LED apparatus employing neodymium based materials with variable content of fluorine and oxygen

• US 10,619,803 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2016
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Savant Technologies, LLC (Savant Systems, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Consumer Lighting, LLC (d/b/a GE Lighting) (Savant Systems, LLC)
• Inventors: Benner, Kevin Jeffrey, Boyle, Thomas J., Cai, Dengke, Clynne, Thomas, Cohen, William Erwin, Ducroux, Jean-Patrick, He, Jianmin, Jansma, Jon Bennett, Lin, Chuan, Reisman, Juliana P., Srivastava, Alok Mani, Ward, Benjamin James, Wang, Zhiyong, Wright, William Robert, Yi, Qing
• Primary Examiner(s): Guharay, Karabi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chiang, Michael
• Application Number:
  US16/078,383
• Publication Number:
  US 20190086038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,490 Days
• Field of Search: 313489
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/232 specially adapted for generating an essentially omnidirectional light distribution, e.g. with a glass bulb
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/66 Details of globes or covers forming part of the light source
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 8/04 intended only for mounting on a ceiling or the like overhead structures F21S8/02 takes precedence; details of ceiling bases F21V21/03
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 3/10 characterised by coatings
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 9/20 Dichroic filters, i.e. devices operating on the principle of wave interference to pass specific ranges of wavelengths while cancelling others
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/15 Organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/38 comprising colour filters or colour changing media [CCM]

Abstract

The specification and drawings present a new apparatus such as a lighting apparatus, the apparatus comprising at least one LED (or OLED) module, configured to generate a visible light such as white light, and at least one component such as optical component comprising a compound consisting essentially of the elements neodymium (Nd) and fluorine (F), and optionally including one or more other elements. The lighting apparatus is configured to provide a desired light spectrum by filtering the generated visible light using the compound. The at least one component can comprise a NdF_xO_y compound with values of x and y determining a content ratio F/O, which may be adjusted during manufacturing of the NdF_xO_y compound to provide desired output light parameters of the apparatus including at least a desired output light spectrum realized by filtering the generated visible light using the NdF_xO_y compound.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one light emitting diode (LED) module, configured to generate a visible light; and

at least one component comprising a compound of NdF_xO_y having corresponding concentrations of neodymium (Nd), fluorine (F) and oxygen (O), where values of x and y determine a ratio of the F and O and are adjusted during manufacturing of the NdF_xO_y compound to provide desired output light parameters of the apparatus including at least a desired output light spectrum realized by filtering the generated visible light using the NdF_xO_y compound wherein the value of x is between 0.3 and 0.5, and the value of y is between 1.25 and 1.33.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein providing the desired output light parameters further include enhancement of one or more of:

color correlated temperature (CCT), color saturation index (CSI), color rendering index (CRI), color rendering value R9, and revealness of the generated visible light.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the NdF_xO_y compound comprises a desired absorption peak in a wavelength range between about 560 nm and 600 nm to provide the desired output light spectrum.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a desired refractive index at the desired absorption peak is from about 1.6 to about 1.8.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the NdF_xO_y compound is a single crystalline phase compound.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the NdF_xO_y compound is manufactured by wet chemical processing from neodymium oxide (Nd₂O₃) using fluoridation processing with a flowing gas of fluorine (F₂) or with hydrofluoric acid (HF).

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein x and y in the NdF_xO_y are controlled during the fluoridation processing using varying one or more parameters including:

hydrofluoric acid (HF) concentration, processing temperature, reaction time, and fluorine gas (F₂) concentration.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the NdF_xO_y compound is manufactured by dry processing using a solid reaction method comprising blending neodymium oxide (Nd₂O₃) with neodymium fluoride (NdF₃) at a predefined weight ratio of the Nd₂O₃ and NdF₃, to form a blended compound, followed by high temperature synthesis of the NdF_xO_y compound from the blended compound under a protective atmosphere of an inert gas, wherein the predefined weight ratio of the Nd₂O₃ and NdF₃ corresponds to the ratio of F and O in the manufactured NdF_xO_y compound.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the inert gas comprises nitrogen (N₂) gas or argon (Ar) gas.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the predefined weight ratio of Nd₂O₃ and NdF₃ is about 80% to about 20%, and the manufactured NdF_xO_y compound has a composition NdF_0.33O_1.33, with x being about 0.33 and y being about 1.33.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a temperature of the high temperature synthesis is greater than 800°

C.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one LED module comprises an organic LED.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one component is an encapsulating layer deposited on a top of the at least one LED module.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the encapsulating layer is a low temperature glass, a polymer, a polymer precursor, a polycarbonate, a plastic material, a thermoplastic or thermoset polymer or resin, a silicone, or a silicone epoxy resin.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one component further comprises a phosphor.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one component is an encapsulating layer deposited on a further encapsulating layer comprising a phosphor, the further encapsulating layer being deposited on a top of the at least one LED module.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one component is an optical component comprising a transparent, translucent or reflective substrate with a coating on a surface of the substrate, the coating comprising the NdF_xO_y compound.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein a weight percentage of the compound in the coating is from about 1% to about 20%.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein a thickness of the coating is in a range from about 50 nm to about 1000 microns.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the substrate is a diffuser being selected from the group consisting of a bulb, a lens, and a dome enclosing the at least one LED module.