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Silicone narrow beam collimator features output ratios up to 23mm

29th September 2015

Gaggione

Jordan Mulcare

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Gaggione has expanded its LEDnLIGHT family to address the latest performance demands for solid-state lighting with the LLC66N7 collimator in optical grade silicone with a narrow beam angle down to 6° based upon LES. The unique design of Gaggione’s LLC66N7 with an internal concave cylinder shape, a negative counter draft angle, permits the use of larger, brighter COB light sources with optimal light output ratios up to 23mm LES.

Gaggione‘s proprietary output micro texture contributes to an incomparable homogeneous light distribution. The use of optical silicone delivers reliable mechanical and optical performance despite exposure to high lumen densities, outdoor UV light or external temperatures cycling between -40 and 150°C and minimises the injection channel to less than 2mm.

All optical components suffer from light losses: at each interface, a fraction of the light is reflected whereas one would like it to be transmitted. This phenomenon is called Fresnel loss and, in a traditional collimator, it decreases light efficiency and generates unwanted stray images. Moreover, standard collimator architecture is inadequate for large size LEDs, for which the collimator cannot efficiently collect all of the emitted light.

The patented geometry of the LLC66N7 addresses these two issues. Thanks to its negative draft angle, light rays are now reflected in a precisely controlled direction and are recycled into the main optical beam, thus increasing efficiency and decreasing stray images. The LLC66N7 can also readily handle large size LEDs: light rays close to the LED rim are successfully collected and steered towards the main beam.

The unique geometry of the LLC66N7 is made possible thanks to the use of optical grade silicone. Silicone is a soft material and allows demoulding of shapes with negative draft angles. Silicone is an elastomer and can be easily bent or twisted, it will not break, it will distort and comes back to the original position and shape. This enables designing optical functions that could not be made out of regular plastics.

The LLC66N7 also embed an innovative output surface texture. This Gaggione specific pattern yields perfectly homogenous light distribution.

As apparent on the above figures, stray light on standard designs yields parasitic ring-shaped images around the main beam, whereas the new design of the LLC66N7 offers a clear, homogeneous illumination thanks to the negative draft angles.