Etendue-conserving illumination-optics for backlights and frontlights
First Claim
1. A luminance-preserving non-imaging backlight composed of a transparent dielectric, comprisinga luminous source emitting light out of a bounded aperture that defines a y-z coordinate plane and has a surface normal that defines an x-axis;
- an input port receiving said light;
an injector with said input port defining a first y-z boundary and a larger output port defining a second y-z boundary, said injector having an x-y profile that expands away from said input port to said output port, said x-y profile acting via total internal reflection to keep the x-y angular width of the source image inversely proportional to its luminance;
said injector being a surface of revolution with axis on said source and a swept profile that is a first portion of an upper half of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) tilted in a negative z direction by its acceptance angle, said sweep profile acting to collimate light in a plane of said swept profile while azimuthally distributing said light along said output port; and
a beam-expanding ejector comprising a planar waveguide in an x-y plane with its y-z boundary optically coupled to said output port of said injector so as to receive light therefrom, said ejector having a smooth upper surface of revolution with a profile that is a remaining portion of said CPC profile of said injector, said ejector having a reflective lower surface comprising microstructured facets of revolution coaxial with said surface of revolution of said upper surface, said facets comprising a face parallel to the flow-lines of said CPC profile and a connecting diagonal face with a tilt that reflects in a upwards z-direction said received light, said tilt of said diagonal face adjusted so that said upwardly reflected light is refracted into a collimated direction common to said facets.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Some embodiments provide luminance-preserving non-imaging backlights that comprise a luminous source emitting light, an input port that receives the light, an injector and a beam-expanding ejector. The injector includes the input port and a larger output port with a profile that expands away from the input port acting via total internal reflection to keep x-y angular width of the source image inversely proportional to its luminance. The injector is defined by a surface of revolution with an axis on the source and a swept profile that is a first portion of an upper half of a CPC tilted by its acceptance angle. The beam-expanding ejector comprising a planar waveguide optically coupled to the output port of the injector. The ejector includes a smooth upper surface, and a reflective lower surface comprising microstructured facets that refract upwardly reflected light into a collimated direction common to the facets.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A luminance-preserving non-imaging backlight composed of a transparent dielectric, comprising
a luminous source emitting light out of a bounded aperture that defines a y-z coordinate plane and has a surface normal that defines an x-axis; -
an input port receiving said light; an injector with said input port defining a first y-z boundary and a larger output port defining a second y-z boundary, said injector having an x-y profile that expands away from said input port to said output port, said x-y profile acting via total internal reflection to keep the x-y angular width of the source image inversely proportional to its luminance; said injector being a surface of revolution with axis on said source and a swept profile that is a first portion of an upper half of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) tilted in a negative z direction by its acceptance angle, said sweep profile acting to collimate light in a plane of said swept profile while azimuthally distributing said light along said output port; and a beam-expanding ejector comprising a planar waveguide in an x-y plane with its y-z boundary optically coupled to said output port of said injector so as to receive light therefrom, said ejector having a smooth upper surface of revolution with a profile that is a remaining portion of said CPC profile of said injector, said ejector having a reflective lower surface comprising microstructured facets of revolution coaxial with said surface of revolution of said upper surface, said facets comprising a face parallel to the flow-lines of said CPC profile and a connecting diagonal face with a tilt that reflects in a upwards z-direction said received light, said tilt of said diagonal face adjusted so that said upwardly reflected light is refracted into a collimated direction common to said facets.
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2. A luminance-preserving non-imaging backlight system, comprising
a luminous source emitting light out of a bounded aperture; -
a CPC-shaped injector comprising an input port receiving light from said aperture, said CPC-shape injector forming thereof a beam confined to an acceptance angle; a linear beam-expander comprising a series of microstructured reflective facets each with a face tangent to a local flow-line and another angled to flow-lines of said CPC-shaped injector so as to deflect said light and form a transversely emitting line source; and a beam-expanding ejector comprising a planar waveguide receiving said deflected light, said beam-expanding ejector comprising a smooth upper surface tangent to the flow-lines of said CPC-shaped injector and a lower surface with facets deflecting received light through said upper surface to form a beam, said lower surface facets comprising a face generally parallel to said flow-lines of said CPC shaped injector and a connecting diagonal face with a tilt that reflects in an upwards z-direction said received light, said tilt of said diagonal face adjusted so that said upwardly reflected light is refracted into a collimated direction common to said lower surface facets. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A luminance-preserving non-imaging backlight composed of a transparent dielectric, comprising:
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a luminous source emitting light out of a bounded aperture that defines a y-z coordinate plane and has a surface normal that defines an x-axis; an input port receiving said light; an injector with said input port defining one y-z boundary and a larger output port defining another boundary, said output port being angled between the y-z plane and the x-y plane, said injector having a CPC-shaped x-y profile that expands away from said input port to said output port, said x-y profile acting via total internal reflection to confine said light to a transverse acceptance angle, said injector comprising an x-z profile of a slab with a CPC coupled to said light source; and a quarter-cylindrical turning prism bonded to said output port of said injector; an upper, beam-expanding ejector positioned adjacent said injector and separated therefrom by an air gap, said beam-expanding ejector with an input port optically coupled to said turning prism, said beam-expanding ejector having a lower face that is diffusely reflecting. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A luminance-preserving non-imaging backlight comprising:
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an air-filled injector comprising reflective walls surrounding a bounded input aperture and expanding outward therefrom to a larger exit port, where the bounded input aperture defines a y-z coordinate plane and has a surface normal that defines an x-axis; a z-axis cylindrical lens filling said exit port; a y-axis cylinder optically attached to said z-axis cylindrical lens on a lower z-half of a y-z cross-section of said z-axis cylindrical lens; and a planar beam-expanding ejector optically attached to an upper z-half of the y-z cross-section of said z-axis cylindrical lens.
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17. A luminance-preserving non-imaging backlight system. comprising:
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a first CPC-shaped injector comprising an input port receiving light from a source, said CPC shape forming thereof a beam confined to an acceptance angle; a first linear beam-expander comprising a series of microstructured reflective facets each comprising one face tangent to a local flow-line field and another face angled to flow-lines of said first CPC-shaped injector so as to turn said light and farm a transversely emitting line source; a first beam-expanding ejector comprising a cambered waveguide receiving said light of said transversely emitted line source, said first beam-expanding ejector comprising a smooth upper surface tangent to the flow-lines of said first CPC-shaped injector and a lower surface with facets deflecting light through said upper surface to form a planar collimated beam, said facets comprising a face generally parallel to said flow-lines and a connecting diagonal face with a tilt that reflects said received light in the radially outward direction; a first backlight comprising the CPC-shaped injectors, linear beam-expanders and beam-expanding ejectors; and second, third and fourth backlights each respectively comprising cooperated CPC-shaped injectors, linear beam-expanders and beam-expanding ejectors, such that the first, second, third and fourth backlights are arranged so that said cambered ejectors of each of said first, second, third and fourth backlights monolithically form a complete annulus. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification