PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | September 25, 1997
Proc. SPIE. 3130, Lens Design, Illumination, and Optomechanical Modeling
KEYWORDS: Reflectors, Imaging systems, Computing systems, Near field, LCDs, Ray tracing, Computer aided design, Tolerancing, Prototyping, Solid modeling
With the development of faster computers, the ability to design and optimize complex optical systems has been dramatically improved. This directly translates into faster product development cycles with less need to build costly prototypes. Systems using light pipes, faceted Fresnel lenses, and nonimaging optics demand non-sequential raytracing, generalized surface modeling, and scattering and/or ray-splitting off of surfaces. Addressing these issues slows computation, resulting in time constraints that, in the past, prevented the use of software codes to do much more than analyze complex systems. Now, a system’s radiometric performance can be evaluated in minutes instead of hours, allowing more exotic computer aided design and optimization techniques to be used. We present rules-of-thumb on how to design, optimize, and tolerance illumination systems. Examples of systems include faceted light pipes and Tailored Edge-Ray Concentrators that create uniform illuminance. Applications for such systems are broad and include automotive, appliance, and room lighting.
