Optical waveguide-based side illuminating assembly, elongated reinforcing structure, and receptacle
AssigneeL.E.S.S. Ltd
InventorsYann Tissot, Ludovic Pierre, Magalie Matray
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Abstract
An optical waveguide based side illuminating assembly having an elongated, side-emitting light waveguide, an optical protective coating surrounding the waveguide, an elongated base to which the waveguide is attached lengthwise along the elongated base, via the optical protective coating, a reflector between the optical protective coating and the elongated base and extending lengthwise along the base, and an elongated reinforcing structure embedded in the elongated base, or attached to an outer surface of the elongated base, and extending lengthwise along the elongated base. Other aspects are also described and claimed.
Claims19
An illumination apparatus, comprising:
- an elongated, side-emitting light waveguide that comprises a first end and a second end;
- an optical protective coating surrounding the waveguide;
- an elongated base configured to couple to a receptacle of the illumination apparatus, wherein the optical protective coating and the elongated base are co-extruded such that they both form one integrated piece;
- a light source coupled to and configured to inject light into the first end of the waveguide;
- a photosensor coupled to and configured to detect propagating light at the second end of the waveguide, and produce one or more feedback signals based on the detected propagating light;
- and
- an electrical detector circuit coupled to the photosensor via one or more wires, wherein the electrical detector circuit is configured to receive, via at least one of the one or more wires, the one or more feedback signals, and configured to monitor the propagating light with respect to one or more thresholds.
An illumination apparatus comprising:
- an optical waveguide assembly that comprises:
- a side-emitting light waveguide,
- an optical protective coating surrounding the waveguide,
- an elongated base, wherein the optical protective coating and the elongated base are co-extruded such that they both form one integrated piece, and
- a photosensor for detecting propagating light through the side-emitting light waveguide, and for producing a feedback signal based on the propagating light;
- a light source for injecting the light into the side-emitting light waveguide based on the feedback signal;
- and
- a receptacle in which a groove is formed, wherein the groove comprises a cross section that is keyed to a cross-section of a portion of the elongated base of the optical waveguide assembly such that the portion of the elongated base of the optical waveguide assembly may be received into the groove in one orientation.
An optical waveguide-based side illuminating assembly, comprising:
- an elongated, side-emitting light waveguide;
- a transparent optical protective coating that surrounds a side surface of the waveguide;
- an elongated base configured to couple to a receptacle of an illumination apparatus, wherein the transparent optical protective coating and the elongated base are co-extruded such that they both form one integrated piece, wherein the elongated base comprises one or more wires that extend lengthwise continuously from a first end portion of the waveguide to a second end portion of the waveguide;
- and
- a photosensor configured to detect propagating light in the first end portion of the waveguide, wherein the one or more wires are coupled to electrical terminals of the photosensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.