Resumen
This invention consists in a nonimaging device for concentration or collimation of radiation on a receiver or from an emitter (14), depending on the case. The device is made up of the lens (50), which surrounds the receiver and consists of the aspheric surface (21), and the lens (15), whose upper refractive surface (16) may be aspheric, while the lower surface is aspheric (17) in its central portion (between points 18 and 19) and has a structure with discontinuous slope (20) in its external portion, in which the faces (22) fundamentally refract the rays while the faces (23) reflect them by total internal reflection. The design method provides that the device properties of concentration/collimation are noticeably superior to those of the existing inventions. Possible applications of this lens include: radiation sensors, illumination systems with LEDs, wireless optical communications and photovoltaic solar energy. <IMAGE>
Reivindicaciones
1. Device for concentration of radiant energy characterized by being axisymmetrical or cylindrical and transforming the edge rays of an input extended ray bundle into edge rays of an output extended ray bundle that illuminates a receiver, both bundles being defined in the plane of a cross-section, by means of: a) A lens L<1> composed on one side of a refractive aspheric surface, S<1>, on which the input bundle impinges, and on the other side, S<2>, of another refractive aspheric surface in its central region and with a discontinuous-slope structure in its external region, whose cross-section is formed of teeth with two aspheric faces such that one of them, V, is parallel to the flow lines of the bundle transmitted by the dioptric S<1>, and the other face, T, reflects the bundle by total internal reflection toward the face V where it is refracted so that no ray intercepts the adjacent tooth and that the nearest edge ray to do so is tangent to that tooth. b) A second lens L<2> that surrounds the receiver composed of a refractive aspheric surface on which the bundle transmitted by the lens L<1> impinges. 2. Device for concentration of radiant energy according to claim 1 characterized because it uses an optoelectronic receiver. 3. Device for concentration of radiant energy according to claims 1 and 2 characterized because the optoelectronic receiver is a photodiode, a phototransistor or a photovoltaic cell. 4. Device for collimation of radiant energy characterized by being axisymmetrical or cylindrical and transforming the edge rays of an input extended ray bundle generated by an emitter into edge rays of an output extended ray bundle, both bundles being defined in the plane of a cross-section, by means of: a) A lens L<2> that surrounds the emitter composed of a refractive aspheric surface on which the input bundle impinges. b) A second lens L<1> composed on one side of a refractive aspheric surface, S<1>, from which the output bundle leaves, and on the other side, S<2>, of another refractive aspheric surface in its central region and with a discontinuous-slope structure in its external region, whose cross-section is formed of teeth with two aspheric faces such that on one of them, V, the bundle transmitted by the dioptric S<3> is refracted so that all the rays are reflected by total internal reflection on the other face, T, that the edge ray nearest to not being reflected is tangent to the profile of the tooth, and that the face V is parallel to the flow lines of the bundle transmitted toward S<1>. 5. Device for collimation of radiant energy characterized by being axisymmetrical or cylindrical and transforming the edge rays of an input extended ray bundle generated by an emitter into edge rays of an output extended ray bundle, both bundles being defined in the plane of a cross-section, excluding the axisymmetric case in which the bundles of rays are chosen to provide uniform irradiance in three dimensions at the exit aperture when the angular spread of the ray bundles on passing through all of the optical surfaces is smaller than 10°, by means of: a) A lens L<2> that surrounds the emitter composed of a refractive aspheric surface on which the input bundle impinges. b) A second lens L<1> composed on one side of a refractive aspheric surface, S<1>, from which the output bundle leaves, and on the other side, S<2>, of another refractive aspheric surface in its central region and with a discontinuous-slope structure in its external region, whose cross-section is formed of teeth with two aspheric faces such that on one of them, V, the bundle transmitted by the dioptric S<3> is refracted so that all the rays are reflected by total internal reflection on the other face, T, that the edge ray nearest to not being reflected is tangent to the profile of the tooth, and that the face V is parallel to the flow lines of the bundle transmitted toward S<1>. 6. Device for collimation of radiant energy characterized by being axisymmetrical or cylindrical and transforming the edge rays of an input extended ray bundle generated by an emitter into edge rays of an output extended ray bundle, both bundles being defined in the plane of a cross-section, excluding the axisymmetric case in which the bundles of rays are chosen to provide uniform irradiance in three dimensions at the exit aperture, by means of: a) A lens L<2> that surrounds the emitter composed of a refractive aspheric surface on which the input bundle impinges. b) A second lens L<1> composed on one side of a refractive aspheric surface, S<1>, from which the output bundle leaves, and on the other side, S<2>, of another refractive aspheric surface in its central region and with a discontinuous-slope structure in its external region, whose cross-section is formed of teeth with two aspheric faces such that on one of them, V, the bundle transmitted by the dioptric S<3> is refracted so that all the rays are reflected by total internal reflection on the other face, T, that the edge ray nearest to not being reflected is tangent to the profile of the tooth, and that the face V is parallel to the flow lines of the bundle transmitted toward S<1>. 7. Device for collimation of radiant energy according to claims 4 to 6 characterized because it uses an optoelectronic emitter. 8. Device for collimation of radiant energy according to claims 4 to 7 characterized because the optoelectronic emitter is an LED, an IRED or a laser. 9. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 8 characterized because the profiles of the faces of the teeth have at each point a slope modified by an angle of less than 2 degrees. 10. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 9 characterized because the profile of the S<1> is circular or flat. 11. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 10 characterized because the surfaces S<1> and S<2> of the lens are interchanged, so that the teeth appear inverted. 12. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 11 characterized because S<1> has a saw-toothed profile that diverts the input bundle to modify the direction of the flow lines. 13. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 12 characterized because S<1> or the refractive surface of the central portion of S<2>, or both, are discontinuous-slope Fresnel structures. 14. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 13 characterized because the lens L<2> comprises two different dielectric materials separated by a spheric or aspheric refractive surface. 15. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 14 characterized because the cross-section of the teeth of S<2> have faces with circular or rectilinear profiles. 16. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy according to claims 1 to 15 characterized by being manufactured with an optically inactive portion that joins the two lenses so that they constitute a single part that includes an interior space. 17. Device for concentration or collimation of radiant energy characterized by being composed of a set of devices according to claim 1 to 16 fixed to a dielectric plate.
