This application claims the priority benefit of China application serial no. 202120587060.3, filed on Mar. 23, 2021. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The disclosure relates to an optical system and an optical apparatus, and particularly relates to an illumination system and a projection apparatus.
In the structure of the laser projector of the known technology, the light generated by the light source module is filtered out the color light of the time sequence through the color filter wheel. After these color lights pass through the light uniforming element to homogenize the light, the gray scale of the image is controlled by the light valve, and then the image is projected through the projection lens. In the structure of the light source module, the blue laser array is focused on the rotating phosphor wheel through the optical element. The phosphor of the phosphor wheel will excite yellow light when the blue light hits the phosphor of the phosphor wheel, and the yellow light will be focused into the light uniforming element after being reflected. When the blue light hits the non-optical active region of the phosphor wheel, the blue light will pass through the non-optical active region and then focus into the light uniforming element by the optical element.
However, in any one of the optical element in the optical path structure, the blue light and the yellow light pass almost only once. That is to say, there are too many optical elements in the optical path structure, which result in large accumulated tolerance of the structure, as well as difficulty in assembly and poor accuracy. In addition, too many optical elements also make the volume of the system difficult to be reduced.
The information disclosed in this “BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE” section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the described technology and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. Further, the information disclosed in this “BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE” section does not mean that one or more problems to be resolved by one or more embodiments of the disclosure was acknowledged by a person of ordinary skill in the art.
The disclosure provides an illumination system and a projection apparatus, which simplifies a structure of an optical path and reduces accumulated tolerance of the structure, thereby facilitating assembly of the system, improving accuracy of assembly, and further reducing volume.
The disclosure provides an illumination system for providing an illumination beam, which includes an exciting light source, a phosphor wheel, a first lens, a first reflector, and a light uniforming element. The exciting light source is configured to emit an excitation beam. The excitation beam passes through the first lens and then is transmitted to the phosphor wheel. In a first time sequence, the phosphor wheel is configured to reflect the excitation beam to the first reflector, the first reflector reflects the excitation beam to the first lens and the excitation beam passes through the first lens and then transmits to the light uniforming element. And in a second time sequence, the phosphor wheel is configured to convert the excitation beam to a conversion beam, the conversion beam emitted from the phosphor wheel passes the first lens and then transmits to the first reflector, the first reflector reflects the conversion beam to the first lens, the conversion beam passes through the first lens and then transmits to the light uniforming element.
Wherein the excitation beam from the phosphor wheel and the conversion beam from the phosphor wheel, in the first time sequence and in the second time sequence, are respectively transmitted to the light uniforming element to generate the illumination beam.
The disclosure provides a projection apparatus, which includes the abovementioned illumination system, a light valve and a projection lens. The illumination system is configured to provide an illumination beam. The light valve is disposed on a transmission path of the illumination beam to convert the illumination beam into an image beam. The projection lens is disposed on a transmission path of the image beam to project the image beam out of the projection apparatus.
Based on the above, in an embodiment of the disclosure, since the excitation beam of the illumination system or the projection apparatus passes through the first lens three times and then is transmitted to the light uniforming element in the first time sequence, and the conversion beam sequentially passes through the first lens twice and then is transmitted to the light uniforming element in the second time sequence, the overall optical path of the illumination system is relatively simple, and the accumulated tolerance of the structure is reduced, thereby facilitating the assembly of the system, improving the accuracy of assembly, and further reducing the volume.
Other objectives, features and advantages of the disclosure will be further understood from the further technological features disclosed by the embodiments of the disclosure wherein there are shown and described preferred of this disclosure, simply by way of illustration of modes best suited to carry out the disclosure.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. In this regard, directional terminology, such as “top,” “bottom,” “front,” “back,” etc., is used with reference to the orientation of the figure(s) being described. The components of the disclosure can be positioned in a number of different orientations. As such, the directional terminology is used for purposes of illustration and is in no way limiting. On the other hand, the drawings are only schematic and the sizes of components may be exaggerated for clarity. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “Coupled,” and “mounted” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. Similarly, the terms “facing,” “faces” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect facing, and “adjacent to” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass directly and indirectly “adjacent to”. Therefore, the description of “A” component facing “B” component herein may contain the situations that “A” component directly faces “B” component or one or more additional components are between “A” component and “B” component. Also, the description of “A” component “adjacent to” “B” component herein may contain the situations that “A” Component is directly “adjacent to” “B” component or one or more additional components are between “A” component and “B” component. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
In detail, the light valve 200 according to this embodiment is, for example, a spatial light modulator such as a digital micro-mirror device (DMD), a liquid-crystal-on-silicon panel (LCOS Panel), or a liquid crystal panel (LCD), etc. In addition, the projection lens 300 includes, for example, a combination of one or more optical lenses with refractive power. The optical lenses includes, for example, a non-planar lenses such as a biconcave lenses, a biconvex lenses, a concave-convex lens, a convex-concave lenses, a plano-convex lenses, a plano-concave lenses, etc., or various combinations thereof. The form and the type of the projection lens 300 are not particularly limited in the disclosure.
In this embodiment, the illumination system 100 includes an exciting light source 110, a phosphor wheel 120, a first lens 130, a first reflector 140, and a light uniforming element 150. The light uniforming element 150 is, for example, an integration rod, a lens array, or other optical elements with a light homogenization effect, but the disclosure is not limited thereto.
In this embodiment, the exciting light source 110 is configured to emit an excitation beam B. The exciting light source 110 is, for example, a laser diode (LD) or other suitable light source, and the excitation beam B is, for example, a blue beam or a beam of other suitable color light. In addition, the first reflector 140 may be a total reflector or a white reflect sheet. When the first reflector 140 is the complete reflector, light energy utilization efficiency of the illumination system 100 is relatively good. When the first reflector 140 is the white reflector, since the white reflector is a reflector with a diffusion effect, homogeneity of the illumination beam I generated by the illumination system 100 is relatively good.
In this embodiment, the excitation beam B passes through a peripheral region of the first lens 130 and then is transmitted to the phosphor wheel 120. Furthermore, in the first time sequence, the first region 120R1 cuts into a transmission path of the excitation beam B. In the second time sequence, the second region 120R2 or the third region 120R3 cut into the transmission path of the excitation beam B.
In the first time sequence of this embodiment, the excitation beam B is transmitted to the first reflector 140 by reflection of the first region 120R1 of the phosphor wheel 120. In the second time sequence, the excitation beam B is converted to the conversion beam F by the second region 120R2 or the third region 120R3 of the phosphor wheel 120. The excitation beam B and the conversion beam F from the phosphor wheel 120 pass through the first lens 130 and then are transmitted to the first reflector 140. The first reflector 140 then reflects the excitation beam B and the conversion beam F to the first lens 130. Next, the excitation beam B and the conversion beam F pass through the first lens 130 and then are transmitted to the light uniforming element 150 to generate the illumination beam I, so that the illumination system 100 respectively outputs a first color light and a second color light of the illumination beam I.
In this embodiment, the illumination system 100 further includes a color filter wheel 160 disposed between the first lens 130 and the light uniforming element 150, as shown in
In this embodiment, the excitation beam B and the conversion beam F passing through the first lens 130 pass through the color filter wheel 160 and then are transmitted to the light uniforming element 150. That is to say, a light color of the first color light is the same as the light color of the excitation beam B, and the second color light may include three kinds of color lights different from the light color of the excitation beam B.
In this embodiment, the first reflector 140 is parallel to the phosphor wheel 120, the first reflector 140 and the first lens 130 are parallel to each other, an optical axis 130C of the first lens 130 is perpendicular to a reflecting surface of the first reflector 140, and the first reflector 140 is parallel to the color filter wheel 160.
In this embodiment, the illumination system 100 further includes a second lens 170 disposed between the first lens 130 and the phosphor wheel 120. The excitation beam B from the exciting light source 110 sequentially passes through the first lens 130, passes through the second lens 170, and is transmitted to the phosphor wheel 120 after being contracted by the second lens 170. The excitation beam B and the conversion beam F reflected by the phosphor wheel 120 pass through the second lens 170 and then are transmitted to the first lens 130.
In this embodiment, the optical axis 130C of the first lens 130 and the optical axis 170C of the second lens 170 are parallel to each other.
In this embodiment, the illumination system 100 further includes an optical element set 180. The optical element set 180 is configured to collimate or contract the excitation beam B emitted by the exciting light source 110. The optical element set 180 may be a combination of one or more optical lenses with refractive power or may be a lens array, but the disclosure is not limited thereto.
Based on the above, in an embodiment of the disclosure, an optical path of the illumination system 100 or the projection apparatus 10 is designed as the following. The excitation beam B passes through the first lens 130 three times and then is transmitted to the light uniforming element 150, the conversion beam F passes through the first lens 130 twice and then is transmitted to the light uniforming element 150, and the excitation beam B and the conversion beam F share a common optical path after leaving the phosphor wheel 120. Therefore, the overall optical path of the illumination system 100 is relatively simple. Moreover, since the optical path of the illumination system 100 is simplified and an accumulated tolerance of structure is reduced, assembly of the system is facilitated, accuracy of assembly is improved, and volume may be further reduced.
Based on the above, in the illumination system 100B of the third embodiment of the disclosure, the optical path of the excitation beam B is adjusted by disposing the second reflector 190, which is beneficial to effectively use space in a longitudinal direction of the illumination system 100B (that is, perpendicular to a direction from the first reflector 140A to the first lens 130), thereby reducing the volume in a lateral direction of the illumination system 100B.
In this embodiment, the first reflector 140D and the first lens 130 are parallel to each other, the optical axis 130C of the first lens 130 and an optical axis 170C′ of the second lens 170 are not parallel to each other, and the color filter wheel 160 and the phosphor wheel 120 are not parallel to each other.
Based on the above, since the first reflector 140D of the illumination system 100D according to this embodiment includes the light splitting region 140R1 and the reflecting region 140R2, in the optical path of the excitation beam B from the exciting light source 110 to the phosphor wheel 120, the excitation beam B may be designed to pass through the first lens 130 at close to the optical axis 130C. Therefore, the illumination system 100D may use the smaller first lens 130 to further reduce the system volume of the illumination system 100D.
In another embodiment, the first reflector 140F further includes an anti-reflection film directly disposed on the light splitting region 140R1, so that the light energy utilization efficiency of the illumination system 100F is relatively high.
In this embodiment, the optical axis 130C of the first lens 130 and the optical axis 170C of the second lens 170 are parallel to each other, and the color filter wheel 160 and the phosphor wheel 120 are parallel to each other.
Based on the above, in the illumination system 100E according to this embodiment of the disclosure, since the first reflector 140F is the optical film, the volume of the illumination system 100E may be further reduced.
In this embodiment, the beam splitter 104 is disposed on transmission paths of the excitation beam B and the third color light R. In the first time sequence or/and the second time sequence, the third color light R from the auxiliary light source 102 is reflected to the first lens 130 by the beam splitter 104, and then is transmitted to the light uniforming element 150 through the same optical path as the excitation beam B in the first time sequence, so that the illumination system 100G outputs the first color light and the third color light in the illumination beam I.
Based on the above, in the embodiment of the disclosure, since the illumination system 100G includes the auxiliary light source 102 that emits the third color light R, the illumination system 100G may output the illumination beam I with a better color gamut, such as an increased brightness or an adjusted color gamut.
In summary, in one embodiment of the disclosure, the optical path of the illumination system or the projection apparatus is designed as the following. Since an excitation beam passes through a first lens three times and then is transmitted to a light uniforming element, a conversion beam passes through the first lens twice and then is transmitted to the light uniforming element, and the excitation beam and the conversion beam share a common optical path after leaving a phosphor wheel, the overall optical path of the illumination system is relatively simple, and the accumulated tolerance of structure is reduced. Therefore, the assembly of the system may be facilitated, the accuracy of assembly may be improved, and the volume may be further reduced. In addition, the terms “first”, “second”, and similar terms mentioned throughout the whole specification of the present application (including the appended claims) are merely used to name discrete elements or to differentiate among different embodiments or ranges, instead of limiting an upper bound or lower bound of the number of elements or the sequence of elements.
The aforementioned description of the preferred of the disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise form or to exemplary embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, the aforementioned description should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. The embodiments are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and its best mode practical application, thereby to enable persons skilled in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use or implementation contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. Therefore, the term “the disclosure”, “the present disclosure” or the like does not necessarily limit the claim scope to a specific embodiment, and the reference to particularly preferred exemplary embodiments of the disclosure does not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The disclosure is limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Moreover, these claims may refer to use “first”, “second”, etc. following with noun or element. Such terms should be understood as a nomenclature and should not be construed as giving the limitation on the number of the elements modified by such nomenclature unless specific number has been given. The abstract of the disclosure is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract, which will allow a searcher to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure of any patent issued from this disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Any advantages and benefits described may not apply to all embodiments of the disclosure. It should be appreciated that variations may be made in the described by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the following claims. Moreover, no element and component in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element or component is explicitly recited in the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202120587060.3 | Mar 2021 | CN | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20120218529 | Huang | Aug 2012 | A1 |
20180299757 | Liao | Oct 2018 | A1 |
20190391471 | Weng | Dec 2019 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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110632818 | Dec 2019 | CN |
I658292 | May 2019 | TW |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220308435 A1 | Sep 2022 | US |