Motor of color wheel

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6769775
  • Patent Number
    6,769,775
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, January 30, 2003
    21 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, August 3, 2004
    19 years ago
Abstract
A color wheel including a motor body, a housing and a color filter. The housing is set to one side of the central axis of the motor body. The color filter is set on the housing. In this case, at least a groove is formed on one side of the housing adjoining the color filter. In addition, the invention also provides a motor of a color wheel.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The invention relates to a color wheel and a motor thereof and, in particular, to a color wheel and a motor of the color wheel, both of which are used in the projection technology.




2. Description of the Related Art




Digital Light Processing (DLP) is a widely used projection technology. DLP has several advantages, including high brightness, accurate tone reproduction, fast response time, noise-free operation, and thin and light composition.




In a DLP projector, a digital control method and a reflection principle are adopted. Light rays from the light source are collected and focused by the lenses to pass through three color filters. Then, the light rays are projected onto a Digital Micro-mirror Device (DMD). Since the DMD includes several movable micro mirrors, driving electrodes may control the tilt angle and deflection time of each movable mirror. Then, the light rays are projected to form an image by switching the direction of the light ray reflections.




In the DLP projector, a color wheel


3


for generating the light rays of several colors is generally provided. Referring to

FIG. 1

, the color wheel


3


mainly includes a washer


31


, a color filter


32


and a motor


33


. The washer


31


and the color filter


32


are mounted on the motor


33


. In this case, the motor


33


includes a housing


331


and a motor body


332


, which rotates together with the housing


331


.




In addition, the color wheel is also used in Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) projectors and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projectors. Herein, the function of the color wheel is the same as in DLP projectors for separating the light rays into several colors.




In general, the color filter


32


is mounted on the housing


331


by using an adhesive. When the color filter


32


and the housing


331


are coated with too much adhesive, or the relative position of the color filter


32


and the housing


331


is moved, the adhesive may overflow. In this case, the overflowing adhesive may pollute the color filter


32


. Further, the definition and the clear scope of the color filter


32


may decrease.




It is therefore an important objective of the invention to provide a color wheel and a motor thereof to solve the problem mentioned above.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




An objective of the invention is to provide a color wheel and a motor of the color wheel, each of which may have the advantages of avoiding adhesive overflow, providing a clear color filter of the color wheel, and increasing the operational reliability of the color wheel.




To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the invention provides a color wheel including a motor body, a housing and a color filter. The housing is set to one side of the central axis of the motor body. The color filter is set on the housing. In this case, at least one groove is formed on one side of the housing, the side of the housing adjoining the color filter. In addition, the invention also provides a motor of a color wheel.




As mentioned above, the invention provides a color wheel and a motor of the color wheel, in each of which a specific groove is formed. Compared to the prior art, the groove of the motor may absorb an excess of adhesive between the color filter and the housing. In other words, an excess of adhesive may flow into the groove, so that the pollution of the color filter caused by the adhesive is avoided. Furthermore, the definition and the clear scope of the color filter are improved, and the operational reliability of the color wheel is also increased.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given in the herein below illustration, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:





FIG. 1

is a schematic illustration that shows a side view of a conventional color wheel;





FIG. 2

is a schematic illustration that shows a side view of the color wheel in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;





FIG. 3

is a schematic illustration that shows a view of

FIG. 2

in the arrowed direction;





FIG. 4

is a pictorial view of

FIG. 2

;





FIG. 5

is a partially pictorial and exploded view of

FIG. 4

;




FIG.


6


A and

FIG. 6B

are schematic illustrations that show pictorial view of other two washers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and





FIG. 7

is a schematic illustration that shows a side view of a motor of the color wheel in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




The color wheel and the motor of the color wheel in accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.




Referring to FIG.


2


and

FIG. 3

, a color wheel


1


provided by an embodiment of the invention includes a motor body


11


, a housing


12


and a color filter


13


. The housing


12


is set to one side of the central axis of the motor body


11


and rotates together with the motor body


11


. The color filter


13


is set on the housing


12


and also rotates together with the motor body


11


. In this embodiment, at least a groove


121


is formed on one side of the housing


12


, the side of the housing


12


adjoining the color filter


13


.




In this embodiment, the motor body


11


mainly includes a shell (not shown), a magnetic ring (not shown), a laminated steel stack (not shown) and a coil (not shown). When the coil is turned on, the laminated steel stack produces a magnetic force and a magnetic field. The positive or negative properties as well as the intensity of the current may cause the magnetic field to vary in an ordered manner. That is, a rotary magnetic field will act in accordance with the magnetic ring, which will rotate accordingly.




As shown in FIG.


2


and

FIG. 3

, the housing


12


is set to one side of the central axis of the motor body


11


and rotates together with the motor body


11


. The color filter


13


is set on the housing


12


and also rotates together with the motor body


11


. In the current embodiment, at least one groove


121


is formed on one side of the housing


12


, the side of the housing


12


adjoining the color filter


13


. Herein, the groove


121


is a ring-shaped groove, a radial groove (show in

FIG. 6A

) or an irregular groove (show in FIG.


6


B). The number of the grooves is two or more.




As shown in

FIGS. 2 and 3

, the color filter


13


is set on the housing


12


by way of, for example, a fitting or adhering process. When too much adhesive is applied to the color filter


13


and the housing


12


, or the relative position of the color filter


13


and the housing


12


is moved, the adhesive may overflow and pollute the color filter


13


. Furthermore, the definition and the clear scope of the color filter


13


may be decreased. In the current embodiment, an excess of adhesive may flow into the groove


121


, so that the pollution of the color filter


13


caused by adhesive is avoided.




In this embodiment, the color filter


13


is a circular filter or a ring-shaped filter composed of three or more filter sectors of red, green and blue. The color filter


13


may also be a circular filter or a ring-shaped filter composed of one transparent block and three or more filter sectors of red, green and blue.





FIG. 4

is a pictorial view of

FIG. 2

, and

FIG. 5

is a partially pictorial and exploded view of FIG.


4


.




Referring again to FIG.


4


and

FIG. 5

, the color wheel


1


of this embodiment further includes a washer


14


, which is set on the color filter


13


by way of, for example, a fitting or adhering process. In the current embodiment, the washer


14


is used to enlarge the contact area between the color filter


13


and the housing


12


.




Referring again to FIG.


4


and

FIG. 5

, the color wheel


1


of this embodiment further includes a positioning plate


15


on which the motor body


11


is pivotally mounted. The positioning plate


15


is connected to an actuator (not shown) via wires (not shown). The actuator drives the motor body


11


to rotate about a central axis corresponding to the pivotal point between the positioning plate


15


and the motor body


11


.




In addition, another embodiment of the invention provides a motor


2


for a color wheel. The motor


2


includes a motor body


21


and a housing


22


, which rotates together with the motor body


21


. The housing


22


is set to one side of the central axis of the motor body


21


. In this case, at least a groove


221


is formed on one side of the housing


22


, the side of the housing


22


being opposite to the motor body


21


as shown in FIG.


7


.




Since the elements in this embodiment have the same features and functions as those of the corresponding elements in the color wheel


1


, detailed description thereof will be omitted.




In this invention, a specific groove is formed on the motor of the color wheel. Compared to the prior art, the groove of the motor may absorb an excess of adhesive between the color filter and the housing. In other words, an excess of adhesive may flow into the groove, so that the pollution of the color filter caused by the adhesive is avoided. Furthermore, the definition and the clear scope of the color filter are proved, and the operational reliability of the color wheel is also increased.




While the invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications.



Claims
  • 1. A motor of a color wheel, comprising:a motor body; and a housing set at a side of a central axis of the motor body, wherein at least a groove is formed on a side of the housing, the side of the housing being opposite to the motor body.
  • 2. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the groove of the housing is a ring-shaped groove.
  • 3. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the groove of the housing is a radial groove.
  • 4. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the groove of the housing is an irregular groove.
  • 5. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the housing has two or more grooves.
  • 6. The motor according to claim 1, further comprising a positioning plate on which the motor body is pivotally mounted.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
91212870 U Aug 2002 TW
US Referenced Citations (4)
Number Name Date Kind
4076393 Bates Feb 1978 A
6598977 Chen Jul 2003 B1
6618214 Sung et al. Sep 2003 B2
20020180938 Bok Dec 2002 A1