Patent Abstract:
A light assembly having a light source and a ring lens radially surrounding the light source for substantially collimating light from the light source. There is a prism ring having at least two prism bands surrounding the ring lens and receiving light from it. One of the prism bands is defined by a plurality of reflecting prisms and another of the prism bands is a refracting band. In another arrangement a multi-prism ring reflector surrounds the ring lens and is arranged to have total internal reflection except for exit faces formed therein which are substantially at right angles to the substantially collimated light from the light source. The ring prism bands may be of the same vertical height or they may have different vertical heights with respect to each other. In a further arrangement a prism ring includes at least two prism bands surrounding the ring lens and receiving light therefrom. Each of the bands has an inner surface and an outer surface and one of these surfaces of each band is inclined and adjacent another such surface and together therewith forms a continuous surface, and the other of these surfaces of each band is a wedge prism.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based upon and claims the priority of Provisional Application Serial No. 60/122,281, filed Mar. 1, 1999. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to the lighting field, and, more particularly, to creating illumination using luminaires having radial collimators and refractive structures. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a lighting system that provides lighting efficiently and in a flexible manner. 
     It is another object of the present invention to distribute illumination through the use of multiband refractors and using a ring lens around the light source. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide for the distribution of illumination using multi-prism bands. 
     These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished in the following manners, among others. A light distribution system is provided 
    
    
     The means by which the foregoing objects and features of invention are achieved are pointed out in the claims forming the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, may be further understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the following drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a luminaire constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the luminaire shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a partial plan view of another luminaire constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of the luminaire shown in FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of a further luminaire constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of the luminaire shown in FIG.  5 . 
     FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane defined by reference line  7 — 7  in FIGS. 5 and 6. 
     FIG. 8 is a partial isometric view of a ring refractor of FIGS. 3 and 4. 
     FIG. 9 is a partial isometric view of a wedge prism ring section of FIGS. 1 and 2 
     FIG. 10 is a partial sectional view of the structure shown in FIG.  8 . 
     FIG. 11 is a partial sectional view of a modified structure of FIG.  8 . 
     FIG. 12 is a partial sectional view of a further modified structure of FIG.  8 . 
     FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane defined by reference line  13 — 13  of FIG.  8 . 
     FIG. 14 is a partial isometric view of a luminaire. 
     FIG. 15 is a partial isometric view of a similar luminaire. 
     FIG. 16 is a sectional view having wedge prisms with a progressively more acute angle between the entry faces and the exit faces. 
     FIG. 17 is a sectional view of a luminarie structure similar to that shown in FIG. 2 having scattering refractor elements. 
     FIG. 18 is a sectional view similar to that shown in FIG. 4 having reflectors by the light source. 
     FIG. 19 is a sectional view similar to that shown in FIG. 4 having containment means. 
     FIG. 20 is a sectional view of a luminaire with a radial collimator and refractive multi-prism rings. 
     FIG. 21 is a partial cross sectional view of a refractive ring of FIG.  20 . 
     FIG. 22 is a partial cross section of the refractive ring of FIG.  20 . 
     FIG. 23 is a partial cross section of a luminaire with a radial collimator and refractive ring. 
     FIG. 24 is a partial plan view, the upper portion showing a top view of the refractor ring in FIG.  20  and the lower portion showing a bottom view of the ring. 
     FIG. 25 is a cross section of a luminaire similar to that shown in FIG.  20 . 
     FIG. 26 is a plan view of the structure shown in FIG.  25 . 
     FIG. 27 is a cross section taken generally along the plane defined by reference line  27 - 28  in FIG.  26 . 
     FIG. 28 is a cross section taken generally along the plane defined by reference line  28 - 27  in FIG.  26 . 
     FIG. 29 is a section through a prior art device. 
     FIG. 30 is a section through a lighting arrangement according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate respectively a partial plan and section views of a luminaire comprised of a radial collimator  10  surrounded by a ring refractor or ring lens  12 . Radial collimator  10  is comprised of a quasi-point source  14  (a filament or an arc lamp) surrounded by a spherical or an aspheric ring collimator  15 . Other types of ring collimators that can be employed in this system are illustrated U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,201. Refractive ring  12  is a composite of alternating wedge prism bands  16  and  18  and reflective prism bands  20  and  22 . 
