Lightpipe design

According to Breault Research Organization, any automotive instrument or control that needs illumination is a candidate for a lightpipe to take light from where it is generated to where it is needed.

In the past, to lighting of automotive instruments and dashboard components was done with direct illumination. An incandescent light bulb placed in front of instruments or behind the dashboard directly illuminated is not very uniform. There has to be plenty of empty space between the bulb and the working area to avoid blocking the light and the illuminated pattern does not have that jet-cockpit look that sells cars.

To complicate matters, automotive manufacturers want to cram more electronics into smaller spaces for lower cost, so there is a need to take light from a small number of lower-power sources on a circuit board and move it around corners to the illuminated areas. Something is needed that takes light from a remote location, feeds it directly to the area where it is necessary, and uniformly distributes it over one or more areas of interest. The device has to be low cost, robust, and able to work in confined spaces.