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US 10,480,745 B1Granted
Arranged light pipes for automotive lighting systems
AssigneeValeo North America, Inc.
InventorZiyi Li
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a light pipe arrangement for complex automotive lighting features. The light pipe arrangement includes proximately aligned light pipes comprising at least one grouping of reflecting facets for creating a striped aesthetic.
Claims20
A lighting device for an automotive vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of light sources;
- and
- a plurality of light guides optically-coupled to the plurality of light sources and configured to guide a light emitted from the plurality of light sources along a light guiding direction, wherein each one of the plurality of light guides extends in a pre-determined direction from a corresponding one of the plurality of light sources and includes a plurality of decoupling regions separated from each other by an inter-grouping region defined by an inter-grouping distance along the light guiding direction of each one of the plurality of light guides, wherein
- the plurality of light guides are arranged in contact, a second one of the plurality of light guides being stacked on a first one of the plurality of light guides,
- each decoupling region of the plurality of decoupling regions of each one of the plurality of light guides is aligned with a corresponding decoupling region of the plurality of decoupling regions of an adjacent light guide of the plurality of light guides, and
- when illuminated, the aligned decoupling regions produce a lit visual effect along a common axis of the plurality of light guides, inter-grouping regions therebetween being unlit.
3 more elements
A method of guiding light in a lighting device of an automotive vehicle, comprising:
- guiding, along a light guiding direction from an input face of each one of a plurality of light guides, a light emitted from a corresponding one of a plurality of light sources;
- reflecting, via a plurality of decoupling regions of each one of the plurality of light guides, the light emitted from the corresponding one of the plurality of light sources;
- and
- refracting, via an output face of each of the plurality of light guides, the reflected light, the refracted light being refracted along a visual axis, wherein
- each one of the plurality of light guides is optically-coupled to the corresponding one of the plurality of light sources and extends in a pre-determined direction from the corresponding one of the plurality of light sources,
- the plurality of decoupling regions are separated from one another by an inter-grouping region defined by inter-grouping distance along the light guiding direction of each one of the plurality of light guides,
- the plurality of light guides are arranged in contact, a second one of the plurality of light guides being stacked on a first one of the plurality of light guides,
- each decoupling region of the plurality of decoupling regions of each one of the plurality of light guides is aligned with a corresponding decoupling region of the plurality of decoupling regions of an adjacent light guide of the plurality of light guides, and
- when illuminated, the aligned decoupling regions produce a lit visual effect along a common axis of the plurality of light guides, inter-grouping regions therebetween being unlit.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.