Light guide plate with curved V-groove patterns in edge-lit backlight

Abstract

We propose curved V-groove-based patterns for light guide plates (LGPs) and demonstrate their performance by calculating their uniformity and luminance. Instead of the linear V-groove patterns used in previous research, curved patterns with asymmetric V-groove cuts were applied to the LGPs. The feasibility of obtaining enhanced uniformity and luminance from LGPs with the proposed patterns was evaluated by varying the degree of asymmetry of the V-grooves themselves and the distance between the V-groove patterns. The suggested patterns provided more stable uniformity with a small number of patterns and a large distance between patterns. The number of V-grooves is directly related to the processing time, and the degree of asymmetry in the V-groove cuts corresponds to the processing error during fabrication. Therefore, the proposed patterns could be fabricated with a low tolerance and shorter processing time. Their use would contribute to the cost-effective fabrication of LGPs. Because LGPs using the proposed patterns exhibited uniform illumination, a small number of curved patterns composed of asymmetric V-grooves can improve the characteristics of edge-type backlighting.