Radiation device

• US 20050236586A1
• Filed: 05/21/2003
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: 3M ESPE AG (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M ESPE AG (3M Company)
• Inventors: Hartung, Martin G.
• Application Number:
  US10/514,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20050236586A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/492.300
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 19/004 Hand-held apparatus, e.g. guns
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0006 Coupling light into the fibre in general G02B6/4298
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4214 the intermediate optical element having redirecting reflective means, e.g. mirrors, prisms for deflecting the radiation from horizontal to down- or upward direction toward a device G02B6/4246 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4298 coupling with non-coherent light sources and/or radiation detectors, e.g. lamps, incandescent bulbs, scintillation chambers

Abstract

The invention relates to a radiation device comprising a housing, a single light-emitting unit, and a light-absorbing unit which is provided with an inlet opening and a reflector element. Said reflector element extends across the entire distance between the light-emitting unit and the inlet opening of the light-absorbing unit.

Claims

1. An irradiation appliance, having:

a housing;

a single light-emitting unit which is arranged in the housing;

a light-receiving unit comprising an optical wave guide and having an inlet opening; and

a reflector element which extends over the entire distance between the light-emitting unit and the inlet opening of the light-receiving unit and has a smaller and a larger opening;

wherein the smaller opening faces the light-emitting unit, and the larger opening faces the light-receiving unit; and

wherein the inclination angle v of the reflector element follows the relationship;

ν

=0.5×

(δ

−

α

)

where δ

is the maximum emission angle at which the light beams intended to be injected into the optical waveguide leave the light-emitting unit, and a is the acceptance angle of the optical waveguide.

2. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the larger opening has a diameter that is less than or equal to that of the light-receiving unit (18).

3. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the smaller opening at least partially surrounds the light-emitting unit (11).

4. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reflector element has an aperture angle that decreases in size continuously from the smaller opening to the larger opening.

5. The irradiation device of claim 1 wherein the reflector element has an aperture angle that decreases in size in at least one step between the smaller opening and the larger opening.

6. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distance between the light-emitting unit 3 and the light-receiving unit is greater than half the diameter of the light-receiving unit.

7. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 6, wherein the length of the reflector element is greater than the distance between the light-emitting unit and the light-receiving unit.

8. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the larger opening in the reflector element is covered by an optical protective glass.

9. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 8, wherein the optical protective glass has blooming on one or both faces.

10. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reflector element is a truncated cone which is reflective on the inside.

11. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 10, wherein the inner surface of the truncated cone is metallically mirrored or is formed from a sheet with high optical reflection.

12. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 11, wherein the sheet is composed of a metal with good reflection characteristics, or is coated with such a metal.

13. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 11, wherein the sheet is a metal-free, multilayer interference reflector sheet.

14. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-emitting unit is a blue high-power light-emitting diode, comprising at least one light-emitting element whose size is at least 0.25 mm², and the unit produces a radiation power between 100 and 1400 mW.

15. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one light-emitting element size is between 1 and 5 mm², and the radiation power is between 200 and 800 mW.

16. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-emitting unit is thermally connected to the housing.

17. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 16, wherein the housing is composed entirely or partially of a material of high thermal conductivity and thermal capacity.

18. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 17, wherein the housing is composed entirely or partially of aluminum, zinc or brass.

19. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 17, wherein the light-emitting unit is additionally thermally connected to an element having a thermal capacity between 10 and 100 Joule/Kelvin.

20. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 19, wherein the thermal capacity is between 20 and 50 Joule/Kelvin.

21. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-emitting element is mounted on a planar holding plate of high thermal conductivity.

22. The irradiation appliance as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-receiving element is selected from a rigid optical waveguide rod or a flexible optical waveguide.

23. An irradiation appliance, having:

a housing;

a single light-emitting unit which is arranged in the housing;

a light-receiving unit with an inlet opening; and

a reflector element which extends over the entire distance between the light-emitting unit and the inlet opening of the light-receiving unit and has a smaller and a larger opening;

wherein the smaller opening faces the light-emitting unit, and the larger opening faces the light-receiving unit; and

wherein the reflector element selectively deflects only those light beams whose emission angle from the light-emitting unit is greater than the acceptance angle of the light-receiving unit in the desired inlet angle range into the light-receiving unit, but leaves the other light beams unaffected.