Anyone know about lightpipe design?

Forum|Forum|10 years ago
December 11, 2015
3 replies
3550 views

I need to illuminate 4 apertures with a solid block of light using individual LEDs (similar to the attached photo). It seems like putting a polished concave cut into the back of the shafts would help spread the light. However I don't think this alone will be enough to achieve the sleek effect I'm looking for. Does anyone have any design tips for this kind of thing? For assembly purposes, I want the 4 LEDs to sit on the same PCB. Thanks

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2_lp001-neu-1.zip

Surfacing

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dschenken

1-Visitor

Were it for me, I would get a copy of POV-Ray and use that to evaluate the performance of the LEDs/light pipes.

Other than that there are some good optics software: Code V (Synopsys Optical Solutions) and FRED (photonengr.com)come to mind.

The main difference is that POV-Ray only does the evaluation and it isn't quantitative while the others are full engineering tools. For just LEDS it doesn't seem like you would need more than the evaluation part.

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TomD.inPDX

17-Peridot

It all depends on how critical it is. The idea is that you want to internally reflect light. Therefore, if it is not your target face, you want it to be rounded.

It also appears you want broad scattering; this may call for additional reflective surfaces between the source and the target.

It is not clear where you intend to put the light source or sources.

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David_M

Author

1-Visitor

Sounds like there's some good stuff here. If I put tiny holes through from each of the flat sides, would that help with broad scattering?

The LEDs will eventually go in those little cut-outs on the back. I will try to optimise the shape of these to take account of the sloped front surfaces. It is these orange surfaces that should illuminate.