Motor Vehicle Light Guide Homogeneous Beam Coupler
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor vehicle lighting and signaling devices with light guides often produce heterogeneous or discontinuous light beams, particularly when the profile is curved, which affects the uniformity and continuity of the light distribution.
Innovation Solution
A light guide for motor vehicle lighting and signaling devices is designed with couplers having input faces that refract rays into parallel planes, reflection faces that direct rays for uniform distribution, and a lens to ensure all rays are oriented homogeneously, resulting in a continuous and homogeneous beam along rectilinear or curved profiles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a light guide with curved profile is used to achieve flexible beam shaping, then the adaptability of the lighting device is improved, but the homogeneity and continuity of the light beam deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The light guide is divided into multiple coupling sections along its length, each section independently controlling light extraction. This segmentation allows each section to be optimized for homogeneous light distribution while the overall guide maintains flexible curved profiles for adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the light guide have locally optimized properties - specifically designed coupling sections with tailored refraction and reflection characteristics. Each local section ensures homogeneous beam output while the global structure provides curved profile flexibility.
2Device complexity
If conventional light guides are used without specialized couplers, then the device complexity is reduced, but the light distribution homogeneity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling elements are integrated directly into the light guide structure itself, merging the functions of light transmission and light extraction control. This combination achieves homogeneous distribution without adding separate external components, maintaining structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling sections act as intermediary elements within the light guide that mediate between the light source and the output beam. These intermediaries control ray refraction and reflection to ensure homogeneous distribution while maintaining overall guide simplicity.
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 achieves a highly homogeneous and continuous light distribution along the beam profile, maintaining light intensity uniformity across the beam, even in curved sections, by carefully shaping the input and reflection faces and incorporating a lens for efficient ray orientation and distribution.
Implementation Method 1
all rays from the source passing geometrically through the point and entering the guide through the entrance face are refracted therein into planes parallel to each other
Implementation Method 2
the refracted rays are directed directly to one of the reflection faces where they are reflected directly to an exit face of the guide
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~6
Figure 7~8
AI summary
The guide has a coupler (8) comprising two input faces (16) that are arranged such that all rays from a light source (6) i.e. LED, passing geometrically through a predetermined point and penetrating into the guide through one of the input faces are refracted in mutually parallel planes when the source is positioned at the point in relation to the coupler. A lens (18) of the coupler is positioned between the two input faces. Two reflection faces exhibit a generatrix in a form of a straight line segment and a directrix in a form of a polynomial segment i.e. parabolic segment. An independent claim is also included for a lighting and/or signaling device.