Light guide element and USB interface light emitting structure thereof

Abstract

The application discloses a light guide element and a USB interface light emitting structure thereof. The light guide element comprises a light guide element body and a plurality of light guide rings. The light guide element body is connected with the plurality of light guide rings respectively, and is used for guiding incident light beams emitted by a single light source into the plurality of light guide rings respectively. Front end faces and rear end faces of the light guide rings are light emitting faces and patterned faces respectively. The application has high light utilization efficiency, good light emitting uniformity and high light emitting efficiency.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to a light emitting structure of a USB interface. BACKGROUND

[0002] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an overall structure of a prior art vehicle-mounted USB interface device is shown in Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a light emitting structure of a prior art vehicle-mounted USB interface is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 . Figure 1 The prior art vehicle-mounted USB interface device shown comprises a housing 90, two LED light sources 91, two light guide elements 92, a USB interface 93 and a PCB board 94. The housing 90 is provided with a USB port for exposing the USB interface 93. The LED light sources 91 and the USB interface 93 are both arranged on the same PCB board 94. The two LED light sources 91 and the two light guide elements 92 together form a light emitting structure of the vehicle-mounted USB interface. In operation, the direct light emitted by the two LED light sources 91 is respectively incident into the two light guide elements 92 made of diffuse light guide material, and the light is transmitted by the light guide elements 92 to the light emitting surface 921 located at the periphery of the USB interface 93, so as to achieve the lighting effect and light up the surrounding boundary of the USB port.

[0003] The prior art vehicle-mounted USB interface light emitting structure requires a large number of LEDs, has poor light emitting uniformity, and has very low efficiency. The light emitting structure shown in Figure 2 The light emitting structure of the USB interface shown in lighting a USB port requires two LEDs to be placed on the upper side and the lower side of the USB port. For a USB product having two USB ports, four LEDs are required to achieve uniform lighting effect. SUMMARY

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present application is to provide a light guide element and a USB interface light emitting structure thereof, which have high light utilization efficiency, good light emitting uniformity and high light emitting efficiency.

[0005] According to an aspect of the present application, a light guide element is provided, which comprises a light guide element body and a plurality of light guide rings; the light guide element body is connected with the plurality of light guide rings respectively, and is used for guiding incident light beams emitted by a single light source into the plurality of light guide rings respectively; the front end face and the rear end face of each light guide ring are an outlight face and a patterned face respectively.

[0006] Further, the light guide element body comprises an incident light face and a total reflection face; the incident light face is used for receiving the incident light beams emitted by the light source, and the total reflection face is a reflection curved surface with the center of the light source as a focal point, and the total reflection face is used for reflecting at least part of the incident light beams incident into the light guide element body via the incident light face in a total reflection manner.

[0007] According to another aspect of the present application, there is also provided a USB interface light-emitting structure, which comprises a single light source and the light guide element as described above; the plurality of light guide rings of the light guide element are arranged to surround the plurality of USB interfaces one by one.

[0008] By using the above technical solution, the present application has at least the following advantages and features:

[0009] 1. The present application realizes the lighting of multiple USB interfaces by a single light source, greatly improving the light utilization efficiency;

[0010] 2. The pattern surface of the light guide ring can reflect light to the light emitting surface, ensuring the light emitting direction, not only improving the light emitting efficiency, but also making the emitted light more uniform;

[0011] 3. By using the total reflection optical form, light can be collected and conducted to the light emitting position, improving the light emitting efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 Fig. 1 shows the overall structure of a prior art vehicle-mounted USB interface device.

[0013] Figure 2 Fig. 2 shows the light-emitting structure of a prior art vehicle-mounted USB interface.

[0014] Figure 3 Fig. 3 shows the light-emitting structure of a USB interface according to the first embodiment of the present application.

[0015] Figure 4 Fig. 4 shows the structure of the light guide element according to the first embodiment of the present application.

[0016] Figure 5 Fig. 5 shows the light path of the light guide element according to the first embodiment of the present application.

[0017] Figure 6 Fig. 6 shows the light path of the total reflection structure of the light guide element according to the first embodiment of the present application, wherein the total reflection structure comprises a spherical groove.

[0018] Figure 7 Fig. 7 shows the light path of the total reflection structure of the light guide element according to the second embodiment of the present application, wherein the total reflection structure does not comprise a spherical groove.

