Patent ID: 6994459

Claim:
An external in flight aircraft warning light assembly comprising: a housing adapted to be mounted on the exterior of the aircraft; a transparent window protecting an opening in the housing; a light source comprising an array of LEDs disposed in the housing; and an optical unit also disposed in the housing behind the window and fixed in front of the array of LEDs, the optical unit comprising a transparent, molded body having first and second opposing faces, the first and second opposing faces each including at least one of refractive optics, diffractive optics and reflective optics, the optical unit being adapted to collect the light emitted from the LEDs and propagate fractions of the collected light to provide a warning signal in accordance with a predetermined non-uniform angular distribution that varies in intensity over a range of angles based on the at least one of the refractive optics, the diffractive optics and the reflective optics; wherein the first opposing face of the transparent molded body includes a plurality of lenses adapted to collect light from the LEDs incident upon the optical unit; wherein the second opposing face is adapted to transmit the collected light from the optical unit, and the second opposing face comprises a plurality of prisms adapted to propagate the collected light in accordance with the predetermined angular distribution and extending along one or both of the length and width of the LED array to form a series of ridges on an outer surface of the optical unit; and wherein the array of LEDs comprises a plurality of strings of LEDs, each string being connected in parallel with the other strings of said plurality of strings and comprising a plurality of LEDs connected in series, and the prisms are positioned to extend across the LEDs of a plurality of the strings.