Projecting light fixture with a plurality of lenslets packed in an optimized dense circular pattern

A method of providing an illumination device, the method comprising:

• arranging a plurality of light sources for emitting light along an optical axis;
• arranging an optical gate along the optical axis;
• and
• providing and arranging a light collector to collect light from the plurality of light sources, wherein the light collector comprises a plurality of lenslets adapted to collect light from the plurality of light sources and adapted to convert the collected light into a plurality of light beams so that the plurality of light beams propagate along the optical axis and through the optical gate, wherein each lenslet of the plurality of lenslets comprises an entrance surface where said light enters the lenslet and an exit surface where the light exits the lenslet, and wherein each lenslet has a substantial uniform circular cross section of the lenslet, and
• arranging an optical projecting system to collect at least a portion of the plurality of light beams passing through the optical gate, the optical projecting system is adapted to image the optical gate at a distance along the optical axis;
• wherein providing the light collector includes:
• arranging the plurality of lenslets in a dense pattern, wherein the plurality of lenslets comprise a plurality of outermost lenslets located along an outer circular boundary, wherein each of the outermost lenslets includes a same radial distance to a center of the light collector, and
• optimizing a packaging density defined by a ratio of a sum of areas of the circular cross sections of the lenslets and an area of the outer circular boundary, and
• wherein the plurality of outermost adjacent lenslets comprise at least 7 outermost lenslets and the packaging density is at least 0.72.

An illumination device comprising:

• a plurality of light sources emitting light along an optical axis;
• an optical gate arranged along the optical axis;
• a light collector arranged between the plurality of light sources and the optical gate, the light collector is adapted to collect light from the plurality of light sources, the light collector comprises a plurality of lenslets adapted to collect light from the light sources and is adapted to convert the collected light into a plurality of light beams, each lenslet comprises an entrance surface where the light enters the lenslet and an exit surface where the light exits the lenslet, the plurality of light beams propagate along the optical axis and through the optical gate;
• and
• an optical projecting system adapted to collect at least a part of the plurality of light beams and adapted to image the optical gate at a distance along the optical axis;
• wherein the plurality of lenslets are arranged in a dense pattern, wherein the lenslets comprise a plurality of outermost adjacent lenslets located along an outer circular boundary, wherein each of the plurality of outermost adjacent lenslets has a same radial distance to a center of the light collector, and wherein the dense pattern has been obtained by optimizing a packaging density defined by a ratio of a sum of areas of circular cross sections of the plurality of lenslets and an area of the outer circular boundary, and
• wherein the packaging density is greater than 0.763 and less than 0.88.