Claims
- 1. Apparatus for characterizing the luminous intensity of a lamp, said apparatus comprising a black box with a port for the positioning of a lamp the light output of which is to be characterized, said apparatus including a curved mirror positioned in said box to receive the light output from a lamp at said port, said apparatus also including a screen positioned in said box in a position to receive the light output focused by said mirror for providing a luminous intensity pattern of said light output and a solid state camera positioned to acquire said pattern from said screen, said apparatus including a window at said port, said lamp and said mirror being arranged to direct light at an angle to the optic axis of said apparatus.
- 2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said window comprises an anamorphic aspheric Schmidt plate.
- 3. Apparatus as in claim 2 wherein said camera is a CCD camera.
- 4. Apparatus as in claim 2 wherein said camera is a cooled CCD camera.
- 5. Apparatus as in claim 2 wherein said camera is a CID camera.
- 6. Apparatus as in claim 2 wherein each of said screen and said mirror is spherical.
- 7. Apparatus as in claim 6 also including means for rotating said lamp to each of at least two different angular positions.
- 8. Apparatus as in claim 3 also including means for rotating said lamp to a prescribed sequence of positions wherein said CCD camera is a linear CCD array camera, said apparatus also including means for synchronizing said means for rotating said camera to capture a pattern from said screen and to read out said pattern from said camera at each of said sequence of prescribed positions.
- 9. Apparatus as in claim 6 wherein said camera comprises a linear CCD array, said apparatus also including means for scanning said array and means for synchronizing said means for scanning and said camera to capture a pattern from said screen and to read out said pattern from said camera at each of said sequence of prescribed positions.
- 10. Apparatus as in claim 7 wherein said camera comprises a linear CCD array, said apparatus also including means for rotating said test lamp to a sequence of angular positions, and means for synchronizing said means for rotating and said camera to capture a pattern from said screen at each of said sequence of rotational positions.
- 11. Apparatus as in claim 1 also including means for moving said screen and said solid state camera to anyone of at least first, second, and third positions for obtaining a luminous intensity pattern corresponding to that obtained at infinity, at 25 meters and at 60 feet, respectively.
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 08/643,574 filed May 6, 1996 and assigned to the assignee of the present application.
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
643574 |
May 1996 |
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