JP2008218174A - Lighting apparatus, measuring instrument with lighting, display apparatus with lighting, and watch with lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lighting apparatus which is placed and used between a viewer and an irradiated body and can improve reliability; and to provide a measuring instrument with lighting, including the lighting apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The lighting apparatus 50 includes a plurality of light-emitting elements 100 and a power supply 700 to supply electric power to each light-emitting element 100 on a translucent substrate 60. The light-emitting element 100 includes a light-emitting layer and a lightproof layer on one side of the light-emitting layer. The power supply 700 includes a plurality of electrical supply systems 70-1 and 70-2 which are independent of each other. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an illuminating device, an illuminated instrument, an illuminated display device, and an illuminated watch, and in particular, has an illuminating device that is used by being disposed between an observer and an irradiated object, and the illuminating device. The present invention relates to an illuminated instrument, an illuminated display device, and an illuminated watch.

  Some reflective liquid crystal display devices include a front light device that illuminates a liquid crystal panel from the front surface for use in an environment where external light is insufficient. In addition, as an illumination device used in the front light device, there is one having an organic electroluminescence (EL) element (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). The illumination device is disposed opposite to the front surface of the liquid crystal panel, and the organic EL element is formed so as to emit light in a grid pattern, for example.

JP 2006-154402 A JP 2000-267097 A

  In view of the usage pattern of illuminating the irradiated object by being arranged between the observer and the irradiated object, the illumination device can be applied to various applications as well as a liquid crystal display device. In various applications, a problem that the entire lighting device is turned off during lighting may not be preferable.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an illuminating device that is arranged and used between an observer and an object to be irradiated and that can improve reliability, and an illuminated instrument having the illuminating device. It is providing the illuminated display apparatus and the illuminated timepiece.

  An illumination device according to the present invention includes a plurality of light emitting element units and a power supply unit that supplies power to each of the light emitting element units on a translucent substrate, and the light emitting element unit includes a light emitting layer and the light emitting layer. The light supply layer includes a plurality of power supply systems that are independent of each other. According to the said structure, even if it is a case where a malfunction arises in some power supply systems, illumination is possible by the remaining power supply systems. For this reason, a highly reliable lighting device can be provided.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the plurality of light emitting element portions connected to the same power supply system are arranged in a planar manner. According to the above configuration, even if a problem occurs in some of the power supply systems, it is possible to illuminate the irradiated object in a planar shape with the remaining power supply systems. For this reason, a highly reliable lighting device can be provided.

  In addition, it is preferable that an insulating layer provided between the adjacent light emitting element portions is further provided, and at least some of the plurality of power supply systems are insulated from each other by the insulating layer. According to the above configuration, a plurality of power supply systems can be easily provided.

  An instrument with illumination according to the present invention includes the illumination device. According to the said structure, the reliability of an illumination function can be improved about a meter.

  The display device with illumination according to the present invention includes the illumination device. According to the said structure, the reliability of an illumination function can be improved about a display apparatus.

  The illuminated timepiece according to the present invention includes the illumination device. According to the said structure, the reliability of an illumination function can be improved about a timepiece.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  In FIG. 1, the schematic diagram explaining the illuminating device 50 which concerns on embodiment is shown. The illumination device 50 is a device that is used by being disposed between an irradiated object and an observer, and the observer observes the irradiated object through the illumination device 50.

  The lighting device 50 includes a translucent substrate 60, a plurality of light emitting element units 100, and a power supply unit 700 that supplies power to the plurality of light emitting element units, that is, supplies power to each light emitting element unit 100. It is out.

  The translucent substrate 60 can be composed of, for example, a glass plate. Here, although the case where the main surface of the translucent board | substrate 60 is a rectangle is illustrated, the shape of the said board | substrate 60 is not restricted to this. A plurality of light emitting element units 100 and a power supply unit 700 are provided on one main surface side of the translucent substrate 60.

  The light emitting element portions 100 are provided on the light transmitting substrate 60 so as to be spaced apart from each other. In other words, the plurality of light emitting element portions 100 are arranged in a plane (two-dimensionally arranged) in a plan view of the main surface of the translucent substrate 60. For this reason, according to the illuminating device 50, a to-be-irradiated body is illuminated planarly. Here, a case where a plurality of light emitting element units 100 are arranged in a matrix aligned in parallel with the long and short sides of the translucent substrate 60 is illustrated. However, the arrangement form of the light emitting element unit 100 is not limited to this example. The long side and the short side of the translucent substrate 60 are expressed as “substrate long side” and “substrate short side”, respectively.

