Flush-Mounted LED Floor Panel with Optical Waveguides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional light-emitting assemblies used in stage floors are limited by the need to recess lighting elements for protection, which diminishes their visual effectiveness and requires a protective, often slippery plastic surface, unsuitable for performers and designers who prefer dark-colored surfaces like plywood or fiberboard.
Innovation Solution
A light-emitting assembly featuring a panel with bores extending from one side to the other, housing LED light sources and optical waveguides, allowing for flush installation without a protective surface, using materials like plywood, fiberboard, or concrete, and enabling secure, removable, and customizable light-emitting floor systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lighting elements are recessed from the surface for protection, then the lighting elements are protected from performers, but the visual effectiveness of the lighting elements is greatly diminished
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from recessed (3D) lighting elements to flush-mounted (2D surface) lighting elements by using optical waveguides that extend light from an internal LED source through the panel surface. This dimensional change allows the light-emitting face to be coplanar with the panel surface, maximizing visual impact while maintaining protection through the waveguide structure and panel material.
2Reliability
If a protective plastic surface is used to cover the lighting elements, then the lighting elements are protected, but the surface becomes slippery and lacks traction for performers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the protective function from a separate plastic surface layer and integrates it into the panel structure itself. By using materials like plywood, fiberboard, or concrete with inherent surface characteristics, the panel provides both structural protection for the lighting elements and appropriate surface friction for performer safety, eliminating the need for an additional slippery plastic cover.
3Reliability
If a protective plastic surface is used, then the lighting elements are protected, but designers lose the ability to use dark-colored surfaces like plywood or fiberboard
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the panel material serve multiple functions simultaneously: structural support, light transmission medium, and protective surface. Materials like plywood, fiberboard, and concrete can be used in their natural states to provide all these functions, giving designers versatility in surface appearance and texture while the embedded LED and waveguide system provides inherent protection for the lighting elements.
4Illumination intensity
If lighting elements are flush with the surface, then visual impact is maximized, but the lighting elements become vulnerable to damage from performers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces optical waveguides as intermediary components between the LED light source and the panel surface. These waveguides transmit light from the LED (which can be positioned internally for protection) to the flush-mounted emitting face, allowing the light-emitting surface to be coplanar with the panel while the actual light-generating components remain protected within the panel structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides enhanced visual impact with flush-mounted lighting, improved traction, and design flexibility, meeting the needs of both performers and designers by eliminating the need for protective surfaces while maintaining safety and aesthetic preferences.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of optical wave guides, each wave guide having a first end and a second end, the first end disposed in one of the bores and the second end optically connected to one of the LEDs
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~4B
AI summary
Disclosed is a light-emitting assembly containing a panel having a first side and an opposing second side, a plurality of bores extending from the first side to the second side, an LED light source, such as a printed circuit board, having first side and an opposing second side, the first side of the LED light source adjacent to the side of the panel, the LED light source comprising a plurality of LEDs and a plurality of optical wave guides, each wave guide having a first end and a second end, the first end disposed in one of the bores and the second end optically connected to one of the LEDs.