Aircraft Signalling Beacon Deflector for Stray Light Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Signaling devices for aircraft often emit light in unintended directions, causing inconvenience to local residents and inefficient energy use due to stray light, which existing technologies fail to adequately address.
Innovation Solution
A directional light projector with an elongated cylindrical lens and a deflector, positioned to concentrate light energy in a predefined angular sector, reducing stray light by using a metal blade deflector that optimizes energy consumption and mechanical size while minimizing stray light interruption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a conventional light source is used to emit light in all directions, then the light can cover the entire airspace, but the light intensity outside the main sheet becomes too high causing inconvenience to local residents and energy waste
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making different parts of the light emission have different characteristics. The cylindrical lens creates a concentrated main light sheet with high intensity in a specific angular sector, while the deflector locally blocks stray light in unwanted directions. This selective concentration and blocking achieves high illumination where needed while minimizing energy waste in other directions.
Solution Approach 2:
The deflector acts as an intermediary element between the light source and the surrounding environment. It selectively interrupts stray light rays that would otherwise cause inconvenience to residents and represent energy waste, while allowing the main light sheet to pass through unaffected. This intermediary component resolves the contradiction by filtering unwanted light without compromising the useful illumination.
2Loss of energy
If a deflector is added to block stray light, then energy consumption is optimized, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the light control function into two distinct components: the cylindrical lens that concentrates light into a main sheet, and the deflector that blocks stray light. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently, with the deflector being a simple additive element rather than a complex integrated system, thus minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The deflector is extracted as a separate, removable component from the projector assembly. This extraction allows the stray light blocking function to be added independently without redesigning the entire projector system. The deflector can be positioned and adjusted separately, simplifying the overall device architecture while achieving the energy optimization goal.
3Illumination intensity
If the deflector is positioned to block all stray light, then light intensity outside the main sheet is reduced, but the mechanical size of the beacon increases
Solution Approach 1:
The deflector is designed to block only the necessary portion of stray light that causes inconvenience to residents and represents significant energy waste, rather than attempting to block all light in all unwanted directions. This partial action approach achieves sufficient stray light reduction (reducing intensity to less than 3% of main sheet intensity) without requiring an excessively large deflector that would increase the beacon's mechanical size.
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
The solution effectively reduces stray light emissions to less than 3% of the main light intensity, optimizing energy consumption and maintaining a compact mechanical size, thereby addressing the issue of stray light and energy inefficiency in aircraft signaling.
Implementation Method 1
the cylindrical lens being able to generate a main light sheet by concentrating the luminous flux in an angular sector of predefined site around the horizontal generating direction
Implementation Method 2
the deflector having the shape of a plate rectangular, the longitudinal sides of the deflector being parallel to the generatri direction ce, the transverse sides of the deflector being oriented around the generating direction according to a site angle contained in the predefined site angular sector of the main light sheet, so as to interrupt the light rays coming from the light source and oriented outside the site angular sector of the main light sheet
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a light projector intended to produce a directional light sheet, comprising: an elongated cylindrical lens (22), a linear light source (16) parallel to the generating direction, extending over all or part of the length of the lens to emit a luminous flux in the direction of the lens, the lens being capable of generating a main light sheet by concentrating the luminous flux in a predefined angular sector (100) around the horizontal generating direction, a deflector (28) in the form of a rectangular plate positioned on the side opposite the light source (16), the longitudinal sides being parallel to the generating direction, the transverse sides being oriented around the generating direction at a site angle contained within the predefined angular sector, so as to interrupt light rays (31) directed outside the angular sector (100) of the main light sheet.The invention also relates to a signal beacon comprising such a projector.