Solid-state light source device and projector utilizing a plurality of collimator lenses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9810977-B2
Application number	US-201113287413-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2011
Priority date	Nov 29, 2010
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A light source device includes a light source section adapted to emit excitation light, a lens array adapted to divide the excitation light into a plurality of partial light beams, a light collection optical system adapted to collect the excitation light divided into the plurality of partial light beams, and a light emitting element adapted to emit fluorescence by being excited by the excitation light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A projector comprising:
a light source section for emitting excitation light in a collimated fashion;
a first lens array for receiving and dividing the excitation light from the light source section into a plurality of partial light beams;
a second lens array, provided in a position downstream of the first lens array, for receiving the plurality of partial light beams;
a dichroic mirror, provided in a position downstream of the second lens array, for receiving the plurality of partial light beams coming from the second lens array;
an overlapping optical system, provided in a position downstream of the dichroic mirror, for receiving the plurality of partial light beams coming from the dichroic mirror;
a light emitting element, provided in a position downstream of the overlapping optical system, for emitting fluorescence upon receiving the plurality of partial light beams coming from the overlapping optical system, a path of the fluorescence including the overlapping optical system and the dichroic mirror in this order;
a light modulator; and
a projection optical system for projecting the fluorescence modulated by the light modulator, wherein:
the overlapping optical system is configured to overlap the partial light beams with each other on the light emitting element and to collimate the fluorescence emitted by the light emitting element,
the dichroic mirror is configured to separate the collimated fluorescence from the plurality of partial light beams, and
the light modulator is configured to modulate the fluorescence coming from the dichroic mirror, in accordance with signals including image information.

2. The projector according to claim 1 , wherein
the second lens array and the overlapping optical system constitutes a light collection optical system, and
a lens plane of the first lens array and a light irradiation surface of the light emitting element are in a conjugate relationship via the light collection optical system.

3. The projector according to claim 2 , wherein
a planar shape of a small lens constituting the first lens array is similar to a shape of the light irradiation surface in a plan view, and
an area of the light irradiation surface in the plan view and an irradiation area of the excitation light illuminating a plane parallel to the light irradiation surface at a same spatial position as the light irradiation surface are substantially equal to each other.

4. The projector according to claim 2 , wherein
the light source section includes:
a plurality of solid-state light sources for emitting the excitation light;
a collecting lens for collecting the excitation light from the plurality of solid-state light sources; and
a collimating lens for collimating the excitation light from the collecting lens; and

the collimating lens has a concave surface having a shape of a quadric surface of revolution in either one of an entrance surface and an exit surface.

5. The projector according to claim 4 , wherein
the collimating lens has a spherical convex surface as the entrance surface, and the concave surface as the exit surface.

6. The projector according to claim 1 , wherein
the second lens array and the overlapping optical system constitutes a light collection optical system,
the light emitting element is disposed so that a light irradiation surface overlaps a focal position of the light collection optical system, and
an integrate optical system has a plane, which is conjugate to the light irradiation surface, set to infinity, the integrate optical system having the first lens array in one end of the integrate optical system and the light collection optical system in the other end of the integrate optical system.

7. The projector according to claim 6 , wherein
a planar shape of a small lens constituting the first lens array is similar to a shape of the light irradiation surface of the light emitting element in a plan view, and
an area of the light irradiation surface of the light emitting element in the plan view is substantially equal to a size of an exit pupil of the integrate optical system.

8. The projector according to claim 6 , wherein
the light source section includes:
a plurality of solid-state light sources for emitting the excitation light;
a collecting lens for collecting the excitation light from the plurality of solid-state light sources; and
a collimating lens for collimating the excitation light from the collecting lens; and

the collimating lens has a concave surface having a shape of a quadric surface of revolution in either one of an entrance surface and an exit surface.

9. The projector according to claim 8 , wherein
the collimating lens has the concave surface as the entrance surface, and a flat surface as the exit surface.

10. The projector according to claim 4 , wherein
the concave surface has a shape represented by Formula (1):

Z
-

c
·

r
2

1
+

1
-

(

1
+
K

)

·

c
2

·

r
2

=
0

(
1
)

where c represents a paraxial curvature, K represents a conic constant, and r and Z represent coordinate values in an rθZ cylindrical coordinate system taking an intersecting point between the concave surface and a center axis of the parallel beam of light as an origin, the center axis as a Z axis, and an axis perpendicular to the center axis as an r axis.

11. The projector according to claim 8 , wherein
the concave surface has a shape represented by Formula (1):

Z
-

c
·

r
2

1
+

Assignees

• Akiyama Koichi
• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Akiyama Koichi

Classifications

• H04N9/3161

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

• G03B21/204 Primary

  using secondary light emission, e.g. luminescence or fluorescence (using different colours G03B33/00; if related to video signals H04N9/3197) · CPC title

• G03B21/208

  Homogenising, shaping of the illumination light · CPC title

• G02B13/22

  Telecentric objectives or lens systems · CPC title

• G03B33/06

  by additive-colour projection apparatus · CPC title