Unbalanced hub design

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9933612-B2
Application number	US-201715677488-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2017
Priority date	Jul 1, 2015
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

A optical device comprises a colour wheel, the colour wheel having a hub portion configured to act as a rotor for coupling to a motor and having a disk-shaped surface; an optically active radial portion, attached to or integrated with the hub portion and configured to optically process incident light; and a balancing adaptation to the disk-shaped surface of the hub portion, comprising one or more of: (a) a recess in the disk-shaped surface extending to an edge of the disk-shaped surface; (b) an annular groove in the disk-shaped surface having a non-uniform width and/or being non-concentric with the disk-shaped surface; (c) an annular groove in the disk-shaped surface, at least a portion of which is filled by a balancing mass part; and (d) a groove and/or a matrix of recesses in the disk-shaped surface arranged to define a portion of an annulus in shape.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An optical device comprising a colour wheel, wherein the colour wheel comprises:
a hub portion, configured to act as a rotor for coupling to a motor and having a disk-shaped surface;
an optically active radial portion, attached to or integrated with the hub portion and configured to optically process incident light; and
a balancing adaptation to the disk-shaped surface of the hub portion, comprising one or more of:
(a) a recess in the disk-shaped surface extending to an edge of the disk-shaped surface;
(b) an annular groove in the disk-shaped surface having a non-uniform width and/or being non-concentric with the disk-shaped surface;
(c) an annular groove in the disk-shaped surface, at least a portion of which is filled by a balancing mass part; and
(d) a groove and/or a matrix of recesses in the disk-shaped surface arranged to define a portion of an annulus in shape;
wherein the optically active radial portion has a non-uniform mass along its circumference due to a part of the optically active radial portion having a different density in comparison with the remainder of the optically active radial portion, and wherein at least part of the balancing adaptation is positioned on the hub portion adjacent or opposite to the part of the optically active radial portion with the different density.

2. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the balancing adaptation further comprises one or both of:
(e) an annular groove in the disk-shaped surface; and
(f) a matrix of recesses in the disk-shaped surface arranged to define a full annulus in shape.

3. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the (a) recess in the disk-shaped surface extending to the edge of the disk-shaped surface comprises a recess across a region of the disk-shaped surface bounded by a chord.

4. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the (b) annular groove in the disk-shaped surface having a non-uniform width is at least partly defined by two non-concentric circles.

5. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the (c) annular groove in the disk-shaped surface is at least 50% filled by the balancing mass part.

6. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the (c) annular groove in the disk-shaped surface is no more than 90% filled by the balancing mass part.

7. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the (d) groove and/or the matrix of recesses in the disk-shaped surface is partially filled with a balancing mass part.

8. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the density of the balancing mass part is different than that of the hub portion.

9. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the balancing mass part comprises a set adhesive material or a clip configured to fit a groove in the disk-shaped surface.

10. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the balancing adaptation comprises two or more of (a), (b), (c) and (d).

11. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein one or more of:
the part of the optically active radial portion has a higher density in comparison with the remainder of the optically active radial portion and the balancing adaptation comprises a recess or groove positioned on the hub portion adjacent to the part of the optically active radial portion with the higher density;
the part of the optically active radial portion has a higher density in comparison with the remainder of the optically active radial portion and the balancing adaptation comprises a balancing mass part positioned on the hub portion opposite to the part of the optically active radial portion with the higher density;
the part of the optically active radial portion has a lower density in comparison with the remainder of the optically active radial portion and the balancing adaptation comprises a recess or groove positioned on the hub portion opposite to the part of the optically active radial portion with the lower density; and
the part of the optically active radial portion has a lower density in comparison with the remainder of the optically active radial portion and the balancing adaptation comprises a balancing mass part positioned on the hub portion adjacent to the part of the optically active radial portion with the lower density.

12. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein one or more of:
the balancing adaptation comprises a balancing mass part positioned on the hub portion adjacent or opposite to the part of the optically active radial portion with the different density;
the balancing adaptation comprises (a) and the recess is positioned on the hub portion adjacent or opposite to the part of the optically active radial portion with the different density;
the balancing adaptation comprises (b) and a widest part of the annular groove is positioned on the hub portion adjacent or opposite to the part of the optically active radial portion with the different density; and
the balancing adaptation comprises (d) and the groove and/or matrix of recesses are positioned on the hub portion adjacent or opposite to the part of the optically active radial portion with the different density.

13. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the optically active radial portion comprises a diffuser segment.

14. The optical device of claim 13 , wherein the diffuser segment comprises soda lime glass and/or borosilicate glass.

15. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the colour wheel further comprises one or both of:
a light management portion; and
a light modulation portion.

16. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the optical device is a projection-based system or a picture generation system.

17. The optical device of claim 1 , further comprising a motor coupled to the colour wheel.

18. The optical device of claim 1 , wherein the colour wheel further comprises phosphors or a light filter.

19. An optical device comprising a colour wheel, wherein the colour wheel comprises:
a hub portion, configured to act as a rotor for coupling to a motor and having a disk-shaped surface;
an optically active radial portion, attached to or integrated with the hub portion and configured to optically process incident light; and
a balancing adaptation to the disk-shaped surface of the hub portion, comprising (b) an annular groove in the disk-shaped surface having a non-uniform width and/or being non-concentric with the disk-shaped surface.

20. The optical device of claim 19 , further comprising a motor coupled to the colour wheel and wherein the colour wheel comprises phosphors and the optical device is a projection-based system or a picture generation system.

Assignees

• Materion Corp

Inventors

• Liu Xin
• Xu Irene
• Cao Simon

Classifications

• G03B33/08

  Sequential recording or projection (G03B33/02, G03B33/04, G03B33/06 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B26/007

  the movable or deformable optical element controlling the colour, i.e. a spectral characteristic, of the light · CPC title

• G03B21/008

  using micromirror devices · CPC title

• H04N9/3114

  by using a sequential colour filter producing one colour at a time · CPC title

• G01M1/30

  Compensating imbalance · CPC title