  Each column of the light emitting element units 100 arranged in parallel to the short side of the substrate is referred to as a “light emitting element unit column 110”. In the illustrated arrangement, the plurality of light emitting element section rows 110 are arranged in a direction intersecting (in this case, orthogonal to) these rows 110. In addition, the pitch of the adjacent light emitting element part row | line | column 110 is 200 micrometers, for example. However, the arrangement of the light emitting element unit 100 is not limited to the example. For example, the light emitting element array 110 can be configured to be parallel to the long side of the substrate.

  Each light emitting element unit 100 can be configured using a thin film light emitting element, for example, an organic electroluminescence (EL) element. Here, a case where all the light emitting element units 100 emit the same color, for example, white (W) is illustrated. An example of the light emitting element unit 100 will be described later.

  The power supply unit 700 includes wirings 72, 74, 76, and 78. Here, there are two wirings 76, and reference numerals 76-1 and 76-2 are used to distinguish them. In addition, there are two wirings 78 here, and reference numerals 78-1 and 78-2 are used to distinguish them.

  The wirings 72 and 74 are provided as a pair in each of the light emitting element part rows 110, and the light emitting element part 100 is connected in parallel between the wirings 72 and 74 in each light emitting element part row 110. In the illustrated example, the wires 72 and 74 extend parallel to the short side of the substrate. Each of the wirings 72 extends beyond the arrangement range of the light emitting element unit 100 toward one of the long sides of the substrate, and is connected to the wiring 76 in a peripheral region outside the arrangement range of the light emitting element unit 100. On the other hand, each of the wirings 74 extends beyond the arrangement range of the light emitting element portion 100 to the other substrate long side and is connected to the wiring 78 in the peripheral region. In other words, each wiring 72 branches from the wiring 76, and each wiring 74 branches from the wiring 78.

  In the illustrated example, the wiring 76 is disposed in the peripheral region, extends in parallel with the long side of the substrate, and has one end near one short side of the substrate. A positive (+) potential is supplied to the wiring 76 from the power supply 40 through the one end. In the illustrated example, the wiring 78 is disposed in the peripheral region, extends parallel to the long side of the substrate, extends from near the short side of the one substrate to parallel to the short side of the substrate, and near the one end of the wiring 76. One end is provided. A negative (−) potential is supplied from the power supply 40 to the wiring 78 through the one end of the wiring 78.

  In the drawing, the wirings 72, 74, 76, and 78 are illustrated in a straight line, but the shape (planar pattern) of these wirings 72, 74, 76, and 78 is not limited thereto. For example, a locally bent shape may be used. Further, the position of the one end of the wirings 76 and 78 is not limited to the above example.

  In the illuminating device 50, in the two wirings 76, the first wiring 76-1 is connected to the wiring 72 of the odd-numbered light emitting element section row 110 from the left in the figure, and the second wiring 76-2 is the left in the figure. To the wiring 72 of the even-numbered light emitting element section row 110. In the two wirings 78, the first wiring 78-1 is connected to the wiring 74 of the odd-numbered light emitting element section row 110, and the second wiring 78-2 is the wiring of the even-numbered light emitting element section row 110. 74 is connected. Note that the arrangement order of the wirings 76-1, 76-2, 78-1, 78-2 is not limited to the example shown in the figure.

  For this reason, in the illuminating device 50, the odd-numbered light emitting elements include the first wiring 76-1, the wirings 72 and 74 connected to the odd-numbered light-emitting element section 110, and the first wiring 78-1. A first power supply system 70-1 that supplies power to each light emitting element unit 100 in the subsequence 110 is configured. The second wiring 76-2, the wirings 72 and 74 connected to the even-numbered light emitting element section row 110, and the second wiring 78-2 are used for each of the even-numbered light emitting element section rows 110. A second power supply system 70-2 for supplying power to the light emitting element unit 100 is configured. At this time, according to the configuration, the two power supply systems 70-1 and 70-2 are independent of each other. In addition, when not distinguishing each electric power supply system 70-1 and 70-2, the code | symbol 70 will be used.

  That is, the plurality of light emitting element units 100 are provided in a distributed manner in the two power supply systems 70-1 and 70-2, and the plurality of light emitting element units 100 connected to the same power supply system 70 are planar. Is distributed.

