Monolithic Geared Optical Reflector
First Claim
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1. A monolithic geared reflector comprising:
- a substrate having an integrally configured first circular cross-section, said first circular cross-section being additionally integrally configured with an annular plurality of gear teeth;
a shaft having a second circular cross-section integrally configured out of a first end of said substrate, wherein said shaft is adapted to rotate about its axis;
an optical reflective surface integrally configured from and along a second end of said annular substrate; and
wherein said annular plurality of gear teeth are adapted to cooperate with a mating gear so as to rotate said shaft and direct optical radiation to a plurality of predetermined locations in and out of a coupled spectrophotometer instrument upon being received by said integrally configured optical reflective surface.
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Abstract
A novel monolithic geared optical reflector apparatus which is configured from a gear blank machined to have an integral shaft and integral reflective surface with desired optical properties is introduced herein. Such a rotating mirror device is beneficially capable of being configured into any optical instrument, such as, but not limited to a spectrophotometer, wherein the reflector is adapted to accurately point to a plurality of locations within or out of the system via gear to gear rotation.
62 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A monolithic geared reflector comprising:
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a substrate having an integrally configured first circular cross-section, said first circular cross-section being additionally integrally configured with an annular plurality of gear teeth; a shaft having a second circular cross-section integrally configured out of a first end of said substrate, wherein said shaft is adapted to rotate about its axis; an optical reflective surface integrally configured from and along a second end of said annular substrate; and wherein said annular plurality of gear teeth are adapted to cooperate with a mating gear so as to rotate said shaft and direct optical radiation to a plurality of predetermined locations in and out of a coupled spectrophotometer instrument upon being received by said integrally configured optical reflective surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A geared reflector system, comprising:
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a housing; a monolithic geared reflector disposed within said housing, said reflector further comprising; a) a substrate having an integrally configured first circular cross-section, said first circular cross-section being additionally integrally configured with an annular plurality of gear teeth; b) a shaft having a second circular cross-section integrally configured out of a first end of said substrate, wherein said shaft is adapted to rotate about its axis; and c) an optical reflective surface integrally configured from and along a second end of said annular substrate; one or more sources and/or one or more detectors arranged in said housing to be annularly configured about said monolithic geared reflector; and a mating gear configured to engage said annular plurality of gear teeth and adapted to rotate said shaft so as to direct received predetermined optical radiation at said optical reflective surface to said annularly configured one or more detectors or to receive predetermined optical radiation at said optical reflective surface from said annularly configured one or more sources so as to further direct the predetermined optical radiation out of said housing. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification