Lens and Illumination Apparatus having the same Technical Field

The present invention relates a lens and an illumination ap ^¬ paratus having the same.

Background of the Invention

At present, a double-sided light box has found an increasing application. A LED module is increasingly applied to the light box. In actual application, the LED module is arranged on the frame of the double-sided light box. Such a LED mod ^¬ ule is generally equipped with a LED lens with ellipsoidal intensity distribution to allow the LED module to generate a viewing angle of 10x50 to 60°. In this way, light from the LED module can be projected from sides onto two light box screens of the double-sided light box. However, this type of lens fails to project all the light onto the light box screen, that is to say, a part of light is projected onto the frame opposite to the LED module. In addition, the intensity distribution of the light projected by such a LED lens onto the light box screen is ununiform.

Summary of the Invention

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a lens, by which light emitting from a light source is offset from an optical axis by an angle more than a predetermined angle, such that light is prevented from being projected into an area where illumination is not needed and the intensity distribution of light transmitted by such a lens becomes more uniform. Another object of the present invention is to pro ^¬ vide an illumination apparatus having the above type of lens. Such an illumination apparatus can illuminate a predetermined area, and the light emitting therefrom has more uniform intensity distribution.

The first object of the present invention is realized by a lens which has a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface and the second surface are mirror symmetric to a first symmetric plane passing through an optical axis of said lens and extend in a first direction perpendicular to the optical axis, wherein the curve profiles of the first surface and the second surface on the cross sections perpen- dicular to the first direction are configured in such a way that light emitting from a light source arranged at a prede ^¬ termined position of a second surface side is refracted by the first surface and the second surface to be emitted in a direction which is offset from the optical axis by a more than predetermined angle. All the light from the light sour ^¬ ce is offset by more than a predetermined angle via the lens, that is, it is offset by more than a predetermined angle at two sides of the optical axis, respectively, preferably, the predetermined angle is at least 10° or more than 20°, so as to realize the object of illumination at two sides rather than in a predetermined angle range at two sides of the opti ^¬ cal axis.

According to one preferred design solution of the present in ^¬ vention, in order to make light emitting from a light source offset from an optical axis by more than a predetermined an ^¬ gle, the first surface has a first concave zone dent towards the light source in an area through which the first symmetric plane passes, and has a first extrusion zone at two sides of the first concave zone, respectively. Preferably, the first surface also has a third concave zone at two sides of the first symmetric plane, wherein the first concave zone, the fist extrusion zone and the third concave zone are sequentially connected and smoothly transitioned. Thus, light reflected by the first surface is offset from the optical axis by more than a predetermined angle such that all the light can be projected uniformly onto a surface needing to be illuminated.

According to one preferred design solution of the present in ^¬ vention, the second surface has a second concave zone dent in a direction distant from the light source in the area through which the first symmetric plane passes, and has a second ex ^¬ trusion zone at two sides of the second concave zone, respec ^¬ tively. Preferably, the second surface has a fourth concave zone at two sides of the first symmetric plane, wherein the second concave zone, the second extrusion zone, and the fourth concave zone are sequentially connected and smoothly transitioned. Thus, the concave zones and the extrusion zones cooperate with one another to better refract light so as to further improve the projection angle and the distribu- tion uniformity of the refracted light.

According to one preferred design solution of the present in ^¬ vention, the lens also has two sides for totally reflecting the light of the light source. All the light of the light source needs to be refracted by the first surface and the se- cond surface to be projected at a predetermined angle offset from the optical axis into an area to be illuminated. Light of the light source is totally reflected by two sides of the lens and then refracted by the first surface and the second surface to be projected into an area to be illuminated. In this way, the utilization efficiency of light source is fur ^¬ ther improved.

Preferably, in order to make all the light of the light sour ^¬ ce totally reflected, the two sides are mirror symmetric to a second symmetric plane which is orthogonal to the first sym- metric plane and passes through the optical axis.

More preferably, each side is formed by two sub-sides which are mirror symmetric to the first symmetric plane and the two adjacent sub-sides form an angle less than 180 ° therebetween to render a V shape, wherein the top side of the V shape is towards the light source. In addition, the respective sub ^¬ sides form an angle less than 90°with a reference plane per ^¬ pendicular to the first symmetric plane and the second sym ^¬ metric plane. Thus, the light from the light source is all refracted by the first surface and the second surface after totally reflected.

Another object of the present invention can be realized by an illumination apparatus. Such an illumination apparatus has the above type of lens, and is used to illuminate a predeter- mined area at two sides of the illumination apparatus rather than an area which does not need to be illuminated, and the intensity distribution in illumination becomes more uniform.

