Simultaneous wide lighting distribution and display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10140932-B2
Application number	US-201715468626-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2017
Priority date	Mar 24, 2017
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

A luminaire includes a light waveguide grid including an array of waveguides coupling respective illumination light source emitters of a general illumination device with respective gaps between respective pixel light emitters of an image display device. Each waveguide has a housing that includes an input interface optically coupled to the respective illumination light source emitter to steer illumination lighting from the illumination light source emitter. The housing also includes an output interface opposing the input interface and optically coupled to one or more gaps between pixel light emitters. The housing further includes at least one reflective wall having an internal reflective surface encompassing and extending from the input interface and the output interface. The structure of the waveguide may be optimized and/or additional technologies added to reduce optical losses and improve overall illumination efficiency of the luminaire.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A luminaire comprising:
a general illumination device for illumination of a space, including:
an array of illumination light source emitters controllable to emit illumination lighting for the space;

an image display device configured to display an image, including:
a pixel matrix including an array of pixel light emitters, each pixel light emitter being controllable to emit light for a respective pixel of the displayed image;
gaps between pixel light emitters of the pixel matrix;

a light waveguide grid including an array of waveguides coupling a respective illumination light source emitter of the general illumination device with at least one respective gap between pixel light emitters of the image display device, each waveguide having a housing including:
an input interface optically coupled to the respective illumination light source emitter to steer illumination lighting from the illumination light source emitter;
an output interface opposing the input interface and optically coupled to the at least one respective gap; and
at least one reflective wall having an internal reflective surface encompassing and extending from the input interface and the output interface;

wherein each waveguide housing is hollow and each waveguide housing further comprises:
a curved optical element positioned over the illumination light source emitter and optically coupled to the input interface of the waveguide and the illumination light source emitter to steer the illumination lighting from the illumination light source emitter through the waveguide; and
the curved optical element includes a transparent convex dome surface of the input interface that is integral with the waveguide housing, curves inwards towards the output interface, and is positioned adjacent to the illumination light source emitter.

2. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the curved optical element is a refractive lens that focuses the illumination lighting from the illumination light source emitter.

3. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the curved optical element is a total internal reflection (TIR) lens that includes a refractive lens inside a reflector that collimates the illumination lighting from the illumination light source emitter, and the TIR lens is integral with the illumination light source emitter and surrounds the illumination light source emitter.

4. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein each waveguide housing is formed of acrylic and hollow, and the waveguide further comprises:
a reflective film adhered to the at least one reflective wall and the output interface with a glue having a refractive index matching the acrylic forming the waveguide housing; and
wherein the reflective film adhered to the output interface has openings aligning with the gaps of the image display device.

5. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the internal reflective surface of the at least one reflective wall is flat and colored white.

6. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the internal reflective surface of the at least one reflective wall includes a mirror.

7. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the internal reflective surface of the at least one reflective wall is highly diffusively reflective.

8. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein each waveguide housing includes a plurality of reflective walls, and edges of the reflective walls encompass the input interface and the output interface.

9. The luminaire of claim 8 , wherein the reflective walls provide the waveguide housing with a convex shape.

10. The luminaire of claim 8 , wherein the reflective walls are triangularly shaped and provide the waveguide housing with a pyramid shape.

11. The luminaire of claim 8 , wherein the reflective walls provide the waveguide housing with a square or rectangular shape.

12. The luminaire of claim 8 , wherein each of the reflective walls includes an external light transmissive surface to allow scattered light from adjacent illumination light source emitters to traverse the waveguide housing to reach an interior of the waveguide housing and mix with the illumination lighting emitted by the respective illumination light source emitter.

13. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein each input interface is a surface and is optically coupled to the illumination light source emitter via an aperture formed in the surface that is a square, rectangular, circular, oval, or hexagonal shaped opening.

14. The luminaire of claim 13 , wherein each light extraction optical element is a diffuser formed in or coupled to the output interface of the respective waveguide and is formed of an etched frit glass, scratched glass, sanded glass, prism, lens, or sheet of diffusely transmissive material.

15. The luminaire of claim 1 , further comprising:
a light extraction optical element to diffuse the illumination lighting from within each respective the waveguide out through the output interface and the at least one respective gap.

16. The luminaire of claim 15 , wherein each diffuser further includes an addressable liquid crystal cell that is optically aligned with the gap to block or diffuse the illumination lighting based on an on/off state.

17. The luminaire of claim 15 , wherein each output interface includes a window that is optically coupled to the diffuser.

18. The luminaire of claim 15 , wherein each output interface includes a window that is optically coupled to the light extraction optical element and the at least one respective gap.

19. A luminaire comprising:
a general illumination device for illumination of a space, including:
an array of illumination light source emitters controllable to emit illumination lighting for the space;

an image display device configured to display an image, including:
a pixel matrix including an array of pixel light emitters, each pixel light emitter being controllable to emit light for a respective pixel of the displayed image;
gaps between pixel light emitters of the pixel matrix;

a light waveguide grid including an array of waveguides coupling a respective illumination light source emitter of the general illumination device with at least one respective gap between pixel light emitters of the image display device, each waveguide having a housing including:
an input interface optically coupled to the respective illumination light source emitter to steer illumination lighting from the illumination light source emitter;
an output interface opposing the input interface and optically coupled to the at least one respective gap; and
at least one reflective wall having an internal reflective surface encompassing and extending from the input interface and the output interface;

wherein:
each waveguide housing includes a plurality of reflective walls, and edges of the reflective walls encompass the input interface and the output interface; and
each of the reflective walls includes an external light absorbing surface to block incident scattered light from an adjacent illumination light source emitter that is outside the waveguide housing from reaching an interior of the waveguide housing.

20. The luminaire of claim 19 , wherein the external light absorbing surface is coated with black paint and covered with adhered black tar paper or adhered black foam.

Assignees

• Abl Ip Holding Llc

Inventors

• Komanduri Ravi Kumar
• Ramer David P
• Lin Guan-Bo

Classifications

• G02B6/0078

  Side-by-side arrangements, e.g. for large area displays · CPC title

• G02B6/005

  provided by one optical element, or plurality thereof, placed on the light output side of the light guide · CPC title

• G09G3/3426 Primary

  the different display panel areas being distributed in two dimensions, e.g. matrix · CPC title

• G02B6/0083

  Details of electrical connections of light sources to drivers, circuit boards, or the like · CPC title

• G02B6/0051

  Diffusing sheet or layer · CPC title