  Since the wirings 72 and 74 are arranged in the arrangement range of the light emitting element unit 100, it is preferable that both are made of a light-transmitting conductive material, for example, ITO (Indium Tin Oxide), IZO (Indium Zinc Oxide) or the like. It is configurable. By configuring the wirings 72 and 74 with a light-transmitting conductive material, more light emitted from the light emitting element portion 100 and reflected by the irradiated body can be guided to the viewer side. That is, the transmittance is improved.

  The wirings 76 and 78 can also be made of a light-transmitting conductive material, which improves the transmittance. Further, when the wirings 76 and 78 are arranged in the peripheral region, it is considered that the influence on the transmittance is small, so that the wirings 76 and 78 can be made of a light-shielding conductive material. For example, a metal such as copper (Cu) can be applied. Since metal such as copper has higher conductivity than ITO or the like, power loss can be reduced. That is, the power consumption of the lighting device 50 can be reduced.

  In FIG. 2, the enlarged plan view of the light emitting element part 100 and its vicinity is shown. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. Here, the case where the light emitting element part 100 is comprised including an organic EL element is illustrated. Further, a structure (so-called bottom emission type) in which the emitted light A from the light emitting element unit 100 is extracted through the translucent substrate 60 is illustrated.

  The light emitting element unit 100 includes an anode 72 a, a light emitting layer 160, a cathode 170, and a light shielding layer 172 on the one main surface side of the translucent substrate 60.

  The anode 72 a is locally provided at the position of each light emitting element unit 100, and is disposed on the main surface of the translucent substrate 60 here. The light emitting layer 160 is disposed on the anode 72a. The anode 72a can be made of, for example, ITO or IZO. In the light emitting element unit 100, an anode 72 a is configured using a part of the wiring 72. That is, the light emitting layer 160 is disposed on a part of the wiring 72, and the wiring 72 constitutes the anode 72 a at the contact portion with the light emitting layer 160. The light emitting layer 160 has a structure in which, for example, a hole transport layer, an organic light emitting layer, and an electron transport layer are stacked, and the color of light emitted from the light emitting layer 160 is defined by the material of each layer. Here, the case where the light emitting layer 160 is comprised with the same material, for example, the material which light-emits white (W) about all the light emitting element parts 100 is illustrated. Note that various known materials can be applied to the respective layers of the light emitting layer 160, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The cathode 170 is disposed so as to cover the light emitting layer 160 and the wiring 74. Thereby, the light emitting layer 160 and the wiring 74 are connected. The cathode 170 is made of, for example, aluminum (Al), magnesium-silver alloy (Mg-Ag alloy), lithium-aluminum alloy (Li-Al alloy), magnesium-indium alloy (Mg-In alloy), gold (Au). , Silver (Ag) or the like can be used.

  The cathode 170 preferably functions as a light shielding layer with respect to light emitted from the light emitting layer 160. According to this, it is possible to prevent light emitted from the light emitting layer 160 from being emitted to the side opposite to the translucent substrate 60, that is, the viewer side. For example, according to the materials exemplified above, the cathode 170 can function as a light shielding layer.

  In addition, the cathode 170 preferably functions as a reflective layer with respect to light emission from the light emitting layer 160. According to this, the light emitted from the light emitting layer 160 is reflected toward the translucent substrate 60, and the intensity (or light quantity) of the emitted light A from the light emitting element unit 100 can be relatively increased. For example, according to the materials exemplified above, the cathode 170 can function as a reflective layer.

  The light shielding layer 172 is disposed on the cathode 170 (see FIG. 3) and overlaps the entire cathode 170 (see FIG. 2). The light shielding layer 172 prevents light emitted from the light emitting layer 160 from passing through the cathode 170 and being observed by an observer. Further, the light shielding layer 172 prevents external light from being reflected by the cathode 170 and observed by an observer, and in this sense, functions as an antireflection layer. The light shielding layer 172 can be composed of, for example, various resins containing chromium oxide or a black pigment. According to this exemplary material, both the light shielding function and the antireflection function described above can be realized.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the lighting device 50 includes an insulating layer 154 and a sealing layer 174 on the one main surface side of the translucent substrate 60.

  The insulating layer 154 is provided between the cathode 170 and the translucent substrate 60, between the adjacent light emitting element portions 100, and the like. The insulating layer 154 can be made of a light-transmitting insulating material such as silicon oxide. The insulating layer 154 may have a single layer structure or a multilayer structure.

  Here, FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a crossing portion of the wiring 72 and the wiring 76 (see a portion surrounded by a broken-line circle in FIG. 1). FIG. 4 shows a cross section orthogonal to the extending direction of the wiring 72. As described above, the two wirings 76 are collected in the vicinity of the one long side of the substrate, and are connected to predetermined wirings 72, respectively. For this reason, an intersection may occur between the wiring 72 and the wiring 76. At the intersection, the wirings 72 and 76 are insulated by using the insulating layer 154 as an interlayer insulating film. Thereby, a plurality of power supply systems can be easily provided. The insulating layer 154 between the wirings 72 and 76 may be provided for each intersection, or may be provided over a plurality of intersections. The same applies to the intersection between the wiring 78 and the wiring 74 (see the portion surrounded by a broken-line circle in FIG. 1).

  The sealing layer 174 covers the light emitting element portion 100, the wirings 72, 74, 76, 78, and the like. The sealing layer 174 can be formed of a light-transmitting insulating material, for example, various types of resins such as silicon nitride and epoxy based on a low temperature process. The sealing layer 174 may have a single layer structure or a multilayer structure.

  Note that a light-transmitting substrate may be further provided over the sealing layer 174 so that the light-emitting element portion 100 and the like are sandwiched between the substrate and the light-transmitting substrate 60.

  Although the power supply 40 is illustrated in FIG. 1 for explanation, it is also possible to configure the lighting device 50 including the power supply 40. The output terminal of the power supply 40 is connected to the wirings 76-1, 76-2, 78-1, and 78-2 of the lighting device 50. Thereby, the output from the power supply 40 is supplied to each power supply system 70-1 and 70-2 of the illuminating device 50. Since the light emitting element unit 100 uses an organic EL element, the amount of supplied power corresponds to the amount of supplied current.

  The emitted light, that is, the illumination light as the entire illumination device 50 is constituted by a set of emitted light A of each light emitting element unit 100. Since there are two independent power supply systems 70 in the lighting device 50, lighting can be performed by the remaining power supply system 70 even if a problem occurs in one of the power supply systems 70. For this reason, high reliability is obtained as a lighting device. In addition, the light emitting element units 100 connected to the first power supply system 70-1 are dispersed in a plane, and the same applies to the light emitting element units 100 connected to the second power supply system 70-2. . For this reason, even if a failure occurs in one of the power supply systems 70, the remaining power supply system 70 can illuminate the irradiated object in a planar shape. Also in this respect, high reliability can be obtained as a lighting device.

  In FIG. 5, the schematic diagram explaining the apparatus 200 with illumination which applied the illuminating device 50 to the various apparatuses 30 is shown. The device 30 can be composed of, for example, an instrument, a display device, a clock, and the like, and includes a main body portion 32 and a display portion 34.

  Examples of the meter include a speedometer, a fuel meter, a voltmeter, an ammeter, a pressure meter, a flow meter, and the like. The instrument may be one that can be used alone, such as an electrical tester, or it may be used by being incorporated in various devices / equipment, such as a speedometer installed in a vehicle such as an automobile or train. It may be done. The instrument body 32 corresponds to a mechanism for measuring. The instrument display unit 34 corresponds to an instrument panel that displays information such as measurement results. The display format in the display unit 34 of the instrument may be, for example, a format based on a pointer, or a format in which numerical values are displayed as letters, numbers, symbols, graphics, or the like.

  Examples of the display device include a liquid crystal display device, an electrophoretic display device, a plasma display device, and the like, and may be either self-luminous type or non-self-luminous type. The display unit 34 of the display device corresponds to a display surface on which various types of information such as moving images, still images, characters, numbers, symbols, and figures are displayed. The main body 32 of the display device corresponds to a pixel constituting the display surface, a circuit for driving the pixel, and the like.

  Examples of the clock include a wristwatch, a table clock, and a wall clock. Timepieces include not only those that indicate time but also those that measure time (a so-called stopwatch or the like). The timepiece main body 32 corresponds to a time measuring mechanism or the like. The clock display unit 34 corresponds to a part for displaying information such as time, and corresponds to a dial of an analog clock, for example. The display format in the display unit 34 of the clock may be, for example, a format using hands, or a format in which numerical values are displayed as characters, numbers, symbols, graphics, and the like.

  The illumination device 50 is disposed to face the display unit 34. Thereby, the display unit 34 is illuminated by the illumination light C of the illumination device 50. That is, the display unit 34 corresponds to the irradiated object. The observer observes the display unit 34 through the illumination device 50 (see arrow P). 5 illustrates the case where the illumination device 50 is arranged away from the display unit 34, the illumination device 50 may be arranged in contact with the display unit 34.

  According to the illuminated device 200 having the illumination device 50, the reliability of the illumination function can be improved.

  Although the bottom emission type light emitting element unit 100 is illustrated above, a so-called top emission type light emitting element unit may be applied to the lighting device 50. In the top emission type, the emitted light A of the light emitting element portion is extracted from the side opposite to the translucent substrate 60. For this reason, the top emission type illumination device 50 is arranged with the sealing layer 174 facing the irradiated body. Below, the top emission type light emitting element part 102 is illustrated.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the light emitting element portion 102. The light emitting element portion 102 includes a light shielding layer 172, a reflective layer 176, an anode 72 a using the wiring 72, a light emitting layer 160, and a cathode 170. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the element similar to the said light emitting element part 100, and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  The light shielding layer 172 is disposed on the light transmissive substrate 60 in the light emitting element portion 102. A reflective layer 176 is disposed on the light shielding layer 172. The wiring 72 extends over the reflective layer 176, and the wiring 74 extends over the light shielding layer 172. The light shielding layer 172 of the light emitting element portion 102 is made of an insulating material.

  The reflective layer 176 reflects the light emitted from the light emitting layer 160 to the side opposite to the translucent substrate 60. Thereby, the intensity | strength of the emitted light A from the light emitting element part 102 can be enlarged relatively. The reflective layer 176 can be made of, for example, aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), Mo (molybdenum), gold (Au), silver (Ag), or the like.

  The reflective layer 176 preferably functions as a light blocking layer with respect to light emission from the light emitting layer 160. According to this, the light shielding performance can be improved by the reflective layer 176 or the combination with the light shielding layer 172. According to the material exemplified above, a light shielding function can be realized.

  The wiring 72 that also serves as the anode 72 a is formed of ITO or the like, and the light emitting layer 160 is disposed on the anode 72 a by the wiring 72. A cathode 170 is disposed over the light emitting layer 160 and the wiring 74. The cathode 170 is arranged within the arrangement range of the light shielding layer 172. In the light emitting element portion 102, the light emitted from the light emitting layer 160 is extracted through the cathode 170, and thus the cathode 170 is configured to have a light transmitting property. For the cathode materials exemplified above, it is possible to form a light-transmitting film by controlling the layer thickness (so-called semi-transmissive film).

  Although the case where the power supply system 70 is two systems was illustrated above, the number of the power supply systems 70 is not limited to this.

  In addition, the light emitting element portion 100 and the like can be configured by other light emitting elements such as an inorganic EL and a light emitting diode (LED) instead of the organic EL element.

  Moreover, the case where each light emitting element part 100 grade | etc., Was dot shape was illustrated above. On the other hand, for example, a line-shaped (linear) light-emitting element unit may be formed by connecting a plurality of light-emitting element units 100 provided for the pair of wirings 72 and 74.

  The lighting device 50 can also be used for illuminating a document by placing it on the document, for example.

It is a schematic diagram explaining an illuminating device about embodiment. It is a top view explaining a light emitting element part about an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2. It is sectional drawing explaining an illuminating device about embodiment. It is a mimetic diagram explaining lighting equipment about an embodiment. It is sectional drawing explaining the 2nd example of a light emitting element part about embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 50 Illuminating device, 60 Translucent board | substrate, 70,70-1,70-2 Power supply system, 100,102 Light emitting element part, 154 Insulating layer, 160 Light emitting layer, 172 Light shielding layer, 200 Illuminated apparatus, 700 Power supply Department.

Claims (6)

A plurality of light emitting element portions and a power supply portion for supplying power to each of the light emitting element portions on a translucent substrate;
The light emitting element portion has a light shielding layer on one side of the light emitting layer and the light emitting layer,
The lighting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply unit includes a plurality of power supply systems independent of each other. The lighting device according to claim 1,
The lighting device, wherein the plurality of light emitting element portions connected to the same power supply system are arranged in a planar manner. The lighting device according to claim 1 or 2,
An insulating layer provided between the adjacent light emitting element portions;
The lighting device, wherein at least some of the plurality of power supply systems are insulated from each other by the insulating layer.   An illumination instrument comprising the illumination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   A display device with illumination, comprising the illumination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   An illuminated timepiece comprising the illumination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

Images