Apparatus and method for curing materials with radiation
DCFirst Claim
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1. hand held dental instrument for curing light-curable compounds curable in the mouth of a patient comprising:
- a housing;
a plurality of solid state, light-emitting dies, each die including at least one generally bare semiconductor junction, mounted in a collective array in the housing, the array of dies operable for collectively emitting light having wavelengths within a narrow band of wavelengths and at a power to cure a dental compound;
a continuous clear lens layer having at least one curved surface and contacting the array to extend in a continuous fashion over all of the dies of the array of dies, the curved surface operable for protecting the bare semiconductor junctions and directing and focusing light generated by the array; and
a light transmitting device for capturing said light from the array of dies and continuous lens layer, and transmitting a beam of the light out of the housing to a work surface.
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Abstract
A hand held dental instrument for curing light-curable compounds comprises a housing and an array of solid state, light emitting junctions or dies for generating light having wavelengths within a narrow band of wavelengths (e.g. 400–500 nm). Preferably, a peak wavelength of 470 nm is generated. The device further comprises an optical fiber light pipe for capturing the light and transmitting a beam of the light to a work surface containing a light-curable compound. An optical lens or lenses may be used for focusing the light into the light pipe.
152 Citations
9 Claims
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1. hand held dental instrument for curing light-curable compounds curable in the mouth of a patient comprising:
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a housing; a plurality of solid state, light-emitting dies, each die including at least one generally bare semiconductor junction, mounted in a collective array in the housing, the array of dies operable for collectively emitting light having wavelengths within a narrow band of wavelengths and at a power to cure a dental compound; a continuous clear lens layer having at least one curved surface and contacting the array to extend in a continuous fashion over all of the dies of the array of dies, the curved surface operable for protecting the bare semiconductor junctions and directing and focusing light generated by the array; and a light transmitting device for capturing said light from the array of dies and continuous lens layer, and transmitting a beam of the light out of the housing to a work surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. hand held dental instrument for curing light-curable compounds curable in the mouth of a patient comprising:
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a housing; a plurality of solid state, light-emitting dies, each die including at least one generally bare semiconductor junction, mounted in a collective array in the housing, the array of dies operable for collectively emitting light having wavelengths within a narrow band of wavelengths and at a power to cure a dental compound; a continuous clear lens layer having at least one curved surface and contacting the array to extend in a continuous fashion over all of the dies of the array of dies, the curved surface operable for protecting the bare semiconductor junction and directing and focusing light generated by the array; and the housing including a distal end and the array of light-emitting dies and lens layer being positioned proximate the distal end for transmitting light directly from the array to a compound to be cured.
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9. An instrument for curing dental compounds comprising:
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a plurality of light-emitting elements formed from generally bare, light-generating semiconductor junctions mounted on a substrate, the light-emitting elements collectively emitting light in a narrow wavelength band suitable for curing a dental compound; a continuous lens layer having at least one curved surface thereon, the layer contacting the substrate to extend in a continuous fashion over all of the light-emitting elements; a light pipe having a receiving end proximate the light-emitting elements and lens layer to capture emitted light.
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Specification