LED illumination device
View Patent ↗A device comprising a plurality of LEDs arranged in a coplanar array, the coplanar array comprising an LED at the center and LEDs positioned radially symmetrically around the LED at the center, and wherein the central axes of the LEDs are arranged to be parallel to each other; a one-piece lens array collimating light from the LEDs, the lens array comprising a plurality of coplanar lens tiles, the coplanar lens tiles comprising a lens tile at the center and lens tiles positioned radially symmetrically around the lens tile at the center, and wherein the central axis of each of the lens tiles is aligned with the central axis of a corresponding LED; and a focusing lens converging the collimated light from the lens array into a single image in a focal plane, wherein the central axis of the focusing lens is aligned with the central axis of the lens array.
1. An illumination device comprising:
a plurality of light emitting diodes arranged in a coplanar array, wherein the coplanar array comprises a light emitting diode at the center and light emitting diodes positioned radially symmetrically around the light emitting diode at the center, and wherein the central axes of the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged to be parallel to each other;
a one-piece lens array collimating light from the plurality of light emitting diodes, the lens array comprising a plurality of coplanar lens tiles, wherein the coplanar lens tiles comprise a lens tile at the center and lens tiles positioned radially symmetrically around the lens tile at the center, and wherein the central axis of each of the lens tiles is aligned with the central axis of a corresponding light emitting diode; and
a focusing lens converging the collimated light from the lens array into a single image in a focal plane, wherein the central axis of the focusing lens is aligned with the central axis of the lens array.
2. The illumination device of claim 1 , wherein the lens tiles are hexagonal in shape.
3. The illumination device of claim 1 , wherein the lens tiles are circular in shape.
4. The illumination device of claim 1 , wherein the coplanar lens tiles are arranged in a modified hexagonal tiling, wherein the modification of the hexagonal tiling comprises replacing an exterior edge of an exterior hexagon on the hexagonal tiling by an arc connecting the two vertices of the exterior edge of the exterior hexagon.
5. An illumination device comprising:
a plurality of light emitting diodes arranged in a coplanar array, wherein the coplanar array comprises a light emitting diode at the center and light emitting diodes positioned radially symmetrically around the light emitting diode at the center, and wherein the central axes of the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged to be parallel to each other;
a one-piece lens array collimating light from the plurality of light emitting diodes, the lens array comprising a plurality of coplanar lens tiles, wherein the coplanar lens tiles comprise a lens tile at the center and lens tiles positioned radially symmetrically around the lens tile at the center, and wherein the central axis of each of the lens tiles is aligned with the central axis of a corresponding light emitting diode;
a focusing lens converging the collimated light from the lens array into a single image in a focal plane, wherein the central axis of the focusing lens is aligned with the central axis of the lens array; and
an optical fiber having an input surface with the input surface being positioned in the focal plane for receiving the focused light from the diodes.
6. The illumination device of claim 5 , wherein the lens tiles are hexagonal in shape.
7. The illumination device of claim 5 , wherein the lens tiles are circular in shape.
8. The illumination device of claim 5 , wherein the coplanar lens tiles are arranged in a modified hexagonal tiling, wherein the modification of the hexagonal tiling comprises replacing an exterior edge of an exterior hexagon on the hexagonal tiling by an arc connecting the two vertices of the exterior edge of the exterior hexagon.
9. An illumination device comprising:
a plurality of light emitting diodes;
a lens array collimating light from the plurality of light emitting diodes, the lens array comprising a plurality of coplanar lens tiles arranged in a modified hexagonal tiling, wherein the modification of the hexagonal tiling comprises replacing an exterior edge of an exterior hexagon on the hexagonal tiling by an arc connecting the two vertices of the exterior edge of the exterior hexagon; and
a focusing lens converging the collimated light from the lens array into a single image.
10. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the exterior hexagon is a hexagon on the hexagonal tiling having at least one exterior edge, wherein the at least one exterior edge is not positioned parallel to and adjacent to an edge of another hexagon on the hexagonal tiling.
11. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the hexagonal tiling comprises:
a hexagon in the center; and
six exterior hexagons surrounding and adjacent to the hexagon in the center.
12. The illumination device of claim 11 , wherein three exterior edges of each of the six exterior hexagons are replaced by a corresponding arc.
13. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the lens array is a one-piece lens array.
14. The illumination device of claim 13 , wherein the one-piece lens array is formed by plastic injection molding.
15. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the lens tiles are aspheric.
16. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the lens tiles are selected from the group consisting of Fresnel lenses, planar convex lenses, planar concave lenses, meniscus convex lenses, meniscus concave lenses, bi-convex lenses, and bi-concave lenses.
17. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged in a coplanar array.
18. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged in a radially symmetric array.
19. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the central axes of the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged to be parallel to each other.
20. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein each of the light emitting diodes has one corresponding lens tile, and wherein the central axis of each of the light emitting diodes is aligned with the central axis of the corresponding lens tile.
21. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the central axis of the lens array is aligned with the central optical axis of the focusing lens.
22. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the focusing lens is an aspheric planar convex lens.
23. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the single image is at the focal point of the focusing lens.
24. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the single image is an overlay of the images corresponding to the plurality of light emitting diodes.
25. The illumination device of claim 24 , the images corresponding to the plurality of light emitting diodes each having an identical size and each aligned on a common optical axis.
26. The illumination device of claim 9 , wherein the single image is projected onto an input of a fiber optic bundle.
27. The illumination device of claim 26 , the size of the single image matching the entrance aperture of the fiber optic bundle.
28. An illumination device comprising:
a plurality of light emitting diodes;
a lens array collimating light from the plurality of light emitting diodes, the lens array comprising a plurality of coplanar lens tiles, the plurality of coplanar lens tiles comprising:
a hexagon tile in the center; and
six identical non-overlapping tiles surrounding and immediately adjacent to the hexagon tile in the center, wherein each of the six identical tiles has a first edge directly abutting a corresponding edge of the hexagon tile in the center, the first edge in parallel with and having exact length as the corresponding edge, and wherein each of the six identical tiles has a second edge extending outwardly from a first end of the first adge,the first and the second edges having an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees between, and wherein each of the six identical tiles has a third edge extending from a second end of the first edge, the first and the third edges having an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees between, and wherein each of the six identical tiles has an arc connecting the ends of the second edge and the third edge; and
a focusing lens converging the collimated light from the lens array into a single image.
29. An illumination device comprising:
seven light emitting diodes arranged in a coplanar array;
a lens array collimating light from the plurality of light emitting diodes, the lens array comprising a plurality of coplanar lens tiles, the plurality of coplanar lens tiles comprising:
a hexagon tile in the center; and
six identical non-overlapping tiles surrounding and immediately adjacent to the hexagon tile in the center, wherein each of the six identical tiles has a first edge directly abutting a corresponding edge of the hexagon tile in the center, the first edge in parallel with and having exact length as the corresponding edge, and wherein each of the six identical tiles has a second edge extending outwardly from a first end of the first edge, the first and the second edges having an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees between, and wherein each of the six identical tiles has a third edge extending from a second end of the first edge, the first and the third edges having an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees between, and wherein each of the six identical tiles has an arc connecting the ends of the second edge and the third edge; and
a focusing lens converging the collimated light from the lens array into a single image.