Illumination unit, projection display unit, and direct-view display unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9803827-B2
Application number	US-201514934578-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2015
Priority date	Mar 28, 2011
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

An illumination optical system including one or more light sources each including a solid-state light-emitting device and an optical member. The optical member includes an integrator including a first fly-eye lens on which light from the solid-state light-emitting device is incident and a second fly-eye lens on which light from the first fly-eye lens is incident, and uniformizing a luminance distribution of light in a predetermined illumination region illuminated with light incident from the solid-state light-emitting device. A major-axis direction of a luminance distribution shape of light incident on an incident plane of the first fly-eye lens is different from arrangement directions of the cells in the first fly-eye lens.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An illumination unit comprising:
at least one light source including a solid-state light-emitting device; and
an optical member,
wherein,
the optical member includes an integrator including a first fly-eye lens and a second fly-eye lens that uniformize a luminance distribution of light in a predetermined illumination region illuminated with light from the solid-state light-emitting device, light from the solid-state light-emitting device being incident the first fly-eye lens, light from the first fly-eye lens being incident the second fly-eye lens,
each of the first and second fly-eye lenses includes a plurality of cells, the cells in the first fly-eye lens being arranged in columns along a first direction and in rows along a second direction which intersects the first direction,
a far field pattern (FFP) of light emitted from the solid-state light emitting device has an anisotropic shape, and
the solid-state light emitting device and first fly-eye lens are arranged such that a luminance distribution shape of light incident on an incident plane of the first fly-eye lens also has an anisotropic shape caused by the anisotropic shape of the FFP, and a major-axis direction of the luminance distribution shape is different from both the first and second arrangement directions of the cells of the first fly-eye lens.

2. The illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the cells in adjacent columns or rows of the first fly-eye lens are shifted relative to each other in the first direction or second direction, respectively.

3. The illumination unit according to claim 2 , wherein a shift amount between adjacent cell columns satisfies the following relational expression:
d =( h FEL1y / n x )
where h FEL1y is a size in the second direction of one cell in the first fly-eye lens, and
n x is the cell number along the first direction in the first fly-eye lens.

4. The illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the cells in adjacent columns of the first fly-eye lens are shifted relative to each other in the first direction and the cells in adjacent rows of the first fly-eye lens are shifted relative to each other in the second direction.

5. The illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the solid-state light emitting device comprises a laser chip.

6. The illumination unit of claim 1 , wherein the solid-state light emitting device comprises a plurality of laser chips, each emitting laser light of a unique wave length or wave length range.

7. The illumination unit of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of light sources, each light source comprising a solid-state light emitting device, each solid-state light emitting device comprising one or more laser chips.

8. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , wherein an angle “theta” that the major-axis direction in the incident light and the first direction form satisfies the following relational expression:
theta=tan −1 [ h FEL1y /( h FEL1x × n x )],

where h FEL1x is a size in the first direction of one cell in the first fly-eye lens,
h FEL1y is a size in the second direction of one cell in the first fly-eye lens, and
n x is the cell number along the first direction in the first fly-eye lens.

9. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , further comprising an optical device positioned and configured to expand the luminance distribution shape of the light incident on the first fly-eye lens along a minor-axis direction thereof on an optical path between the light source and the first fly-eye lens.

10. The illumination unit according to claim 9 , wherein the optical device is an anamorphic lens having a relatively longer focal length in the first direction than a focal length in the second direction.

11. The illumination unit according to claim 9 , further comprising an optical path branching device configured to branch an optical path of the incident light into a plurality of optical paths along the minor-axis direction of the luminance distribution shape on an optical path between the light source and the first fly-eye lens.

12. The illumination unit according to claim 11 , wherein the optical path branching device is a diffractive device, a half mirror, or a prism.

13. The illumination unit according to claim 12 , further comprising an optical path branching device configured to branch an optical path of the incident light into a plurality of optical paths along the minor-axis direction of the luminance distribution shape on an optical path between the light source including the chip configured of the laser diode and the first fly-eye lens.

14. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , further comprising an optical path branching device configured to branch an optical path of the incident light into a plurality of optical paths along the minor-axis direction of the luminance distribution shape on an optical path between the light source and the first fly-eye lens.

15. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , further comprising an optical device configured to expand the luminance distribution shape of the incident light along a minor-axis direction thereof on an optical path between the light source including the chip configured of the laser diode and the first fly-eye lens.

16. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , further comprising an optical path branching device configured to branch an optical path of the incident light into a plurality of optical paths along the minor-axis direction of the luminance distribution shape on an optical path between the light source including the chip configured of the laser diode and the first fly-eye lens.

17. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first fly-eye lens is disposed in a substantial focal position of the second fly-eye lens, and
the second fly-eye lens is disposed in a substantial focal position of the first fly-eye lens.

18. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , wherein the optical member includes:
one or more directivity angle changing devices configured to change a directivity angle of light incident from the solid-state light-emitting device, and
the integrator configured to uniformize an illuminance distribution of light in the predetermined illumination region illuminated with light having passed through the directivity angle changing device.

19. The illumination unit according to claim 1 , wherein the light source is formed in a manner of a package incorporating the solid-state light-emitting device or a package in which the solid-state light-emitting device is supported on a base.

20. A projection display unit provided with an illumination optical system, a spatial modulating device, and a projection optical system, the spatial modulating device configured to modulate light from the illumination optical system based on an input image signal to generate image light, the projection optical system configured to project the image light generated by the spatial modulating device, the illumination optical system comprising:
at least one light source including a solid-state light-emitting device; and
an optical member,
wherein,
the optical member includes an integrator including a first fly-eye lens and a second fly-eye lens that uniformize a luminance distribution of light in a predetermined illumination region illuminated with light from the solid-state light-emitting device, light from the solid-state light-emitting device being incident the first fly-eye lens, light from the first fly-eye lens being incident the second fly-eye lens,
each of the

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Miura Koji

Classifications

• H04N9/3161

  using laser light sources (using laser beams scanning the display screen H04N9/3129) · CPC title

• G02B27/10

  Beam splitting or combining systems (polarising systems G02B27/28; mixing and splitting light signals using optical waveguides G02B6/28; {beam shaping, e.g. changing the cross-sectional area, by dividing or superposing multiple light beams G02B27/0905}) · CPC title

• G02B27/102

  for generating a colour image from monochromatic image signal sources · CPC title

• H04N9/3152

  for shaping the light beam (beam shaping per se G02B27/09) · CPC title

• G03B21/2033

  LED or laser light sources · CPC title