Patent Application
20230167953
The present invention relates to a luminaire having a housing and at least two radiation sources. Corresponding luminaires are mainly used in the military sector in order to be able to better recognise its target. For this purpose, the luminaires can also be operated independently, but their main field of application is to be mounted on a weapon and thus to be able to illuminate the target of the weapon.
In order to illuminate the target in the best possible way even under different ambient conditions, corresponding luminaires with different radiation sources and a reflector are known for this purpose. For example, a luminaire can have a radiation source that emits infra-red radiation and a radiation source that emits light in the visible range.
In order to activate or deactivate the various radiation sources, it is necessary to put mechanical devices on the luminaire that allow the radiation sources to be switched on and off.
For this purpose, it is known from the prior art to be able to select the radiation source by means of the head of the luminaire. In this case, the head of the luminaire is rotated and, as a result of an eccentric arrangement of the lighting means in the head, the lighting means is activated or deactivated during the rotation of the head.
For this purpose, there are two embodiments, namely a first embodiment in which the rotation of the head effects a repositioning of the reflector, and thus the reflector is positioned centrally over the selected lighting means. In a second embodiment, the rotation of the head effects a repositioning of the underlying board with the lighting means, so that the board rotates into the focus of the reflector in order to select the corresponding lighting means.
For example, it is known from WO 2010/042756 A1 to select the corresponding lighting means by rotating the luminaire head, in the presence of at least two different lighting means.
The problem with mechanical positioning by rotating the head is that the service life of the luminaire is reduced by the mechanical stress.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a luminaire that, when the individual lighting means are activated or deactivated, causes the lowest possible mechanical loads on the luminaire, while at the same time using a common reflector for the individual lighting means.
This object is achieved by the features of the main claim.
The invention relates to a luminaire having a housing that contains at least two radiation sources and at least one directing means for the directional emission of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the radiation sources.
For this purpose, the housing is preferably of elongated design, with a lamp head at one end of the housing, wherein the directing means and the radiation sources are located in the lamp head.
In the following, directing means are understood to be all devices that are capable of directing the emitted electromagnetic radiation from the radiation sources. This can be done, for example, by means of a reflector, but also by means of at least one lens assigned to at least one radiation source or a lens that is common to a plurality of radiation sources. In this case, the lens can be placed directly onto the radiation source, which is appropriate, for example, in the case of LEDs or is spaced apart from the radiation source.
According to the invention, the radiation sources are arranged centrally in the lamp head, so that the directing means can radiate the radiated light from the radiation sources in a directed manner.
The at least two radiation sources are arranged in such a way that they are positioned concentrically to one another. In this case, a first radiation source can consist of a single lighting means that is located in the central point of the lamp head, and the remaining radiation sources can consist of a plurality of lighting means that are arranged in a circle around the first radiation source.
According to the invention, the radiation sources can be switched on and off in such a way that the radiation sources can either be switched on and off together or each radiation source can be switched on and off on its own. It is also conceivable that the radiation sources can be switched on dependently on one another. This means that a predefined radiation source cannot be switched on until another radiation source has been switched on beforehand.
Thus, each radiation source can assume two states, namely a switched-on state and a switched-off state, wherein each radiation source emits an electromagnetic radiation with a constant wavelength range in the switched-on state.
However, the different radiation sources can emit electromagnetic radiation with different wavelength ranges. This means that, for example, the first radiation source can emit light in the visible range and a second radiation source can emit light in the infrared range.
The embodiment with three different radiation sources is particularly preferred, in which case at least one of the radiation sources is designed in such a way that it can emit thermal radiation, for example in the IR range.
When at least three radiation sources are used, it can be advantageous if the radiation sources are arranged alternately with respect to one another. This means that firstly a radiation source with a wavelength range is arranged in the centre of the lamp head and a second radiation source with a wavelength range different from the first radiation source is arranged around the first radiation source. The third radiation source then again has the wavelength range of the first radiation source and is arranged concentrically around the first and the second radiation source. A possible fourth radiation source would then again be equipped with the wavelength range of the second radiation source and would be arranged concentrically around the first, second and third radiation sources.
Preferably, at least one of the radiation sources is designed to be capped, so that a simple change of the radiation source is possible. Furthermore, the radiation sources are preferably arranged on at least one carrier; for example, a board. Different radiation sources can be arranged on different boards.
The above mentioned embodiments ensure that all radiation sources are located centrally and concentrically around one another in the lamp head and thus the emitted light of the radiation sources can be directed by the directing means. Thus, all radiation sources can be designed without mechanical repositioning of the directing means, of the lamp head or of the carrier.
Preferably, the lamp head can nevertheless be designed to be moved; for example, for focusing the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the radiation sources.
To switch the radiation sources on and off, it is proposed to provide a switching possibility on the luminaire by means of which the radiation sources can be switched on and off.
In the simplest case, the switching possibility can be made possible by a switch or a button.
The switching possibility can be designed in such a way that an actuating element is provided for each radiation source. Likewise, however, the switching possibility can also consist of only a single actuating element, specifically when all the radiation sources are to be switched on and off simultaneously.
The switching possibility can also be designed in such a way that certain radiation sources can only be switched on when other radiation sources have already been switched on.
In a particular embodiment, the luminaire is designed in such a way that optical signal transmission is possible via at least one radiation source. This is possible either by amplitude modulation of the wavelength range emitted by the radiation source or by clocked switching on and off of the corresponding radiation source.
For this purpose, it is proposed that the switching possibility comprises a programmable logic which can carry out the above mentioned amplitude modulation or performs the clocked switching on and off of the corresponding radiation source. The amplitude modulation or the aforementioned switching on and off is preferably operated at a frequency that is not in the visible range.
So that the light can be attached to a weapon, means for fastening to a weapon are preferably provided.
Further features result from the attached drawings. In the drawings:
In this embodiment, the enclosure 1 is part of the housing of the luminaire and terminates with the transparent disk.
The directing means 3 ensures the directional emission of the electromagnetic radiation from the radiation sources 5, 6. For this purpose, the reflector can be equipped with a smooth surface that can reflect electromagnetic radiation. Furthermore, it is possible to provide the surface of the reflector with a structure or with retro reflectors. This embodiment makes it possible to influence the emission characteristic of the weapon luminaire.
In this case, the first radiation source 5 is composed of only one lighting means, preferably an LED. In this embodiment, the second radiation source 6 is composed of a plurality of lighting means, in this case four identical lighting means, which are arranged concentrically around the first lighting means 5.
The second lighting means 6 can also be designed as LEDs, preferably from lighting means that emit thermal radiation, for example IR radiation.
More than two different radiation sources 5, 6, 7 are also possible; in
The different radiation sources can in each case be activated or deactivated independently on one another, preferably by means of a switching possibility (not shown) on the weapon luminaire. Likewise, the radiation sources can be switched on or off dependently of one another.
The present invention is not limited to the above mentioned features, but rather further possible embodiments are conceivable. Thus, the reflector with the radiation sources is preferably accommodated in a lamp head that is rotatably mounted on the luminaire. By rotating the lamp head, however, the radiation source is not selected, as is known from the prior art, but the focussing is changed by changing the distance of the directing means from the radiation sources. Furthermore, radiation sources in the UV range are also conceivable, as well as laser sources for the purpose of target marking.
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| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2020 112 237.3 | May 2020 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2021/057694 | 3/25/2021 | WO |
