Abstract
Injection-molded optical components are used often for commercial illumination systems. This paper discusses methods of how to model the tolerance aspects of such components. Tolerance aspects include surface roughness, source-to-optic position and rotation errors, and surface slope errors. It is noted that all of these tolerance investigations cannot correctly account for errors in the injection-mold process. A method to model deformations induced in the injection-mold process is proposed. The method is based on the laser scan of an injection-molded part, which allows the rebuilding of the surface from the point cloud. This method, while quite accurate, is time consuming, so a second algorithm based upon approximation with a Harvey scatter model is developed that takes over an order of magnitude less in time. It is shown that the approximate model provides results within a few percent if comparisons are done in the far field. Near-field results require the rebuild method that uses the measured point cloud. Additionally, illumination systems comprising multiple interactions with the component surface (e.g., lightpipes) can use the approximate Harvey model.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 61-71 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
Volume | 5186 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2003 |
Event | Design of Efficient Illumination Systems - San Diego, CA, United States Duration: Aug 4 2003 → Aug 5 2003 |
Keywords
- Harvey model
- Illumination
- Injection molding
- Nonimaging optics
- Optical design
- Tolerancing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering