Technical Overview of Light Guides

On meeting requirements how it illuminates, optical design for light guide has a variety of restriction (Space or standards by customers and so on)
We would like to introduce part of our development achievements.

Development Case 1

Pinhole Light Lens

“Concealing the light source, blending seamlessly into the space”

Product Overview

The Pinhole Light Lens is a specially developed light guide designed to minimize the visible light outlet and eliminate the physical presence of the light fixture.
This delivers exceptional concealment and flexibility in installation.

With an ultra-small 2mm aperture, this lens is ideal for use in car interiors and other design-sensitive environments requiring discreet illumination.

Key Features

1. “Hidden Light” with Invisible Fixtures
The lens features an ultra-compact 2mm diameter aperture. When the light is off, the fixture is virtually invisible—perfect for applications where lighting should not be seen.

2. High Installation Flexibility with Compact Design
The lens body is a single-molded unit roughly the size of a coin (15 x 15 mm), allowing easy integration into tight spaces such as overhead consoles, pillars, and sun visors.

3. Versatile Light Distribution: From Spot to Diffused
The lens can be tailored for various lighting effects—from focused spotlights for task lighting to soft, ambient illumination—depending on the needs of the space.

4. Three-Layer Lens Structure for Precision Light Control
The Pinhole Light Lens features an integrated three-layer structure.
Each layer plays a role in gradually shaping and directing the LED light, enabling beautiful output from a pinhole as small as 2mm.

5. Customizable to Your Specifications
The emission angle and aperture size can be customized according to your specific application.
We support tailored solutions to meet your exact requirements.

Optical Design of the Pinhole Light Lens

Conventional map lamp lenses typically control the LED beam angle directly, which often requires larger apertures to ensure sufficient brightness—compromising aesthetic design.

Our newly developed technology addresses this with a three-layer lens structure that first condenses the LED light and then guides it through a pinhole.
This layered approach enables ample brightness even from a compact 2mm opening—something not achievable with the traditional one- or two-layer designs.

By limiting the lens to three layers, we maintain high total light transmission and efficiency. This allows for adaptable lighting designs ranging from narrow-beam spotlights to wide, gentle illumination—achieving both aesthetic beauty and functional performance.

Example Applications

Interior automotive lighting (reading lights, ambient illumination)
Design-focused spaces (indirect lighting in hotels, offices, and residential interiors)
Built-in lighting for home appliances and equipment

Development Case 2

Power Window Switch Lens

Illuminate 7 switches with only one LED as a light source
Oshino Lamps clears the high demand mission。

The space is extremely limited around the power window switches in an automotive. This application requires that the sections that need to be illuminated are separated over other parts and the each lighting area of the lens is small.
Also, parts of the switches are push buttons that stay at high or low position, and maintaining the same amount of lighting was required. We solved this challenge by designing an additional lens that can move high and low with the push button, and using the light indirectly by reflecting the light source from the base lens.
Because of this clever solution, we made it possible to reduce the number of parts used, and the number of assembly processes. Furthermore, because only one LED is used to illuminate the multiple areas, this eliminates the variations of colors.

Development Case 3

USB/AUX Indicator Lens

This is a case study of the optical design for indicator lights around USB and AUX ports installed in automobiles.

We provide comprehensive proposals based on simulation results, covering not only the optical shape design of light guides and lenses, but also the mounting structure within the housing, selection of LED luminous intensity and chromaticity, and optimal LED placement.

AUX Products

AUX Diffuser Lens

AUX Light Guide

USB Products

USB Diffuser Lens

USB Light Guide

Simulation

Oshino Lamps Ltd. uses “Optis Works” which is an optical simulation software.This enables us to perform ray-trace, luminance distribution and analysis. After the simulation, the most appropriate form of light guide is created.