150 results about "Parabolic concentrator" patented technology

A document illuminator comprising a light-transmissive element having nonlinear walls. The walls are shaped in the form of a compound parabolic concentrator with an optically inverted configuration. A diffusive optical source receives light from a side emitting LED embedded therein and redirects it to an aperture along with other light rays that go through total internal reflection from the nonlinear walls. The reflected light rays that are collected at the aperture are in turn transmitted at high power and uniform luminescence to illuminate a document for scanning.

A high-efficiency, wide-angle illumination surgical system is disclosed, one embodiment comprising: a light source for providing a light beam; an optical cable, optically coupled to the light source for receiving and transmitting the light beam; a handpiece, operably coupled to the optical cable; an optical fiber, operably coupled to the handpiece, wherein the optical fiber is optically coupled to the optical cable to receive and transmit the light beam; an optical element, optically coupled to a distal end of the optical fiber, for receiving the light beam and scattering the light beam to illuminate an area, wherein the optical element comprises a compound parabolic concentrator (“CPC”) cone; and a cannula, operably coupled to the handpiece, for housing and directing the optical fiber and the optical element. The optical element can be a small-gauge, diffusive optical element comprising a sculpted distal end of the optical fiber or a machined or injection-molded plastic CPC-cone. For example, the optical element can be a 19, 20 or 25 gauge optical element. The CPC-cone optical element angularly spreads the light beam out to a high off-axis angle and emits the light out of the distal end of the cannula with high efficiency.

Solid-state lasers pumped by incoherent or partially coherent, monochromatic light sources such as high power VCSEL arrays. Efficient and uniform injection of pumping energy into gain medium is achieved through spectral match of the pump source with the gain medium absorption and multi-bounce reflections of unabsorbed pump light in a diffusing pump chamber. One preferred embodiment of the diffusing pump chamber is a hollow cylinder coaxially surrounding the gain medium. One or more transparent windows, slit-shaped or otherwise, for transmission of pump light are evenly distributed around the perimeter of the chamber and are parallel to the axis. Another preferred embodiment of the diffusing pump chamber is a highly reflecting compound parabolic concentrator. A 2-D VCSEL array is employed as the pump source and the gain medium is located at the focusing point of the chamber. This invention demonstrates solid-state lasers that are compact, robust, low-cost, and able to produce high power output in CW or pulse modes for practical applications. An important application of the present invention is high-power solid-state lasers featuring wavelength conversion such as optical parametric oscillation and second-harmonic generation. Another important application of the present invention is injection seeding, especially for pulse mode with high repetition rates.

Solid-state lasers pumped by incoherent or partially coherent, monochromatic light sources such as high power VCSEL arrays. Efficient and uniform injection of pumping energy into gain medium is achieved through spectral match of the pump source with the gain medium absorption and multi-bounce reflections of unabsorbed pump light in a diffusing pump chamber. One preferred embodiment of the diffusing pump chamber is a hollow cylinder coaxially surrounding the gain medium. One or more transparent windows, slit-shaped or otherwise, for transmission of pump light are evenly distributed around the perimeter of the chamber and are parallel to the axis. Another preferred embodiment of the diffusing pump chamber is a highly reflecting compound parabolic concentrator. A 2-D VCSEL array is employed as the pump source and the gain medium is located at the focusing point of the chamber. This invention demonstrates solid-state lasers that are compact, robust, low-cost, and able to produce high power output in CW or pulse modes for practical applications. An important application of the present invention is high-power solid-state lasers featuring wavelength conversion such as optical parametric oscillation and second-harmonic generation. Another important application of the present invention is injection seeding, especially for pulse mode with high repetition rates.

An illumination apparatus for an imaging-based bar code reader having a field of view defined by an imaging system of the bar code reader directed toward a target bar code. The illumination apparatus includes: a collector cup comprising a compound parabolic concentrator and defining a longitudinal axis; an illumination source positioned to direct illumination toward a first end of the collector cup, the collector cup directing illumination from the illumination source toward a second end of the collector cup; a first lens array positioned at the second end of the collector cup orthogonal to the collector cup longitudinal axis to receive and focus illumination from the collector cup and a second lens array orthogonal to the collector cup longitudinal axis receiving focused illumination from the first lens array. The lens arrays combining to focus illumination from the collector cup into an illumination pattern.

