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Luminaire device
| Details |
Inventors: Winston, Roland; Holman, Robert L.; Jacobson, Benjamin A.; Emmons, Robert M.; Gleckman, Philip;
Assignee: Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, Co. (St. Paul, MN)
Primary Examiner: Palmer; Phan T. H.
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Rechtin; Michael D. Foley & Lardner
An optical device for collecting light and selectively outputting or concentrating the light. A layer has an optical index of referaction n.sub.1, and top, bottom and side surfaces defining an angel of inclination .phi.. A back surface spans the top, bottom and side surface. A first layer is coupled to the bottom surface of the layer and has an index of refraction n.sub.2. The first layer index n.sub.2 causes light input through the back surface of the layer to be preferentially output into the first layer. A second layer is coupled to the bottom of the first layer and selectively causes output of light into ambient. Additional layers, such as alight polarization layer, a polarization converting layer and a post LCD diffuser layer can be used to make preferential use of polarized light of diffuse light having passed through the LCD layer to enhance viewing of the output light. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A multilayer luminaire device constructed in accordance with one form of the invention is illustrated in FIG.
2 and indicated generally at 10.
A prior art wedge 11 is shown generally in FIG.
1.
In this wedge 11 the light rays within the wedge 11 reflect from the surfaces until the angle of incidence is less than the critical angle (sin.
sup.
-1 1/n) where n is the index of refraction of the wedge 11.
The light can exit equally from both top and bottom surfaces of the wedge 11, as well as exiting at grazing angles.
The multilayer luminaire device 10 (hereinafter "device 10") shown in FIG.
2A includes a base or wedge layer 12 which has a characteristic optical index of refraction of n.
sub.
1.
The term "wedge layer" shall be used herein to include all geometries having converging top and bottom surfaces with wedge shaped cross sectional areas.
The x, y and z axes are indicated within FIGS.
2A and 2C with the "y" axis perpendicular to the paper.
Typical useful materials for the wedge layer 12 include almost any transparent material, such as glass, polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, methyl methacrylate/styrene copolymer (NAS) and styrene/acrylonitrile.
The wedge layer 12 in FIG.
2A further includes a top surface 14, a bottom surface 16, side surfaces 18, edge 26 and a back surface 20 of thickness t.
sub.
0 spanning the top, bottom and side surfaces.
A light source, such as a tubular fluorescent light 22, injects light 24 through the back surface 20 into the wedge layer 12.
The light 24 is internally reflected from the various wedge layer surfaces and is directed along the wedge layer 12 toward the edge 26.
Other possible light sources can be used and will be described hereinafter.
Generally, conventional light sources provide substantially incoherent, uncollimated light; but coherent, collimated light can also be processed by the inventions herein.
For the case where the surfaces 14 and 16 are flat, a single angle of inclination
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