     Wedge prism bands  16  and  18  receive rays  24  from the radial collimator  10  and bend them at an acute angle upwardly as rays  17  and  19 , respectively, for use as indirect illumination, while reflective prism bands  20  (lower) and  22  (upper) function by total internal reflection to reflect radially projected rays  24  as rays  26  and  28  in a downward pattern. The sectional contour  30  of prism bands  20  and  22  is designed to reflect radially collimated rays  24  in a predetermined continuous pattern of rays  26  and  28 , respectively. The section contour of  20  and  22  may differ from each other so that a predetermined continuity of illumination derived from  26  and  28  is achieved. 
     Wedge prism band  16  includes entry surface  32  which, in some instances, is the same surface (having the same contour) as the entry/exit surface of the prism bands  20  and  22 . Concentric entry/exit surfaces  32  and  34  form a band which is thicker at the top than at the bottom, thus making a section of a wedge prism. If entry surface  32  has a sectional curvature, the wedge prism will not only bend rays  24  but will also cause them to converge or diverge, depending on whether the curvature is negative or positive. 
     Wedge prism band  18  has an alternate profile that differs from band  16  in that its entry surface  36  does not follow the same sectional profile as entry surface  30 . This allows for rays  24  to enter the entry face of wedge prism band  18  at an angle closer to perpendicular than the entry angle for prism  16 . The exit surface  38  of prism band  18  is also shown. 
     Details for surface treatments of prism  18  are illustrated on FIG.  9 . The function of this luminaire is to provide both direct and indirect illumination simultaneously. The number of wedge prism bands and reflective prism bands and the ratio between them may differ from one luminaire to another. 
     FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a luminaire that provides a similar lighting function to the luminaire described in FIGS. 1 and 2. Similar elements are provided with the same reference numerals. Refractive ring  12  is comprised of an inner surface  40  and an outer surface which includes prisms  42 . The peaks and valleys of the prisms  42  forming the outer surface are substantially concentric with inner surface  40 . An example of this is shown in FIG.  8 . Inner surface  40  is the entry surface to prisms  42 , which reflect rays  24  by means of total internal reflection. 
     Indirect rays  44  are created by adding exit faces  46  to prisms  42 . Exit faces  46  are created by cutting into and removing an angular section of the peak of prisms  42 , line  48  representing the vertical face of exit faces  46 . However, instead of cutting the structure could be molded into the desired shape. Line  48  is shown (see FIG. 4) being parallel to central axis  50 , although the face angle may be altered (changing the angle of indirect rays  44 ) as illustrated by shifting the angle of line  48  (within angle  52 ) towards position  54  or position  56 . Details concerning surface shape, locations and quantities of surfaces  46  are illustrated in FIG.  8 . 
     FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate, respectively, a partial plan view and a sectional view of a luminaire having a primary function of indirect illumination. The system is comprised of a radial collimator  15  (see description of FIGS. 1 and 2) and a refractive ring  12 . Refractive ring  12  includes a concentric band of reflecting prism rings  58  alternating with a band of wedge prism rings  60 . 
     The bands of FIGS. 1 and 2 and of FIGS. 5 and 6 can be provided with different vertical heights to vary the bands of light from the refractive bands forming the refractive ring  12 . 
     FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view of reflecting prism ring  58  taken at section line  7 — 7  in FIGS. 5 and 6. FIGS. 5 and 7 illustrate prisms  62  radiating along radii  64 . The top surface  66  of ring  58  is polished. The lower surface  68  which includes prism surfaces  62 , is also polished. Prism ring  58  may be canted (illustrated by angle  70 ) to intercept and reflect rays  72  and direct them by total internal reflection through rings  60 , or it may be parallel to the center of radiation  74  reflecting rays that are expanding away from center of radiation  74 . Wedge prism rings  58  function to bend radial rays  76  as refracted indirect rays  78 . 
