JP4573264B2 - Light guiding lens - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a light guide lens that receives light from a light source such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and emits light from a light emitting unit provided at a predetermined position.

  For electronic devices such as audio devices, video devices, personal computers (hereinafter simply referred to as electronic devices), the front panel is used to notify the user of power ON / OFF, device start / stop status, battery remaining warning, etc. In some cases, a lighting display portion is provided at a predetermined position. A light guide lens is widely used in such a lighting display section. The light guide lens receives light from a light source such as an LED disposed inside the electronic apparatus, for example, and guides the light to a predetermined position on the front panel to emit light.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique related to the light guide lens. The light guide lens of Patent Document 1 includes a light emitting surface, a light receiving portion having a larger cross-sectional area than the light emitting surface, and a concave surface portion formed in the light receiving portion at a position facing a light emitter (light source). Yes. The light emitting surface has a predetermined curved surface shape according to the inclination of the optical axis, and the outer surface of the light guide lens is formed in a curved surface. The light guide lens is configured to efficiently transmit the light received by the light receiving unit to the light emitting surface.

JP-A-6-222216

  The light receiving portion of the light guide lens of Patent Document 1 is designed to receive light from a predetermined type of light source. However, there are various types of light sources. For example, an LED that is one of the light sources includes a flat LED (hereinafter referred to as a mount-mounted LED) used in a state of being mounted on a substrate, or a miniature bulb-type LED (hereinafter referred to as a dip-type LED). )and so on. The light receiving portion of the light guide lens of Patent Document 1 is designed to correspond to a dip-type LED, and a mount-mounted LED cannot be used as a light source.

  As typified by the light guide lens of Patent Document 1, the light guide unit of the conventional light guide lens is designed on the assumption that light is received from a predetermined type of light source. Therefore, when a different type of light source is used, it is necessary to newly design a light guide lens that can use the light source or to replace an existing light guide lens that can use the light source. . Designing the light guide lens each time corresponding to the difference in the type of light source employed on the electronic device side is cumbersome and causes an increase in cost. It is also conceivable to prepare a plurality of types of light guide lenses in advance so as to cope with differences in the light source types employed on the electronic device side, but in this case, the number of spare parts increases, leading to an increase in cost. To do. Further, at the site of assembly, there is a problem that the work becomes complicated because the light guide lens to be assembled differs depending on the electronic device.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the conventional problems described above and provide a light guide lens that can receive light from different types of light sources.

The above object is a light guide lens that has a light emitting part that receives light and emits light, and guides light from a light source to the light emitting part. A surface portion to be connected, a side surface portion erected from the bottom surface portion toward the top surface portion, and connected to both side portions of the surface portion; and the bottom surface portion, the top surface portion, and the side surface portion on a side facing the surface portion. Are formed on the side facing the surface portion and the inclined surface portion that is inclined at a predetermined angle from the bottom surface portion side to the upper surface portion side, and is formed on the bottom surface portion side from the inclined surface portion and the upper surface portion side. A concave portion that cuts out a predetermined space, and the contour of the concave portion has a curved shape in which a curvature increases toward the bottom surface portion, and the side surface portion and the inclined surface portion are arranged to be perpendicular to each other. The bottom surface portion is a first light receiving surface. Wherein the inclined surface portion guides the light to the light emitting portion as a first reflecting surface, when the concave portion is a second light receiving surface directs the light to the light emitting portion of the side surface portions as the second reflecting surface to This can be achieved by a light guide lens.

According to the present invention, a plurality of light receiving surfaces corresponding to different types of light sources (e.g., a first light receiving surface and a second light receiving surface) corresponding one of the light guide lens also types of light sources are different because they contain it can. Therefore, the cost can be reduced and the assembly efficiency can be improved as compared with the case of using a conventional light guide lens. Furthermore, it is preferable that the inclined surface portion (first reflection surface) and the side surface portion (second reflection surface) are arranged so as to be perpendicular to each other.

Moreover , the electronic device provided with the light guide lens described above can achieve cost reduction and improvement in assembly efficiency.

