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US 2008/0186553 A1Published application
Light-beam-scanning system utilizing counter-rotating prism wheels
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorConrad Stenton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A light-beam-scanning system includes two counter-rotating prism wheels. Each prism wheel has a set of prisms at its periphery, selected so that prisms of equal half-angle deflections are sequentially aligned. A light transceiver structure directs a light beam parallel to the rotational axes of the prism wheels and at a distance from the rotational axes so that the light beam passes through the aligned prisms. A prism-wheel drive is operable to drive the prism wheels in opposite rotational directions.
Claims21
A light-beam-scanning system comprising:
- a first prism wheel rotatable in a first rotational direction about a first rotational axis, wherein the first prism wheel has at least two transmissive first-wheel prisms mounted at a first distance from the first rotational axis;
- a second prism wheel rotatable in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction about a second rotational axis that is parallel to the first rotational axis, wherein the second prism wheel has at least two transmissive second-wheel prisms mounted at a second distance from the second rotational axis, and wherein the first rotational axis and the second rotational axis are positioned such that the first-wheel prisms and the second-wheel prisms are in registry along a light-beam axis;
- and
- a light transceiver structure that
- directs a light beam along the light-beam axis and through the first-wheel prisms and the second-wheel prisms, or
- receives a light beam along the light-beam axis after passing through the second-wheel prisms and the first-wheel prisms;
- a prism-wheel drive operable to drive the first prism wheel in the first rotational direction about the first rotational axis and the second prism wheel in the second rotational direction about the second rotational axis, so that
- a first-aligned first-wheel prism and a respective first-aligned second-wheel prism are simultaneously aligned with the light beam at a first time, and
- a second-aligned first-wheel prism and a respective second-aligned second-wheel prism are simultaneously aligned with the light beam at a second time.
6 more elements
A light-beam-scanning system comprising:
- a first prism wheel rotatable in a first rotational direction about a first rotational axis, wherein the first prism wheel has a plurality of transmissive first-wheel prisms mounted at a first distance from the first rotational axis;
- a second prism wheel rotatable in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction about a second rotational axis that is parallel to the first rotational axis, wherein the second prism wheel has the same plurality of transmissive second-wheel prisms mounted at a second distance from the second rotational axis, and wherein the first rotational axis and the second rotational axis are positioned such that the first-wheel prisms and the second wheel-prisms are in registry along a light-beam axis;
- a light transceiver structure that directs a light beam along the light-beam axis and through the first-wheel prisms and the second-wheel prisms;
- a prism-wheel drive operable to drive the first prism wheel in the first rotational direction and the second prism wheel in the second rotational direction, so that an alignment sequence of pairs of first-wheel prisms and respective second-wheel prisms of equal half-angle deflection are simultaneously aligned along the light-beam axis, and wherein the sequential members of the pairs of first-wheel prisms and respective second-wheel prisms are of different half-angle deflections;
- and
- an optic positioned along the light-beam axis and through which the light beam passes after passing through the first-wheel prism and the second-wheel prism.
3 more elements
A light-beam-scanning system comprising
- a pair of counter-rotating prism wheels that rotate in opposite directions about parallel axes of rotation, wherein each prism wheel has a set of transmissive prisms mounted thereon at a respective fixed distance from the respective axis of rotation, and wherein the set of prisms is selected such that prisms of equal half-angle deflections are sequentially aligned;
- a light transceiver structure that directs a light beam parallel to the rotational axes and through one transmissive prism of each prism wheel;
- a prism-wheel drive operable to counter-rotationally drive the first prism wheel and the second prism wheel to sequentially align first-wheel prisms and second-wheel prisms of equal half-angle deflection;
- and
- an optic through which the light beam passes after passing through the first-wheel prism on the first wheel and the second-wheel prism on the second wheel.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.