Derek Harvey

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Derek Harvey
Sr. Sales Represenative

Contact us

The elastic light guides

Author

With the excellent light guide property of KURARITY™, which is a transparent TPE, only one LED is needed to illuminate up to 3 meters length of the elastic light guides. Any color you want is easily produced by changing the color of the LED, as the light guides themselves are milky white.

Light guides in a car interior

Special properties

Flexibility

These flexible light guides enable car designers wrap the light guides in a broad range of shapes. Soft, elastic light guides also help eliminate sharp edges in contrast to PMMA.

Uniform luminescence and color

The light guides can produce uniform luminescence and color even with lengths up to three meters and with a single LED light source.

Customizable shape

Unique shapes can be designed according to the needs of the application. By designing the cross-sectional shape to properly fit other parts, the assembly process is simplified. When compared to light guides that can only produce 360 degree shapes, this is a significant improvement.

Rod-shaped
Cross-sectional shape with fitting part
Light guides in a bathroom interior

Directional and luminance control of light emission

The light guides with a reflection layer allow a wide range of lighting effects by controlling the direction of the light emission, while the conventional light guide emits light for 360 degree. This reflection layer also increases the luminance of the light guide with keeping its maximum available length up to 3 meters.

360 degree light emission
180 degree light emission with reflection layer

Structure

The light guides have a core-clad structure. The LED light entering from the rod side reflects between the core and clad layer and some light extracts through the clad. This illuminating method enables continuous lighting along light guide’s shape. Compared to conventional elastic light guides, which contain LED tape for pointed light source in the guiding rod, light guides made of KURARITY™ produce a softer lighting effect. Also, thinner rods can be produced, as the light guides need only one LED light source. The Fluorocarbon clad ensures that the light guide maintains superior durability, which is vital in automotive applications.

Structure

Technical information

Standard grades

These light guides are offered in 3.5 and 6.3 mm diameters with round cross sections up to three meters in length.

For customized cross-sectional shapes and diameters, please contact us.

Technical insights

You can find more information about our products and applications in the R&D documentation.

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