[0019] Figure 8 Fig. 8 shows the light-emitting structure of a USB interface according to the third embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0021] Please refer to Figures 3 to 6 The USB interface light-emitting structure according to the first embodiment of the present application comprises a light source 1 and a light guide element 2.

[0022] In this embodiment, the number of the light source 1 is one, and the light source 1 is an LED light source.

[0023] The light guide element 2 comprises a light guide element body 2a and a plurality of light guide rings 2b. The light guide element body 2a is connected with the plurality of light guide rings 2b respectively, and is used for guiding the incident light beams emitted by the light source 1 into the plurality of light guide rings 2b respectively. The plurality of light guide rings 2b are used for surrounding the plurality of USB interfaces respectively in one-to-one correspondence.

[0024] The light guide element 2 can be a component shaped by a high-molecular polymer, or can be a component shaped by optical glass. Preferably, the material of the light guide element body 2a is transparent material, and the material of each light guide ring 2b is diffuse material. In this embodiment, the light guide element body 2a is PC transparent material, and the material of each light guide ring 2b is PC diffuse material. The light guide element body 2a and the plurality of light guide rings 2b are integrally formed by two-color injection molding.

[0025] In this embodiment, the shape of each light guide ring 2b is a round-rectangular ring. This shape can improve the aesthetic appearance, and can further reduce the loss of light propagation, and improve the light-emitting efficiency. The shape of the light guide ring 2b can be adjusted according to actual requirements, and is not limited to a round-rectangular ring, but can also be a circular ring, a square ring, or other irregularly-shaped ring.

[0026] The front end face 201 and the rear end face 202 of each light guide ring 2b are respectively a light-emitting face and a patterned face. The patterned face is used for reflecting at least part of the light entering the light guide ring 2b to the light-emitting face. The pattern is arranged on the rear end face opposite to the light-emitting face, so that the main illumination direction of the light can be adjusted, and most of the light is illuminated along the direction of the light-emitting face. Compared with arranging the pattern on the side face perpendicular to the light-emitting face, the light-emitting efficiency can be improved by about 50% under the same conditions. In addition, since the rear end face 202 is a plane, it is easier to process the pattern on the plane, and the processing cost is lower.

[0027] The pattern of the patterned face is mainly used for changing the light-emitting direction. In this embodiment, the pattern of the patterned face is a dot-matrix pattern. The dot-matrix pattern has the advantages of uniform light-emitting, easy processing, and low cost. In other embodiments, the dot-matrix pattern can be replaced by other forms of micro-patterns.

[0028] In the example shown in the figure, the number of light guide rings 2b is two, and the light guide element body 2a comprises a light guide base 21 and two light guide columns 22. The bottom ends of the two light guide columns 22 are connected to the light guide base 21 respectively, and the two light guide rings 2b are connected to the top ends of the two light guide columns 22 respectively.

[0029] The light guide base 21 comprises a total reflection structure, a first V-shaped reflection surface 213, a first reflection surface 214 and a second reflection surface 215. The total reflection structure is used to totally reflect at least part of the incident light beam entering the light guide base 21 from the light source 1 to form parallel light 3a, and reflect the parallel light 3a to the first V-shaped reflection surface 213. The first V-shaped reflection surface 213 is used to reflect the parallel light 3a from the total reflection structure to two sides respectively, forming first parallel light 3b and second parallel light 3c with opposite propagation directions. The first reflection surface 214 and the second reflection surface 215 are respectively located on the two sides of the first V-shaped reflection surface 213, and are used to reflect the first parallel light 3b and the second parallel light 3c into the two light guide columns 22 respectively. The two light guide columns 22 are used to conduct the first parallel light 3b and the second parallel light 3c to the two light guide rings 2b respectively.

[0030] Preferably, a V-shaped groove 216 is arranged at the intersection of each light guide ring 2b and the light guide element body 2a, and the two sides of the V-shaped groove 216 constitute a second V-shaped reflection surface. The light rays entering from the light guide column 22 of the light guide element body 2a are reflected to two sides respectively, forming two parallel lights entering the light guide ring 2b respectively. The light enters the light guide ring in the form of parallel light, the path is single, and the loss of light propagation is reduced. Since each parallel light only needs to propagate in half the circumference of the light guide ring 2b, the length of the propagation path is reduced, and the uniformity of the light output is improved.

