An integrated lens diffuser

Abstract

The present invention discloses an integrated lens diffuser, which includes a diffuser body, a first plano-convex lens and a second plano-convex lens; the diffuser body is sandwiched between the first plano-convex lens and the second plano-convex lens, and the plane sides of the first plano-convex lens and the second plano-convex lens are bonded to both sides of the diffuser body by optical adhesive; wherein the first plano-convex lens is located on the side of the diffuser body away from the light source; the focal length of the first plano-convex lens is greater than the focal length of the second plano-convex lens. The present invention places the combined components directly in front of the light source, which can give full play to the advantages of the diffuser's large adjustment angle range and greatly homogenize the scattered light; at the same time, it can reduce the coating requirements for the diffuser and improve the overall optical transmittance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of liquid crystal diffusers, and in particular to an integrated lens diffuser. Background Art

[0002] Liquid crystal materials have both birefringence and bidielectric properties, and are widely used in modern optical products. By utilizing this property of liquid crystal, through electrode design, liquid crystal alignment layer design, etc., the liquid crystal can form a regular refractive index change in the direction perpendicular to the substrate, which can be used to control the polarization direction of light, forming a variety of liquid crystal display devices currently on the market.

[0003] like Figure 1 As shown, the liquid crystal box includes an upper substrate 101, a lower substrate 102, an upper alignment layer 103, a lower alignment layer 104, a liquid crystal 105 and a driving electrode 106. The liquid crystal 105 is sandwiched between the upper substrate 101 and the lower substrate 102. The upper substrate 101 is coated with an upper alignment layer 103, the lower substrate 102 is coated with a lower alignment layer 105, and the lower substrate 102 is etched with strip-shaped driving electrodes parallel to each other. Through electrode design, alignment design, surface morphology design, driving electric field design and other methods, the liquid crystal 105 can form a regularly changing refractive index change in a direction parallel to the upper substrate 101 and the lower substrate 102, and some very useful light control effects can also be achieved. Through the electrode shape design or the electric field strength design, the liquid crystal 105 can be arranged in an increasing or decreasing refractive index from the center of the product to the surrounding areas, which can produce the effect of a concave lens or a convex lens, and the focal length can also be electrically adjusted, such as Figure 1 The incident light 107 parallel to the substrate is converted into an outgoing light 108 with a converging effect. The invention with publication number CN103792740B discloses a tunable liquid crystal optical device based on this principle. For incident light with an incident direction perpendicular to the substrate surface and a polarization direction parallel to the arrangement direction of the liquid crystal molecules, when passing through the liquid crystal unit, the optical path lengths of the left, middle and right sides are different, with the largest in the middle (close to ne*d) and the smallest directly above the electrodes on both sides (close to no*d). This liquid crystal unit is equivalent to a convex lens. The width of the liquid crystal unit is very small (<50um), and the focal length of the lens is also very small, with the minimum focal length usually <0.1mm. Therefore, in actual use, the focusing effect cannot be seen, only the divergence effect can be seen. Replacing the liquid crystal with a negative liquid crystal has a similar effect. Therefore, the optical effect formed by a liquid crystal unit with one electrode pair is similar to that of a cylindrical lens. Since a layer of liquid crystal box can only correspond to light with one polarization direction, in actual applications, through the stacked structure of liquid crystal box 201, optical glue 202, liquid crystal box 203 and PCB board 204 (such as Figure 2 As shown in the figure), polarization dependence is eliminated and effective diffusion of parallel light is achieved. Figure 3The 4-layer box structure (the stacked structure of liquid crystal box 301, liquid crystal box 302, liquid crystal box 303, liquid crystal box 304, and PCB board 305, with optical glue 306 filled between adjacent liquid crystal boxes) is because it can achieve a larger diffusion angle and better diffusion uniformity. In terms of electrode structure design, such as Figure 4a and Figure 4b As shown, the electrode is composed of strip electrode pairs, and the single-layer ITO electrode design is divided into four areas: upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right. The electrode is composed of a series of parallel ITO electrode pairs on the same layer of ITO. Finally, electrodes of the same color are merged into the same group of electrode pairs for extraction. The upper and lower substrates use similar electrode design methods. When the upper and lower substrates are boxed, the electrode pairs at the corresponding positions of the upper and lower substrates are perpendicular to each other. Two driving electrodes are extracted from each of the upper and lower substrates, so there are two pairs (4) of driving electrodes in total.

