Compact Optical System and Lenses for Producing Uniform Collimated Light
First Claim
1. An optical system for producing substantially collimated light in a forward direction, wherein the optical system has a long axis and a short axis that are orthogonal to each other and the forward direction is perpendicular to the long axis and the short axis, the optical system comprising:
- at least one light source;
a cylindrical side emitter lens optically coupled to the at least one light source, the cylindrical side emitter lens is configured to redirect a portion of light emitted from the at least one light sources to be side emitted light that is perpendicular to the forward direction and parallel to the long axis;
at least one reflector positioned to receive the side emitted light from the cylindrical side emitter lens and redirect the light substantially in the forward direction, the reflector is configured so that substantially uniform illumination is produced over an exit plane of the optical system and the light is substantially collimated in the forward direction with respect to a plane defined by the forward direction and the short axis; and
a cylindrical Fresnel lens coupled to receive the forward directed light from the at least one reflector, the cylindrical Fresnel lens substantially collimating the forward directed light with respect to a plane defined by the forward direction and the long axis.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical system includes a cylindrical side emitter lens, a reflector and a cylindrical Fresnel lens to produce a substantially uniformly illuminated exit plane with well collimated light in the forward direction. The cylindrical side emitter lens redirects light from a light source, such as a number of light emitting diodes placed in a straight line, into side emitted light along an optical axis that is parallel with the exit plane. The reflector may be a stepped multi-focal length reflector that includes multiple reflector surfaces with different focal lengths based on the surfaces distance to the light source and height to redirect light from the cylindrical side emitter lens to illuminate the exit plane and collimate the light along one axis in the forward direction. The cylindrical Fresnel lens is used to collimate the light along an orthogonal axis in the forward direction.
63 Citations
19 Claims
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1. An optical system for producing substantially collimated light in a forward direction, wherein the optical system has a long axis and a short axis that are orthogonal to each other and the forward direction is perpendicular to the long axis and the short axis, the optical system comprising:
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at least one light source; a cylindrical side emitter lens optically coupled to the at least one light source, the cylindrical side emitter lens is configured to redirect a portion of light emitted from the at least one light sources to be side emitted light that is perpendicular to the forward direction and parallel to the long axis; at least one reflector positioned to receive the side emitted light from the cylindrical side emitter lens and redirect the light substantially in the forward direction, the reflector is configured so that substantially uniform illumination is produced over an exit plane of the optical system and the light is substantially collimated in the forward direction with respect to a plane defined by the forward direction and the short axis; and a cylindrical Fresnel lens coupled to receive the forward directed light from the at least one reflector, the cylindrical Fresnel lens substantially collimating the forward directed light with respect to a plane defined by the forward direction and the long axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A cylindrical side emitter lens having an optical axis, a horizontal axis that is orthogonal to the optical axis and a central axis that is orthogonal to the optical axis and the horizontal axis, the cylindrical side emitter lens comprising:
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a bottom surface, the optical axis being parallel with the bottom surface; a cavity in which one or more light sources may be positioned; and a reflecting surface that is a plane; a first refracting surface that is a plane and is obliquely angled with respect to the central axis of the lens; and a second refracting surface extending from the bottom surface to the first refracting surface; wherein light entering the lens from the cavity and directly incident on the reflecting surface is reflected from the reflecting surface to the first refracting surface and refracted by the first refracting surface to exit the lens in a direction substantially parallel with the optical axis; and
wherein light entering the lens from the cavity and directly incident on the second refracting surface is refracted by the second refracting surface to exit the lens in a direction substantially parallel to the optical axis;wherein the cylindrical side emitter lens has a cross sectional shape along a plane defined by the central axis and the optical axis and has the same cross sectional shape at every point along the horizontal axis. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A stepped multi-focal length reflector having a first axis and a second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, the first axis and second axis are parallel with an exit plane, and an optical axis that is orthogonal to the exit plane, the stepped multi-focal length reflector comprising:
multiple reflector surfaces, each reflector surface positioned at a different distance from a light source and positioned at a different height with respect to the optical axis, wherein the reflector surfaces that is closest to the light source has the lowest height on the optical axis and the reflector surface that is farthest from the light source has the greatest height on the optical axis, each reflector surface has a different focal length that is based on the distance of the reflector surface to the light source and on the height of the reflector surface on the optical axis, wherein the configuration of the focal length, distance to the light source and height of each reflector surface receives light from a light source along the first axis and redirects the light along the optical axis to produce substantially uniform illumination over the exit plane and substantially collimate the light along the optical axis. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
Specification