Illumination device

• US 8,201,966 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2008
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brandon Medical Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Brandon Medical Company Limited
• Inventors: Hall, Graeme, Morrison, Euan
• Primary Examiner(s): SEMBER, THOMAS M
• Application Number:
  US12/523,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20100002428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,616 Days
• Field of Search: 362/230, 362/231, 362/293, 362/84, 362/249.02, 362/249.06, 362240-245
• US Class Current: 362/231
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/309 using white LEDs
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/36 Image-producing devices or illumination devices not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 13/14 the elements being filters or photoluminescent elements, reflectors and refractors
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 14/06 by movement of refractors in vehicle head lamps F21S41/635
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/008 Combination of two or more successive refractors along an optical axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 9/08 for producing coloured light, e.g. monochromatic; for reducing intensity of light with provision for controlling the colour F21V9/40
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/205 for operating theatres
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2113/13 comprising an assembly of point-like light sources
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]

Abstract

The present invention relates to an illumination device, comprising a white LED, a red LED and a color filter. A hight color rendering index (CRI, Ra) and a high value of R9 (for strong red) can be obtained. One application is medical lighting, for example for surgical lights.

Claims

1. An illumination device capable of emitting an output light comprising:

a housing;

one or more white LEDs emitting a first light along a first path and one or more red LEDs emitting a second light along a second path, wherein the one or more white LEDs and the one or more red LEDs are mounted in the housing such that the first light and the second light are mixed to form an output light transmitted along a third path or to form an output light at a field position; and

a colour filter positioned in one or more of the first path, the second path and the third path,

wherein a chromaticity coordinate X of each of the one or more white LEDs is in a range 0.270 to 0.480 and a chromaticity coordinate Y of each of the one or more white LEDs is in a range 0.270 to 0.460 and wherein the or each red LED has a dominant wavelength in a range 613 to 645 nm,

wherein a colour rendering index Ra of the output light is 80 or more.

2. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein one or more white LEDs and one or more red LEDs are clustered.

3. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein one or more white LEDs and one or more red LEDs are provided in an array.

4. An illumination device as claimed in claim 3 wherein the array is a plurality of discrete clusters.

5. An illumination device as claimed in claim 4 wherein each cluster is a linear, staggered, herringbone, honeycomb, triangular, hexagonal or circular pattern.

6. An illumination device as claimed in claim 3 wherein each cluster is a linear, staggered, herringbone, honeycomb, triangular, hexagonal or circular pattern.

7. An illumination device as claimed in any preceding claim 1 wherein each white LED is a high brightness white LED.

8. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each white LED is a high power white LED.

9. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more white LEDs is a plurality of white LEDs.

10. An illumination device as claimed in any preceding claim 1 wherein the or each white LED is a cold white LED.

11. An illumination device as claimed in any claim 1 wherein the or each white LED has a correlated colour temperature of 4500K or more.

12. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the or each red LED is a red, red/orange or red/amber LED.

13. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the or each red LED has a dominant wavelength in the range 620 to 631 nm.

14. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

one or more converging elements positioned relative to the one or more white LEDs and one or more red LEDs to manipulate the first light and second light to form the output light.

15. An illumination device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the or each converging element is a focussing element, beam shaping element or beam converging element.

16. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a beam size of the first, second or output light is variable.

17. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein an intensity of the first light from the one or more white LEDs is variable relative to an intensity of the second light from the one or more red LEDs.

18. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more white LEDs and one or more red LEDs are provided in an array, wherein the array is a plurality of discrete first and second clusters.

19. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the colour rendering index of the output light is substantially uniform across substantially a whole visible spectrum and is greater than 90.

20. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the colour rendering index Ra of the output light is 85 or more.

21. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a colour rendering index R9 of the output light is 80 or more.

22. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of a range of colour rendering indices R1 to R8 of the output light is 80 or more.

23. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of a range of colour rendering indices R1 to R16 of the output light is 80 or more.

24. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the output light has a correlated colour temperature in the range 3000 to 6700K.

25. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the colour filter is positioned in the first and/or second path.

26. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the colour filter is a colour shift filter.

27. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the chromaticity coordinate (x) of the colour filter is in the range 0.300 to 0.530.

28. An illumination device as claimed in any preceding claim 1 wherein the chromaticity coordinate (y) of the colour filter is in the range 0.300 to 0.530.

29. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the or each white LED has a correlated colour temperature in a range of 5600 to 7000K.

30. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the colour rendering index Ra of the output light is 93 or more.

31. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a colour rendering index R9 of the output light is 93 or more.

32. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of a range of the colour rendering indices R1 to R8 of the output light is 93 or more.

33. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of a range of the colour rendering indices R1 to R16 of the output light is 93 or more.

34. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the output light has a correlated colour temperature of about 4300K.

35. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the chromaticity coordinate (x) of the colour filter is in a range 0.335 to 0.360.

36. An illumination device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the chromaticity coordinate (y) of the colour filter is in a range 0.340 to 0.360.

37. An illumination device capable of emitting an output light comprising:

a housing;

one or more white LEDs emitting a first light along a first path and one or more red LEDs emitting a second light along a second path, wherein the one or more white LEDs and the one or more red LEDs are mounted in the housing such that the first light and the second light are mixed to form an output light transmitted along a third path or to form an output light at a field position; and

a colour filter positioned in one or more of the first path, the second path and the third path,

wherein the one or more white LEDs and one or more red LEDs are provided in an array, wherein the array is a plurality of discrete first and second clusters; and

wherein each first cluster is a cluster of narrow beam LEDs and each second cluster is a cluster of broad beam LEDs.

38. An illumination device as claimed in claim 37 wherein the beam size of the output light from the first cluster is narrower than the beam size of the output light from the second cluster.

39. An illumination device as claimed in claim 37 wherein an intensity of the output light from the first cluster is variable relative to an intensity of the output light from the second cluster.

40. An illumination device as claimed in claim 38 wherein an intensity of the output light from the first cluster is variable relative to an intensity of the output light from the second cluster.

41. An illumination device capable of emitting an output light comprising:

a housing;

one or more white LEDs emitting a first light along a first path and one or more red LEDs emitting a second light along a second path, wherein the one or more white LEDs and the one or more red LEDs are mounted in the housing such that the first light and the second light are mixed to form an output light transmitted along a third path or to form an output light at a field position; and

a colour filter positioned in one or more of the first path, the second path and the third path,

wherein the one or more white LEDs and one or more red LEDs are provided in an array, wherein the array is a plurality of discrete first and second clusters; and

wherein each first cluster and each second cluster is a cluster of narrow beam LEDs and broad beam LEDs.

42. An illumination device as claimed in claim 41 wherein an intensity of the output light from the first cluster is variable relative to an intensity of the output light from the second cluster.