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Micro Optics to Improve Illumination Uniformity for LED-Based Luminaires

AJAS · 2018

Daniel Shen

Overview

Energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) have supplanted traditional incandescent bulbs as the default lighting component of a modern fixture. Unlike incandescent sources, LEDs emit light in a Lambertian distribution. This distribution, which sends most light to the center of an LED fixture’s target area, results in a non-uniform illumination. In addition to lighting applications, display systems such as TV backlights and signage light boxes encounter similar optical challenges while adopting LEDs as the light source. Desirable fixture light distributions that achieve uniform illumination are “batwing” shaped. Customized optical lens that transform Lambertian to “batwing” distributions are often bulky, fixture-specific, require optical alignment between lenses and LEDs, and will not work with an area source such as a panel light or a display system. Currently, commercially available non-fixture-specific (generic) optics can only create a batwing distribution in one dimension, preventing them from being widely utilized in LED luminaires. The goal of this project is to develop generic micro optics that are capable of generating batwing distributions in two dimensions. Optical models of various microstructures were developed. The simulated performance was compared and verified against laboratory photometric measurement on an available optical device. Using a Lambertian distribution of light as an input beam, ray tracing simulations were performed to establish the relationship between various optical structures and their output beam distributions. Layers of certain conical and pyramidal structures were discovered to have the desired traits. Variations of those structures were tested and their performance analyzed. Results indicate that for a given space to achieve good illumination uniformity, using the developed optics will reduce the fixture count by up to 67%.

Competition history

  • AJAS 2018 Category not listed

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Source: AAAS Annual Meeting (Confex) / American Junior Academy of Science

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