Patent Publication Number: US-2007121338-A1

Title: Light guiding device for vehicle lighting

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a vehicle lighting system which includes serrated surfaces and a reflection surface which reflects light that refracted from some of the serrated surfaces so that the light has even illumination.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      A conventional vehicle lighting system  3  is shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  and generally includes a light guiding device  1  which includes a tube  11  and a light source  12 . The tube  11  is made by transparent material and includes a serrated surface  111  which is composed of a plurality of continuous segment surfaces. A surface  114  is located in front of the serrated surface  111 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the light beam submitted from the light source  12  moves along a first path  121 , a second path  122  and a third path  123 , wherein the light beam travels along the first path  121  and refracts into air when passing through the segment surface  112  and then refracts again at another segment surface  113  and travels into the tube  11 . Therefore, the light beam along the first path  121  can travel along the serrated surface  11  in the tube  11 . When the light beam travels along the second path  122 , due to the narrow input angle of the light beam when reaching the segment surface  112 , the light beam is total-reflected at the segment surface  112  and towards the surface  114  and goes through the surface  114 . When the light beam travels along the third path  123 , the light beam goes through the surface  114  via two times of refraction.  
      However, when a viewer is located in front of the lighting device  3  as shown in  FIG. 3 , the segment surface  113  looks dark when compared with the segment surface  112  which looks bright, this is because the light beam refracted at the segment surface  113  travels toward the serrated surface  111  rather than the surface  114 .  
      The present invention intends to provide a light guiding device for vehicle lighting system and the light beams can be refracted or reflected forward so that the head light has an even illumination.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a light guiding device for vehicle lighting and comprises a tube with a light source connected therewith and the tube includes a serrated surface composed of a plurality of segment surfaces. A reflection member is located beside the serrated surface at a distance. The light beams emitted from the light source are refracted by the segment surfaces and some of the light beams that are reflected by the segment surfaces are reflected by the reflection member toward the tube so that the light have less dark areas.  
      The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view to show a lighting system with a conventional light guiding device;  
       FIG. 2  shows the paths that the light beams travel of the conventional light guiding device;  
       FIG. 3  shows dark area is observed for the conventional light guiding device;  
       FIG. 4  shows the paths that the light beams travel of the light guiding device of the present invention, and  
       FIG. 5  shows that less dark area is observed for the light beams travel through the light guiding device of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the light guiding device for vehicle lighting system  2  of the present invention comprises a tube  21  having a serrated surface  211  which is composed of a plurality of segment surfaces  212 ,  213 , and a light source  22  is connected with the tube  21  and emits light beams. A reflection member  214  located beside the serrated surface  211  at a distance. The tube  21  is made of transparent material or any material that the light beams can go through.  
      The tube  21  with the light source  22  are connected together and the tube  21  is engaged with the lighting system  2  with the serrated surface  211  facing forward. The segment surfaces  212 ,  213  are located such that the light beams reflected from the segment surfaces  212  or  213  are reflected by the reflection member  214  and travel toward the tube  21 .  
      When the light beam from the light source  22  travels along the first path  221 , it refracts at the tube  21  and then refracts again at the segment surface  212  into the air, and then refracts at the segment surface  213  and goes along the serrated surface  211 .  
      The light beam from the light source  22  travels along the second path  222 , it refracts at the tube  21  and then reflects at the segment surface  212  because the input angle is too narrow which restricts the light beam to be refracted and the light beam is reflected toward the reflection member  214 . The light beam is then reflected toward the serrated surface  211  and goes through the segment surface  213  of the serrated surface  211 .  
      The light beam from the light source  22  travels along the third path  223 , it refracts at the tube  21  and then reflects by the reflection member  214  and goes toward the serrated surface  211 .  
      Therefore, for a viewer in front of the head light  2 , there will be less dark area because the light beams that are reflected by the segment surface  212  are reflected by the reflection member  214  and travel through the segment surface  213  which looks bright. It is noted that diffusion material can added on the reflection member  214  so as to have a diffusion feature.  
      While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.