A light emitting device includes a light emitting element, an optical concentrator, such as a compound parabolic concentrator, a dichroic filter between the light emitting element and the optical concentrator and a wavelength converting material, such as a phosphor. The optical concentrator receives light from the light emitting element, via the dichroic filter, and emits the light from an exit surface, which is smaller than the entrance surface. The optical concentrator may be manufactured from a material with a high refractive index, such as sapphire. The wavelength converting material is, e.g., disposed over the exit surface. The radiance of the wavelength converting material is increased by pumping the wavelength converting material through a high index of refraction material and outputting the converted light into a low refractive index medium, such as air.

The invention relates to a portable all-glass evacuated solar collector tube pressure-bearing seawater distilling desalinator in the technical field of seawater desalination. The desalinator comprises evacuated solar collector tubes, a folding type simplified CPC (Compound Parabolic Concentrator) light condensing plate, a folding bracket and a condensing pipe, wherein the folding type simplified CPC light condensing plate is installed on the upper surface of an oblique beam of the folding bracket; the evacuated solar collector tubes are inserted into heat collector tube support plates at both ends of the folding bracket; the condensing pipe is installed on the lower surface of the oblique beam of the folding bracket; and a central line of the evacuated solar collector tubes is mutually superposed with a light condensing central line of the folding type simplified CPC plate. The invention has small size, light weight, simple structure, foldable heat collecting plate and safe and reliable carrying; an inner tube has elasticity and can be attached to a glass tube all the time for reducing thermal contact resistance; water can humidify the heat collecting surface of the whole glass tube under any condition, and the heat transfer efficiency is high; and the water steam condensation can be realized directly by solar energy, the desalinator is safe, and even if the tubesa re exploded, hot water and water steam can be stored in the metal inner tube.

The invention relates to a device for testing focal spots focused by a solar parabolic concentrator. The device takes full advantage of the linear beams generated by a semiconductor laser and tests the focused focal spots through reflection of a parabolic mirror. The device is simple and the method is feasible and is widely applied to various parabolic concentrators. The device belongs to the technical field of solar energy utilization.

The invention relates to a modeling method for a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) for a linear Fresnel light condensing and heat collecting system on the basis of matlab. The modeling method comprises the following steps: 1, determining the maximum receiving half angle theta c of the CPC; 2, using an outer diameter circle of a metal inner pipe of a vacuum heat collecting tube as a base circle of an involute; 3, rotating the involute by an angle alpha by using a circle center O as the center, so that a point C on the involute, which meets the condition that t=t0, is positioned on a center shaft of the CPC and the distance between the point C and the metal inner tube of the heat collecting tube is the sum of the distance between the point and a glass outer tube of the heat collecting tube and the distance between the glass outer tube and the metal inner tube of the heat collecting tube; 4, using a point on the involute, which meets the condition (refer to the specification), as a junction point of an involute CFB and a parabola A; 5, rotating the parabola by an angle theta c around the vertex of the parabola to enable the parabola to pass through a left junction point FB and using a right junction point FA as a focus to obtain a parabolic equation; 6, carrying out simulating calculation on a relation of a convergence rate and an intercepting ratio of the CPC by utilizing a ray tracing method, and selecting the suitable intercepting ratio.

A variable-angle, wide-angle illuminator is disclosed, one embodiment being a small-gauge, variable-angle illumination surgical system comprising: a light source for providing a light beam; an optical cable, optically coupled to the light source for receiving and transmitting the light beam; a handpiece, operably coupled to the optical cable; an optical fiber, operably coupled to the handpiece, wherein the optical fiber is optically coupled to the optical cable to receive and transmit the light beam; an optical assembly, optically coupled to a distal end of the optical fiber, for receiving the light beam and providing the light beam to illuminate a surgical field; and a cannula, operably coupled to the handpiece and optical assembly, for housing and directing the optical assembly to illuminate a selected area, such as a surgical site. The optical assembly can comprise, for example, a fiber / polymer-dispersed-liquid-crystal (“PDLC”) diffuser optically coupled to an optical needle or a nested compound parabolic concentrator (“CPC”) cone. In the PDLC diffuser / needle embodiment, the fiber can be a standard endo-illuminator optical fiber with 0.50 NA or similar value. The light beam from the light source is emitted from the distal end of the optical fiber and provided to the PDLC diffuser for further transmission. The degree of diffusion of the light beam at the PDLC diffuser can be electrically controlled and can be varied from no diffusion to very high degree of diffusion. After passing through the PDLC diffuser, the light beam is provided to a needle or fiber, such as a glass needle or fiber, that transmits the light beam to the surgical site in the eye.

An asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator (ACPC) coupled with a photovoltaic cell is disclosed according to some embodiments. The disclosed ACPC can concentrate solar light from a large full acceptance angle toward the photovoltaic cell. In some embodiments, the ACPC can be submerged within a liquid (e.g., water). The liquid can increase the full acceptance angle, provide temperature damping, and provide structural inertia to the system. In some embodiments, the ACPC can be constructed from acrylic or other resins.

The invention discloses a method for designing a panel receiving type compound parabolic concentrator. The method comprises the steps that the emergent light hole width and the geometric concentrating ratio C[G] of the CPC are designed as needed, the incident light hole width = C[G] * , the height H[1], the daylighting half-angle theta, the focal length of a parabola , and the distance between the optimal uniform face B[1]F[1] and an emergent light hole of the CPC are calculated, and then, the geometric structure size of the CPC is determined. According to the method for designing the panel receiving type CPC, the height H[1] of the CPC can be greatly reduced, the light intensity uniformity, on the optimal uniform face B[1]F[1], of the CPC can be improved after condensation, and the economy and condensation performance of the CPC are improved.

Various embodiments disclosed herein provide for an asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator (ACPC), a liquid light guide, and an algae mixer. These embodiments may be used singularly or in combination, for example, as part of a bioreactor. In various embodiments an ACPC may be used to capture light without the aid of motors or positioning. As such, the ACPC may be used despite seasonal solar variations. The illuminating light guide may be used to guide light, for example, from an exit aperture of an ACPC, through walls substantially perpendicular to the entrance window of the illuminating light guide. In some embodiments, the illuminating light guide may provide substantially uniform light distribution through a vertical profile. Other embodiments include, for example, an algae mixer and bioreactors.

A multi-color LED illumination device and specifically a lens comprising a cylindrical opening extending into the lens from a light entry region at which one or more LEDs are configured. A concave spherical surface extends across the entirety of the light exit region of the lens, and a TIR outer surface shaped as a CPC extends between the light entry region and the light exit region. There are various diffusion surfaces placed on the sidewall surface of the cylindrical opening, as well as its upper planar surface and, depending on whether glare control is not needed, the exit surface of the lens. Lunes can also be configured on the sidewall surfaces of the cylindrical opening and if lessening glare is needed, also on the TIR outer reflective surface. The combination of lunes, diffusion elements, and the overall configuration of the lens provides improved color mixing and output brightness according to one embodiment. According to another embodiment, diffusion elements are manufactured and possibly increased on only select surfaces but not on the light exit region in order to lessen glare. Three light interactions in a first portion of light and two interactions in a second portion of light can improve color mixing and beam control. Those interactions includes two refractions either with an intermediate reflection or not, all of which are necessary to achieve the improved performance of the multi-color LED illumination device and lens hereof.

A multi-color LED illumination device and specifically a lens comprising a cylindrical opening extending into the lens from a light entry region at which one or more LEDs are configured. A concave spherical surface extends across the entirety of the light exit region of the lens, and a TIR outer surface shaped as a CPC extends between the light entry region and the light exit region. There are various diffusion surfaces placed on the sidewall surface of the cylindrical opening, as well as its upper planar surface and the exit surface of the lens. Lunes can also be configured on the sidewall surfaces of the cylindrical opening. The combination of lunes, diffusion elements, and the overall configuration of the lens provides improved color mixing and output brightness using three interactions in a first portion of light and two interactions in a second portion of light. Those interactions includes two refractions either with an intermediate reflection or not, all of which are necessary to achieve the improved performance of the multi-color LED illumination device and lens hereof.

