High-efficiency directional backlight design for an automotive display

We propose a high-efficiency directional backlight module (DBM) for automotive display applications. The DBM is composed of light sources, a light guide plate (LGP), and an optically patterned plate (OPP). The LGP has a collimator on the input surface that serves to control the angle of the light emitted to be in the horizontal direction. The OPP has an inverse prism to adjust the light emission angle in the vertical direction. The DBM has a simple structure and high optical efficiency. Compared with conventional backlight systems, the DBM has higher optical efficiency and a suitable viewing angle. This is an improvement in normalized on-axis luminous intensity of 2.6 times and a twofold improvement in optical efficiency. The viewing angles are 100 degrees in the horizontal direction and 35 degrees in the vertical direction. The angle of the half-luminous intensity is 72 degrees in the horizontal direction and 20 degrees in the vertical direction. The uniformity of the illuminance reaches 82%. The DBM is suitable for use in the center information displays of automobiles. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America