Light emitting diode (LED) lighting system with antimicrobial/air cleaning functions from highly specular multilayer thin film reflector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9638394-B2
Application number	US-201414447900-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2014
Priority date	Jul 31, 2014
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

A system and method according to various embodiments can include a lighting fixture comprising a light source. A multilayer thin film coated reflector is applied to an outer light emitting surface of the lighting fixture. A top layer of the multilayer thin film coated reflector comprises a material including an anatase TiO crystal structure that exhibits antimicrobial properties when activated by the light source.

First claim

We claim:

1. A lighting system comprising:
a lighting fixture comprising a light source, wherein the light source comprises at least one LED that emits a wavelength that contains ultraviolet wavelengths;
a multilayer thin film coated reflector applied to an outer light emitting surface of the lighting fixture, wherein the multilayer thin film reflector comprises alternating layers of a first dielectric material having a relatively high refractive index and a second dielectric material having a relatively low refractive index; and
a top layer of the multilayer thin film coated reflector comprises a material including an anatase TiO 2 crystal structure that exhibits antimicrobial properties when activated by the light source;
wherein the top layer comprises an anatase TiO 2 crystal structure material doped with a doping material selected from at least one of silicon, zinc, iron, manganese, and combinations thereof.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the low refractive index material comprises a material that includes SiO 2 or a SiO hybrid material.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the high refractive index material comprises a material that includes TiO 2 or a TiO hybrid material.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the multilayer thin film coated reflector further comprises a metal substrate.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the multilayer thin film coated reflector comprises a reflective coating having over a 90% specular reflectance at a nominal incident angle.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the doping material changes the material including the anatase crystal structure through absorption and activation energy of longer wavelengths.

7. A method for producing a lighting system including (i) an aluminum (Al) substrate for mounting a light emitting diode (LED) on a portion thereof, the LED being configured for emitting light waves in the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum and (ii) a reflector assembly formed on another portion of the substrate, the method comprising:
applying a multilayer thin film on an inner surface of the substrate including (i) alternating layers of a first dielectric material having a relatively high refractive index and (ii) a second dielectric material having a relatively low refractive index, the multilayer thin-film including predominantly silica (SiO 2 ) and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 );
applying an amorphous TiO 2 outer layer atop an exterior surface of the multilayer thin film; and
applying an annealing process to the outer layer (i) at a temperature within a range of about 400°- 500° C. and (ii) in a controlled oxygen environment, the annealing converting the amorphous TiO 2 to an anatase TiO 2 crystal structure.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising energizing the LED to emit the UV light waves, the UV light waves activating a photocatalyst antimicrobial effect.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the annealing includes a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the anatase TiO 2 crystal structure is doped with a doping material selected from at least one of silicon, silver, zinc, iron, manganese, and combinations thereof.

11. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the controlled oxygen environment includes an oxygen deficient TiO 2 -channel.

Assignees

• Ge Lighting Solutions Llc

Inventors

• Cai Dengke
• Bugenske Matthew A
• Yee Michael Vincent
• Jacob Cherian
• Saha Koushik
• Kaminski Mark Edward
• Ward Benjamin James

Classifications

• A61L2202/11

  Apparatus for generating biocidal substances, e.g. vaporisers, UV lamps · CPC title

• A61L9/205 Primary

  using a photocatalyst or photosensitiser · CPC title

• F21K9/233

  specially adapted for generating a spot light distribution, e.g. for substitution of reflector lamps · CPC title

• F21V33/0064

  Health, life-saving or fire-fighting equipment · CPC title

• F21K9/60

  Optical arrangements integrated in the light source, e.g. for improving the colour rendering index or the light extraction · CPC title