Uniform illumination of large, thin surfaces particularly suited for automotive applications

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A thin, efficient and uniform illuminator for large areas comprises a plastic wedge of a series of plastic wedges applied to or formed integrally with a back surface of an area to be illuminated. Light is collected and concentrated from a high efficiency light source. The concentrated light is focused as an input to one or more light guides. The light guides may be optical fibers. The light guides or fibers are fused or mated in some other way to an edge or edges of an optically clear plastic wedge or wedges. The wedge shape increases the angle of the internal reflections of the edge coupled light per unit distance and intercepts more of the light as the wedge gets thinner. To further …