Optical system for light-emitting diode lamps

Kurzfassung

A Russian company from Samara has developed an optical system for light-emitting diode lamps with diffractive optical elements. The optical system allows forming the light direction diagrams, including those of shaped and asymmetrical forms, with minimal loss of the light beam. The company seeks partners for technical cooperation.

Details

At present, the required light intensity curve (direction diagram) of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps is formed through special lenses. The lenses are 15-10 mm thick and they have a shaped three-dimensional configuration. For each LED, a separate lens has to be used. Lens optics does not allow receiving shaped directional diagrams with an even light flare. As a rule, a great part of the light beam is diffused outside the required zone. To develop a shaped asymmetrical direction diagram, it is usually necessary to use several types of lens elements, their number and location in the lamp being selected in a certain manner. The effectiveness of lens elements is about 85-90%%.
Application of diffractive optical elements (DOE) allows using the light beam of LED more effectively. Diffractive optics allows receiving a light direction diagram of a shaped configuration (asymmetrical, narrow, wide, regular geometric shape) with an even light flare with the help of only one optical element. Using the polymer imprinting technology, one can manufacture arrays of diffractive elements, which allows making them cheap and easy to use in finished products. A plate with DOE can be used both as a protective element in a lamp, which allows refusing additional protective glass and thus reducing the light beam loss.
The modern technologies of diffractive elements polymer imprinting allow making them cheap and manufacturing them massively within one operational cycle.
The use of DOE produced by the polymer imprinting technology allows reducing the cost of a finished product by 25% (excluding the reduction of the lamp assembling costs) in comparison with non-lens lamps. At the same time, it is possible to get a better quality of the light exposure onto the required surface.

Innovative Aspects:
The diffractive optics allow forming a light intensity curve (LIC) in a lamp of any configuration using only one optical element, which is impossible when using the lens optics.
The diffractive optics have smaller dimensions and a light transmittance of higher effectiveness. Modern technologies allow batch production of DOE’s at a less cost than for special lenses for light-emitting diode lamps.