KEYWORDS: Photobleaching, Optical components, LED lighting, Modeling, Light sources and illumination, 3D printing, Transparency, Transmittance, Time metrology, Process modeling
Photopolymer 3D printing of optically clear resins is a promising technology for producing custom optical elements for general illumination. However, the transparency of the final 3D-printed part may depend on secondary processes. Residual photoinitiator can result in a yellowish tint that can be photobleached after exposure of the 3D-printed part to a light source. The study was designed to understand the tradeoff between the spectral characteristics of the light source used for the photobleaching and the irradiance to which test samples were exposed on the rate of photobleaching. A total of 14 samples were tested at room temperature for 120 minutes under a combination of three light sources (xenon, phosphor converted white LED, and direct emission blue LED), and up to five irradiance levels for each source in the range 0.0025 to 0.2238 W/cm2. The results showed that for the white LED, irradiance can increase the magnitude of the photobleaching. In this study, the maximum chromaticity shift was equivalent to a 4-step MacAdam ellipse. These results seem to indicate that it is possible to expedite photobleaching by increasing the irradiance, although more testing is necessary to find an optimum value. The results for the blue LED tests (peak wavelength 450 nm) showed that this spectrum can be as effective or slightly better at photobleaching than the white LED tested for the same total irradiance. The samples exposed to the xenon light source resulted in increased yellowish tint, presumably because of additional oxidation on the surface of the sample. For these samples irradiated with the xenon lamp, the tint increased with increasing irradiance.
During the past several years, the interest for 3D printing of lighting optics has been growing rapidly. Most optical prototypes have been 3D printed using transparent photopolymer resin materials. However, the literature has limited information about the optical efficiency and the accuracy of beam shaping of such 3D-printed lenses. Therefore, to better understand the status of 3D printing lenses, a total internal reflection (TIR) lens was designed for use in replacement MR-16 (multifaceted-reflector) LED integral lamps. Several lenses were 3D printed in our laboratory and by two manufacturers. These 3D-printed samples were tested and the results were compared with a commercially available injection-molded TIR lens. The process and results of this benchmarking study are presented in this paper. The goal of this investigation was to study how 3D printer and material combination, build orientation, and post-processing affect the optical performance of LED lamps. The results showed differences in optical efficiency and beam shape for the printed samples. The highest optical efficiency achieved by these prototypes was 75%. The 3D-printed lenses with post-processing had similar performance to the injection-molded lens in terms of optical efficiency and beam width. The results showed that the layer height and print orientation affected the optical performance of the 3D-printed lenses. Our final conclusion is that 3D printing can achieve similar performance to commercially available polymer TIR lenses when suitable print parameters and postprocessing are selected. Further studies are needed to identify the best build orientation and print layer height to minimize the light scattering that affects the lens performance.
KEYWORDS: Antennas, Light sources and illumination, 3D printing, Printing, Design and modelling, 3D modeling, Industry, Industrial applications, Printed electronics
The application of 3D printing in the lighting industry has the promise to transform the production of custom luminaires on demand. The connected lighting system trend in the lighting industry has created the need for custom antenna design and production to improve reliable data transfer. Antenna design accuracy is crucial to the functional efficiency of wireless data communication that could be integrated into lighting products with 3D printing. The trace paths of most paste and ink deposition technologies determine the physical dimensions of the material deposited on the substrate, which can affect the performance of the antenna. A laboratory experiment study was conducted to investigate the relationship between antenna pattern and its dimension and resonance frequency in patch antenna. The study examined the variations in trace paths resulting in antenna dimension variation and compared them with theoretical model predictions of the same antenna design. One of the primary observations in this study was the 3D-printed antennas did not resonate precisely at the modeled 2.4GHz frequency, as predicted by CST Studio Suite®. Further investigation showed that the resonance frequencies were at 2.355 Hz for hatched fill pattern antennas and 2.385 Hz for concentric fill antennas, resulting in 0.045 Hz and 0.015 Hz deviation compared to the designed value of 2.4 GHz.
