Patent ID: 7976204

Claim:
An illumination system for increasing the brightness of a light source, comprising: a light source for emitting a plurality of rays of light; and an optical recycling device for transmitting said plurality of rays of light from said light source, said optical recycling device comprising a single solid optical component having reflective concave surfaces and a lens surface; and wherein said lens surface of said single solid optical component forms a predetermined cone angle with said light source such that said reflective concave surfaces of said single solid optical component angularly recycles a portion of said plurality of rays of light by reflecting rays of light emitted from said light source outside said predetermined cone angle back to said light source which re-emits said rays of light emitted outside said predetermined cone angle to said angular optical recycling device, thereby increasing the brightness of said light source's output; wherein said lens surface of said single solid optical component transmits rays of light emitted from said light source within said predetermined cone angle from said optical recycling device; and wherein all of said light rays outside of said predetermined cone angle impact said concave surface before impacting any other surface.