The present disclosure relates generally to methods and apparatuses for projecting light from luminaires, and more particularly, to a panel for illumination and projection of images or patterns and a method of manufacturing the panel.
It is oftentimes desired to project images, patterns, or colored light onto a background, wall, or other structure in an entertainment and an architectural setting. Luminaires or lighting units have been utilized in combination with images or patterns to create these projections or colored light. A common term of art used for a substrate, screen, mat, or other material having an image or pattern for projection by light is “gobo.”
Gobos, which are a form of illuminated panel, may include images or patterns that are sharply focused, for example, corporate logos, regular or irregular patterns, or elements of stage scenery. Alternatively or in addition, the images or patterns on the gobos may be designed to suggest a mood or environment on a stage, such as a pattern suggesting light passing through leaves on a tree.
Gobos may commonly be used in theatres, television studios, concert venues, theme parks, night clubs, retail premises, offices, exhibition halls, and other venues. Gobos may be manufactured from a range of materials, such as metal, glass or plastic and are typically produced in a range of standard sizes and patterns designed to fit common luminaires so that they are easily inserted and removed into an appropriate point of the optical train of that luminaire.
An example of a typical layout for a illuminated panel system 10 is shown in
Still referring to
A typical layout for an illuminated panel system 10 utilizing an automated luminaire 30 is depicted in
The light beams from high intensity light sources 12, 32 shown in
An improved technique is to produce an illuminated panel in an opaque or reflecting layer deposited on a transparent substrate, such as glass. The supporting glass substrate removes the need for connecting tracks or traces and produces a clean image. In similar processes to those used for metal illuminated panels, areas of the opaque layer may be removed from the glass through photolithographic etching techniques, or by ablating the material using a high powered laser. The illuminated panels described are simple, monochrome, black and white patterns; however, such techniques have been further extended to produce colored images through the use of dichroic coatings on the glass substrate. These coatings may be selectively removed in a similar way to the opaque or reflective layers previously described. Through the use of multiple overlaid layers of differently colored material, and multiple etching or ablation steps, illuminated panels with multiple color and full-color photographically realistic images may be produced.
A problem with metal or dichroic or metal coated glass illuminated panels is that the materials and processes used in manufacture of the illuminated panels are both time consuming and expensive. Additionally, the serial processes needed to produce illuminated panels with colored images often reduce product yields, leading to higher costs and long manufacturing times.
More recently, with the increasing use of LED light sources, which produce much lower amounts of damaging light energy, there have been attempts to manufacture illuminated panels on polymer or plastic substrates through screen printing or other printing techniques, such as those used to produce overhead projections slides. These products have the advantages of being simple, quick, and inexpensive to manufacture. However, the inks used suffer from low contrast, poor blacks, and washed out colors. In addition, the colors and substrate can be quickly damaged by the energy in light sources, even LEDs. In particular, the blue LED used to excite yellow phosphors in many white light LEDs is very energetic and may be damaging to many dyes and inks.
Illuminated panels for use in architectural and entertainment luminaires are disclosed that are less expensive and simpler to manufacture than existing illuminated panels, but that provide resistance to the damage caused by high energy lights and IR and UV energies.
According to an illustrative embodiment, a method of making an illuminated panel for projecting a pattern or an image and for use with a lighting system including a light source is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a substrate and printing at least one layer of ink on the substrate to create an image or pattern that may be projected onto a surface, wherein the at least one layer of ink is a light absorbent or light reflective layer that protects the substrate and ink from light energy, ultraviolet light, and infra-red energy.
According to a further illustrative embodiment, an illuminated panel for projecting an image or pattern and for use with a lighting system includes a substrate and a coating of an adhesion promoter disposed on a surface of the substrate. A first layer of ink is deposited on the coating, the first layer of ink being absorptive, and a second layer of ink is deposited on the coating, the second layer of ink being reflective. The first and second layers of ink combine to form an image or pattern for projection.
