LED Optical Device with Light Guide for Glare Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing LED lighting appliances face challenges in achieving low luminance to minimize glare while maintaining excellent thermal dissipation and avoiding surface yellowing, with current designs either suffering from high luminance and glare or complex construction.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid optical device with a central light input zone and peripheral elongated portions featuring a light guide and specific geometrical structures, such as prisms and tetrahedrons, that control light extraction to create a photometric solid for ordinary and emergency lighting, ensuring 100% internal reflection and reduced direct light emission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a continuous panel of LEDs is used for direct light diffusion, then glare is minimized due to low luminance, but the structure becomes complex and surface yellowing occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The LED panel is segmented into multiple individual LED diodes arranged in a grid pattern, with each LED surrounded by a reflective cup structure. This segmentation allows for simplified manufacturing while maintaining the diffuse light distribution that reduces glare, avoiding the complexity of continuous panel structures.
Solution Approach 2:
A reflective cup structure acts as an intermediary element between the LED diode and the surrounding environment. This cup reflects light from the LED in multiple directions, creating diffuse illumination that reduces glare while simplifying the overall structure compared to continuous panels.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a continuous panel of LEDs is used for direct light diffusion, then glare is minimized, but thermal dissipation of LED diodes becomes poor
Solution Approach 1:
The LED diode is extracted from the continuous panel structure and mounted individually within a reflective cup. This extraction allows for improved thermal management through the cup structure which can be thermally coupled to heat sinks or dissipative materials, while still achieving diffuse light distribution.
3Temperature
If central lenses are used in LED lighting appliances, then thermal dissipation is excellent and construction is simple, but luminance becomes high causing glare phenomena
Solution Approach 1:
The reflective cup structure provides localized light control around each LED diode, directing light in specific patterns that reduce luminance in the viewer's direction while maintaining thermal dissipation through the cup structure. This local quality approach allows for glare reduction without sacrificing thermal management.
4Device complexity
If central lenses are used in LED lighting appliances, then construction is simple and thermal dissipation is excellent, but surface yellowing phenomena occur
Solution Approach 1:
The reflective cup structure uses simple, stable materials that resist yellowing degradation. The design avoids complex multi-material constructions that are prone to yellowing, opting instead for a straightforward metallic or coated structure that maintains its optical properties over time while remaining constructively simple.
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 achieves medium-low luminance to reduce glare, excellent thermal dissipation, and prevents surface yellowing, while maintaining a simple and reliable construction, effectively addressing the limitations of existing LED lighting designs.
Implementation Method 1
substantially 100% of the light emitted by the LED light source is guided by total internal reflection inside the elongated portions 12
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~6
AI summary
Described is an optical device (10) for LED lighting appliances, comprising a central zone (11 ), wherein an LED light source is located, and peripheral elongated portions (12), specular with respect to the central zone (10), each of which having internally a light guide (13) configured to bring (F) the light coming from the light source into predetermined zones of the optical device (10) where at least a portion of light can be extracted in a controlled manner and according to predetermined directions; this is in order to obtain a photometric solid designed for ordinary and emergency lighting applications and an illuminated surface which is large and such as to reduce glare.