile atmosphere lamp assembly. The silica fiber-based light guide material comprises a high-purity silicon dioxide base; the thickness of the optical fiber layer ranges from 73 micrometers to 75 micrometers, the optical fiber layer is arranged in the high-purity silicon dioxide base, the optical fiber layer comprises a core layer n1, an outer cladding layer n2 and a high refraction layer n3, the core layer with the large core diameter is adopted, it is guaranteed that light is input as much as possible, the light is totally reflected in the core layer, 360-degree scattering light emitting is conducted through refraction materials, and the atmosphere light emitting effect is achieved; the refractive index is as follows: the high refractive index layer n3 is greater than the core layer n1, and the core layer n1 is greater than the outer cladding layer n2; a scattering body is used as a tiny structure in the optical fiber, and an additional scattering center is introduced; when light is transmitted in the optical fiber, the scatterer enables the light to deviate, so that the scattering probability of the light in the optical fiber is increased; the refractive index of the scatterer is different from the refractive index of the optical fiber matrix; when light encounters the scatterers, due to the sudden change of the refractive index, the light is refracted and scattered, and the propagation direction of the light is changed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of light-guiding materials, and in particular relates to a light-guiding material for an automobile atmosphere lamp assembly based on quartz optical fiber. Background Art

[0002] According to their texture, the light guide strips for the car interior ambient light are divided into two types: flexible and hard. The flexible light guide strips are relatively soft and can be bent. The advantages of flexible light guides are that they emit light all over, can be bent and deformed, and are easy to install; the disadvantages are that the luminous intensity decreases exponentially with the increase in length. In addition, the cost of flexible light guides is higher than that of hard light guides. Hard light guide strips are relatively hard and cannot be bent. They are generally formed by injection molding or extrusion. The materials are mainly transparent materials such as PMMA, PC, PS, etc. The advantage is that the light is brighter than soft light guide strips and the price is cheaper; the disadvantage is that there is no uniform light emission as with flexible light guide strips, and the temperature resistance is lower than that of flexible light guides. Flexible light guides are divided into three categories: polymer side-emitting optical fibers, glass side-emitting optical fibers, and quartz side-emitting optical fibers. The core materials of polymer side-emitting optical fibers are acrylic resin, PMMA, PU, ​​etc.; the core and skin materials of glass side-emitting optical fibers are both optical glass, and the side-emitting optical fibers for ambient lights are made by integrating multiple-core glass optical fibers into a bundle; the core material of quartz side-emitting optical fibers is pure quartz glass, and the skin material is polymer material; side-emitting optical fibers made of different materials have different production processes, performance characteristics, and uses. They do not meet the latest EU standards for PFAS, and 3M and Japan's Kurabe have left the automotive interior market.

[0003] The advantage of plastic light guides is low cost, and the disadvantages of manufacturers include:

[0004] ① Poor aging resistance. The high-temperature aging of general polymer optical waveguides can only reach 90°. The material loss is large after high and low temperatures, and it is easy to expand and contract with heat, which will change the optical structure. The optical effect deteriorates with aging.

[0005] ② The bendability is poor. Generally, the bending radius must reach 10 times the outer diameter of the light guide to effectively ensure uniformity. In addition, POE light guides are prone to produce bright spots when bent, and PMMA light guides are prone to produce dark areas when bent, which are almost impossible to effectively avoid in actual mass production projects.

[0006] ③The light decay is relatively large, with a 1 / 2 light decay radius of about 300mm. PMMA needs to be designed with an optical ruler to ensure uniformity of optical effects.

[0007] ④ The color temperature drift is large, basically greater than 250k / m and easy to detect.

[0008] ⑤PMMA light guides require mold opening costs and a long preparation period.

[0009] ⑥ 3M and Japan's Kurabe have left the automotive interior market due to failure to meet the latest EU standards for PFAS;

[0010] In summary, although polymer light guide products have low costs and many domestic companies have developed beneficial flexible injection molded light guide products, the polymer is modified by adding fluorine or fluoride during the production and processing process, which causes harm to the human body. Therefore, the future development prospects are limited and may even withdraw from the atmosphere light market. Therefore, future light guide products, especially high-end light guide products, mainly rely on two series of glass fiber light guides and quartz fiber light guides. There are also some problems that restrict the development of the industry for domestic and foreign companies in this field:

[0011] ① Internationally, there are relatively few companies that have industrialized glass fiber optical waveguides, including silica fiber optical waveguides, and not many companies have been able to achieve industrialization in this field. Summary of the invention

[0012] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a light-guiding material for an automotive ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber, and to achieve side-emitting optical fiber preparation with no or few scattering centers by optimizing the material composition and microstructure of the optical fiber core layer, so as to solve the problems proposed in the above-mentioned background technology that polymer light-guiding products are modified by adding fluorine or fluoride during the production and processing process, causing harm to the human body, and that glass optical fiber light-guiding materials are greatly limited and cannot be industrialized.

[0013] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides the following technical solutions: a light-guiding material for a car atmosphere light assembly based on quartz optical fiber, comprising a high-purity silica base; and an optical fiber layer, with a thickness between 73um and 75um, arranged in the high-purity silica base, the optical fiber layer comprising a core layer n1, an outer cladding layer n2, and a high-refractive layer n3, using a large core diameter core layer to ensure that as much light as possible is input, the light is totally reflected in the core layer, and 360° scattered light is emitted through the refractive material to achieve an atmosphere luminous effect, wherein the refractive index is: high-refractive layer n3>core layer n1, core layer n1>outer cladding layer n2.

[0014] As a preferred technical solution in the present invention, the diameter of the core layer n1 is 70 um, and the thickness of the outer cladding layer n2 is 2 um.

[0015] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, in the optical fiber layer, the refractive material is a scatterer, which is built into the core layer n1, the outer cladding layer n2 and the high refractive layer n3 to increase the scattering probability of light in the optical fiber.

[0016] As a preferred technical solution in the present invention, the refractive index of the scatterer is different from the refractive index of the optical fiber matrix. Therefore, when the light encounters the scatterer, the refractive index changes, and the optical fiber will also refract and scatter, changing the propagation direction. At the same time, the existence of the scatterer makes the propagation path of the light in the optical fiber more complicated, thereby enhancing the scattering effect of the light.

[0017] As a preferred technical solution in the present invention, the heat sink is precisely manufactured into a scatterer inside the optical fiber layer by laser etching, electron beam etching or ion beam etching. The density and arrangement of the scatterer can be reasonably adjusted through the above equipment to achieve the uniformity and intensity of the side light emission.

[0018] As a preferred technical solution in the present invention, the position of the scatterer in the optical fiber layer is determined by optical coherence tomography or digital holography to monitor the light field distribution inside the optical fiber in real time. According to the monitoring results, the position and density of the scatterer are precisely adjusted to achieve the best scattering effect.

[0019] As a preferred technical solution in the present invention, during the preparation of the scatterer, intelligent algorithms are used to optimize the distribution of the scatterer. These algorithms can automatically adjust the parameters of the scatterer according to preset scattering targets, thereby finding the best distribution solution.

[0020] As a preferred technical solution in the present invention, the intelligent algorithm includes a genetic algorithm and a particle swarm optimization algorithm.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0022] 1. Introducing scattering centers: Scatterers, as tiny structures in optical fibers, introduce additional scattering centers. When light propagates in optical fibers, these scatterers deviate the light and increase the probability of light scattering in the optical fiber.

[0023] 2. Change of refractive index: The refractive index of the scatterer is different from that of the fiber matrix; when light encounters these scatterers, due to the sudden change of the refractive index, the light will be refracted and scattered, thereby changing its propagation direction;

[0024] 3. Increase the complexity of the light path: The presence of scatterers makes the propagation path of light in the optical fiber more complicated; this complexity increases the chances of interaction between light and scatterers, thereby enhancing the scattering effect of light;

[0025] 4. Optimize scatterer distribution: By precisely controlling the size, shape and distribution of scatterers, the scattering effect of light can be further optimized;

[0026] In summary, scatterers work together to enhance the scattering effect of light in side-emitting silica optical fibers by introducing scattering centers, changing the refractive index, increasing the complexity of the light path, and optimizing the distribution of scatterers. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The following will be combined with the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0028] The present invention provides a technical solution: a light-guiding material for an automotive atmosphere light assembly based on quartz optical fiber, comprising

[0029] High purity silica based; and

[0030] The optical fiber layer has a thickness between 73um and 75um and is arranged in a high-purity silica base. The optical fiber layer includes a core layer n1, an outer cladding layer n2, and a high-refractive layer n3. A large-core-diameter core layer is used to ensure that as much light as possible is input. The light is totally reflected in the core layer and 360° scattered light is emitted through the refractive material to achieve an ambient light effect. The refractive index is: high-refractive layer n3>core layer n1, core layer n1>outer cladding layer n2.

[0031] In this embodiment, the diameter of the core layer n1 is 70 um, and the thickness of the outer cladding layer n2 is 2 um.

[0032] In this embodiment, in the optical fiber layer, the refractive material is a scatterer, which is built into the core layer n1, the outer cladding layer n2 and the high refractive layer n3, and is used to increase the scattering probability of light in the optical fiber.

[0033] In this embodiment, the refractive index of the scatterer is different from the refractive index of the optical fiber matrix. Therefore, when the light encounters the scatterer, the refractive index changes, and the optical fiber will also refract and scatter, changing the propagation direction. At the same time, the existence of the scatterer makes the propagation path of the light in the optical fiber more complicated, enhancing the scattering effect of the light.

[0034] In this embodiment, the heat sink is precisely manufactured as a scatterer inside the optical fiber layer by laser etching, electron beam etching or ion beam etching. The density and arrangement of the scatterers can be reasonably adjusted by the above equipment to achieve uniformity and intensity of side light emission.

[0035] In this embodiment, the position of the scatterer in the optical fiber layer is determined by optical coherence tomography or digital holography to monitor the light field distribution inside the optical fiber in real time. Based on the monitoring results, the position and density of the scatterer are precisely adjusted to achieve the best scattering effect.

[0036] In this embodiment, during the preparation of the scatterers, intelligent algorithms are used to optimize the distribution of the scatterers. These algorithms can automatically adjust the parameters of the scatterers according to preset scattering targets, thereby finding the best distribution solution.

[0037] In this embodiment, the intelligent algorithm includes a genetic algorithm and a particle swarm optimization algorithm.

[0038] Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described (see the above detailed description for details), it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A light-guiding material for an automotive ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber, characterized in that: including a high purity silica base; and The optical fiber layer, with a thickness between 73um and 75um, is arranged in a high-purity silica base. The optical fiber layer includes a core layer n1, an outer cladding layer n2, and a high-refractive layer n3. The light is totally reflected in the core layer, and 360° scattered light is emitted through the refractive material to achieve an ambient light effect, wherein the refractive index is: high-refractive layer n3>core layer n1, core layer n1>outer cladding layer n2.

2. The light-guiding material for automobile ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber according to claim 1, characterized in that: The diameter of the core layer n1 is 70 um, and the thickness of the outer cladding layer n2 is 2 um.

3. The light-guiding material for automobile ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the optical fiber layer, the refractive material is a scatterer, which is built into the core layer n1, the outer cladding layer n2 and the high refractive layer n3, and is used to increase the scattering probability of light in the optical fiber.

4. The light-guiding material for automobile ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber according to claim 3, characterized in that: The refractive index of the scatterer is different from the refractive index of the optical fiber matrix.

5. The light-guiding material for automobile ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber according to claim 4, characterized in that: The heat sink is precisely manufactured as a scatterer inside the optical fiber layer by laser etching, electron beam etching or ion beam etching.

6. The light-guiding material for automobile ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber according to claim 5, characterized in that: The position of the scatterer in the optical fiber layer is determined by optical coherence tomography or digital holography to monitor the light field distribution inside the optical fiber in real time. According to the monitoring results, the position and density of the scatterer are precisely adjusted to achieve the best scattering effect.

7. The light-guiding material for automobile ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber according to claim 5, characterized in that: During the preparation of the scatterer, an intelligent algorithm is used to optimize the distribution of the scatterer.

8. The light-guiding material for automobile ambient light assembly based on quartz optical fiber according to claim 7, characterized in that: The intelligent algorithms include genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization algorithms.