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US 9,868,546 B2Granted
Dual-mode vehicle light system
AssigneeGoodrich Lighting Systems GmbH
InventorPhilippe Lapujade
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Light systems having an array of paired visible-light and infrared-light elements, each pair arranged such that a body of each visible-light element obstructs infrared-light emitted from its paired infrared-light element. A lens might be provided to cover the array of paired light elements.
Claims20
A dual-mode aviation formation-light system comprising:
- an array of paired lighting elements, each of the paired lighting elements comprising:
- a visible-light element configured to emit visible light in a first mode so as to provide a visible-light illumination pattern substantially throughout a solid-angle hemisphere;
- and
- an infrared-light element configured to emit infrared light while simultaneously emitting substantially no visible light in a second mode so as to provide an infrared-light illumination pattern,
- wherein each of the paired lighting elements is oriented such that the visible-light element is positioned to obstruct a common solid-angle shadowed portion of the infrared-light illumination pattern emitted by the infrared-light element, thereby dividing the solid-angle hemisphere into a solid-angle illuminated portion and the solid-angle shadowed portion, and
- wherein each obstructing visible-light element is at least one of substantially absorptive and substantially reflective of infrared light.
3 more elements
A dual-mode aviation formation-light system comprising:
- a substrate;
- and
- an array of paired lighting elements, each of the paired lighting elements comprising:
- a visible-light element projecting a first height above the substrate and configured to emit visible light in a first mode so as to provide a visible-light illumination pattern substantially throughout the solid-angle hemisphere;
- and
- an infrared-light element projecting a second height above the substrate, the second height less than the first height, and configured to emit infrared light while simultaneously emitting substantially no visible light in a second mode so as to provide an infrared-light illumination pattern,
- wherein each of the paired lighting elements is oriented such that the visible-light element is positioned to obstruct a common solid-angle shadowed portion of the infrared-light illumination pattern emitted by the infrared-light element, thereby dividing the solid-angle hemisphere into a solid-angle illuminated portion and the solid-angle shadowed portion, and
- wherein each obstructing visible-light element is at least one of substantially absorptive and substantially reflective of infrared light.
5 more elements
A method of providing dual-mode formation lighting, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of paired lighting elements, each of the paired lighting elements comprising a visible-light element and an infrared-light element;
- emitting, when in a non-covert mode, visible light from the visible-light element of each of the plurality of paired lighting elements;
- emitting, when in a covert mode, infrared light from the infrared-light element of each of the plurality of paired lighting elements;
- and
- obscuring, when in the covert mode, a solid-angle portion of the infrared light emitted from each of the infrared-light elements of the plurality of paired lighting elements by its paired visible-light element, the obscured solid-angle portion of infrared light emitted from each infrared-light element commonly aligned with the obscured solid-angle portions of infrared light emitted from every other infrared-light element.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.