Multiwavelength Solid-State Lamps Using 1269 Munsell Samples
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing white light sources composed of colored LEDs fail to maximize the number of rendered colors beyond fourteen and do not determine the necessary spectral components for optimal color rendering for human vision, relying on outdated methods like the CIE 1995 procedure that uses too few test samples.
Innovation Solution
A new approach using a larger number of test color samples, specifically the Munsell palette of 1269 samples, to optimize white light sources by selecting primary colors and relative fluxes to maximize the number of rendered colors, preserving chromaticity and lightness shifts within defined regions, thereby achieving a higher number of rendered colors relevant to human vision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the CIE 1995 procedure with eight test color samples is used to optimize white light sources, then the general color rendering index Ra is maximized, but the number of rendered colors is limited to only fourteen colors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from the traditional two-dimensional CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram to a three-dimensional CIE 1960 uniform chromaticity scale diagram (UCS), adding the lightness dimension. This dimensional expansion enables the use of 1269 Munsell color samples instead of just 8 test samples, dramatically increasing the number of rendered colors from 14 to potentially all 1269 samples while maintaining assessment accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the assessment parameters from the conventional Ra index based on 8 samples to a comprehensive evaluation using 1269 Munsell samples in the CIE 1960 UCS space. This parameter change allows for a much more rigorous and comprehensive color rendering assessment that captures human vision's ability to distinguish thousands of colors.
2Quantity of substance
If more colored LEDs are added to increase the number of rendered colors, then the spectral composition becomes more complex, but the determination of optimal wavelengths and fluxes becomes increasingly difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements an optimization process that uses chromaticity and lightness shift measurements as feedback to adjust the spectral composition of white light sources. By measuring actual color rendering performance against the comprehensive 1269-sample Munsell palette and iteratively adjusting LED wavelengths and fluxes, the system automatically determines optimal configurations without requiring manual analysis of complex spectral interactions.
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 approach results in white light sources that render nearly all colors indistinguishable from a blackbody radiator or daylight, significantly improving color rendering quality by maximizing the number of rendered colors, as demonstrated by the pentachromatic lamp achieving 100% color rendering of the Munsell palette.
Implementation Method 1
Since LEDs employ injection electroluminescence and potentially offer radiant efficiency that exceeds the physical limits of other sources of light
Implementation Method 2
Composite white light from LEDs can be obtained by means of partial or complete conversion of short-wavelength radiation in phosphors
Data Source
AI summary
The configuration of polychromatic sources of white light, which are composed of at least two groups of colored emitters, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), is disclosed. Based on a novel approach of the assessment of quality of white light using, for example, 1269 test color samples from the enhanced Munsell palette, the spectral compositions of light, such as white light, composed of two to five (or more) narrow-band emissions with the highest number of colors relevant to human vision rendered almost indistinguishably from a reference source, such as a blackbody radiator, are introduced. An embodiment of the current invention can be used, in particular, for configuring polychromatic sources of white light with the ultimate quality capable of rendering of all colors of the real world.