Source: http://patents.com/us-9668314.html
Timestamp: 2018-02-23 20:36:16
Document Index: 21066448

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 2', 'Application No. 2012', 'Application No. 201080035731', 'Application No. 2012', 'Application No. 2012', 'Application No. 201080032373', 'Application No. 2012']

US Patent # 9,668,314. Linear LED illumination device with improved color mixing - Patents.com
United States Patent 9,668,314
Dong , et al. May 30, 2017
Dong; Fangxu (Austin, TX), Phillips; Craig T. (San Marcos, TX), Knapp; David J. (Austin, TX)
Family ID: 1000002624190
15/141,555
US 20160242255 A1 Aug 18, 2016
14097339 Dec 5, 2013 9360174
Current CPC Class: H05B 33/0869 (20130101); F21K 9/62 (20160801); F21V 7/0083 (20130101); F21V 7/048 (20130101); F21V 7/06 (20130101); F21V 13/04 (20130101); F21V 21/30 (20130101); H05B 33/0803 (20130101); H05B 33/0845 (20130101); H05B 33/0854 (20130101); H05B 33/0857 (20130101); F21Y 2103/00 (20130101); F21Y 2103/10 (20160801); F21Y 2105/10 (20160801); F21Y 2105/12 (20160801); F21Y 2113/17 (20160801); F21Y 2115/10 (20160801)
Current International Class: H05B 37/02 (20060101); F21K 9/62 (20160101); F21V 21/30 (20060101); F21V 13/04 (20060101); F21V 7/06 (20060101); F21V 7/04 (20060101); H05B 33/08 (20060101); F21V 7/00 (20060101)
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This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/097,339 and is related to the following applications and patents: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/510,212 now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,155,155; Ser. No. 14/510,243 now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,247,605; Ser. Nos. 14/510,266; 14/510,283; 14/097,355, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,146,028; Ser. No. 13/970,944 now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,237,620; Ser. Nos. 13/970,964; 13/970,990; 12/803,805; and 12/806,118 now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,772,336; each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. An illumination device, comprising a plurality of emitter modules spaced apart from each other and arranged in a line, wherein each emitter module comprises: a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are arranged in a two-dimensional array, mounted on a substrate and encapsulated within a dome, wherein one or more of the plurality of LEDs is configured to emit light at a shorter wavelength than the other LEDs; a detector configured to detect light emitted from the plurality of LEDs, wherein the detector is also mounted on the substrate and encapsulated within the dome, and wherein the detector is positioned on a side or near a corner of the array that is furthest from the one or more LEDs configured to emit light at the shorter wavelength; a plurality of driver circuits coupled to the plurality of LEDs for supplying drive currents thereto, wherein during a compensation period, the plurality of driver circuits are configured to supply drive currents to the plurality of LEDs, one LED at a time, so that the detector is configured to detect the light emitted by each individual LED; a receiver coupled to the detector for monitoring the light emitted by each individual LED and detected by the detector during the compensation period; and control logic coupled between the receiver and the driver circuits, wherein the control logic is configured to control the drive currents produced by driver circuits, so as to adjust an intensity of the light emitted by each individual LED.
2. The illumination device as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of LEDs comprises at least four LEDs, which are mounted on the substrate close together and arranged in a square array near a center of the dome.
3. The illumination device as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of LEDs comprises a red LED, a green LED, a blue LED and a white LED.
4. The illumination device as recited in claim 3, wherein the detector comprises a red LED, an orange LED or a yellow LED, and wherein the detector is positioned on the side or near the corner of the array that is furthest from the blue LED.
5. The illumination device as recited in claim 1, wherein the dome is formed from an optically transmissive material, and wherein the dome comprises a textured surface that is configured to reflect a small portion of the emitted light back toward the detector.
Multi-color linear LED illumination devices (also referred to herein as lights, luminaires or lamps) have been commercially available for many years. Typical applications for linear LED illumination devices include wall washing in which a chain of lights attempt to uniformly illuminate a large portion of a wall, and cove lighting in which a chain of lights typically illuminates a large portion of a ceiling. Multi-color linear LED lights often comprise red, green, and blue LEDs, however, some products use some combination of red, green, blue, white, and amber LEDs.
In some embodiments, the illumination device may further include an emitter housing, a power supply housing coupled to the emitter housing and at least one mounting bracket for mounting the illumination device to a surface (e.g., a wall or ceiling). The emitter modules, the reflector and the driver circuits described above reside within the emitter housing. The exit lens is mounted above the reflector and attached to sidewalls of the emitter housing. In some embodiments, the power supply housing may be coupled to a bottom surface of the emitter housing and comprises an orifice through which a power cable may be routed and connected to a power converter housed within the power supply housing. In some embodiments, a special hinge mechanism may be coupled between the emitter housing and the at least one mounting bracket. As described in the commonly assigned co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 14/097,335, the hinge mechanism allows the emitter housing to rotate approximately 180 degrees relative to the mounting bracket around a rotational axis of the hinge mechanism. The co-pending application is hereby incorporated in its entirety.
Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a picture of a linear LED lamp 10, according to one embodiment of the invention. As described in more detail below, linear LED lamp 10 produces light over a wide color gamut, thoroughly mixes the color components within the output beam, and uses an optical feedback system to maintain precise color over LED lifetime, and in some cases, with changes in temperature. The linear LED lamp 10 shown in FIG. 1 is powered by the AC mains, but may be powered by alternative power sources without departing from the scope of the invention. The light beam produced by LED lamp 10 can be symmetric or asymmetric, and can have a variety of beam angles including, but not limited to, 120.times.120, 60.times.60, and 60.times.30. If an asymmetric beam is desired, the asymmetric beam typically has a wider beam angle across the length of the lamp.
FIG. 4 is a photograph of various components that may be included within LED lamp 10, such as a power supply board 20, emitter housing 11, emitter board 21, 120.times.120 degree reflector 22, 60.times.60 degree reflector 23, and exit lens 24. Although two reflectors are shown in the photograph of FIG. 4, the assembled LED lamp 10 would include either the 120.times.120 degree reflector 22 or the 60.times.60 degree reflector 23, but not both. Power supply board 20 connects the LED lamp 10 to the AC mains (not shown) and resides in power supply housing 12 (shown in FIG. 1). Power supply board 20 provides DC power and control to emitter board 21, which comprises the emitter modules and driver circuits. Emitter board 21 resides inside emitter housing 11 and is covered by either reflector 22 or reflector 23. The exit lens 24 is mounted above the reflector 22/23 and attached to the sidewalls of the emitter housing 11. As shown in FIG. 1, the exit lens 24 is configured such that the external surface of the lens is substantially flush with the top of the sidewalls of the emitter housing. As described in more detail below, exit lens 24 may comprise an array of small lenses (or lenslets) on the external surface of the exit lens to improve color mixing and beam shape.
FIG. 9 depicts a side view of the emitter module 33 to illustrate a desired shape of the dome 71, according to one embodiment of the invention. As noted above, conventional emitter modules typically include a dome with a hemispherical shape, in which the radius of the dome in the plane of the LED array is the same as the radius of the curvature of dome. As shown in FIG. 9, dome 71 does not have the conventional hemispherical shape, and instead, is a much flatter or shallower dome. In general, the radius (r.sub.dome) of the shallow dome 71 in the plane of the LED array is approximately 20-30% larger than the radius (r.sub.curve) of the curvature of dome 71.
In one example, the radius (r.sub.dome) of the shallow dome 71 in the plane of the LEDs may be approximately 4.8 mm and the radius (r.sub.curve) of the dome curvature may be approximately 3.75 mm. The ratio of the two radii (4.8/3.75) is 1.28, which has been shown to provide the best balance between color mixing and efficiency for at least one particular combination and size of LEDs. However, one skilled in the art would understand how alternative radii and ratios may be used to achieve the same or similar color mixing results.
By configuring the dome 71 with a substantially flatter shape, the dome 71 shown in FIGS. 8-9 allows a larger portion of the emitted light to emanate sideways from the emitter module 33. Stated another way, a shallower dome 71 allows a significant portion of the emitted light to exit the dome at small angles (.alpha..sub.side) relative to the horizontal plane of the LED array. In one example, the shallower dome 71 may allow approximately 40% of the light emitted by the array of LEDs 37 to exit the shallow dome at approximately 0 to 30 degrees relative to the horizontal plane of the LED array. In comparison, a conventional hemispherical dome may allow only 25% (or less) of the emitted light to exit between 0 and 30 degrees. As described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 14-15, the shallow dome 71 shown in FIGS. 8-9 improves color mixing in the linear LED lamp 10 by allowing a significant portion (e.g., 40%) of the light emitted from the sides of adjacent emitter modules to intermix before that light is reflected back out of the lamp.
FIGS. 10A-10B are exemplary drawings of the emitter module 33 shown in FIGS. 8-9 including emission LEDs 37 and detector 38 within shallow dome 71. As shown in FIGS. 10A-10B, the four differently colored (e.g., red, green, blue and white) emission LEDs 37 are arranged in a square array and are placed as close as possible together in the center of the dome 71, so as to approximate a centrally located point source. As noted above, it is generally desired that the diameter (d.sub.dome) of the dome 71 in the plane of the LEDs is substantially larger than the diameter (d.sub.array) of the LED array to prevent occurrences of total internal reflection. In one example, the diameter (d.sub.dome) of the dome 71 in the plane of the LEDs may be approximately 7.5 mm and the diameter (d.sub.array) of the LED array may be approximately 2.5 mm. Other dimensions may be appropriate in other embodiments of the invention.
FIGS. 10A-10B also illustrate exemplary placements of the detector 38 relative to the array of emission LEDs 37 within the shallow dome 71. As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 10A, the detector 38 may be placed closest to, and in the middle of the edge of the array that is furthest from the short wavelength emitters. In this example, the short wavelength emitters are the green and blue LEDs positioned at the top of the array, and the detector 38 is an orange LED, which is least sensitive to blue light. Although somewhat counterintuitive, it is desirable to place the detector 38 as far away as possible from the blue LED so as to gather the most light reflected off the surface of the shallow dome 71 from the blue LED. As noted above, a surface of the dome 71 may be lightly textured, in some embodiments, so as to increase the amount of emitted light that is reflected back to the detector 38.
FIG. 10B illustrates an alternative placement for the detector 38 within the shallow dome 71. In some embodiments, the best place for the detector 38 to capture the most light from the blue LED may be on the other side of the array, and diagonally across from, the blue LED. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10B, the detector 38 is preferably placed somewhere between the dome 71 and a corner of the red LED. Since the green LED produces at least 10.times. the photocurrent as the blue LED on the orange detector, FIG. 10B represents an ideal location for an orange detector 38 in relation to the particular RGBW array 37 described above. However, the detector 38 may be positioned as shown in FIG. 10A, without sacrificing detection accuracy, if there is insufficient space between the dome 71 and the corner of the red LED, as shown in FIG. 10B.
FIG. 12 is a photograph of the emitter board 21 and reflector 22 placed within the emitter housing 11 of the linear LED lamp 10. In particular, FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary placement of the emitter modules 33 and reflector 22 within emitter housing 11 for 120.times.120 degree beam applications. As noted above with regard to FIG. 11, each set of emitter modules 33 (e.g., modules 102/105, 101/104 and 100/103 shown in FIG. 11) may be rotated 120 degrees relative to each other to improve color mixing. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, the reflector 22 comprises a highly reflective material (e.g., vacuum metalized aluminum) that covers the entire inside of the emitter housing 11 except for the emitter modules 33. The reflector 22 used in this embodiment improves the overall optical efficiency of the lamp 10 by reflecting light scattered off the exit lens The rotation of the emitter modules 33, the shallow dome 71, and the shape of the exit lens 24 (discussed below) all contribute to produce thorough color mixing throughout the 120.times.120 beam in this example.
FIG. 13 is a photograph of the emitter board 21 and reflector 23 placed within the emitter housing 11. In particular, FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary placement of the emitter modules 33 and reflector 23 within emitter housing 11 for 60.times.60 degree beam applications. As in FIG. 12, the sets of emitter modules 33 may be rotated 120 degrees relative to each other to improve color mixing. Like reflector 22, reflector 23 also comprises a highly reflective material (e.g., vacuum metalized aluminum) to improve optical efficiency, however, reflector 23 additionally includes a plurality of louvers, each of which is centered around and suspended above a different one of the emitter modules 33. As depicted more clearly in FIGS. 14-15, the louvers are attached to the reflector 23 only on the sides and ends, and are open below. The space between the emitter modules 33 and the bottom of the louvers allows light emitted sideways from the emitter modules 33 to intermix to improve color uniformity in the output beam.
FIG. 15 illustrates a cross section of a portion of the exemplary 60.times.60 degree reflector 23 comprising louver 110 and emitter module 100. Louver 110 is attached to both lateral sides of reflector 23. The same is true for louvers 111-115. Additionally, louvers 110 and 115 are attached to the ends of reflector 23. In some embodiments, the louvers 110-115 may be attached to the sidewalls and ends of the reflector 23 by forming the louvers and reflector as one integral piece (e.g., by a molding process). Other means for attachment may be used in other embodiments of the invention.
The overall shape and size of the louvers 110-115 determine the shape, and to some extent the color, of the output beam. As shown in FIGS. 13-15, each louver has a substantially round or circular shape with sloping sidewalls. As shown in FIG. 15, the sidewalls of the louvers are angled outward, such that the diameter at the bottom of the louver (d.sub.bottom) is substantially smaller than the diameter at the top of the louver (d.sub.top). It is generally desired that the louvers 110-115 be substantially larger than the emitter modules 100-105, so that the louvers may focus a majority of the light emitted by the emitter modules into an output beam. As noted above, the diameter of the emitter module (d.sub.emit) may be about 7.5 mm, in one embodiment. In such an embodiment, the bottom diameter (d.sub.bottom) of the louver may be about 35 mm and the top diameter (d.sub.top) of the louver may be about 42 mm. Other dimensions and shapes may be appropriate in other embodiments of the invention. In one alternative embodiment, for example, the louvers may alternatively be configured with a substantially parabolic shape, as would be appropriate in 30.times.60 beam applications.
As further depicted in FIG. 15, the angle (.alpha..sub.ref) of the sidewalls of reflector 23 is substantially the same as the angle (.alpha..sub.ref) of the sidewalls of the louvers 110-115. According to one embodiment, the angle of the sidewall surfaces of the reflector 23 and the angle of the louvers 110-115 may be approximately 60 degrees. In the illustrated embodiment, the shape and size of the reflector and louvers are chosen for 60.times.60 beam applications. One skilled in the art would understand how alternative shapes and sizes may be used to produce other beam shapes. As such, FIGS. 13-15 are just example illustrations of the invention.
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