Vehicle Light Guide with Holes for Opalescent Beam
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle lights struggle to produce a homogeneous and opalescent light beam simultaneously without using opaline materials, as regulations prohibit the use of such materials in the automotive industry.
Innovation Solution
The vehicle light employs a light guide with strategically arranged holes that produce cylindrical or spherical caustics through refractions, creating an opalescent effect without opaline materials, combined with a diffusive portion to ensure homogeneity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If opaline materials with microspheres are used to produce opalescent effect, then the light beam becomes opalescent, but the light beam homogeneity deteriorates and the solution becomes non-compliant with US regulations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the opaline material containing microspheres from the lighting system. Instead of using opaline material, the patent employs a light guide with strategically arranged holes that refract light to produce the desired opalescent effect without the harmful random diffusion caused by microspheres, thereby maintaining light beam homogeneity while achieving the opalescent appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide with holes acts as an intermediary element between the light source and the external environment. This intermediary structure refracts light through its hole pattern to create the opalescent effect, replacing the function previously performed by opaline materials while avoiding their negative impact on light homogeneity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If opaline materials are used to achieve desired light pattern, then the design specificity is improved, but compliance with regulations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes opaline materials from the system to eliminate regulatory compliance issues. The light guide with holes provides an alternative mechanism that achieves design-specific light patterns without relying on prohibited materials, thereby maintaining design flexibility while ensuring compliance with US regulations.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the fundamental parameter of light modification from material-based (opaline microspheres) to structure-based (light guide hole arrangement). This parameter change allows the system to maintain design specificity through geometric configuration rather than material properties, avoiding regulatory restrictions while preserving design versatility.
3Illumination intensity
If random light diffusion is used to produce opalescence, then the opalescent effect is achieved, but the light beam homogeneity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using random diffusion through microspheres to produce opalescence, the invention inverts the approach by using ordered refraction through a structured hole pattern in the light guide. This inverted methodology achieves the opalescent effect through controlled geometric refraction rather than random scattering, thereby maintaining light beam homogeneity while producing the desired visual effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the light diffusion mechanism from random (microsphere scattering) to controlled (geometric refraction through holes). This parameter change in the light interaction mechanism allows the system to produce opalescence through ordered optical paths, preserving light beam homogeneity while achieving the desired aesthetic effect.
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
This solution achieves a uniform, pleasing opalescent light beam that meets photometric specifications, eliminating the need for opaline materials and adhering to regulatory requirements.
Implementation Method 1
a light guide (24) with a body (36) having a prevailing longitudinal extension (L) that defines a direction of propagation of a light beam inside said body (36) by total internal reflection and having a first breakline (48) extending between said first and second side walls (40, 44) comprising a plurality of first holes (52) defining cylindrical optics, having a circular cross-section, or spherical optics suitable to produce, through successive refractions, a scattering of said light rays (Ri)
Implementation Method 2
a light guide (24) with a body (36) having a prevailing longitudinal extension (L) that defines a direction of propagation of a light beam inside said body (36) by total internal reflection
Implementation Method 3
combined with a diffusive portion to ensure homogeneity
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4
AI summary
Vehicle light (4) comprising - a container body (8) that delimits a containment seat (12) that houses at least one light source (16) suitable to emit, when electrically powered, a plurality of light rays (Ri) defining a light beam to propagate outside of the vehicle light (4), - a lenticular body (20), that partially closes the containment seat (12) and is suitable to be crossed by said light beam produced by the light source (16), - a light guide (24) facing, in correspondence of a light inlet wall (28), to said at least one light source (16), so as to receive the light beam from this and transmit it to an light outlet wall (32), facing the lenticular body (20), - wherein the light guide (24) comprises a body (36) having a prevailing longitudinal extension (L) that defines the propagation direction of the light beam inside the body (36) by total internal reflection, a first and a second side wall (40,44) substantially parallel to said prevailing longitudinal extension (L), characterised in that: - the body (36) has a first breakline (48) that extends from the first to the second side wall (40,44), the first breakline (48) comprising a plurality of first holes (52), defining cylindrical, or spherical, optics suitable to realise cylindrical or spherical caustics that produce, through successive refractions, a scattering said light rays (Ri) towards the light outlet wall (32) so as to emit a light beam with opalescent effect, wherein said first holes (52) are adjacent to each other without interruption, wherein said first holes (52) of the first breakline (48) are pass-through with respect to a thickness (56) of the body (36) of the light guide (24), penetrating from a first face (60) to a second face (64) of the body (36) for a depth equal to said thickness (56). [Fig. 3]