Claims
- 1. An apparatus, comprising:
a temperature sensing device, monitoring a front temperature of a front surface of a first driven device, and a rear temperature related to a rear surface of the first driven device; a controller, detecting both a temperature of the first driven device and a temperature differential across the first driven device; a thermoelectric cooler, coupled to actively cool the first driven device under control of said controller; and wherein said controller produces outputs which control both overall temperature of the first driven device and temperature differential of the first driven device.
- 2. An apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the first driven device is a digital mirror device.
- 3. An apparatus as in claim 1, further comprising a lighting projector, projecting light on said front surface of said first driven device.
- 4. An apparatus as in claim 1, further comprising a pulse width modulated device, driven by said controller, to produce a pulse width modulated output to drive said thermoelectric cooler.
- 5. An apparatus as in claim 4, wherein said pulse width modulated output is applied directly to said thermoelectric cooler.
- 6. An apparatus, comprising:
a digital micro mirror device assembly, including a digital micro mirror device mounted thereon; and an active cooling unit, coupled to cool said digital micro mirror device.
- 7. An apparatus as in claim 6, wherein said active cooling unit includes a thermoelectric cooler.
- 8. An apparatus as in claim 7, further comprising a temperature sensor, sensing a temperature of said digital micro mirror device, and a controller, controlling said thermoelectric cooler based on the sensed temperature.
- 9. An apparatus as in claim 8, wherein said temperature sensor includes a first temperature sensor sensing a temperature near the front of the digital micro mirror device, and a second temperature sensor sensing a temperature near the rear of the digital micro mirror device.
- 10. An apparatus as in claim 9, wherein said controller operates to control the thermoelectric cooler based on both the front temperature, and a difference between the front and rear temperatures.
- 11. An apparatus as in claim 6, further comprising a controller for said active cooling unit, said controller controlling production of a pulse width modulated signal that controls the active cooling unit.
- 12. An apparatus as in claim 10, further comprising a controller for said active cooling unit, said controller controlling production of a pulse width modulated signal that controls the active cooling unit.
- 13. An apparatus as in claim 6, further comprising a plate formed of heat distributing material, coupled to said digital micro mirror device assembly and said active cooling unit, and of a size which is affective to evenly distribute heat from the digital micro mirror device assembly into said plate.
- 14. An apparatus as in claim 13, further comprising a temperature sensor, sensing a temperature of said digital micro mirror device, and a controller, controlling said thermoelectric cooler based on the sensed temperature.
- 15. An apparatus as in claim 14, wherein said temperature sensor includes a first temperature sensor, sensing a temperature near a front of the digital micro mirror device, and a second temperature sensor sensing a temperature of said plate, and wherein said controller operates both on said front temperature, and based on a difference between said front and said rear temperature.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 09/780,025, filed Feb. 9, 2001, which claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 60/181,530 filed Feb. 10, 2000.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60181530 |
Feb 2000 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09780025 |
Feb 2001 |
US |
Child |
10128774 |
Apr 2002 |
US |