Afocal Lighting Device Removing Condenser Optics for Compact Beam Shaping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing compact lighting devices for the show and entertainment sector face challenges in achieving a smaller size and weight while maintaining effective color mixing, beam uniformity, and design flexibility, often resulting in issues like residual color artifacts and halos in the projected beam.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an afocal projection system combined with cylindrical lenses, glass pyramid prisms, and axicons to create projection effects in a narrow light beam spot projector, which omits a condenser unit and gobo surface, allowing for a compact design and adjustable beam angles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a compact lighting device uses a traditional optical system with condenser optics and gobo surface, then the device can achieve effective image projection, but the overall length of the optical system becomes quite long, counteracting the need for reduced size and weight
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the condenser optics and gobo surface from the traditional optical system, extracting these components to eliminate the long optical path while maintaining projection functionality through a direct laser beam approach
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using traditional condenser optics to focus light onto a gobo surface and then project the image, the patent inverts the approach by directly shaping the laser beam to create the projected image without intermediate optical elements, thereby reducing system length
2Volume of moving object
If the device size is reduced for compactness, then weight and length are decreased, but color mixing becomes insufficient and residual speckles and halos appear in the projected beam
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical optical mixing systems with a direct laser beam approach where the beam is shaped and projected without requiring complex condenser optics, eliminating the source of residual speckles and halos while maintaining compact size
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the optical parameters by using a direct laser beam with controlled beam shaping, transforming the beam characteristics to achieve uniform projection without the need for traditional color mixing optics that cause artifacts in compact configurations
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables a compact and lightweight lighting device with improved beam uniformity and flexibility, reducing residual color artifacts and halos, while maintaining effective image projection capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
an afocal projection system which may be used in combination with cylindrical lenses, glass pyramid prisms and/or so-called axicons in order to create projection effects
Implementation Method 2
The fly's eye lens structure is useful for solving the irradiance non-uniformity: it transforms the non-uniform irradiance profile at the exit pupil of the collimation optics into a homogenized far field profile
Implementation Method 3
RGB light source, including laser diodes operating in the wavelength ranges of red (R), green (G) and blue (B), the radiations whereof are collimated and combined with each other by means of dichroic filters
Data Source
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AI summary
A lighting device which may be used, e.g., in the show and entertainment sector comprises a light source configured to emit a light beam through an afocal projection optics (500, 500', 600) along a propagation path of the light beam from a negative lens (500) to a positive lens (600). The lighting device (10) comprises a further negative lens (500') interposed and mobile along the propagation path of the light beam from the negative lens (500) to the positive lens (600), as well as an optical element interposed in the propagation path of the light beam between the negative lens (500) and the further negative lens (500'). The optical element may be selected from a cylindrical lens (CL), a prism (P) and an axicon (A), such elements being optionally mounted on a mobile support member such as a motorized effect wheel (EW), thereby enabling switching from one optical element to another different optical element (CL, P, A) in order to implement, by means of an afocal projection system, various optical effects similar to those which can be obtained by means of a gobo.