JPH045962B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical radiator for effectively diffusing and radiating light transmitted through a light guide cable or the like to the outside of the light guide cable.

Recently, we have entered an era of energy conservation, and research and development on the effective use of solar energy is being actively conducted in various fields. It is used as light energy without converting it into other forms of energy such as electrical energy. From this point of view, the present applicant focused sunlight using a lens or the like, introduced it into a light guide cable, transmitted it to any desired location through the light guide cable, and set up the light guide at that location. Various proposals have already been made regarding emitting light from cables for illumination. Therefore, when trying to use solar energy for lighting as described above, the light propagating inside the optical conductor cable has directionality, so it is necessary to cut the end of the optical conductor cable. When light is emitted from the cut point, the angle of radiation is usually about 46° for focused light, which is quite narrow, so it is difficult to use sunlight to illuminate the room and illuminate the room uniformly. In such cases, it is not possible to provide satisfactory illumination by simply cutting the end of the optical conductor cable and emitting light from the cut point. Therefore, the present applicant has proposed various optical radiators that can effectively diffuse the light propagated within the optical conductor cable and uniformly illuminate a wide area. The present invention has been made as part of this, and basically includes at least two light guides connected in cascade with respect to the traveling direction of light, and an inclined surface is provided on the surface to be cascaded. The light propagated within the light guide through the inclined surface is diffused and radiated outside the light guide.

FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view for explaining one embodiment of the optical radiator according to the present invention, and in the figure, 1
2 is a first light guide rod, and 2 is a second light guide rod cascade-connected to the first light guide rod. The flat surface 2a and the inclined surface 2 of the second light guide rod 2
A flat surface 1a and an inclined surface 1b are provided approximately to b, that is, an inclined surface 1 in which the surfaces to which the first light guide rod and the second light guide rod are connected have approximately the same shape.
b, 2b, both inclined surfaces 1b, 2b
is opened at a certain angle toward the outside, and a space is formed on both inclined surfaces, and a part of the light propagated through the first light guide rod 1 through the planes 1a and 2a is transferred to the second light guide rod 2. At the same time, a portion of the remaining light is reflected by the inclined surfaces 1b and 2b and emitted outside the light guide rod, and the remaining light is further propagated through the light guide rod 2. In this way, alignment becomes very easy when connecting the first light guide rod 1 and the second light guide rod 2 in series. In this case, if the connection surface of the first light guide rod 1 and the connection surface of the second light guide rod 2 are made completely complementary, there will be no reflection on the inclined surface. In the present invention, in order to avoid such inconvenience, the inclined surface of the first light guide rod and the inclined surface of the second light guide rod are made approximately complementary, and there is a gap between the inclined surfaces of both light guide rods. A void is formed so that a part of the light propagated on the inclined surface is reflected and emitted.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram when the light guide rod 1 and the second light guide rod 2 shown in FIG. 1 are connected in series, and the light propagating inside the light guide rod 1 is
In fact, when the light guide rod is made of quartz, the light is propagated within the light guide rod while being totally reflected at an angle of approximately 23°, as is well known. When the surface 1a of the light guide rod 1 and the surface 2a of the light guide rod 2 are aligned, the light guide rods 1 and 2 are aligned concentrically, and at the same time the inclined surface 1 of the light guide rod 1 is aligned.
There is a gap G between G and the inclined surface 2b of the light guide rod 2.
occurs, and the medium changes between the light output end of the light guide rod 1 and the light input end of the light guide rod 2 (light guide → air, air → light guide).

Therefore, light reflection occurs at this part, and at the light output end of the light guide rod 1, the light L is divided into light 1A reflected by the end face and light 1B passing through the end face. The light incident end face of the conductor rod 2 also separates the reflected light 2A and the transmitted light 2B, and therefore, at the joint between the light guide rods 1 and 2, the reflected light 1A and 2A are taken out of the light guide rod.

FIG. 3 is a schematic exploded perspective view for explaining another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in the figure, a second
The flat surface 2a and the inclined surface 2b ₁ , 2 of the light guide rod 2 of
A plane 1a and an inclined surface 1b ₁ that approximately engage b ₂ ,
2b ₂ is provided, and the first
The connection between the second light guide rod 1 and the second light guide rod 2 is facilitated. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the case where the areas of the inclined surfaces 2b ₁ and 2b ₂ are equal has been explained, but if necessary, one surface may be widened and the other surface narrowed to provide a large amount of water to one side. It is also possible to emit a small amount of light to the other side, and in extreme cases, it is also possible to emit light from only one side, as shown by arrow A in Figure 4. In this case, it is also possible to propagate the light from the direction of the second light guide rod 2 as shown by arrow B.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, with a simple configuration, the light propagated within the light guide rod can be effectively diffused and emitted to the outside of the light guide rod. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the effect when connected to the light guide shown in FIG. 1, and FIG.
4 and 4 are schematic configuration diagrams for explaining other embodiments of the present invention, respectively. 1, 2...Light guide rod, 1b, 1b ₁ , 1b ₂ ,
2b, 2b ₁ , 2b ₂ ... sloped surface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Consisting of a first light guide rod and a second light guide rod coaxially cascaded to the first light guide rod, a portion of the light propagated into the first light guide rod. In the optical radiator, the light beam is radiated from the cascaded connection portion to the outside of the light guide rod, and the remainder is transmitted to the second light guide rod. The surfaces to which the light guide rod is connected are formed with concave and convex slopes of approximately the same shape, both slopes opening outward at a certain angle, and a space being formed between both slopes. A light radiator featuring: