Lighting panel for a display

[0003] The present invention relates to a lighting panel for a display such as liquid crystal display (LCD) for illuminating the display from the underside thereof as a back light.

[0004] FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a conventional lighting panel, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along a line XI—XI of FIG. 10.

[0005] The lighting panel 12 made of a transparent plastic has a rectangular shape in plan view and an incident surface 12aby beveling a corner. An edge light 11 of an LED is provided corresponding to the corner 12a. On the underside of the lighting panel 12, a plurality of prisms 12bare formed as reflector members. The prisms 12bare concentrically formed with the light discharge point of the edge light 11 as shown in FIG. 11. The prism 12bhas a vertical angle of 90 degrees.

[0006] The light emitted from the edge light 11 enters the lighting panel 12. The light in the lighting panel 12 is reflected by the prisms 12band discharged from a discharge surface 12c. The discharged light enters a diffusion sheet 13 and discharges from the diffusion sheet to be applied to an LCD (not shown) in diffused rays.

[0007] Light discharged from the underside of the lighting panel 12 is reflected by a reflector sheet 14 to be returned to the lighting panel 12.

[0008] In such a device, the intensity of light becomes reduced toward the end distant from the edge light 11. Therefore, the LCD is not uniformly illuminated.

[0009] Furthermore, since the intensity of light in an area near the edge light is very high, prisms 12bmust be arranged at high density, which causes the manufacturing cost to be increased and quality of the lighting panel 12 to reduce.

[0010] An object of the present invention is to provide a lighting panel which may be easily manufactured with simple arrangement of prisms.

[0011] According to the present invention, there is provided a panel for lighting a display comprising a lighting panel made of a transparent plastic and having rectangular both surfaces one of which is a reflection surface and the other is a discharge surface, an incident surface formed by beveling one of corners of the lighting panel, an edge light provided corresponding to the incident surface, a plurality of prisms circularly formed on the reflection surface of the lighting panel, edge lines of the prisms being concentrically arranged with the edge light at a predetermined interval, each of the prisms having a vertical angle θ comprising a first inclination angle θ1 on the edge light side and a second inclination angle θ2 opposite to the first inclination angle θ1, wherein there is a following relationship between the first inclination angle θ1 and the second inclination angle θ2,

[0012] θ1(=89.5°˜60°)>θ2.

[0013] The panel further comprises a prism sheet disposed corresponding to the discharge surface of the lighting panel, the prism sheet having a plurality of prisms on a surface corresponding to the discharge surface.

[0014] The prism has a circular edge line.

[0015] In another aspect, the prism is a circular lenticular lens.

[0016] These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0017] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a lighting panel in a first embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line II—II of FIG. 1;

[0019] FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the lighting panel;

[0020] FIG. 4 is a plan view of a lighting panel in a second embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] FIGS. 5 and 6 are side views as viewed from illustrated sides;

[0022] FIG. 7 is a plan view of a lighting panel in a third embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] FIGS. 8 and 9 are side views as viewed from illustrated sides;

[0024] FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a conventional lighting panel; and

[0025] FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along a line XI—XI of FIG. 10.

[0026] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a lighting panel 2 made of a transparent plastic has a rectangular shape in plan view and beveled at a corner to form a flat incident surface 2a. An edge light 1 of an LED is provided corresponding to the incident surface 2a. On the underside of the lighting panel 2, a plurality of prisms 2bare circularly formed. Each of the prisms is inwardly projected as a reflector surface. The edge lines of the prisms 2bare concentrically formed with the light discharge point of the edge light 1 and arrange at a predetermined interval as shown in FIG. 1. Each of the prisms 2bhas a sectional shape of a saw tooth, and has the same vertical angle θ. The vertical angle θ comprises a first inclination angle θ1 on the edge light side and a second inclination angle θ2 on the opposite side to the first inclination angle θ1. There is a following relationship between the first inclination angle θ1 and the second inclination angle θ2.

[0027] θ1(=89.5°˜60°)>θ2

[0028] The light emitted from the edge light 1 enters the lighting panel 2. The light in the lighting panel 2 is reflected by the prisms 2band discharged from a discharge surface 2c. The discharge light enters a prism sheet 3 having micro prisms 3aand discharges from the prism sheet to be applied to an LCD (not shown).

[0029] Light discharged from the underside of the lighting panel 2 is reflected by a reflector sheet 4 to be returned to the lighting panel 2.

[0030] The reason for the above described formula will be described hereinafter.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 3, light emitted from the edge light 1 enters the lighting panel 2 at an incident angle φ1, and the light proceeds in the panel 2 in a direction of φ2 in accordance with the Snell's law. There are following relationships between angle φ0 and angle φ2.

[0032] φ0=φ1  (1)

[0033] n1 sin φ1=n2 sin φ2  (2)

[0034] where n1 is the refractive index of air, and n2 is the refractive index of the lighting panel 2.

[0035] The light C is reflected by the prism 2bat an angle of (90°−θ1). There are following relationships between the incident angle φ3 and the angle of reflection φ4.

[0036] φ3+(90°−θ1)+φ2=90°

[0037] φ3=φ1−φ2  (3)

[0038] φ4=φ3  (4)

[0039] Next, the light C is reflected by the discharge side 2C. There are following relationships between the incident angle φ5 and the angle of reflection φ6.

[0040] φ5=φ4−(90°−θ1)  (5)

[0041] φ6=φ5  (6)

[0042] Further, the light C is reflected by the prism 2b. There are following relationships between angles φ7 and φ10.

[0043] φ7=φ6−(90°−θ1)  (7)

[0044] φ8=φ7  (8)

[0045] φ9=φ8−(90°−θ1)  (9)

[0046] n2 sin φ9=n1 sin φ10  (10)

[0047] but, φ9≦sin⁻(n1/n2)

[0048] The relationship between incident angles φ3 and φ7 and the relationship between incident angles φ5 and φ9 are as follows.

[0049] φ7=φ3−2(90°−θ1)

[0050] φ9=φ5−2(90°−θ1)

[0051] This expresses that the incident angle decreases 2(90°−θ1) by 2(90°−θ1) at every time when the light C comes to the same side.

[0052] Hereinafter described is discharge operation of the light discharged from the discharge side 2C. In accordance with the Snell's law, when the light enters from a substance having a large refractive index to a substance having a small refractive index, the light is reflected at the interface in the case that the incident angle is larger than a critical angle, and the light is refracted in the case that incident angle is smaller than the critical angle. The critical angle of acrylic resin is about 42°, and the critical angle of polycarbonate is about 39°.

[0053] If the above described matter is applied to the lighting panel of the present invention, the incident angle reduces by 2(90°−θ1) as described above. Therefore, if the incident angle of the light C at the discharge side 2cis larger than the critical angle of the lighting panel, the incident angle becomes always smaller than the critical angle and discharges from the panel with refraction.

[0054] If the critical angle is φc, the amount of discharge light discharged from a point of the lighting panel is in the range between φc and φc−(90°−θ1).

[0055] Furthermore, the discharge direction of the light with respect to the normal of the discharge side is as follows.

[0056] sin⁻((n1 sin φc−(90°−θ1))n2)˜90°

[0057] Therefore, the amount of discharge light discharging from the point increases as the angle θ1 increases.

[0058] Namely, if the angle θ1 is large, a large amount of light rays are discharged from a range near the edge light 1, and the angle of the discharge light rays becomes large thereby dispersing discharge directions.

[0059] Therefore, it is preferable to reduce the angle θ1 to 89.5°˜60°. For example, in the case of the LCD of 2 inches, θ1 is between 88.5° and 87.5°.

[0060] Since the prisms 2bare concentrically arranged with the light source of the edge light 1, light rays from the light source strike the prisms 2bat the angle of 90 degrees at every position. Therefore, the above described principle of θ1 is applied to the whole area of the lighting panel 2.

[0061] Thus, the amount of discharge light increases, and the light is uniformly discharged. Further, it is not necessary to manufacture the prisms in fine arrangement.

[0062] Since the light discharged from the lighting panel 2 is collimated, it is possible to change the progressing direction of the light by a special prism sheet shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 7. In the sheet 4 of FIG. 4 a plurality of circular prisms are concentrically formed with the light source. In the sheet 5 of FIG. 7, circular lenticular lenses are formed.

[0063] In accordance with the present invention, the lighting panel can be easily provided with simple arrangement of prisms.

[0064] While the invention has been described in conjunction with preferred specific embodiment thereof, it will be understood that this description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the following claims.