Compound curved concentrator based illuminator
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorRobert Herloski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A document illuminator comprising a light-transmissive element having nonlinear walls. The walls are shaped in the form of a compound parabolic concentrator with an optically inverted configuration. A diffusive optical source receives light from a side emitting LED embedded therein and redirects it to an aperture along with other light rays that go through total internal reflection from the nonlinear walls. The reflected light rays that are collected at the aperture are in turn transmitted at high power and uniform luminescence to illuminate a document for scanning.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- a compound curved concentrator based light-transmissive element having a dielectric material and a non-linear surface;
- a cavity formed within said light-transmissive element configured to retain a light source;
- an aperture formed in the light-transmissive element positioned to receive light emitted from a light source retained in the cavity;
- and
- a diffuser element positioned at a base of the compound curved concentrator based light-transmissive element to redirect light impinging thereupon,
- wherein the non-linear surface of the light-transmissive element is configured to reflect light from the diffuser element and/or the light source essentially entirely internally such that light emanating from the aperture is substantially collimated.
An apparatus comprising:
- a compound curved light-transmissive element having a non-linear surface;
- a cavity formed within said light-transmissive element configured to retain a light source;
- an aperture formed in the light-transmissive element positioned to receive light emitted from a light source retained in the cavity;
- and
- a diffuser element positioned at a base of the compound curved light-transmissive element to redirect light impinging thereupon,
- wherein said light-transmissive element has a bottom width about 0.5 mm to about 3 mm, and an aperture width ranging from about 3 mm to about 10 mm.
An apparatus comprising:
- a compound curved light-transmissive element having a non-linear surface;
- a cavity formed within said light-transmissive element configured to retain a light source;
- an aperture formed in the light-transmissive element positioned to receive light emitted from a light source retained in the cavity;
- and
- a diffuser element positioned at a base of the compound curved light-transmissive element to redirect light impinging thereupon,
- wherein the diffuser element comprises plural diffusers elements positioned at the base, each of which is progressively larger in length the further away from the light source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.