[0031] Each light guide ring 2b changes the light output direction through the dot matrix pattern, and irradiates the light to the USB port provided on the shell for exposing the USB interface, so as to achieve the lighting effect.

[0032] In the first embodiment, the total reflection structure comprises a total reflection surface 211 and a spherical groove 212 arranged on the light entrance surface 210 of the light guide base 21. The total reflection surface 211 is a reflection curved surface with the center of the light source 1 as the focal point, the spherical groove 212 is lower than the center of the light source 1 and has the center of the light source 1 as the spherical center, and the depth H of the spherical groove 212 needs to satisfy 0

[0033] Please refer to Figure 6The spherical groove 212 makes the incident light beam emitted by the light source 1 enter the light guide element body 2a along the normal direction of the bottom surface of the spherical groove, and is partially incident to the reflection curved surface 211. Since the center of the spherical groove 212 is the center of the light source 1, the light ray does not refract after passing through the spherical groove 212, and at this time, the light ray reaching the reflection curved surface 211 is still a straight light ray equivalent to that emitted from the light source 1, and the focal point of the reflection curved surface 211 is the center of the light source 1, so the light ray emitted after being reflected by the reflection curved surface 211 is parallel light, which is consistent with the path direction.

[0034] By setting the spherical groove and the total reflection surface to form the parallel light, the light ray is continuously reflected as the parallel light at the first V-shaped reflection surface, the first reflection surface and the second reflection surface, the second V-shaped reflection surface, the back surface of the light exit surface of the light guide ring is set with the dot pattern, and the light guide ring is set as a circular rectangular structure, so that the LED power only needs to be 1 / 8 of the LED power of the conventional scheme introduced in the background art section of the specification, and the same brightness requirement can be achieved, which is about 32 times higher in efficiency, greatly improves the utilization of light, and the overall uniformity can reach more than 90%, which is more suitable for new energy vehicles sensitive to energy consumption.

[0035] In the first embodiment, the light guide base 21 is in a T shape, and the T-shaped light guide base 21 includes a vertical edge portion 21a and a horizontal edge portion 21b. The total reflection structure is arranged at one end of the vertical edge portion 21a, and the other end of the vertical edge portion 21a is connected to the first side of the horizontal edge portion 21b. The first V-shaped reflection surface 213 is formed by two side surfaces of a V-shaped groove arranged at the second side of the horizontal edge portion 21b, which is opposite to the first side of the horizontal edge portion 21b. The first reflection surface 214 and the second reflection surface 215 are formed by inclined surfaces arranged at both ends of the horizontal edge portion 21b, respectively. The bottom ends of the two light guide columns 22 are connected to the top ends of the horizontal edge portion 21b, respectively.

[0036] The total reflection structure improves the light utilization efficiency of the light source. The spherical groove 212 is arranged in the total reflection structure to reduce refraction of light. If the groove is not arranged, the total reflection effect can also be achieved, but the light utilization efficiency will be slightly reduced due to the refraction offset. In the second embodiment of the present application, the total reflection structure is not provided with the spherical groove, as shown in FIG. 2B, the light will refract after passing through the light entrance surface 210, and the light ray will be offset, so that the light ray cannot form parallel light (but can form substantially parallel light) after being reflected by the reflection curved surface 211, which is inconsistent with the path, and part of the light will be lost. By arranging the spherical groove, the light exit efficiency is improved by about 10%. Figure 7

[0037] Figure 8 ​A schematic diagram of a USB interface light emitting structure according to a third embodiment of the present application is shown. The third embodiment differs from the first embodiment mainly in that the light guide element body 2a is arranged in a cylindrical light guide bar structure, and light is transmitted to each light guide ring 2b through the light guide bar. The light guide element body 2a includes a main light guide bar 25 and a plurality of branch light guide bars 26. One end of the main light guide bar 25 is used to receive the incident light beam emitted by the single light source 1, and the other end of the main light guide bar 25 is connected to one end of each of the plurality of branch light guide bars 26, so as to transmit the incident light beam to each of the plurality of branch light guide bars 26, and the other end of each of the plurality of branch light guide bars 26 is connected to one of the plurality of light guide rings 2b.

