Lighting system for light guides

• US 6,254,264 B1
• Filed: 05/12/1999
• Issued: 07/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Hasegawa, Akira, Suzuki, Takayuki, Tomioka, Makoto, Koshikawa, Yutaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Laura K.
• Application Number:
  US09/310,378
• Time in Patent Office: 783 Days
• Field of Search: 362/558, 362/560, 362/552, 362/263, 362/551
• US Class Current: 362/558
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0001 specially adapted for lighting devices or systems lighting or signalling on vehicles using light guides B60Q1/00; lighting devices for vehicle dashboards B60Q3/10; lighting devices for vehicle interior using light guides B60Q3/62; lighting devices mounted on the vehicle rear part using light guides F21S43/235; measuring arrangements having light conducting pointers G01D13/265; illumination of liquid crystal displays G02F1/1336; illuminated signs G09F13/00

Abstract

An apparatus and method is disclosed which stabilizes the light incident a light guide end over a guaranteed operating lifetime of a lamp used to illuminate the light guide end. The apparatus and method minimize variation in illumination incident a light guide end without, for example, controlling the electrical input to the lamp. The invention is especially effective for light guides having a narrow outer diameter, and compensates not only for movement of a region of maximum luminosity, as occurs in lamps where the cathode is partially consumed during operation of the lamp, but also for the lamp luminosity decreasing with age.

Claims

1. A lighting system for a light guide comprising:

an arc-discharge-type light source;

a reflector having a parabolic reflecting surface which is arranged behind the light source; and

,

an optical system for condensing light from the light source onto an end of a light guide, wherein

the lighting system satisfies the following conditions

2. A lighting system for light guides comprising:

a light source; and

an optical system for condensing light from the light source onto an end of a light guide;

wherein, at the beginning of lamp life operation, the maximum luminescent region of the light source is positioned, as measured from the position that inputs a maximum amount of condensed light into an end of the light guide, in a direction that is opposite the direction the maximum luminescent region of the light source shifts due to aging of the light source.

3. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein the amount of shift is proportional to the distance the maximum luminescent region moves due to depletion of the cathode during a guarantee period of said light source.

4. A lighting system for light guides comprising:

an arc-discharge light source having a first electrode and a second electrode; and

a reflector for gathering light from said arc-discharge light source;

wherein, in an arbitrary coordinate system having an origin defined by the intersection of the surface of said reflector with the optical axis of said reflector, a position vector Po is given by the following condition;

5. The lighting system of claim 4, wherein said arc-discharge light source is powered by direct current, said first electrode is an anode, and said second electrode is a cathode.

6. The lighting system of claim 4, wherein said reflector is a parabolic reflector.

7. The lighting system of claim 4, wherein said reflector is an ellipsoidal reflecting surface.

8. A lighting system for use in illuminating an end of a light guide, said lighting system comprising:

a light source having an arc-discharge lamp which has an anode and a cathode, a reflector having a focal position, a sealed transparent envelope which surrounds the reflector, anode and cathode and which contains a gas capable of arc discharge; and

an optical system for condensing light from the light source onto a small region;

wherein the cathode of the arc-discharge lamp is arranged relative to the focal position of the reflector so as to provide less than a maximum illumination to the small region at the beginning of lamp life operation, and is instead arranged shifted from the position which provides a maximum illumination to the small region at the beginning of lamp life operation, the shift being in a direction opposite to the direction that a tip of the cathode moves as the cathode is depleted during a guarantee period of the lamp life, thereby reducing a variation in light incident said small region throughout said guarantee period.

9. The lighting system according to claim 8, wherein the amount of shift compensates not only for movement of the cathode tip during a guarantee period of the lamp, but also for the light output of the lamp decreasing with time as the lamp ages.

10. The lighting system of claim 8, wherein said reflector is a parabolic reflector.

11. The lighting system of claim 8, wherein said reflector is an ellipsoidal reflecting surface.

12. A method of illuminating an end of at least one light guide that may selectively be attachable to a lighting system, the lighting system using an arc-discharge type lamp to illuminate an end of an attached light guide, the arc-discharge type lamp having a cathode and an anode and an arc-discharge gas sealed within a transparent envelope and forming part of a lighting system which includes a reflector having a focal position, said method serving to reduce a variation in illumination on the end of the light guide over a guarantee period of the lamp, said method comprising the following step:

arranging the cathode of the arc-discharge lamp relative to the focal position of the reflector so as to be shifted from a position which provides a maximum illumination at the start of lamp life operation, with the direction of shift being in a direction opposite the direction that the portion of the cathode nearest the anode moves as the cathode is consumed during a guarantee period of the lamp.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the amount of shift is proportional to the distance the portion of the cathode nearest the anode will move during the guarantee period of the light source.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein, when more than one light guide is selectively attachable to the lighting system, the cathode of the arc-discharge lamp is arranged relative to the focal position of the reflector so as to be shifted from a position which provides a maximum illumination at the start of lamp life operation for the most narrow light guide to be selectively attachable to the lighting system.