Flickerless LED Light Source with Dye-Coated Lightpipe
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fluorescent light sources suffer from flickering, hazardous materials, long startup times, and environmental concerns due to mercury and ballast components, leading to health issues and costly disposal problems.
Innovation Solution
A flicker-less light source using LED technology within a diffuser tube and lightpipe, eliminating mercury and hazardous materials, with selective wavelength conversion capabilities, and designed for easy installation in existing fixtures, providing instant startup and energy efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fluorescent light uses ballast to control current, then current stability is improved, but light flickering occurs and causes human discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the ballast component from the fluorescent lighting system entirely. By extracting this harmful element, the invention eliminates the source of flickering and low-frequency vibration that causes human discomfort, while maintaining current control through alternative means such as electronic circuitry integrated into the fluorescent lamp design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical ballast system with an electronic control system. This substitution eliminates the mechanical vibrations and low-frequency flickering associated with traditional ballasts, providing current stability through electronic regulation that does not produce harmful physical effects on humans.
2Use of energy by moving object
If fluorescent light tube contains mercury and phosphor coating, then ultraviolet to visible light conversion is achieved, but hazardous waste disposal problems occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent acknowledges that while mercury is harmful, it can be contained and managed through proper design. The invention maintains the mercury-phosphor conversion mechanism for efficient visible light production but implements sealed containment systems and provides structured disposal pathways that convert the potential harm into manageable waste streams, allowing the beneficial light conversion to continue while mitigating environmental damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses inert gas environments within the fluorescent tube to contain mercury vapor, preventing it from interacting with the external environment during operation. This creates a controlled, isolated atmosphere that maintains the necessary chemical conditions for UV-to-visible light conversion while protecting against mercury release, and facilitates safer disposal when the tube reaches end-of-life.
3Illumination intensity
If conventional fluorescent light is used, then visible light emission is achieved, but several seconds startup delay occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary heating elements and pre-ionization circuits that prepare the fluorescent tube for immediate operation upon power application. By performing preparatory actions before the main lighting function is needed, the system eliminates the traditional warm-up delay, allowing the mercury vapor and phosphor coating to be ready for instant light emission when voltage is applied.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional thermal-mechanical startup process with electronic pre-conditioning circuits. These electronic systems prepare the electrical and chemical environment within the tube before full operation is required, substituting the slow thermal buildup process with faster electronic control mechanisms that enable immediate light emission.
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 offers a safe, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective light source with stable illumination, reduced eye strain, and simplified disposal, while enabling flexible color and intensity control through organic dye coatings, and long-lasting low-power operation.
Implementation Method 1
a light emitting diode (LED) light source positioned on one end or on each end of the diffuser tube
Implementation Method 2
The organic dye has strong light absorption characteristics in ultraviolet (UV) wavelength and certain short-wavelength visible spectral regions
Data Source
AI summary
A flickerless light source comprising a transparent or semitransparent diffuser, a lightpipe with a patterned surface inside the diffuser, and an LED light source attached to each end of the lightpipe is disclosed. The patterned surface of the lightpipe diffuses or reflects light emitted by the LED light sources and through the lightpipe to provide a light with uniform brightness and intensity. The lightpipe is coated with a thin layer of visible-light transparent material which is doped with organic dye molecules. The organic dye has strong ultraviolet light absorption characteristics. By changing the doping concentration of the dye molecules the coating can become total opaque or semi-transparent to certain wavelengths and selective wavelength conversion is obtained. In this way light color, brightness, and intensity can be varied or controlled.