Brief Description of the Accompanying Drawings The accompanying drawings constitute a part of the descrip ^¬ tion and are used to provide further understanding of the present invention. Such accompanying drawings illustrate the embodiments of the present invention and are used to describe the principles of the present invention together with the de- scription. In the accompanying drawings the same components are represented using the same reference signs. As shown in the drawings :

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a lens according to the pre ^¬ sent invention; Fig. 2 is a cross-section view of a lens according to the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a top side view of a lens according to the present invention; and

Fig. 4 is a view of an optical pathway of a lens according to the present invention. Detailed Description of the Invention

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a lens according to the pre ^¬ sent invention. It can be seen from said figure that, said lens has a first surface 1, a second surface 2, and two sides 4, wherein a light source 3 designed as a LED module is pro ^¬ vided in an accommodating part defined by the second surface 2. It can be also seen from said figure that, the LED module

3 is provided in an optical axis Y of the lens. In addition, the first surface 1 and the second surface 2 are mirror sym- metric to a first symmetric plane A (as shown in Fig. 2) pas ^¬ sing through the optical axis Y of said lens and extend in a first direction X perpendicular to the optical axis Y.

In addition, it can be also seen from Fig. 1 that, two sides

4 are mirror symmetric to a second symmetric plane B (as shown in Fig. 3) which is orthogonal to the first symmetric plane A and passes through the optical axis Y. each side 4 is formed by two sub-sides 4a, 4b which are mirror symmetric to the first symmetric plane A and the two adjacent sub-sides 4a, 4b form an angle less than 180° therebetween to render a V shape, wherein the top side of the V shape is towards the light source 3. In the design solution of the present inven ^¬ tion, the angle betweenbetween is preferably 120°. Moreover, the respective sub-sides form an angle less than 90° with a reference plane perpendicular to the first symmetric plane A and the second symmetric plane B. In the design solution of the present invention, said angle is preferably 75°.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section view of a lens according to the present invention. In said cross-section view, the first surface 1 and the second surface 2 are mirror symmetric to the first symmetric plane A passing through the optical axis Y of said lens, wherein the first surface has a first concave zone la dent towards the light source 3 in an area through which the first symmetric plane A passes, and has a first ex ^¬ trusion zone at two sides of the first concave zone la, re- spectively. In addition, the first surface 1 also has a third concave zone lc at two sides of the first symmetric plane A, wherein the first concave zone la, the fist extru ^¬ sion zone lb and the third concave zone lc are sequentially connected and smoothly transitioned.

The second surface 2 has a second concave zone 2a dent in a direction distant from the light source 3 in the area through which the first symmetric plane A passes, and has a second extrusion zone 2b at two sides of the second concave zone 2a, respectively. In addition, the second surface 2 also has a fourth concave zone 2c at two sides of the first symmetric plane A, respectively, wherein the second concave zone 2a, the second extrusion zone 2b, and the fourth concave zone 2c are sequentially connected and smoothly transitioned.

It can be seen from Fig. 2 that, the first concave zone la is opposite to the second concave zone 2a, the first extrusion zone lb is opposite to the second extrusion zone 2b, the third concave zone lc is opposite to the fourth concave zone 2c, such that an expanded part is first formed, then a con ^¬ tracted part is formed, and then the expanded part is formed again at two sides of the first symmetric plane A. Fig. 3 is a top side view of a lens according to the present invention, in which the first symmetric plane A and the sec ^¬ ond symmetric plane B orthogonal thereto are indicated by dotted lines. The light source 3 is provided at the crossing point of the first symmetric plane A and the second symmetric plane B, viz. at the optical axis Y. Moreover, it can be seen clearly from said figure that there is an angle between two sub-sides to render a V shape, the top side of which is towards the light source 3, and the sub-sides form an angle with a reference plane which is a plane perpendicular to the first symmetric plane A and the second symmetric plane B.

Fig. 4 is a view of an optical pathway of a lens according to the present invention. As shown in said figure, light from the light source 3 is offset from the optical axis Y by more than a predetermined angle after refracted by the firs sur- face 1 and the second surface 2, preferably, the predeter ^¬ mined angle is at least 10° or more than 20°, however, no op ^¬ tical path is present in a predetermined angle range of two sides of the optical axis Y. For simplification, the figure is merely a view of an optical pathway of the left side of the optical axis Y.

The descriptions above are only preferable embodiments of the present invention and are not used to restrict the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present inven- tion may have various changes and variations. Any modifica ^¬ tions, equivalent substitutions, improvements etc. within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall all be included in the scope of protection of the present invention.