Dichroic beam combiner utilizing blue LED with green phosphor

• US 7,144,121 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2004
• Issued: 12/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Light Prescriptions Innovators, LLC
• Original Assignee: Light Prescriptions Innovators, LLC
• Inventors: Benitez, Pablo, Minano, Juan Carlos, Parkyn, William A Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dowling, William C.
• Application Number:
  US10/987,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20050117125A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 353/30, 353/31, 353/33, 353/38, 353/94, 353/81, 349/69, 349/70, 349/71, 359/634, 359/638, 359/639, 359/640, 362/84, 362/231, 362/230, 362/234, 362/800
• US Class Current: 353/94
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/61 using light guides
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/69 Details of refractors forming part of the light source
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 19/0028 refractive and reflective surfaces, e.g. non-imaging catadioptric systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 19/0061 the light source comprising a LED semiconductor devices with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier specially adapted for light emission H01L33/00
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/204 using secondary light emission, e.g. luminescence or fluorescence using different colours G03B33/00; if related to video signals H04N9/3197
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 33/12 using beam-splitting or beam-combining systems, e.g. dichroic mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 362/80 Light emitting diode

Abstract

A white beam with high color-rendering index is formed by uniting a collimated red beam and a collimated blue-green beam, the latter having as its source a blue LED with a green phosphor. The white beam is formed by a prism with an amber low-pass dichroic filter. The prism cross-section can be either a square or an equilateral triangle. The triangular prism can have one third of its mass reduced by stepped facets. Both types of prism can be elongated to accommodate multiple collimators. Switching between white, red, and blue-green allows application to police vehicles.

Claims

1. A white-beam combining system comprising a dichroic prism, a source of red collimated light, and a source of blue-green collimated light, said red collimated light source and said blue-green collimated light source being situated so as to enter the prism and be combined therein into a common output beam,

wherein said prism has an equilateral triangle as cross-section and comprises an internal dichroic coating deployed on a plane connecting one vertex of said triangle with its centroid and further comprises adjacent red and blue-green collimators positioned to input their beams into said prism in a direction parallel to the plane of said coating.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said prism has stepped facets facing said adjacent collimators and extending inward to said coating.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said source of blue-green collimated light comprises a blue LED with a green-phosphor coating with color-balanced thickness.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said prism extends orthogonally to its cross-section to accommodate a plurality of additional collimators.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for enabling the common output beam to cycle between white, red, and blue-green.

4. A white-beam combining system comprising a dichroic prism, a source of red collimated light, and a source of blue-green collimated light, said red collimated light source and said blue-green collimated light source being situated so as to enter the prism and be combined therein into a common output beam,

wherein the source of red collimated light includes a first collimator,

wherein the source of blue-green collimated light includes a second collimator, and

wherein each of the first and second collimators is an RXI lens.

5. A white-beam combining system comprising a dichroic prism, a source of red collimated light, and a source of blue-green collimated light, said red collimated light source and said blue-green collimated light source being situated so as to enter the prism and be combined therein into a common output beam,

wherein the source of red collimated light includes a first collimator,

wherein the source of blue-green collimated light includes a second collimator, and

wherein each of the first and second collimators is a TIR lens.