[0004] However, the contour shape of the output light of the current liquid crystal diffuser is consistent with the shape of the diffuser. For example, a circular diffuser can only produce a circular light spot. It is no longer applicable to some applications that require special-shaped output light. The output light needs to extend to the peripheral area. In order to ensure the light intensity of the area to be irradiated, a higher intensity of incident light is required. In some cases, the light extending to the peripheral area will also cause interference.

[0005] In addition, lenses or reflective cups are used in some cases to enhance the diffusion effect of the diffuser. Figure 5 There are two ways to combine diffuser and lens. Figure 5 In (a), the diffuser is placed between the light source and the lens. The advantage is that the diffuser needs to be smaller in size and lower in cost, but the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, the controllable diffusion angle is smaller. Figure 5 In (b), the lens is placed between the light source and the diffuser. The advantage is that the diffuser function can be fully utilized, but the disadvantage is that the diffuser is large in size and needs to be equivalent to the diameter of the lens. Figure 6 There are two ways to combine the diffuser and the reflector. Figure 6 In (a), the diffuser is placed outside the reflector cup. The advantage is that the controllable diffusion angle is large, but the disadvantage is that there is an obvious side spot in both the focusing state and the diffusion state. Figure 6 In (b), the diffuser is placed outside the Tir lens. The advantage is that the controllable diffusion angle is large, and there is no side spot in both the focusing state and the diffusion state. The disadvantage is that the design of the Tir lens is relatively complicated. Summary of the invention

[0006] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention provides an integrated lens diffuser, which, on the one hand, can solve the defect that the existing combination of diffuser and lens is difficult to take into account both diffusion effect and structural cost; on the other hand, it can achieve an output light spot of any shape while ensuring the uniformity of the output light intensity, reducing the output loss and the dependence on the intensity of the incident light, and at the same time expanding the application occasions of liquid crystal diffusers.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] An integrated lens diffuser, comprising a diffuser body, a first plano-convex lens and a second plano-convex lens;

[0009] The diffuser body is sandwiched between a first plano-convex lens and a second plano-convex lens, and the plane sides of the first plano-convex lens and the second plano-convex lens are bonded to both sides of the diffuser body by optical adhesive; wherein the first plano-convex lens is located on a side of the diffuser body away from the light source;

[0010] The focal length of the first plano-convex lens is greater than the focal length of the second plano-convex lens.

[0011] Furthermore, the first plano-convex lens is a Fresnel mirror.

[0012] Furthermore, the diffuser body adopts a liquid crystal type electrically controlled beam angle control device with independent partitions;

[0013] The liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device comprises a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer, an electrode assembly and a driving unit;

[0014] The first substrate and the second substrate are arranged opposite to each other to form a closed liquid crystal box, and the liquid crystal material is filled in the liquid crystal box to form a liquid crystal layer; an orientation layer is arranged on the first substrate or the second substrate to control the liquid crystal material to be arranged in a preset orientation in a power-off state;

[0015] Electrode assemblies are etched on both the first substrate and the second substrate; the electrode assembly includes one or more control units arranged in a matrix;

[0016] Each of the control units includes N first driving electrodes and N second driving electrodes; the first driving electrodes and the second driving electrodes are correspondingly combined to form N 2independent dimming zones; two groups of mutually parallel pattern electrodes are arranged in each independent dimming zone, and the two groups of pattern electrodes are respectively connected to the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode corresponding to the independent dimming zone; the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode of the first substrate and the second substrate are independently led out of the liquid crystal box and connected to the driving unit, and are used to provide the two groups of pattern electrodes in each independent dimming zone with a predetermined driving signal, so that the liquid crystal material located thereon produces spatial changes of different orientations under the action of the electric field; the N is a positive integer greater than 1;

[0017] The pattern electrodes of the control units at the same position of the first substrate and the second substrate are perpendicular to each other, and within the same control unit, the pattern electrodes on a single row and a single column are different from each other;

[0018] The driving unit includes a diffusion shape control module; the diffusion shape control module adjusts the parameters of the output light spot of each independent dimming area according to the ideal contour of the diffused light by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent dimming area, so that the contour of the final output light tends to be consistent with the ideal contour of the diffused light.

[0019] Furthermore, each group of the pattern electrodes includes a plurality of electrode strips which are parallel to each other and form an angle with the driving electrodes; the angle ranges from 0° to 360°.

[0020] Furthermore, the widths of the electrode strips and the spacings between the electrode strips of the same type of pattern electrodes in different control units are different.

[0021] Furthermore, the inclination angles of the electrode strips of the pattern electrode are respectively 0+α degrees, 1*180 / N+α degrees, 2*180 / N+α degrees, 3*180 / N+α degrees, ..., (N-1)*180 / N+α degrees; α is greater than or equal to 0.

[0022] Furthermore, the spacing between the electrode strips of the pattern electrode ranges from 10 um to 100 um.

[0023] Furthermore, the diffusion shape control module adjusts the parameters of the exit light spot of each independent dimming area by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent dimming area according to the ideal contour of the diffused light, so that the contour of the final exit light tends to be consistent with the ideal contour of the diffused light, and the process includes the following steps:

[0024] Analyze and obtain the diffusion direction vector of each independent dimming zone

[0025] Combine the parameters of the liquid crystal layer and the pattern electrode to obtain the relationship function between the voltage of each independent dimming zone and the corresponding diffusion direction beam angle

[0026] The ideal profile of diffused light is analyzed to calculate the theoretical beam angle on all diffusion direction vectors. Calculate the corresponding driving voltage

[0027] Furthermore, when parallel light is incident, the focal length f and the maximum diffusion angle θ of the outgoing light are respectively:

[0028]

[0029] θ = 2arctan(L / 2f);

[0030] Wherein, L is the distance between adjacent electrode strips in the independent dimming zone; D is the thickness of the liquid crystal layer; Δn=ne-no.

[0031] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0032] First, the integrated lens diffuser of the present invention, the combined components are placed directly in front of the light source, which can give full play to the advantage of the diffuser's large angle adjustment range and greatly homogenize the scattered light; at the same time, it can reduce the coating requirements for the diffuser and improve the overall optical transmittance.

[0033] Second, the integrated lens diffuser of the present invention controls the parameters of the exit light spot of each independent control area by adjusting the driving voltage applied to the various independent control areas included in the control unit, and can make subtle control over the diffusion of each light spot, thereby achieving control of more and more complex diffusion shapes (such as elliptical, square or rectangular, etc.).

[0034] Thirdly, the integrated lens diffuser of the present invention proposes an electrode design structure of a control unit, which can realize the setting of any number of independent control areas according to actual needs.

[0035] Fourthly, the integrated lens diffuser of the present invention reduces the size of each diffusion direction, and the direction of diffusion inside the light spot is more disordered, which is more conducive to uniform diffusion.

[0036] Fifth, the electrically controlled light beam control system of the present invention adopts a stacking method of multiple diffusion sheets (liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device) to further widen the diffusion area and make the diffused light more uniform.

[0037] Sixth, the electrically controlled light beam control system of the present invention controls each independent control area of ​​the multi-layer diffuser separately, optimizes the light intensity distribution of the special-shaped light spot on the basis of realizing the special-shaped light spot, and improves the uniformity of the light intensity distribution. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the diffusion principle of liquid crystal materials.

[0039] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the two-layer stacking method of the existing diffuser.

[0040] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the four-layer stacking method of the existing diffuser.

[0041] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the electrode structure of a conventional diffusion sheet.

[0042] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of two ways of combining a diffuser and a lens.

[0043] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of two ways of combining the diffuser and the reflective cup.

[0044] Figure 7 It is a schematic structural diagram of an integrated lens diffuser according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0045] Figure 8a It is a structural schematic diagram of a liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle regulating device with independent partitions of the present invention.

[0046] Figure 8b It is a schematic diagram of pattern electrodes of a liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device with independent partitions according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0047] Figure 8c It is a partial structural schematic diagram of a first driving electrode and a second driving electrode of the present invention.

[0048] Fig. 9 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the electrically controlled light beam regulation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0049] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram comparing the diffusion effect of the liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention and the diffusion sheet of the prior art; (a) is a schematic diagram of the diffusion effect after two layers of diffusion sheets of the prior art are stacked, (b) is a schematic diagram of the diffusion effect after two layers of liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention are stacked, and (c) is a schematic diagram of the diffusion effect after four layers of liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention are stacked.

[0050] Fig.11 Schematic diagram of the relationship between the beam angle and voltage of the independent control area of ​​the embodiment of the present invention.

[0051] Fig.12 It is a schematic diagram of the electrode structure of a unit control area using an L-shaped transparent electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0053] It should be noted that the terms such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "back", etc. cited in the invention are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of implementation of the present invention. Changes or adjustments to their relative relationships should be regarded as the scope of implementation of the present invention without substantially changing the technical content.

[0054] See also Figure 7 This embodiment discloses an integrated lens diffuser, which includes a diffuser body 703, a first plano-convex lens 701, and a second plano-convex lens 702. The diffuser body 703 is sandwiched between the first plano-convex lens 701 and the second plano-convex lens 702, and the plane sides of the first plano-convex lens 701 and the second plano-convex lens 702 are bonded to both sides of the diffuser body 703 by optical glue; wherein the first plano-convex lens 701 is located on the side of the diffuser body 703 away from the light source 704.

[0055] In this embodiment, the diffuser 703 and two plano-convex lenses are bonded by optical glue, and the assembled components are placed directly in front of the light source 704, so that the diffuser 703 can take advantage of its wide angle adjustment range and greatly homogenize the scattered light. After the combination, the coating requirements for the diffuser 703 can be reduced, and the overall optical transmittance can be improved.

[0056] The focal length of the first plano-convex lens 701 is greater than that of the second plano-convex lens 702 , so that the diffusion angle of the diffusion sheet 703 can be better utilized.

[0057] Preferably, the first plano-convex lens 701 adopts a Fresnel mirror to reduce the overall volume and weight.

[0058] 8 , this embodiment further discloses a liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device with independent partitions as a diffuser body, wherein the control device includes a first substrate 801 , a second substrate 804 , a liquid crystal layer 803 , an electrode assembly 802 and a driving unit 805 .

[0059] The first substrate 801 and the second substrate 804 are arranged opposite to each other to form a closed liquid crystal box, and the liquid crystal material is filled in the liquid crystal box to form a liquid crystal layer 803; an orientation layer (not marked) is arranged on the first substrate 801 or the second substrate 804 to control the liquid crystal material to be arranged in a preset orientation in a power-off state.

[0060] Electrode assemblies 802 are etched on both the first substrate 801 and the second substrate 804 ; the electrode assembly 802 includes one or more control units arranged in a matrix.

[0061] Each of the control units includes N first driving electrodes 811 and N second driving electrodes 812; see Figure 8c The first driving electrode 811 and the second driving electrode 812 are both in a tree-branch shape, including a column electrode and a plurality of transverse electrodes evenly distributed on both sides of the column electrode. The transverse electrodes of the first driving electrode 811 and the second driving electrode 812 are arranged alternately, so that the first driving electrode 811 and the second driving electrode 812 are correspondingly combined to form N 2 Independent dimming zones 813; see Figure 8b Two groups of parallel pattern electrodes are arranged in each independent dimming area 813, and the two groups of pattern electrodes are respectively connected to the first driving electrode 811 and the second driving electrode 812 corresponding to the independent dimming area 813; the first driving electrode 811 and the second driving electrode 812 of the first substrate 801 and the second substrate 804 are independently led out of the liquid crystal box and connected to the driving unit 805, which is used to provide the two groups of pattern electrodes in each independent dimming area with a predetermined driving signal, so that the liquid crystal material located thereon produces spatial changes of different orientations under the action of the electric field; N is a positive integer greater than 1.

[0062] The pattern electrodes of the control units at the same position of the first substrate and the second substrate are perpendicular to each other. Within the same control unit, the pattern electrodes in a single row and a single column are different from each other.

[0063] The driving unit includes a diffusion shape control module; the diffusion shape control module adjusts the parameters of the output light spot of each independent dimming area according to the ideal contour of the diffused light by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent dimming area, so that the contour of the final output light tends to be consistent with the ideal contour of the diffused light.

[0064] In practical applications, the larger the number of N, the more diffusion directions, the better the diffusion effect, and accordingly, the more complex the driving algorithm. Preferably, N≥4, and accordingly, the inclination angles of the electrode strips of the pattern electrode are 0+α degrees, 1*180 / N+α degrees, 2*180 / N+α degrees, 3*180 / N+α degrees, ..., (N-1)*180 / N+α degrees; α is greater than or equal to 0. For the same liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device, as long as the value of α is fixed, the diffusion result is actually equivalent. When the liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control devices are superimposed, the values ​​of α of different diffusion sheets are different, and the diffusion effect will be different. As shown in Figure 8, in this example, the value of N is 8. Each group of pattern electrodes includes a number of electrode strips that are parallel to each other and at an angle to the driving electrode; the value range of the angle is 0° to 360°. In this example, the inclination angles of the electrode strips of the pattern electrode are 0 degrees, 22.5 degrees, 45 degrees, 67.5 degrees, 90 degrees, 112.5 degrees, 135 degrees and 157.5 degrees, respectively.

[0065] The size of a single control unit composed of the N*N dimming zones is smaller than the size of a square inscribed in the incident circular light spot, so that the incident light spot can cover enough independent dimming zones.

[0066] This embodiment also provides another electrode structure of the unit control region. Fig.12 As shown, the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode include N L-shaped transparent electrode strips and metal electrodes connected between the N transparent electrode strips, and the width of the metal electrode is much smaller than the width of the transparent electrode strips; 2 The independent dimming areas are regarded as an N*N matrix, the i-th first driving electrode and the i-th second driving electrode correspond to the L-shaped transparent electrode strips of all the independent dimming areas on the i-th matrix diagonal line and the Ni-th matrix diagonal line, i=1, 2, ..., N; wherein, when N is an even number and i=N / 2, or when N is an odd number and i=(N+1) / 2, the i-th first driving electrode and the i-th second driving electrode correspond to the L-shaped transparent electrode strips of all the independent dimming areas on the matrix diagonal line; the structures of the L-shaped transparent electrode strips on the same diagonal line are the same, and the structures of the L-shaped transparent electrode strips on adjacent diagonal lines are mirror images.

[0067] The first driving electrode and the second driving electrode of the first substrate and the second substrate are independently led out of the liquid crystal box and connected to the driving unit, and are used to provide two groups of pattern electrodes in each independent dimming area with a predetermined driving signal, so that the liquid crystal material thereon produces spatial changes in different orientations under the action of the electric field; N is a positive integer greater than 1. Fig.12 As shown, from left to right, the adjacent first driving electrodes and the second driving electrodes constitute a driving combination, totaling eight combinations from 1 to 8, and each driving combination controls eight independent dimming zones respectively; it should be noted that, unlike the conventional liquid crystal electrode design, the eight independent dimming zones controlled by each driving combination are not on the same vertical or horizontal line.

[0068] The advantages of this electrode structure design are: first, the value of N can be set arbitrarily according to actual needs; second, the load of each driving electrode is not much different, which is conducive to the setting of the driving voltage; third, the transmittance of the diffusion area is very high, which helps to improve the diffusion effect.

[0069] Preferably, differentiated designs are made for the width of the electrode strips and the spacing between the electrode strips of the same type of pattern electrodes in different control units, which helps to eliminate dispersion.

[0070] In this embodiment, the size of the independent dimming area is less than 5mm*5mm, the size of the electrode strip is usually micrometer level (depending on the etching accuracy), the spacing range of the electrode strips of the pattern electrode is 10um-100um, and the minimum focal length can reach within 50um. Fig. 9Take the pattern electrode in the figure as an example. The size of each independent dimming area is 2mm or 0.5mm. Combined with the directions of the 8 electrode pairs, the diffusion effect of the double-layer diffuser and the four-layer diffuser superimposed under the same light source is as follows: Fig.10 Compared with (b) and (c). Fig.10 The diffusion effect of the prior art diffuser in (a) is better than that of the diffuser in this embodiment, which can achieve diffusion effects in 8 pairs (16) of directions, and the final light spot uniformity is undoubtedly better. Specifically, the double-layer diffuser has no obvious stripes after diffusion, and the dispersion phenomenon is also significantly reduced. The four-layer diffuser has a very uniform overall diffusion except for a slight bright spot in the middle, and there is no dispersion phenomenon, and the effect is relatively ideal.

[0071] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of the structure of one of the electrically controlled beam angle control systems. The electrically controlled beam angle control system includes an X-direction diffuser 901, a Y-direction diffuser 902, an X-direction diffuser 903 and a Y-direction diffuser 904 stacked in sequence, and a liquid crystal polarization control plate 905 is arranged between adjacent diffusers. The diffusion effect of the double-layer diffuser and the four-layer diffuser stacked under the same light source is as follows Figure 7 Compared with (b) and (c). Figure 7 The diffusion effect of the prior art diffuser in (a) of FIG. 1 is better than that of the diffuser in the prior art. The diffuser of this embodiment can achieve diffusion effects in 8 pairs (16) of directions, and the final light spot uniformity is undoubtedly better. Specifically, the double-layer diffuser has no obvious stripes after diffusion, and the dispersion phenomenon is also significantly reduced. The four-layer diffuser has a slight bright spot in the middle, and the overall diffusion is very uniform, and there is no dispersion phenomenon, and the effect is relatively ideal. Fig.10 The shape of the diffuser used is circular. When the driving voltage of each pattern electrode is the same, the emitted light spot is also circular. Assuming that the target irradiation area is the entire wall, the corner area cannot be irradiated under the current driving voltage. The range of the light spot after increasing the driving voltage is as follows Fig.10 As shown in (b) and (c), although the target illumination area is completely covered, the actual illumination area has actually extended to other wall areas, and the light energy utilization efficiency is not optimal. To this end, this embodiment proposes an adaptive control method for the shape of the emitted light spot.

[0072] Specifically, the diffusion shape control module adjusts the parameters of the exit light spot of each independent dimming area by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent dimming area according to the ideal contour of the diffused light, so that the contour of the final exit light tends to be consistent with the ideal contour of the diffused light, including the following steps:

[0073] The diffusion shape control module adjusts the parameters of the exit light spot of each independent dimming area by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent dimming area according to the ideal contour of the diffused light, so that the contour of the final exit light tends to be consistent with the ideal contour of the diffused light, including the following steps:

[0074] Analyze and obtain the diffusion direction vector of each independent dimming zone

[0075] Combine the parameters of the liquid crystal layer and the pattern electrode to obtain the relationship function between the voltage of each independent dimming zone and the corresponding diffusion direction beam angle

[0076] The ideal profile of diffused light is analyzed to calculate the theoretical beam angle on all diffusion direction vectors. Calculate the corresponding driving voltage

[0077] In this embodiment, in order to simplify the control process, a diffuser generally uses only one control unit, and the control units are distributed in a matrix form and uniformly controlled. Therefore, the diffuser shown in FIG8 is currently only used to achieve symmetrical special-shaped light spots, such as elliptical, square, rectangular, etc. If a more diverse asymmetric structure is required, it is necessary to set a plurality of control units with different diffusion direction combinations on the diffuser, and then control each control unit separately. This embodiment is only described by taking a diffuser with only one control unit for incident parallel light as an example.

[0078] When parallel light is incident, the focal length f and maximum diffusion angle θ of the outgoing light of each electrode pair are:

[0079]

[0080] θ = 2arctan(L / 2f);

[0081] Wherein, L is the distance between adjacent electrode strips in the independent dimming zone; D is the thickness of the liquid crystal layer.

[0082] In the case of parallel light incidence, the diffusion angle of a single independent dimming zone can be adjusted between 0 and θ depending on the voltage between the electrodes. Fig.11It is the measured beam angle under different voltages. For a certain test model sample, when the incident light angle is 10.5 degrees, the beam angle of the outgoing light ranges from 10.5 degrees to 71.4 degrees. Taking the 8 pattern electrodes in Figure 8 as an example, there are a total of 8 pairs of diffusion directions. If the driving voltage of each independent control area is the same, the beam angles of the 16 diffusion directions are also consistent, and the shape of the exit light spot is almost the same as the shape of the diffuser. If the driving voltages of different independent control areas are different, the beam angles in the 8 pairs of diffusion directions will also be different, and finally different shapes of exit light spots will be displayed. For example, when the diffuser is circular, the driving voltage of the independent control area with the diffusion direction as the long axis is the largest, and the driving voltage of the independent control area with the diffusion direction as the short axis is the smallest, that is, the final effect of the exit light spot being elliptical can be achieved.

[0083] The larger the beam angle, the smaller the light intensity in the diffusion direction. In some examples, when the difference between the major axis and the minor axis of the exit light spot is too large, the problem of uneven light intensity distribution is prone to occur. To this end, this embodiment also mentions an electrically controlled light beam control system as a diffuser body, and the electrically controlled light beam control system includes a plurality of stacked liquid crystal-type electrically controlled light beam angle control devices with independent partitions as described above; the diffusion angles of the independent dimming zones of adjacent liquid crystal-type electrically controlled light beam angle control devices differ by 90 degrees, and polarization control plates are filled between adjacent liquid crystal-type electrically controlled light beam angle control devices. For liquid crystal wave plates or TN-type liquid crystal plates, polarizers may not be included.

[0084] The electrically controlled light beam control system adjusts the parameters of the exit light spot of each independent light-adjusting area by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent light-adjusting area of ​​each layer of the liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device according to the ideal profile of the diffused light, so that the profile of the final exit light tends to be consistent with the ideal profile of the diffused light, and specifically includes the following steps:

[0085] S1, for any layer of electric beam angle control device, analyze the diffusion direction vector of each independent dimming zone corresponding to it Define one layer of the electrically controlled beam angle control device as the reference layer, analyze the diffusion direction of other electrically controlled beam angle control devices to be consistent with the diffusion direction of the reference layer, and obtain the reference diffusion direction vector group of the independent dimming area corresponding to the electrically controlled beam control system

[0086] Specifically, in step S1, the process of resolving the diffusion direction of other electrically controlled beam angle control devices to be consistent with the diffusion direction of the reference layer includes the following steps:

[0087] S11, select any electrically controlled beam angle control device other than the reference layer, and determine whether it has a diffusion direction different from the reference layer. If not, proceed to step S13, otherwise, proceed to step S12. S12, for each different diffusion direction, select two reference diffusion directions of the reference layer adjacent to it, and decompose the diffusion direction into sub-vectors of the two selected reference diffusion directions according to the angle relationship. S13, return to step S11, and reselect the electrically controlled beam angle control device until all electrically controlled beam angle control devices are processed.

[0088] For example, when N is 2, each diffuser layer corresponds to 4 diffusion directions, and the angle between adjacent diffusion directions is 90 degrees. If the electrode pairs of adjacent diffusers at the same position are perpendicular to each other, the diffusion directions of each diffuser layer are still consistent. When N is 3, each diffuser layer corresponds to 6 diffusers, and the angle between adjacent diffusion directions is 60 degrees. If the electrode pairs of adjacent diffusers at the same position are perpendicular to each other, the diffusion directions of each diffuser layer are no longer consistent. At this time, one of the diffusers can be selected as the reference diffuser to obtain the reference diffusion direction, and then the diffusion directions of other diffusers can be decomposed into the reference diffusion direction by angle analysis. The purpose of this step is to effectively control the shape of the emitted light spot and the uniformity of light intensity.

[0089] S2, combining the parameters of the liquid crystal layer and the pattern electrode, obtain the relationship function between the voltage, light intensity and the corresponding diffusion direction beam angle of each independent dimming zone of any layer of the electrically controlled beam angle control device G j，k () is the voltage V of the j'th independent dimming zone of the kth layer of electrically controlled beam angle control device j‘，k With reference diffusion direction Beam Angle The relationship function of j‘，k is the voltage V of the j'th independent dimming zone of the kth layer of the electrically controlled beam angle control device j‘，k With reference diffusion direction Light intensity relationship function.

[0090] Assume that two layers of diffusers are superimposed, and parallel light is incident on the first diffuser and diffused in 16 diffusion directions. The scattered light in these 16 diffusion directions and the unscattered part of the parallel light will simultaneously enter the second diffuser for further diffusion. The unscattered part of the parallel light will be diffused again in the 16 diffusion directions corresponding to the second diffuser. Theoretically, the scattered light in the 16 diffusion directions of the first diffuser will also be scattered again by the second diffuser. In order to simplify the calculation process, this embodiment only calculates the scattered light intensity and beam angle of the unscattered part of the parallel light. According to tests, although the beam angle and light intensity of the scattered light of the previous diffuser layer change slightly when passing through the next layer, compared with the superimposed scattering effect of the next diffuser layer on the parallel light, its effect on the shape and light intensity distribution of the final output light spot is relatively small.

[0091] S3, analyze the ideal profile of diffuse light and calculate the theoretical beam angle on all reference diffusion direction vectors The voltage value V on the pattern electrode of the jth independent dimming zone of the kth layer electric-controlled beam angle control device is calculated using the following formula: j，k :

[0092]

[0093]

[0094]

[0095] In the formula, j * =1,2,...,N,j * ≠j;E * It is the minimum allowable light intensity threshold, which is related to the intensity of the incident light and application requirements.

[0096] The electrically controlled light beam control system of this embodiment can ultimately achieve the emission of irregular light spots, and on the premise that the light intensity of the irregular light spots meets the minimum standard, further improves the uniformity of the light intensity distribution of the irregular light spots; after combining the first plano-convex lens and the second plano-convex lens, the angle range of the irregular light spots can be further adjusted and homogenized.

[0097] The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. All technical solutions under the concept of the present invention belong to the protection scope of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, some improvements and modifications without departing from the principle of the present invention should be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An integrated lens diffuser, characterized in that: The integrated lens diffuser comprises a diffuser body, a first plano-convex lens and a second plano-convex lens; The diffuser body is sandwiched between a first plano-convex lens and a second plano-convex lens, and the plane sides of the first plano-convex lens and the second plano-convex lens are bonded to both sides of the diffuser body by optical adhesive; wherein the first plano-convex lens is located on a side of the diffuser body away from the light source; The focal length of the first plano-convex lens is greater than the focal length of the second plano-convex lens; The diffuser body adopts a liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device with independent partitions; The liquid crystal type electrically controlled light beam angle control device comprises a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer, an electrode assembly and a driving unit; The first substrate and the second substrate are arranged opposite to each other to form a closed liquid crystal box, and the liquid crystal material is filled in the liquid crystal box to form a liquid crystal layer; an orientation layer is arranged on the first substrate or the second substrate to control the liquid crystal material to be arranged in a preset orientation in a power-off state; Electrode assemblies are etched on both the first substrate and the second substrate; the electrode assembly includes one or more control units arranged in a matrix; Each of the control units includes N first driving electrodes and N second driving electrodes; the first driving electrodes and the second driving electrodes are correspondingly combined to form N 2 independent dimming zones; two groups of mutually parallel pattern electrodes are arranged in each independent dimming zone, and the two groups of pattern electrodes are respectively connected to the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode corresponding to the independent dimming zone; the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode of the first substrate and the second substrate are independently led out of the liquid crystal box and connected to the driving unit, and are used to provide the two groups of pattern electrodes in each independent dimming zone with a predetermined driving signal, so that the liquid crystal material located thereon produces spatial changes of different orientations under the action of the electric field; the N is a positive integer greater than 1; The pattern electrodes of the control units at the same position of the first substrate and the second substrate are perpendicular to each other, and within the same control unit, the pattern electrodes on a single row and a single column are different from each other; The driving unit includes a diffusion shape control module; the diffusion shape control module adjusts the parameters of the output light spot of each independent dimming area according to the ideal contour of the diffused light by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent dimming area, so that the contour of the final output light tends to be consistent with the ideal contour of the diffused light.

2. The integrated lens diffuser according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first plano-convex lens is a Fresnel lens.

3. The integrated lens diffuser according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each group of pattern electrodes includes a plurality of electrode strips which are parallel to each other and form an angle with the driving electrodes; the angle ranges from 0° to 360°.

4. The integrated lens diffuser according to claim 3, characterized in that: The width of the electrode strips and the spacing between the electrode strips of the same type of pattern electrodes in different control units are different.

5. The integrated lens diffuser according to claim 3, characterized in that: The inclination angles of the electrode strips of the pattern electrode are respectively 0+α degrees, 1*180 / N+α degrees, 2*180 / N+α degrees, 3*180 / N+α degrees, ..., (N-1)*180 / N+α degrees; α is greater than or equal to 0.

6. The integrated lens diffuser according to claim 3, characterized in that: The spacing between the electrode strips of the pattern electrode ranges from 10um to 100um.

7. The integrated lens diffuser according to claim 1, characterized in that: The diffusion shape control module adjusts the parameters of the exit light spot of each independent dimming area by adjusting the voltage applied to the pattern electrode of each independent dimming area according to the ideal contour of the diffused light, so that the contour of the final exit light tends to be consistent with the ideal contour of the diffused light, including the following steps: Analyze and obtain the diffusion direction vector of each independent dimming zone Combine the parameters of the liquid crystal layer and the pattern electrode to obtain the relationship function between the voltage of each independent dimming zone and the corresponding diffusion direction beam angle The ideal profile of diffused light is analyzed to calculate the theoretical beam angle on all diffusion direction vectors. Calculate the corresponding driving voltage 8. The integrated lens diffuser according to claim 3, characterized in that: When parallel light is incident, the focal length f and the maximum diffusion angle θ of the outgoing light are: θ = 2arctan(L / 2f); Wherein, L is the distance between adjacent electrode strips in the independent dimming zone; D is the thickness of the liquid crystal layer; Δn=ne-no.

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