Holographic Weapon Sight Using LED Light Source
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Solution Overview
Problem
Holographic weapon sights using lasers have high power consumption, leading to significantly reduced battery life compared to non-holographic sights with similar battery power sources.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a holographic weapon sight that uses a light emitting diode (LED) as the light source, coupled with a collimator, mirror, diffraction grating, and hologram, to output a holographic reticle with lower power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a laser light source is used in a holographic weapon sight, then the reticle can be output with high brightness and clarity, but the power consumption increases significantly reducing battery life
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of the light source from laser to LED, which has different emission characteristics. The LED's broader spectral width and lower coherence are compensated by optical components (diffraction grating, hologram) to achieve the necessary reticle quality while consuming significantly less power
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the laser light source with an LED light source, substituting one light generation mechanism for another. This substitution fundamentally changes the energy consumption profile while maintaining the holographic display function through careful optical design
2Use of energy by moving object
If an LED light source is used instead of laser, then power consumption is reduced extending battery life, but the optical path complexity increases to compensate for LED characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediate optical components (collimator, diffraction grating, hologram) between the LED and the final reticle output. These intermediaries transform the LED's light characteristics into the desired holographic reticle pattern, accepting the increased complexity as necessary for achieving the functional goal with lower power consumption
3Illumination intensity
If the LED emission area is reduced to increase brightness density, then the reticle quality improves, but the alignment precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a collimator that pre-collimates the light from the LED before it reaches the diffraction grating and hologram. This preliminary collimation action ensures that even though the LED has a small emission area requiring precise alignment, the subsequent optical components receive properly directed light, reducing the cumulative alignment precision requirements across the entire optical path
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 achieves significantly extended battery life for holographic weapon sights, with the LED-based system providing more than ten times the battery life of laser-based systems for similar brightness levels, while maintaining equivalent reticle quality.
Implementation Method 1
The light source is a light emitting diode (LED) that emits light
Implementation Method 2
The collimator receives the light from the light source and reflects the light in parallel rays to form a collimated light beam such that the light source appears at infinity
Implementation Method 3
The diffraction grating receives the collimated light beam from the mirror and diffracts the light
Data Source
AI summary
A weapon sight includes a chassis and an optical system. The chassis is coupleable to a firearm. The optical system is coupled to the chassis and includes a light source, a collimator, a mirror, a diffraction grating, and a hologram. The light source is a light emitting diode (LED) that emits light. The collimator receives the light from the light source and reflects the light in parallel rays. The folding mirror receives the light from the collimator and reflects the light in the parallel rays. The diffraction grating receives the light from the folding mirror and diffracts the light. The hologram receives the light from the diffraction grating to output a reticle visible by a user of the weapon sight.