Apparatus and method for collecting and detecting light emitted by a lighting apparatus
First Claim
1. A lighting apparatus configured for light collection and detection, and adapted for connection to a source of power, said lighting apparatus comprising:
- a) two or more clusters of one or more light-emitting elements for emission of light, said clusters arranged around a first central axis and each cluster is substantially equidistant from said first central axis;
b) light collection means for collection of a portion of the light emitted by each of the two or more clusters, said light collection means having a second central axis said light collection means positioned to align said second central axis with said first central axis; and
c) light detection means optically coupled to the light collection means, said light detection means for receiving said portion of light and conversion of said portion of light to an electrical signal representative of said light.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for collecting and detecting light emitted from a plurality of light-emitting elements. The light-emitting elements are grouped into two or more clusters of one or more light-emitting elements with the clusters arranged such that a portion of the light emitted from each cluster is directly incident upon a central axis, wherein every point along the central axis is equidistant from each cluster. A light collection means also having a central axis associated therewith is placed such that the central axis of the clusters and the central axis of the collection means coincide. The light collection means collects a substantially equal portion of light from each cluster and propagates the collected light to a detection means comprising an optical sensor for conversion to an electrical signal representative of the light emitted by the clusters. The electrical signal provided by the light detection means may be fed back to a controller for use in controlling the properties of the light emitted by the light-emitting elements.
51 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A lighting apparatus configured for light collection and detection, and adapted for connection to a source of power, said lighting apparatus comprising:
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a) two or more clusters of one or more light-emitting elements for emission of light, said clusters arranged around a first central axis and each cluster is substantially equidistant from said first central axis;
b) light collection means for collection of a portion of the light emitted by each of the two or more clusters, said light collection means having a second central axis said light collection means positioned to align said second central axis with said first central axis; and
c) light detection means optically coupled to the light collection means, said light detection means for receiving said portion of light and conversion of said portion of light to an electrical signal representative of said light. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for collecting and detecting light emitted by two or more clusters of light-emitting elements, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) providing a light collection means optically coupled to the two or more clusters and a light detection means optically coupled to the light collection means, said two or more clusters arranged around a first central axis and each cluster substantially equidistant from said first central axis, said light collection means having a second central axis and said light collection means positioned to align said second central axis with said first central axis;
b) collecting a portion of light emitted by each of said two or more clusters of light emitting elements using said light collection means; and
c) detecting said portion of light and converting said portion of light to an electrical signal representative of said light using said light detection means.
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Specification