Thin illumination system
First Claim
1. An illuminating system, comprising:
- a single LED emitter having a square or rectangular emitting aperture that is d1 by d2;
a four sided etendue preserving angle transforming reflector whose input aperture is disposed adjacent to the output emitting aperture of the single LED emitter receiving LED emission;
a light guiding pipe whose input aperture receives light from an output aperture of the etendue preserving angle transforming reflector element, the light guiding pipe comprisinga tapered light guide bar having rectangular cross-section and a light guiding pipe refraction index,a first optical film having a first optical film refractive index different than the light guiding pipe refraction index, anda first prismatic lens sheet having a first prismatic lens sheet refractive index and a specularly reflecting coating deposited upon facets of the first prismatic lens sheet, the first optical film provided between the tapered light guide bar and the first prismatic lens sheet; and
a light guiding plate one edge of which is disposed adjacent to a rectangular edge of the light guiding pipe.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention introduces a new class of thin doubly collimating light distributing engines for use in a variety of general lighting applications. Output illumination from these slim-profile illumination systems whether square, rectangular or circular in physical aperture shape is directional, square, rectangular or circular in beam cross-section, and spatially uniform and sharply cutoff outside the system'"'"'s adjustable far-field angular cone. Some embodiments provided include thin light distributing engines which provide input light collimated in one meridian and a light distributing element that maintains input collimation while collimating output light in the un-collimated orthogonal meridian, in such a manner that the system'"'"'s far-field output light is collimated in both its orthogonal output meridians. The present invention can also include optical films that process the engine'"'"'s doubly collimated output illumination so as to increase its angular extent one or both output meridians without changing beam shape or uniformity.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An illuminating system, comprising:
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a single LED emitter having a square or rectangular emitting aperture that is d1 by d2; a four sided etendue preserving angle transforming reflector whose input aperture is disposed adjacent to the output emitting aperture of the single LED emitter receiving LED emission; a light guiding pipe whose input aperture receives light from an output aperture of the etendue preserving angle transforming reflector element, the light guiding pipe comprising a tapered light guide bar having rectangular cross-section and a light guiding pipe refraction index, a first optical film having a first optical film refractive index different than the light guiding pipe refraction index, and a first prismatic lens sheet having a first prismatic lens sheet refractive index and a specularly reflecting coating deposited upon facets of the first prismatic lens sheet, the first optical film provided between the tapered light guide bar and the first prismatic lens sheet; and a light guiding plate one edge of which is disposed adjacent to a rectangular edge of the light guiding pipe. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An illuminating system, comprising:
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a linear array of LED emitters whose center-to-center distance between emitters is W, and each having a square or rectangular output aperture that is d1 by d2; a substrate circuit comprising means for electrically interconnecting the array of LED emitters; a linear array of rectangular four sided etendue preserving angle transforming reflectors whose rectangular input apertures are d1 by d2 and have a center-to-center spacing W, each input aperture disposed adjacent to an output aperture of an LED emitter in the array; and a light guiding plate one edge of which is disposed adjacent to output apertures of the linear array of etendue preserving reflectors, the light guiding plate comprising a tapered light guide plate having rectangular cross-section and a light guiding plate refractive index, an optical film having an optical film refractive index different than the light guiding plate refractive index, and a prismatic lens sheet having a lens sheet refractive index and a specularly reflecting coating deposited upon facets of the prismatic lens sheet, the optical film provided between the tapered light guide plate and the prismatic lens sheet. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification