Method and apparatus for producing a uniform irradiance distribution from an array of light emitting diodes
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in one or more rows and columns of an LED array, each LED being configured to emit one or more rays of light;
one or more lenslets arranged in one or more rows and columns of a lenslet array, each lenslet is configured to receive the one or more rays of light emitted from only one respective LED of the one or more LEDs, each of the one or more lenslets is configured to distribute the one or more rays of light and emit the distributed one or more rays of light; and
an illumination plane comprising a biological agent or a chemical agent for receiving the distributed one or more rays of light in one or more areas arranged in one or more rows and columns of an array such that each area is entirely and uniformly illuminated by the distributed one or more rays of light that form one or more images that abut each other.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for producing a spatially uniform irradiance in an image plane are provided. The apparatus includes an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) which generate light (i.e., an image). The apparatus combines the outputs of an array of the LEDs in such a way as to produce a spatially uniform irradiance in an image plane some distance away. The apparatus includes an array of lenslets to form images of the emitting areas of the individual LEDs. The lenslets have a magnification, size and spacing such that the images produced by the respective LEDs are adjacent to one another and not overlapping. The irradiance distribution in the image plane is equivalent to an image of an LED whose emitting area is equal to the total area of the LED array, and whose total power is equal to the total power of the LEDs in the LED array.
14 Citations
24 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in one or more rows and columns of an LED array, each LED being configured to emit one or more rays of light; one or more lenslets arranged in one or more rows and columns of a lenslet array, each lenslet is configured to receive the one or more rays of light emitted from only one respective LED of the one or more LEDs, each of the one or more lenslets is configured to distribute the one or more rays of light and emit the distributed one or more rays of light; and an illumination plane comprising a biological agent or a chemical agent for receiving the distributed one or more rays of light in one or more areas arranged in one or more rows and columns of an array such that each area is entirely and uniformly illuminated by the distributed one or more rays of light that form one or more images that abut each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising:
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emitting one or more rays of light from respective ones of one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in one or more rows and columns of an LED array; receiving the one or more rays of light, emitted from the respective ones of the LEDs, at one or more lenslets arranged in one or more rows and columns of a lenslet array, wherein each of the lenslets receive the light emitted from only one respective LED of the LEDs; distributing the one or more rays of light, at each of the one or more lenslets; transmitting, at each of the one or more lenslets, the distributed one or more rays of light; and receiving the one or more distributed rays of light at a respective area of an illumination plane comprising a biological agent or a chemical agent and one or more areas arranged in one or more rows and columns of an array, each of the one or more areas receives the distributed one or more rays of light from a respective lenslet and illuminates each area of the one or more areas entirely and uniformly, with the distributed one or more rays of light, forming one or more images that abut each other. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification