Patterned Optical Component Walls for LED Color Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional lighting devices with color-converting materials face challenges in achieving precise control over light-output color due to variability in the thickness of color-converting materials, leading to inconsistent color outputs among manufactured devices, which increases manufacturing costs and reduces market value.
Innovation Solution
The use of patterned optical components with color-converting materials, where the pattern of walls within the optical component is more accurately controlled than the thickness, allowing for precise control over light output color, reducing the influence of thickness variability and enhancing color uniformity among devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional color-converting materials with uniform thickness are used, then manufacturing process is simple, but color output consistency deteriorates due to thickness variability
Solution Approach 1:
The optical component is segmented into multiple regions with different optical properties. The color-converting material is divided into multiple layers or zones with different thicknesses or concentrations, allowing different portions to contribute differently to the overall color output. This segmentation enables precise control of color characteristics while compensating for manufacturing variations.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the optical component are assigned different local properties. Specifically, the color-converting material has spatially varying concentration or thickness patterns that are optimized for their local function. This local quality approach allows the system to achieve uniform color output despite variations in overall thickness by compensating locally in different regions.
2Manufacturing precision
If thickness of color-converting material is tightly controlled, then color consistency improves, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the approach from controlling thickness to controlling other parameters such as color-converting material concentration, particle size distribution, or spatial patterns. By changing which parameters are controlled and which are allowed to vary, the system achieves color consistency without requiring tight thickness control, thereby simplifying manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of controlling color consistency through the thickness dimension, the invention introduces control in other dimensions such as lateral concentration gradients, particle size distributions, or spatial patterns. This dimensional shift allows color consistency to be achieved through parameters that are easier to control manufacturally.
3Manufacturing precision
If binning and testing processes are extensive, then color quality control improves, but manufacturing cost and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The optical component is designed with built-in compensation features during manufacturing, such as pre-calculated thickness variations or concentration gradients that automatically compensate for expected manufacturing tolerances. This preliminary action embeds quality control into the design itself, reducing or eliminating the need for post-manufacturing binning and testing.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical component structure is designed to self-compensate for manufacturing variations. The patterned color-converting material automatically adjusts the color output to achieve consistency without requiring external intervention through binning or testing. The system serves its own quality control function through its inherent design.
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 approach results in a high percentage of devices having light-output colors within a specific range, such as a 2-step MacAdam Ellipse, improving color consistency and reducing manufacturing costs by minimizing the need for extensive binning and testing processes.
Implementation Method 1
color-converting particles that absorb light at certain wavelengths and emit light at different wavelengths
Implementation Method 2
color-converting particles that absorb some of the blue light and convert it into yellow light
Data Source
AI summary
Lighting devices including light-emitting diodes and associated devices, systems, and methods are disclosed herein. A lighting device configured in accordance with a particular embodiment includes a lighting-emitting diode and an optical component along a radiation path of the lighting-emitting diode. The optical component includes a color-converting material with walls defining a pattern, the walls extending generally entirely through a thickness of the color-converting material. A total surface area of the walls within a primary zone of the optical component is greater than a total surface area of color-converting features at a major side of the color-converting material. A method for making a lighting device in accordance with a particular embodiment includes combining an optical component and a light-emitting diode, and shaping a color-converting material of the optical component to have a thickness and a pattern of walls selected to control the color of light output from the lighting device.