     FIG. 8 is an isometric view of the type of refractor ring  12  illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, showing wedge prism exit faces  80  intercepting and cutting through prism peaks  82 . 
     FIG. 9 is an isometric view of a wedge prism ring section  85  of ring refractor  12  illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Both the entry face  84  and/or the exit face  86  can have the illustrated types of applied vertical fluting, each type of fluting having an associated effect on rays  24  received from the central collimating light source shown in FIGS. 1-6. Concave fluting  88  causes rays  24  to diverge on the same plane as rays  24  as shown at  90 . Convex fluting  104  causes rays  24  to be redirected as rays  106  which converge then diverge, also on the same plane as rays  24 . Internal prism fluting  92  causes rays  24  to bi-directionally diverge as rays  94  and  96 . External prism flute  98  causes rays  24  to bi-directionally diverge as rays back through entry face  84  as rays  98  and  100 . 
     FIG. 10 is a partial view partially in section showing a single exit face  80  of FIG. 8 (and of FIGS. 3 and 4) as a flat surface. 
     FIG. 11 illustrates a single exit face  108  as a cylindrically concave surface. 
     FIG. 12 illustrates a single exit face  110  as a cylindrically convex surface. 
     FIG. 13 is a partial section of FIG. 8 with an internal prismatic band  120 , the surface of which is at a dissimilar angle to the internal face  112  of the refractive ring  12 . The vertical angular relationship of entry face  114  to exit face  116  determines the deviant angle  118  between projected beam  24  and refracted beam  120 . 
     FIG. 14 is a partial isometric view of a luminaire containing a ring collimator  10  and a refractive ring  12 . Refractive ring  12  is a composite of wedge prism rings  124 ,  126  and  128 . All three rings have a common conical entry face, which is the interior surface  130  of refractive ring  12 . Wedge prism segments  124 ,  126  and  128  all have equal wedge prism angular profiles and therefore bend radially projected rays  24  in a consistent angle as rays  132 . AS is a surface to which the assembly may be mounted, but it could be mounted in a different manner. If the assembly is mounted on plane AS rays  32  will illuminate surface AS. 
     FIG. 15 is a partial isometric view of a luminaire that has virtually the same function as the luminaire illustrated in FIG. 14, differing only in that the conical surface of FIG. 15 wedge prism ring  12  is on the outside having wedge prism segments  136 ,  138  and  140 , and functioning as the exit surface  134 , rather than on the inside as in FIG.  14 . 
     FIG. 16 represents a sectional view of refractive ring  12 , differing from the section of refractive ring  12  shown in FIG. 14 in that each wedge prism section in FIG. 16, that is  142 ,  144  and  146  has a progressively more acute angle between the entry faces and the exit faces (illustrated by wedge angles,  148 ,  150  and  152 ) and providing rays  154 ,  156  and  158 , respectively, than in FIG. 14, and, therefore, has less beam bending power. FIGS. 14,  15  and  16  represent variations of luminaire structures described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,201. 
     FIG. 17 represents the same luminaire structure as is shown in FIG. 2, with the addition of refractor elements  160  and  162  which scatter rays  164  and  166  (rays emanating from lamp  14  but not gathered by ring lens  12 ) as scattered rays  168  and  170 , respectively. Refractor elements  160  and  162  may be bowl shaped, as shown, or flat, and may be surfaced with various refractive elements. 
     FIG. 18 represents the same luminarie structure as shown in FIG. 4 with the addition of radially disposed parabolic or ellipsoidal reflectors  172  that gather rays (not gathered by radially collimating rings  15 )  174  and  176  and project them as rays  24 . 
     FIG. 19 represents the same luminaire structure as represented in FIG. 4 with the addition of containment means  178  and  180  which may function as reflectors or as element  58  in FIG. 6, and are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,201. 
     Divergent rays  182  are reflected by  178  and  180  towards refractive ring  12  as rays  184 . Refractor elements  160  and  162 , reflectors  172 , and containment means  178  and  180  are all interchangeable with all luminaires described in this specification and may be used in any combination with each other. 
     FIG. 20 is a cross sectional view of a luminaire containing radial collimator  10  and refractive ring  12 . Refractive ring  12  includes prism rings  186 . Prism rings  186  are stepped concentrically from each other, with each ring having a cross section of a 90 degree, 45 degree, 45 degree prism. Each prism ring  186  has an entry face  188  that receives radially collimated rays  24  from radial collimator  10  and reflects the rays  24  (through total internal reflection) by prism face  190 , the surface of which is common to all prism rings  186 . Rays  24  reflected by face  190  leave exit surfaces  192  as rays  194 . 
     FIG. 21 is a partial cross section of the refractive ring  12  of FIG.  20 . It shows a radially continuous convex exit surface, causing exit rays  196  to radially converge then diverge. 
     FIG. 22 is a partial cross section of refractive ring  12  of FIG. 20 illustrating a radially continuous concave surface, causing exit rays  198  to radially diverge. 
     FIG. 23 is a partial cross section of a luminaire containing radial collimator  10  and refractive ring  12 . Refractive ring  12  includes prism rings  186  (similar in structure to the prism rings of FIG.  20 ), each prism ring having its own refractive face  200 . Each prism ring  186  is concentrically spaced away from and separate from each other. The concentric distance between exit rays  202  is therefore increased. 
     FIG. 24 is a partial plan and partial bottom view of the prism ring  186  of FIG.  20 . Section  204  is a view from the top of the ring  186  and section  206  is a view from the bottom of the ring  186 . Section  204  shows two variations of the common (or non-common) reflective surface  190 . Variation one  208  is a continuous conical surface; Variation two shows  210  surfaces axially segmented and disposed along  190  that can be flat, concave or convex. Section  206  shows two variations of the entry and exit surface of the prism rings. The first variation shows entry surfaces  212  and exit surfaces  214  having continuous circular surfaces with sectional profile options of FIGS. 20,  21 ,  22  and  23 . The second variation shows segmented and radially divided entry faces  216  and exit faces  218 . Entry face segments  216  and exit face segments  218  may be cylindrically concave, cylindrically convex, flat, concave, or convex. Individual ring segment  186  (having any of the described profiles or surfaces) may be used in conjunction with prism or wedge prism rings described in herein. 
     FIG. 25 is a cross section of a luminaire having the same structure as the luminaire shown in FIG. 20, with additional component refractive radial disk  220 , which refracts exit rays  222  as refracted rays  224 . 
     FIG. 26 shows a plan view of radial disk  220  and is divided into five sections,  226 ,  228 ,  230 ,  232  and  234 , each representing a different refractive section. The surface of section  226  is radially and axially divided into convex or concave surfaces, forming positive or negative pillow lenses, respectively. The surface of  228  is divided into radial sections that may be concave or convex. A cutaway section is shown in FIGS. 27 and 28. The surface of  230  is concentrically divided into concave or convex fluting. A cutaway section is shown in FIGS. 27 and 28. The surface of section  232  is sandblasted or opalized. The surface of section  234  is coated with infrared ultraviolet filtering film. 
     FIG. 29 is an existing state of the art prismatic reflector/refractor luminaire and FIG. 30 is a luminaire including a radial collimator  10  and a prismatic ring  12 . Both the reflector/refractor  240  of FIG.  29  and the refractor ring  12  of FIG. 30 have a similar prismatic structure with a curved (circular, parabolic, or ellipsoidal) cross section, a polished interior surface, and an outer surface covered with elongated prisms (running top to bottom) that act as total internal reflectors. Reflector/refractor  240  receives both infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) radiation directly from lamp  14 , and is therefore subject to deterioration. Ring collimator  10 , if made of glass, can filter a percentage of the harmful UV and/or be treated, inside and outside, with UV and IR inhibiting coatings, cutting down or eliminating deterioration of prismatic ring  12 . 
     It will now be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments, improvements, details and uses can be made consistent with the letter and spirit of the foregoing disclosure and within the scope of this patent, which is limited only by the following claims, construed in accordance with the patent law, including the doctrine of equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 5