Hybrid Optical Electrical LED Intensity Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current lighting technologies for biomedical applications, such as arc lamps, lasers, and LEDs, face challenges including instability, high maintenance costs, heat management issues, and inability to provide consistent and controlled light across the visible spectrum, limiting their suitability for portable and cost-effective bioanalytical instruments.
Innovation Solution
A solid-state light engine with hybrid optical and electrical intensity control, utilizing a combination of LED light sources and light pipe engines, which generates continuous white light across the visible spectrum from 380 nm to 650 nm, offering high spectral power stability and user-controllable intensity without significant variation in spectral power distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If arc lamps are used to provide white light, then spectral coverage is improved, but stability and durability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the single arc lamp source into multiple separate LED sources, each emitting at a specific wavelength. This segmentation allows each LED to be optimized for stability and durability while collectively providing broad spectral coverage through combination of multiple discrete wavelength sources.
2Illumination intensity
If lasers are used for specific wavelengths, then spectral purity is improved, but cost and maintenance requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive, maintenance-intensive lasers with cheaper, longer-lived LED sources. While LEDs have broader emission spectra, the system achieves sufficient spectral purity through optical filtering and selection of specific LED wavelengths, thereby reducing cost and maintenance requirements.
3Ease of manufacture
If LEDs are used for cost effectiveness, then manufacturing cost is improved, but spectral stability and intensity control worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses multiple discrete LED sources at different wavelengths rather than a single LED. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each LED's spectral characteristics and enables precise control of the combined output spectrum, improving overall spectral stability while maintaining cost effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs independent electrical control of each LED source to dynamically adjust intensity and spectral composition. By changing electrical parameters (current, pulse width) for each LED, the system achieves stable spectral output and precise intensity control while maintaining the cost benefits of LED technology.
4Illumination intensity
If optical filtering is applied to narrow emission bands, then spectral purity is improved, but power loss and heat generation worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs spectral selection at the source level by choosing LEDs that emit at specific wavelengths matching the desired spectral bands, rather than using broad-spectrum sources and filtering them afterward. This preliminary spectral matching eliminates the need for power-intensive optical filtering, reducing energy loss and heat generation while achieving the required spectral purity.
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 provides a reliable, cost-effective, and portable lighting solution for bioanalytical instruments, capable of replacing traditional light sources, offering superior reliability and performance in microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and endoscopy applications, with enhanced spectral stability and intensity control.
Implementation Method 1
An illumination system includes a plurality of LED light sources
Implementation Method 2
The solid state illumination system utilizes multiple solid state light sources operating simultaneously to generate one white light output
Data Source
AI summary
A solid state illumination system is provided as a replacement for conventional arc light, metal halide and Xenon light sources for applications in microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and endoscopy. The illumination system includes hybrid optical and electrical control of output intensity in which the light output of one or more of the light sources is attenuated optically such that it is not necessary to reduce the electrical drive power/current of the LEDs at a level where the spectral power distribution is variable. One or more fixed, selectable, or variable neutral density filters is interposed in the output beam of one or more sources to achieve optical attenuation of the light output. The hybrid optical and electrical control of output intensity allows greater dynamic range of intensity to be achieved than could be achieved with electrical control of the LEDs alone while maintaining the desired spectral power distribution.