According to another illustrative embodiment, an illuminated panel for projecting an image or pattern and for use with a lighting system includes a transparent substrate and a coating of an adhesion promoter disposed on a surface of the substrate. The illuminated panel further includes a first layer of ink deposited on the coating, the first layer of ink being absorptive, and a second layer of ink deposited on the coating, the second layer of ink being reflective. A protective layer is disposed on the substrate over the first and second layers of ink. The first and second layers of ink combine to form an image or pattern for projection.
Other aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent upon consideration of the following drawings and detailed description, wherein similar structures have similar reference numbers.
The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate like features and wherein:
A first embodiment of an illuminated panel 100 is depicted in
The order and composition of each layer 104, 106, and 108 are designed to make a stack of ink layers on the illuminated panel that is heat resistant and durable, and which provides high contrast, high resolution images and/or patterns in either monochrome, black and white, or full color. In an exemplary embodiment shown in
One or more layers of ink on the substrate 102 may include a highly reflective or metallic ink. For example, the inks may include aluminum or zinc oxide and/or may include a reflective white pigment or material to increase the overall reflectivity of the inks. The inks used for any of the layers may contain dichroic material to provide colors or to enhance reflectivity. The reflectivity in the ink helps protect the substrate and ink from light energy, ultraviolet light, and infra-red energy.
One or more layers of ink on the 102 may include a highly absorptive and/or opaque ink. In particular, the ink may be black or may have any other characteristic or quality that increases absorption of light by the ink. Absorptive inks aid in absorbing stray light within the device in which the illuminated panel 100 is disposed, producing a crisper and cleaner image from the illuminated panel 100.
Any of the inks disclosed herein may further be heat resistant inks, suitable for high temperature operation.
While three layers of ink are described with respect to the embodiment of
A process of manufacturing an illuminated panel 100 including a substrate 102 and layers of ink 104, 106, 108 may follow the following steps:
a. The substrate 102 may be cleaned and/or degreased, as required. This cleaning process will vary dependent on the material used for substrate 102.
b. The substrate 102 may be pre-coated with an adhesion promoter. This step may be performed before insertion of the substrate 102 into the printer or as part of the printing process. The adhesion promoter aids in retaining the layers of ink on the substrate 102. Still optionally, an adhesion promoter may be included within a cleanser, such as an alcohol-based cleaner, to simultaneously clean the substrate 102 and increase the adhesion properties of the substrate 102.
c. The substrate 102 is inserted in the printer.
d. The printer performs at least one printing pass across the substrate 102. Multiple passes through the printer may be performed for multiple layers. Each pass across the substrate 102 may use a different ink or multiple different inks (to mimic multiple passes) so as to build up the desired sequence of layers 104, 106, and 108 as described above. Still optionally, the same ink may be applied over multiple passes, for example, to increase the saturation level or opacity of the ink. Utilizing multiple passes with the same or different inks, overstacking may be performed whereby droplets of ink are stacked upon each other or offset with respect to one another.
e. A protective layer may optionally be applied on the substrate 102 and over the layers 104, 106, and 108 to further protect the ink layers 104, 106, 108.
This process may be utilized for any number of ink layers. The number of passes through the printer is dependent on the number of layers.
The transparent substrate 102 may be a rigid or flexible material and may be mounted in a frame to provide further support, if desired. The inks used for printing the layers, for example layers 104, 106, and 108, on the substrate 102 may also be flexible such that they remain adhered to substrate 102.
In a further embodiment of the process for manufacturing an illuminated panel 100, a sheet of the substrate 102 may be run through the printer and may be imprinted with multiple copies of the same illuminated panel, or with multiple different illuminated panels. The sheet of substrate may be cut into individual illuminated panels after the images have been printed.
In yet a further embodiment, a wheel for holding multiple illuminated panels, such as the wheel 38 illustrated in
An embodiment of an illuminated panel 200 within an illuminated panel lighting system including a luminaire 202 is depicted in
An exemplary illuminated panel 300 is depicted in
While the disclosure has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments may be devised which do not depart from the scope of the disclosure as disclosed herein. The disclosure has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
This application claims benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to copending U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/616,666, filed Mar. 28, 2012, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61616666 | Mar 2012 | US |