Illumination unit having an LED and image projecting apparatus employing the same

• US 20060072078A1
• Filed: 09/23/2005
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Su-gun, Lee, Kye-boon, Seong, Ki-boon, Kim
• Granted Patent: US 7,396,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 353/94
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 19/001 the light sources being semiconductors devices, e.g. LEDs
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/71 using a combination of separate elements interconnected by heat-conducting means, e.g. with heat pipes or thermally conductive bars between separate heat-sink elements
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/763 the planes containing the fins or blades having the direction of the light emitting axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/89 Metals
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 7/0091 using total internal reflection
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/2033 LED or laser light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/208 Homogenising, shaping of the illumination light
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3144 Cooling systems cooling of liquid crystal cells in general G02F1/133382; cooling of projectors not peculiar to the presence of an electronic spatial light modulator G03B21/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/315 Modulator illumination systems general applications of lighting devices F21V; general optical systems G02B; lamp houses for projectors not peculiar to the presence of an electronic spatial light modulator G03B21/20

Abstract

An illumination unit includes a first heat conducting plate and a plurality of light source modules to emit a plurality of lights having different colors, each light source module having at least one LED mounted on the first heat conducting plate and at least one corresponding collimator to collimate the lights emitted from the at least one LED.

Claims

1. An illumination unit, comprising:

a first heat conducting plate; and

a plurality of light source modules emitting a plurality of lights having different colors, each light source module having at least one LED mounted on the first heat conducting plate and at least one corresponding collimator to collimate light emitted from the at least one LED.

2. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one collimator comprises:

a light incident surface through which to receive light from the at least one corresponding LED,

a parabolic reflection surface facing the light incident surface to reflect the received light in substantially one direction, and

a light exit surface facing the parabolic reflection surface and the light incident surface, and the at least one corresponding LED is disposed at a focal point of the parabolic reflection surface.

3. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the light source modules comprises:

a plurality of collimator groups in which one or more collimators are linearly arranged; and

a plurality of LED groups in which one or more LEDs are linearly arranged, the LED groups are arranged in a stepwise manner with respect to one another, and a plurality of mounting portions are arranged in a stepwise manner on the first heat conducting plate to correspond with the LED groups such that the LEDs of the corresponding LED groups are mounted thereon.

4. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a color synthesizing member to guide the plurality of lights emitted by the plurality of light source modules to propagate along a single optical path;

a condensing lens unit to condense the guided light output from the color synthesizing member; and

a housing to accommodate the plurality of light source modules, the color synthesizing member, and the condensing lens unit,

wherein the first heat conducting plate is part of the housing.

5. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a second heat conducting plate,

wherein the at least one LED comprises one or more LEDS, and each light source module comprises a plurality of collimator groups in which one or more collimators are linearly arranged and one or more first and second LED groups in which the one or more LEDs are linearly arranged, and the LEDs of the one or more first LED groups are mounted on the first heat conducting plate while the LEDs of the one or more second LED groups are mounted on the second heat conducting plate.

6. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 5, wherein the respective LED groups of the one or more first LED groups and the one or more second LED groups are arranged in a stepwise manner with one another and first and second mounting portions are provided on the first and second heat conducting plates in a stepwise manner with respect to one another to correspond to the respective LED groups.

7. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:

a color synthesizing member to guide the plurality of lights emitted from the plurality of light source modules to propagate along a single optical path;

a condensing lens unit to condense the guided light output from the color synthesizing member; and

a housing to accommodate the plurality of light source modules, the color synthesizing member, and the condensing lens unit,

wherein the first and second heat conducting plates are part of the housing.

8. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a second heat conducting plate,

wherein the at least one LED comprises one or more first and second LEDs, and the one or more first LEDs are mounted on the first heat conducting plate while the one or more second LEDs are mounted on the second heat conducting plate.

9. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 8, wherein the one or more first LEDs emit the lights in a first direction, and the one or more second LEDs emit the lights in a second direction.

10. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first direction is opposite to the second direction.

11. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 9, wherein the at least one corresponding collimator collimates the lights received from the first and second directions into a third direction that is different from the first and second directions.

12. An illumination unit, comprising:

a housing including one or more heat conducting plates; and

a plurality of light source modules disposed in the housing to emit lights having different colors, each light source module comprising

at least one collimator including a parabolic reflection surface, a light incident surface facing the parabolic reflection surface, and a light exit surface arranged to cross the parabolic reflection surface and the light incident surface, and

at least one corresponding LED to emit light to the light incident surface of the at least one collimator, and the at least one corresponding LED of the light source modules are mounted on the one or more heat conducting plates for cooling.

13. An illumination unit, comprising:

a housing having at least one heat conducting plate; and

at least one light emitting module having at least one LED disposed on the at least one heat conducting plate such that heat generating by the at least one LED is dissipated through the at least one heat conducting plate, and at least one collimator corresponding to the at least one LED to receive light in a first direction and collimate the light in a second direction.

14. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 13, wherein the at least one collimator comprises at least one parabolic collimator disposed on the at least one LED to collimate light emitted by the at least one LED.

15. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one parabolic collimator has a conic coefficient between −

0.4 and −

2.5.

16. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one light emitting module comprises:

a plurality of LEDs arranged along a one dimensional line; and

a plurality of corresponding parabolic collimators to collimate light emitted from the plurality of LEDs in substantially the same direction.

17. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one light emitting module comprises:

a first group of LEDs disposed at a first height from the at least one heat conducting plate;

a first group of corresponding parabolic collimators disposed on the first group of LEDs to collimate light emitted by the first group of LEDs in a first direction, and each of the parabolic collimators in the first group of parabolic collimators having a first length;

a second group of LEDs disposed at a second height from the at least one heat conducting plate and adjacent to the first group of LEDs; and

a second group of corresponding parabolic collimators disposed on the second group of LEDs to collimate light emitted by the second group of LEDs in the first direction, and each of the parabolic collimators in the second group of parabolic collimators having a second length.

18. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 17, wherein the at least one light emitting module further comprises:

a first group of mounting portions having the first height in which the first group of LEDs is installed; and

a second group of mounting portions disposed adjacent to the first group of mounting portions and having the second height in which the second group of LEDs is installed.

19. The illumination unit as claimed in claim 13, wherein:

the housing comprises a first heat conducting unit as an upper plate thereof and a second heat conducting unit as a lower plate thereof; and

the at least one light emitting module comprises at least one first LED disposed on the first heat conducting unit at a predetermined position thereof and at least one second LED disposed on the second heat conducting unit at the predetermined position thereof.

20. An image projecting apparatus, comprising:

an illumination unit to sequentially emit a plurality of lights having different colors, the illumination unit comprising;

a first heat conducting plate, and

a plurality of light source modules to emit the plurality of lights having the different colors, each light source module having at least one LED mounted on the first heat conducting plate and at least one corresponding collimator to collimate the light emitted by the at least one LED;

an optical modulation element to sequentially modulate the plurality of lights received from the illumination unit according to image information; and

a projection lens unit to project the modulated light to a screen.

21. The image projecting apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the at least one collimator comprises:

a light incident surface through which to receive light from the at least one corresponding LED,

a parabolic reflection surface facing the light incident surface to reflect the received light in substantially one direction, and

a light exit surface facing the parabolic reflection surface and the light incident surface, and the at least one corresponding LED is disposed at a focal point of the parabolic reflection surface.

22. The image projecting apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the at least one LED comprises one or more LEDs, each of the plurality of light source modules comprises a plurality of collimator groups in which one or more collimators are linearly arranged and a plurality of corresponding LED groups in which one or more LEDs are linearly arranged, the LED groups arranged in a stepwise manner with respect to one another, and the illumination unit further comprises a plurality of mounting portions provided on the first heat conducting plate arranged in a stepwise manner to correspond with the LED groups such that the LEDs of the corresponding LED groups are mounted thereon.

23. The image projecting apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the illumination unit further comprises:

a color synthesizing member to guide the plurality of lights emitted by the plurality of light source modules to propagate along a single optical path;

a condensing lens unit to condense the guided light output from the color synthesizing member; and

a housing to accommodate the plurality of light source modules, the color synthesizing member, and the condensing lens unit,

wherein the first heat conducting plate is part of the housing.

24. The image projecting apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the illumination unit further comprises a second heat conducting plate, and each light source module comprises a plurality of collimator groups in which one or more collimators are linearly arranged and a plurality of corresponding LED groups in which one or more LEDs are linearly arranged, and the LEDs of a first one or more LED groups are mounted on the first heat conducting plate while the LEDs of a second one or more LED groups are mounted on the second heat conducting plate.

25. The image projecting apparatus as claimed in claim 24, wherein the respective LED groups of the first one or more LED groups and the second one or more LED groups are arranged in a stepwise manner with respect to one another, and the illumination unit further comprises first and second mounting portions provided on the first and second heat conducting plates, respectively, in a stepwise manner with respect to one another to correspond with the respective first one or more LED groups and second one or more LED groups.

26. The image projecting apparatus as claimed in claim 24, wherein the illumination unit further comprises:

a color synthesizing member to guide the plurality of lights emitted from the plurality of light source modules to propagate along a single optical path;

a condensing lens unit to condense the guided light output from the color synthesizing member; and

a housing to accommodate the plurality of light source modules, the color synthesizing member, and the condensing lens unit, and the first and second heat conducting plates are part of the housing.

27. An image projecting apparatus, comprising:

an illumination unit to sequentially emit a plurality of lights having different colors, the illumination unit comprising;

a housing including one or more heat conducting plates, and

a plurality of light source modules disposed in the housing to emit the plurality of

lights having the different colors, each light source module comprising;

at least one collimator including a parabolic reflection surface, a light incident surface facing the parabolic reflection surface, and a light exit surface arranged to cross the parabolic reflection surface and the light incident surface, and at least one corresponding LED mounted on the one or more heat conducting plates for cooling and to emit light to the at least one collimator;

an optical modulation element to sequentially modulate the plurality of lights emitted by the illumination unit according to image information; and

a projection lens unit to project the modulated light to a screen.

28. An image projecting apparatus, comprising:

an illumination unit to emit a plurality of lights, the illumination unit comprising;

a housing having at least one heat conducting plate, and

at least one light emitting module having at least one LED disposed on the heat conducting plate such that heat generating by the at least one LED is dissipated through the at least one heat conducting plate and at least one collimator corresponding to the at least one LED to receive light in a first direction and collimate the light in a second direction;

an optical modulation unit to modulate the plurality of lights received from the illumination unit to create an image according to data about the image; and

a projection unit to project the image created by the optical modulation unit onto a screen.