Optical coupling arrangement between a lamp and a light guide

US5560699A · kind A · utility

Assignees

• General Electric Company · US
• Ford Motor Company · US

Inventors

• John M. Davenport · Lyndhurst, US
• Richard L. Hansler · Pepper Pike, US
• William J. Cassarly · Mason, US
• Mahendra Somasara Dassanayake · Bloomfield Hills, US
• Jeffrey Allen Erion · Plymouth, US
• John Li · Ann Arbor, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 2, 1993
• Grant date: Oct 1, 1996
• Expiry date: Sep 2, 2013

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B6/4214
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A central lighting system for providing light to locations remote from the light source includes first and second ellipsoidally shaped reflector members joined so as to substantially surround the light source. The reflector members collect the light output and focus it onto an input face of either a light guide or a non-imaging optical coupling member. If the optical coupling member is utilized, an angle to area conversion occurs so as to allow light introduced at high angles to an input face of the optical coupler to exit the optical coupler at a smaller angle. The reflector members can also be configured so that respective second optical focal points can reside at the apex of the opposing reflector member thereby allowing for a coupling efficiency of approximately 70% or greater.