Flicker free infrared simulator with resistor bridges
First Claim
1. An infrared (IR) simulator, comprising:
- a substrate formed from an insulative material, andan array of pixel cells on said substrate, each of said cells comprising;
a resistor bridge spanning a portion of the cell and contacting the substrate at spaced apart contact locations within the cell, said bridge being shaped to form a thermally insulative gap between the bridge and substrate between said contact locations,a semiconductor drive circuit on said substrate for enabling a desired amount of current flow through said resistor bridge in response to an input control signal for heating the bridge and thereby producing IR radiation therefrom, andcontrol, actuating and power lead lines for respectively delivering control and actuating signals to said drive circuit, and an electrical power signal to said resistor bridge.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An infrared (IR) simulator is disclosed in which an array of pixels is defined on an insulative substrate by resistor bridges which contact the substrate at spaced locations and are separated from the substrate, and thereby thermally insulated therefrom, between the contact locations. Semiconductor drive circuits on the substrate enable desired current flows through the resistor bridges in response to input control signals, thereby establishing the appropriate IR radiation from each of the pixels. The drive circuits and also at least some of the electrical lead lines are preferably located under the resistor bridges. A thermal reflector below each bridge shields the drive circuit and reflects radiation to enhance the IR output. The drive circuits employ sample and hold circuits which produce a substantially flicker-free operation, with the resistor bridges being impedance matched with their respective drive circuits. The resistor bridges may be formed by coating insulative base bridges with a resistive layer having the desired properties, and overcoating the resistive layers with a thermally emissive material. The array is preferably formed on a silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) wafer. Arrays of electromagnetic radiation bridge detectors may also be formed, with the bridges having either resistor, thermocouple or Schottky junction constructions.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. An infrared (IR) simulator, comprising:
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a substrate formed from an insulative material, and an array of pixel cells on said substrate, each of said cells comprising; a resistor bridge spanning a portion of the cell and contacting the substrate at spaced apart contact locations within the cell, said bridge being shaped to form a thermally insulative gap between the bridge and substrate between said contact locations, a semiconductor drive circuit on said substrate for enabling a desired amount of current flow through said resistor bridge in response to an input control signal for heating the bridge and thereby producing IR radiation therefrom, and control, actuating and power lead lines for respectively delivering control and actuating signals to said drive circuit, and an electrical power signal to said resistor bridge. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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12. The IR simulator of claim wherein said generally conductive layer comprises a metal.
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18. An infrared (IR) simulator system, comprising
(a) a vacuum housing having an IR window, (b) an IR pattern generator within said housing, comprising: -
(1) a substrate formed from an insulative material, and (2) an array of pixel cells on said substrate arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, each of said cells comprising; (i) a resistor bridge spanning a portion of the cell and contacting the substrate at spaced apart contact locations within the cell, said bridge being shaped to form a thermally insulative gap between the bridge and substrate between said contact locations, and (ii) a semiconductive drive circuit on said substrate for enabling a desired amount of current flow through said resistor bridge in response to input control and strobe signals to heat the bridge and thereby transmit IR radiation therefrom through said IR window, (3) a series of control lead lines for delivering respective control signals to each column of pixel cells, (4) a series of strobe lead lines for delivering respective strobe signal to each row of pixel cells, (5) a series of power lead lines for delivering an electrical power signal to said pixel cells, and (6) cooling means on the opposite side of said substrate from said pixel cells, (c) means for applying successive sets of input control signals to said control lead lines, (d) means for applying strobe signals to each of said strobe lead lines in succession, said strobe signals being applied in synchronism with said input control signals to direct said control signals to desired pixel cells, and (e) optical means in the path of IR radiation transmitted from said IR pattern generator through said IR window for optically conditioning said radiation for detection by an IR detector. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An infrared (IR) radiating element, comprising:
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a substrate formed from an insulative material, a resistor bridge spanning a portion of said substrate and contacting the substrate at spaced apart contact locations, said bridge being shaped to form a thermally insulative gap between the bridge and substrate between said contact locations, and a semiconductive drive circuit on said substrate for directing a current through said bridge to heat the bridge and thereby produce IR radiation therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification