Electromagnetic Relay Light Guide for Oblique Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electromagnetic relays with operation indicating lamps suffer from poor light uniformity and directivity, making it difficult to visually recognize the lighting state from oblique directions, especially when multiple relays are attached to a control panel.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a reflecting member and a diffusion structure within the relay's housing to reflect and diffuse light emitted from the operation indicating lamp, ensuring improved visibility when viewed from oblique angles by guiding the light to a display surface on the top surface of the housing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the operation indicating lamp is horizontally arranged to make the relay compact, then the relay size is reduced, but the light output has poor uniformity and narrow directivity angle
Solution Approach 1:
A light guide body is introduced as an intermediary component between the horizontally arranged LED and the display surface. The light guide body receives light from the LED and guides it to the display surface on the top surface of the housing, transforming the horizontal light emission into vertical light output with improved uniformity and wider viewing angle.
Solution Approach 2:
The light emission direction is changed from horizontal to vertical by using the light guide body to redirect light through a different spatial dimension. The LED emits light horizontally, but through the light guide body, this light is redirected to exit vertically from the display surface, achieving better visibility without increasing relay size.
2Illumination intensity
If a diffused reflection surface is provided around the display surface, then the visibility of the display surface is improved by scattering light, but it is difficult to clearly recognize the lighting state when viewed in oblique direction
Solution Approach 1:
The diffused reflection surface is removed from around the display surface and replaced by concentrating the diffusion function within the light guide body itself. The light guide body integrates both light guiding and diffusion functions, eliminating the need for separate diffused reflection surfaces that caused visibility problems in oblique directions.
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 enhances the uniformity and directionality of light output, allowing easy visual recognition of the lighting state from oblique directions, thereby simplifying the process of checking multiple relays' states without the need for sequential head movement.
Implementation Method 1
a reflecting member accommodated in the housing so as to reflect the light emitted from the light source toward the display surface
Implementation Method 2
a diffusion structure configured to diffuse the light reflected by the reflecting member is formed in the display surface
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
There is provided a compact operation-indicating-lamp-equipped electromagnetic relay that can easily visually be recognized in an oblique direction. The relay includes an LED that emits light according to a situation of power supplied to a coil unit and a bottom output unit that reflects the light emitted from the LED toward a top output unit. In the relay, a diffusion structure that diffuses the light reflected by the bottom output unit is formed in the top output unit.