Because the light guide lens of the present invention comprises a plurality of light receiving surfaces corresponding to different types of the light source, even the type of light source is different can receive light. Therefore, when this light guide lens is used, cost reduction and assembly efficiency can be improved.

  Hereinafter, examples of a light guide lens according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a front panel of an audio device that is an electronic apparatus employing the light guide lens of the embodiment. 1A is a front view of the front panel 1, FIG. 1B is a bottom view, and FIG. 1C is a rear view. An opening 4 for lighting display is formed in the front surface of the front panel 1 together with a disk insertion slot 2, a switch 3, and the like. A light guide lens 10 is disposed on the back side of the opening 4. The light guide lens 10 is fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1 via a lens fixing member 5.

  FIG. 2 is a view showing the light guide lens 10 in a state of being set on the lens fixing member 5. 2A is a front view, FIG. 2B is a left side view, FIG. 2C is a bottom view, and FIG. 2D is a rear view. FIG. 2D corresponds to an enlarged view of the lens fixing member 5 and the light guide lens 10 shown in FIG. The light guide lens 10 is formed of a transparent resin such as polystyrene or acrylic. The light guide lens 10 is held in a fixed posture by the lens fixing member 5 and fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1. The light guide lens 10 is formed with a light emitting portion 11 that collects light at the front end and emits light, and the light emitting portion 11 protrudes on the opposite side of the lens fixing member 5.

  By fixing the lens fixing member 5 to the back surface of the front panel 1 by welding or the like, the light emitting unit 11 is set in the opening 4 of the front panel 1. The lens fixing member 5 may be formed as a separate body from the light guide lens 10 and assembled to have the form shown in FIG. The lens fixing member 5 may be manufactured integrally with the light guide lens 10. When manufactured in this way, the number of parts can be reduced, and the efficiency of the assembly work can be improved.

  Next, the shape of the light guide lens 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing the light guide lens 10. In order to facilitate understanding of the description, in FIG. 3, three axes X, Y, and Z that are virtually orthogonal to each other are set and used for the description. The general shape of the light guide lens 10 is an outer shape obtained by changing one surface of a rectangular parallelepiped to an inclined surface 12. The light guide lens 10 has a structure in which the inclined surface 12 and the concave portion 14 that cuts out a predetermined space from the upper surface 13 side to the bottom surface 16 side are provided. The light emitting portion 11 described above is formed on the back side of the surface 15 facing the inclined surface 12.

  The inclined surface 12 is inclined at an angle θ with respect to the bottom surface 16. This angle θ can be set to 45 °, for example. The recess 14 is formed so as to be symmetrical with respect to the center line C of the width W (thickness in the Y direction) of the light guide lens 10. The contour of the recess 14 in the XY plane is a curve that approximates a quadratic curve. Further, the inner wall 14WA of the recess 14 is formed so that the curvature increases as it goes downward (bottom surface 16 side) in the Z direction. That is, the inner wall 14WA is formed as an inclined surface that widens as it goes downward in the Z direction. The side surfaces 17 and 18 are opposed to each other so as to be symmetric with respect to the center line C, and the side surfaces 17 and 18 rise perpendicularly to the bottom surface 16. Further, it is desirable that the inclined surface 12 is set to be perpendicular to both side surfaces 17 and 18.

Since the light guide lens 10 having the above-described structure has a structure including a plurality of light receiving surfaces corresponding to different types of light sources, the light emitting unit 11 can emit light by receiving light without limiting the light source. Specifically, the bottom surface 16 serves as a first light receiving surface that receives the first light, and the inclined surface 12 serves as the first reflecting surface to cause the light emitting unit 11 to emit light. In addition, the inner wall 14WA of the recess 14 serves as a second light receiving surface that receives the second light, and both side surfaces 17 and 18 serve as the second reflecting surfaces to cause the light emitting unit 11 to emit light.

  Note that the inner wall 14WA of the recess 14 is formed on an inclined surface that expands downward as described above, so that light from the light source can be taken in efficiently. Moreover, the shape of the recessed part 14 can be changed suitably. For example, FIG. 3 shows an example of a structure in which the upper surface 13 is cut relatively large (the cut region is enlarged), but the shape of the recess 14 may be changed to make the cut region of the upper surface 13 smaller. If formed in this way, the area of the inclined surface 12 serving as the first reflecting surface can be relatively increased, so that the luminance when the light emitting unit 11 emits light with the first light can be improved.

  Further, the light guide lens 10 that receives light from different light sources will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which light (first light) L <b> 1 is received from the mount-mounted LED 20 disposed below the light guide lens 10. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which light (second light) L2 is received from the dip-type LED 21 disposed so as to face the concave portion 14 of the light guide lens 10.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the light L <b> 1 incident from the mount LED 20 on the bottom surface 16 serving as the first light receiving surface is reflected by the inclined surface 12 as the first reflecting surface and guided to the light emitting unit 11. Therefore, the light L1 by the mount LED 20 can be guided to cause the light emitting unit 11 to emit light. As described above, if the inclined surface 12 is set perpendicular to the side surfaces 17 and 18, the reflection of the light L1 by the side surfaces 17 and 18 can be suppressed, so that the light L1 is efficiently reflected by the inclined surface 12. Can be guided to the light emitting unit 11.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a part of the light L2 incident from the dip-type LED 21 enters the wall surface 14WA of the concave portion 14 serving as the second light receiving surface and goes straight into the light emitting unit 11, but most of the light L2 is on both sides The surfaces 17 and 18 are reflected as the second reflecting surface and guided to the light emitting unit 11. Therefore, the light L2 by the dip type LED 21 can be guided to cause the light emitting unit 11 to emit light.

  As described above, the light guide lens 10 includes a plurality of light receiving surfaces corresponding to different types of light sources in a portion serving as a light receiving unit. Therefore, even if the type of the light source is different, the light guide lens 10 can be handled without replacement. Therefore, if the light guide lens 10 is used in an electronic device, it is not necessary to replace the light source even if the type of the light source is different. Therefore, the cost can be reduced and the assembly efficiency can be improved as compared with the case where the conventional light guide lens is used. You can plan.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims.・ Change is possible.

It is the figure which showed the front panel of the audio apparatus used as the electronic device which employ | adopted the light guide lens of an Example. It is the figure which showed the light guide lens in the state set to the lens fixing member. It is a perspective view which expands and shows a light guide lens. It is a figure which shows a mode when receiving the light from the mount mounting type LED arrange | positioned under the light guide lens. It is a figure which shows a mode when light is received from the dip type LED arrange | positioned so that it may face the recessed part of a light guide lens.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Light guide lens 11 Light emission part 12 Inclined surface (1st reflective surface)
13 Upper surface 14 Recessed portion 14WA Inner wall of the recessed portion (second light receiving surface)
16 Bottom surface (first light-receiving surface)
17, 18 Side surface (second reflecting surface)

Claims (2)

A light guide lens that receives light and emits light, and guides light from a light source to the light emitting unit ,
A surface portion standing from the bottom surface portion toward the top surface portion and connected to the light emitting portion;
A side surface portion standing from the bottom surface portion toward the top surface portion and connected to both side portions of the surface portion;
An inclined surface portion that connects the bottom surface portion, the upper surface portion, and the side surface portion on a side facing the surface portion, and is inclined at a predetermined angle from the bottom surface portion side toward the upper surface portion side;
A concave portion that is formed on the side facing the surface portion and cuts out a predetermined space on the bottom surface portion side from the inclined surface portion and the upper surface portion side,
The contour of the recess is a curved shape whose curvature expands toward the bottom surface side,
The side surface portion and the inclined surface portion are arranged to be perpendicular to each other,
When the bottom surface portion is the first light receiving surface, the inclined surface portion is used as the first reflecting surface to guide light to the light emitting portion,
When the concave portion is a second light receiving surface, the side surface portion serves as a second reflecting surface to guide light to the light emitting portion . An electronic apparatus comprising the light guide lens according to claim 1.

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