Vat photopolymerization and multi-jet modeling 3D printers using clear polymer resins have shown promise for making optically clear lenses for LED lighting systems. These clear resins are usually polymethyl methacrylate, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, and polycarbonate-like photopolymers. One of the main requirements for such lenses in LED lighting systems is stable performance, i.e., maintaining transmitted light and chromaticity for an extended period (over 25,000 hours). A long-term aging study was designed and conducted to understand light transmittance properties as a function of time. The 3D-printed lens samples were exposed to elevated ambient temperature (~45 and 60°C) and short-wavelength optical irradiance (~0.20 and 0.4 W/cm²) with peak wavelength radiation ~450 nm and FWHM ~25 nm. Test samples were 3D-printed using three clear transparent resins and using vat photopolymerization and multi-jet modeling processes. The lens samples were removed from the aging setup at regular intervals and the transmittance was measured at room temperature. The measured time to 90% lumen maintenance (L90) and 70% lumen maintenance (L70) were affected more by optical irradiance change from 0.20 W/cm² and 0.4 W/cm² than ambient temperature change from 45°C and 60°C. The vat photopolymerization 3D-printed test samples used for the study showed higher relative transmittance degradation than the multi-jet modeling test samples used in the study for both irradiances and ambient temperatures.
With LED lighting technology having matured in the past few years, lighting fixture manufacturers are now looking to add value to LED systems by introducing novel concepts through different sub-components. In conventional refractive optical systems, the lens outer surface geometries are used to shape the output beam distribution. As a result of geometries used on external surfaces, dust and dirt could accumulate on the surface of the secondary optics, decreasing the fixture’s efficiency over time. Furthermore, exterior surfaces with complex geometries are difficult to clean and maintain. Hence, this study is focused on developing a 3D printable lens with planar exterior surfaces and internal cavity structures for beam shaping. The authors investigated the feasibility of using internal cavity structures with refractive spherical arrays to achieve prescribed illuminance distribution. The lens design strategy contains an iterative optimization procedure on internal cavity parameters to improve optical efficiency. Also, the study suggests that 3D printing can be used to manufacture internal cavity structures that are challenging to create using conventional methods.
At present, solid-state light sources are more efficacious than traditional lighting technologies. To provide benefits in the target applications, this efficacy advantage at the light source has to be supplemented by the optical system used in the lighting system. In general, optical systems can be broadly classified as refractive or reflective based on the optical elements used in the lighting system. Usually, these secondary optic elements are made using injection molding (lenses) or casting and subsequent machining and polishing (reflectors) in large-scale productions. This aspect tends to reduce the use of unique or custom optical solutions in practical applications. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has been successfully used to manufacture small- to medium-scale production volumes of customized solutions in other industries. This technology provides an opportunity to manufacture optical components that maximize the efficacy of a target application by creating unique optical components that facilitate the distribution of light in desired directions. In this study, an optical system based on reflective principles was designed to provide a Type V distribution on the target plane. The designed reflector system was 3D-printed and laboratory tested for total light output, intensity distribution, light output distribution, and optical efficiency. The test results were compared with Monte Carlo ray-tracing simulation results.
KEYWORDS: Spherical lenses, Light emitting diodes, Lens design, Light sources and illumination, Ray tracing, 3D printing, Lenses, Beam shaping, Optics manufacturing, Monte Carlo methods
In the past two decades, solid-state lighting has steadily expanded to outperform many traditional lighting technologies due to its higher energy efficiency, longer lifetime, and reduced maintenance. The effectiveness of a solid-state lighting design for a given application relies upon the optimum use of its sub-components. An LED lighting system uses an optical subsystem with secondary optics to optimize the total luminous flux on the application surface, thus increasing its application efficiency. Therefore, it is essential to use well-defined secondary optics to achieve desired illumination patterns, luminous efficiency, and lighting uniformity. Hence, this study focused on developing a 3D printable refractive lens structure that collects luminous flux from the LED light source and redirects it into the spherical lens array. Subsequently, the spherical refractive array structures are designed in the lens to redirect the accumulated luminous flux onto the target plane to increase the application efficacy and uniformity. The designed lens is later fabricated using 3D printing to perform the experimental study. The results confirm the possibility of using a refractive array lens with a backend structure to achieve higher application efficacy.
As lighting has diversified across many applications, optical designers have been challenged to produce application-specific optical systems. For an instance where multiple beam distributions are required in an application, instead of making individual lenses catering to different beam shapes, it would be beneficial to create a single optic that can be used with different LED source positioning. Hence, this study proposes a method of positioning LEDs in a fixture to achieve multiple beam patterns using a fixed lens design. Through ray-tracing analysis, we showed that different beam distributions could be obtained by changing the LED position in a refractive lens array. The experimental study was conducted with a 3D-printed lens to validate the model. The results confirm the possibility of creating a single fixed lens to achieve multiple beam distributions via different LED positioning. The proposed novel method can replace the expensive and cumbersome process of developing separate lenses for each beam distribution. Further, our experimental results can guide fixture manufacturers on the use of 3D-printed optics for lighting applications.
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