A light harvester or collector collects solar radiation from an unshaded location adjacent a growing plant. The light harvester can be either imaging (e.g., parabolic reflectors) or non-imaging (e.g., compound parabolic concentrator). The concentrated solar radiation is projected into a light transmitter that conducts the light through the plant's outer canopy and into the inner canopy to a diffuser which disperses and reradiates the light into the inner canopy. The diffused light transforms a non-productive, potentially leafless zone of the plant into a productive zone so that more fruit can be produced per volume of land surface. The system can prevent transmission of infrared into the inner canopy so that the inner canopy zone is not heated and the amount of water lost to transpiration is reduced. The system can also modify other spectral components to affect plant development and to control pests and diseases.

A threat launch detection system includes at least one temporal threat detector, each temporal threat detector including a single sensing element operable to sense radiation from various types of short-burn threats that occur within a field of view of the detector. The single sensing element generates a detection signal in response to the sensed radiation. A processing circuit is coupled to each temporal threat detector and is operable to analyze the detection signal from each detector as a function of time to detect the occurrence of a short-burn threat within the field of view of any of the temporal threat detectors. Each temporal threat detector may be a prism-coupled compound parabolic concentrator (PCCP).

The invention relates to multi-surface compound solar concentrator based on bionics principle. It belongs to solar condensation and solar heat utilizing technical field. The apparatus includes one-class compound parabolic concentrator-CPC; polarized light device or modified Fresnel lens; secondary-class CPC; third class CPC and likes. It is a solar energy utilizing device capable of utilizing varies reflection or transmission curve surface combination to realize solar light high-density gathering and transferring.

A low cost concentrating photovoltaic system includes a condenser system having refractive or reflective optics and a photovoltaic module having one or more thin film solar cells. The thin film solar cells may be a-Si, CdTe, Cu(InGa)Se2, organic solar cell or dye sensitized solar cells. The condenser system may be a flat, cylindrical or hemispherical Fresnel lens, a parabolic reflector, a compound parabolic concentrator, a reflective V-trough, or a combination thereof. The condenser system has a concentration ratio of about 10 to 100 or higher. No tracking system is needed in many examples, or a simple one-axis tracking may be used. In one example, the condenser system uses a hemispherical Fresnel lens which focuses sunlight onto a hemispherical focal surface, and one thin film solar cell (mounted on a tracking unit) or multiple cells (without tracking) are disposed on the hemispherical focal surface of the Fresnel lens.

A light concentrator assembly includes a first Fresnel lens, a second Fresnel lens, and a compound parabolic concentrator. The first Fresnel lens includes a first flat surface and an opposite first Fresnel lens surface. The second Fresnel lens includes a second flat surface and an opposite second Fresnel lens surface facing the first Fresnel lens surface. A first focal point of the first Fresnel lens and a second focal point of the second Fresnel lens coincide. The compound parabolic concentrator is located opposite the second flat surface. Light beams are converged by the first and second Fresnel lenses, and exit through the compound parabolic concentrator.

The invention relates to an optimized layout method for a mirror field of a linear Fresnel concentration system. The optimized layout method for the mirror field of the linear Fresnel concentration system is mainly characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: 1) selecting a CPC (Compound Parabolic Concentrator) and determining maximum acceptance one-half angle theta <max> and reflector width D of the CPC; 2) determining sunlight incident angle alpha as shown therein and reflector rows N; 3) giving CPC height H; 4) conducting initialization: giving a position and an inclination angle of a central reflector of the mirror field; 5) obtaining distance Qn as shown therein of each row of reflectors to the center of the mirror field; 6) if the reflected light incident angle of the farthest end reflector is smaller than or equal to the CPC maximum acceptance one-half angle theta <max>, turning to step 7, and otherwise assumed H=H+1, turning to step 4; 7) ending calculation and saving a calculation result. The calculation result is the layout spacing of N rows of reflectors of the system when no-shade working time is t (which can be obtained through the sunlight incident angle alpha).

The invention relates to a solar tracker with parabolic concentrator, comprising a parabolic concentrator (1) formed by a composition of mirrors (4) focused towards a Stirling engine (3), the mirrors (4) being located on a bearing structure (5), with securing by means of anchors (6) which allow a regulation in a vertical direction, in a lateral direction and in a depth direction, whereas the Stirling engine (3) is secured on the same bearing structure (5) by means of ties (10) which are attached to said Stirling engine (3) by means of two securing elements which can be adjusted in length, the bearing structure (5) being formed by parallel vertical lattices (14) comprising in their formation sheet metal boxes attached to one another by means of other intermediate sheet metal boxes.

The present invention relates to a method for disinfecting and purifying liquids and gasses comprising; a) passing said liquids or gasses through a reactor or a combination of reactors, having a truncated compounded concentrator geometry; and b) simultaneously delivering and concentrating diversified electromagnetic and acoustic energies into a specific predetermined inner space of said compounded concentrator reactor, forming a high energy density zone in said reactor or reactors over a predetermined period of time. The reactor according to the present invention is preferably a compounded parabolic concentrator or a compounded ellipsoidal concentrator. The electromagnetic energy delivered and concentrated into and inside the reactor can be of any range of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as ultra-violet, visible, infra-red, microwave etc., or combination thereof. The acoustic energy is of any suitable frequency. The radiation source delivering the electromagnetic radiation can be enclosed within the reactor or can be external to the reactor.

The invention discloses a compound parabolic receiving antenna design method and a compound parabolic receiving antenna, and is applied to deep ultraviolet communication. According to the design method, the height of the compound parabolic (CPC) can be greatly reduced, the field angle can be increased, the path loss of the deep ultraviolet signal in the transmission process is low and the economyand the practicality of the CPC can be enhanced. The antenna comprises an optimized compound parabolic concentrator and a deep ultraviolet filter. The compound parabolic concentrator has a hollow conical structure, an optical film for increasing reflection is adhered on the inner surface, the bottom part of the concentrator is provided with a through hole, and the deep ultraviolet filter is arranged below the through hole. Meanwhile, the noise interference of other bands can be effectively filtered by using the deep ultraviolet filter so that the signal-to-noise ratio can be effectively enhanced.

A compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) solar energy concentration and photovoltaic power generation combined application device relates to a solar energy concentration and photovoltaics combined application device, belongs to the technical field of solar energy application, aims at separately using infrared light and visible light in solar radiation energy, and has good utilization efficiency. A solar photovoltaic battery, foam quartz glass and quartz glass are sequentially arranged on the inner surface of a CPC, wherein visible light is covered on the quartz glass in plating mode to reflect feature films of infrared. Reflected infrared waves enter a heat absorber to be converted into heat energy, visible light penetrates through the quartz glass and is reflected and refracted for multiple times by the foam quartz glass and uniformly irradiated onto the surface of the solar energy, and electric power is output. According to changes of sunlight incident angles, distribution proportion of optothermal quantity and photoelectrical quantity of a system is adjusted. The CPC solar energy concentration and photovoltaic power generation combined application device comprehensively uses solar energy, can provide heat energy and power supply power, is simple in processing and operating, and has huge application potential.

The present invention relates to a system and apparatus which is designed to use parabolic concentrator to focus sunlight onto a receiver which uses a coolant to carry the heat to the heat storage unit. The system comprises a primary loop comprising at least one solar array and at least one heat storage unit. The system further comprises a secondary loop operatively communicating with said primary loop. The solar array comprises plurality of reflector dish assemblies comprising reflector dish means whereby said dish means are arranged in close proximity to each other wherein said dish means being such that high sunlight concentration ratio is obtained for providing high conversion efficiency from heat to electricity.

An illumination system is provided with at least a first reflecting device that has a first focal point at the arc of an arc lamp. The second focal point of the reflecting device is located at the input end of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC). The CPC is optically coupled with an optical integrator. Light exiting the optical integrator may be used in low étendue projection systems.

A skylight with a light transmission passage bounded by reflective surface. Centrally facing, curved mirror reflective surfaces are positioned on opposite sides of the passage. The curved reflective surfaces have a curvature slope that becomes progressively greater, with respect to a plane that is perpendicular to the axis, as the surfaces progress from the upper end to the lower end of the passage. The curved mirror surfaces are also curved inward at their upper end. Preferably, the curved mirror surfaces are parabolic and most preferably are formed as a compound parabolic concentrator that is mounted in an inverted orientation. The skylight of the invention also has reflective surfaces that are orthogonal to these reflective surfaces. The orthogonal reflective surfaces can alternatively be either formed with the same curvature and orientation or can be planar.