[0038] In the conventional light emitting structure of the vehicle-mounted USB interface, four LED light sources are needed to light up two USB ports, while only one LED light source is needed to light up the USB interface light emitting structure according to the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the present application improves the light utilization efficiency. The present application is not only suitable for USB products with two USB ports, but also suitable for USB products with more USB ports. For products with more USB ports (such as three, four, etc.), the number of light guide rings can be increased to transmit light to each light guide ring.

[0039] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application belong to the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application also intends to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A light guide element, characterized in that, The light guide element includes a light guide element body and multiple light guide rings; The light guide element body is connected to the plurality of light guide rings respectively, and is used to guide the incident light beam emitted by a single light source into the plurality of light guide rings respectively; The front and rear faces of each light guide ring are the light-emitting surface and the patterned surface, respectively. The number of light guide rings is two; the light guide element body includes a light guide base and two light guide pillars; the light guide base is T-shaped, and the T-shaped light guide base includes a vertical side and a horizontal side; the bottom ends of the two light guide pillars are respectively connected to the top ends of the horizontal side, and the two light guide rings are respectively connected to the top ends of the two light guide pillars. The light guide base includes a total internal reflection structure, a first V-shaped reflective surface, a first reflective surface, and a second reflective surface. The total internal reflection structure is disposed at one end of the vertical side and located below the single light source. The other end of the vertical side is connected to the first side of the horizontal side. The first V-shaped reflective surface is formed by two sides of a V-shaped groove disposed on the second side of the horizontal side, with the second side opposite to the first side. The first reflective surface and the second reflective surface are respectively located on both sides of the first V-shaped reflective surface and are formed by inclined surfaces disposed at both ends of the horizontal side. The total internal reflection structure is used to totally reflect at least a portion of the incident light beam from the single light source into the light guide base to form parallel light rays, and reflect the parallel light rays to the first V-shaped reflective surface; the first V-shaped reflective surface is used to reflect the light rays from the total internal reflection structure to both sides respectively, forming a first path of parallel light and a second path of parallel light with opposite propagation directions; the first reflective surface and the second reflective surface are used to reflect the first path of parallel light and the second path of parallel light into two light guide pillars respectively; the two light guide pillars are used to guide the first path of parallel light and the second path of parallel light to the two light guide rings respectively, and each light guide ring has a V-shaped groove at the intersection with the light guide element body, and the two sides of the V-shaped groove at the intersection of each light guide ring and the light guide element body form a second V-shaped reflective surface, which reflects the light rays from the light guide pillar to both sides respectively, forming two paths of parallel light that enter the light guide ring respectively.

2. The light guide element according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each light guide ring is a rounded rectangular ring.

3. The light guide element according to claim 1, characterized in that, The light guide element body is made of a transparent material, and each of the light guide rings is made of a diffuse material.

4. The light guide element according to claim 1, characterized in that, The light guide element body is made of transparent PC material, and each light guide ring is made of diffused PC material; The light guide element body and the plurality of light guide rings are integrally injection molded using a two-color injection molding process.

5. The light guide element according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pattern on the patterned surface is a dot matrix pattern.

6. The light guide element according to claim 1, characterized in that, The single light source is a single LED light source.

7. The light guide element according to claim 1, characterized in that, The total internal reflection structure includes a total internal reflection surface, which is a reflective surface with the center of the light source as the focal point. The total internal reflection surface is used to reflect at least a portion of the incident light beam that enters the light guide base to the first V-shaped reflective surface in a total internal reflection manner.

8. The light guide element according to claim 7, characterized in that, The total internal reflection structure includes a spherical groove disposed on the light-incident surface of the light guide base. The spherical groove has the center of the light source as its center, and the depth H of the spherical groove must satisfy 0 < H < R, where R is the radius of the spherical groove and R is less than the focal length of the reflective surface. The spherical groove is used to allow the incident light beam emitted by the light source to enter the light guide base along the normal direction of the bottom surface of the spherical groove and to partially enter the reflective surface.

9. A USB interface light-emitting structure, characterized in that, Includes a single light source and a light guide element as described in any one of claims 1 to 8; The light guide element has multiple light guide rings that are respectively arranged around the multiple USB ports in a one-to-one correspondence.

10. The USB interface light-emitting structure according to claim 9, characterized in that, The USB interface is a vehicle-mounted USB interface.

Images