Designing with Lenses and Secondary Optics

High-Brightness LEDs
High-brightness LEDs for lighting applications enable designers to reduce power consumption and implement more versatile operating modes compared to conventional light sources such as halogen or filament bulbs.

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READ THIS TO FIND OUT ABOUT: LED lighting design Secondary lens selection LED optical characteristics

lens has a flat upper surface. In many applications where building height is limited, a Batwing-type LUXEON LED is able to produce a narrow beam without the use of secondary optics.

When designing with high-brightness LEDs, careful management of emitted The side-emitter lens is different in light is essential to make the most of the benefits that both shape and radiation pattern LED-based lighting can offer, which is why most highfrom the Lambertian and Batwing brightness LEDs are available with a choice of stanlenses. The light moving upwards is dard lenses to focus and direct light energy. collimated and redirected 90 by a Some applications require more sophisticated conical reflector to exit in the horieffects than the standard optics can support. In these zontal plane. Non-perpendicular cases, the designer must choose a suitable secondary emissions are also collimated and reoptic. Choosing wisely can enable a small LED-based fracted to the horizontal plane. unit to match the outright performance of a larger This combination results in a conventional fixture, such as a filament, halogen or narrow light beam spread 360 fluorescent lamp, by directing light more accurately around the axis in the horizontal to where it is needed. plane (Figure 3). The intensity is not This article explains the types of LED lenses uniform throughout the full 360, Fig.1: Radiation pattern for LED with Lambertian lens available, and describes their properties and ideal because the LED chip is square uses. instead of circular. Prime applications include warning beacons, where light must be cast in all directions, as well as applications where the emitted light Comparing LED radiation patterns will be coupled into a light guide. Examples include Exit signs or backlights for The radiation pattern of an LED describes how the emitted flux is distributed in LCD displays. space. Most LEDs radiate flux symmetrically about the optical axis. Hence the raThe side-emitter is also effective when used in a reflector box for backlights. diation pattern can be described by a two-axis graph of flux intensity versus The side-emitter emits light that reflects on the walls in the box and emerges angle from the optical axis. The main defining parameter of the radiation patat the output surface of the box. A diffusing film is used to make the light tern is the Full-Width Half-Max (FWHM) angle. This describes the angular width appear smooth on this surface. of the radiation pattern at the half-power or half-maximum-intensity point. Figure 1 describes the radiation pattern for an LED with a Secondary optics Lambertian lens; a type commonly available with Secondary optics are commonly used high-brightness LEDs. The FWHM can be read as 140. to ensure that the total light output from the lamp meets the overall specStandard LED lenses ification. Broadly speaking, secondary Taking the Luxeon family of high-brightness LEDs from optics fall into two categories: divergPhilips Lumileds as an example, a choice of three staning optics, which spread the emitted dard lens types is offered. These give designers the oplight, and collimating optics that tion of Lambertian, Batwing or side-emitter radiation gather the light into a beam. This artipatterns. cle will concentrate on collimatingThe Lambertian radiation pattern is usually type secondary optics, which allow considered to be the general-purpose option for designers to concentrate emitted light high-brightness LEDs, and is often combined with to create a highly directional, high-insecondary optics. A Lambertian lens produces an Fig.2: Radiation pattern for Batwing lens tensity beam. evenly distributed light output following a cosine curve, and the LED should be treated as a point Simple lens source. There is no reflector cup inside, and the lens has a domed surface. The simple lens is usually the cheapest. Its purpose is to collect and focus the light hitting the lens. Lenses can be either the conventional convex type, or a Batwing lens Fresnel lens where pieces of the convex surface have been cut out and moved The Batwing lens takes its name from its batwing-like radiation pattern. The fitback to make the lens thinner. This is also known as a collapsed plano-convex ted reflector boosts the light in the 40 arc but produces a slight dip in the lens. Such lenses offer low collection efficiency, typically around 50%, because centre (Figure 2). The Batwing lens was originally designed for use in traffic they do not collect the light emitted sideways from the LED chip. lights, where a flat Fresnel lens is applied to produce an even light output. A simple lens can be used together with a reflector for the purpose of The FWHM angle is 110. Compared to Lambertian-type devices, the batwing

Side-emitter lens

smoothing the light from the source. A Batwing lens is the best suited for use with simple lenses.

Secondary side-emitter lens

Simple reflector
A simple reflector is normally made of pressed metal, or a plastic moulding with a reflective metal coating. These can achieve greater than 90% efficiency, and exhibit a sharp cut-off in intensity outside the intended viewing angle. Conventional parabolic reflectors, such as those used in torches, produce an intense central spot of light surrounded by a wide diffuse beam. Alternatively, combining a side-emitter LED with a shallow parabolic reflector is able to produce a tightly-delineated spot illumination. Simple, parabolic reflectors can also be designed to produce a wide, even area of illumination with a sharp cut-off.

Fig.5: Secondary side-emitter optic

The secondary side-emitter lens (figure 5) works very much like the built-in LUXEON side-emitter optics, but is typically larger and fits over a Batwing- or Lambertian-type device. Its larger physical size implies a much longer focal length, which produces an output beam having a smaller angular divergence. This makes it suitable for collision avoidance beacons. Its larger size also results in a larger emitting area and lower forward scatter than the standard side-emitter. This makes it suitable for coupling to thicker materials when used in light guide applications.

Custom optics
In certain applications, the designer will find that commercial off-the-shelf lenses do not fulfil all of the required criteria. In particular, the secondary optic has an important influence on the lit and unlit appearance of the lamp which usually forces a compromise between physical dimensions, optical performance and styling. LED vendors and third-party specialist developers offer a wide variety of secondary optics. If a suitable standard optic cannot be sourced, a custom design may be a practical alternative, depending on the application and intended production volumes. Designing custom secondary optics is a specialised engineering discipline that requires expert knowledge as well as specialist tools and processes for design and manufacturing. Most of Future Electronics suppliers are able to help customers with custom optics.
Efficiency Very narrow Simple lens TIR optic Reflector Catadioptric lens Side emitter 50% 85% >90% 70-80% 80% x (x) Narrow x x x Medium x x x Wide x x x x Very wide Cut off Smooth Smooth Sharp Smooth x 360 Cost Low LowMedium LowMedium High Medium

Fig.3: Radiation pattern for side-emitter lens

Total internal reflection optics

The Total Internal Reflection (TIR) optic is probably the most commonly used secondary optic for LEDs such as the LUXEON families. It is a compound optic that uses a combination of a central lens and Total Internal Reflection (TIR) mirror to collimate the light from the source, as shown in Figure 4. To obtain a good light distribution from a TIR optic it is important that the LED is positioned accurately on the optic axis and at the correct height. To ensure correct placement of the optic relative to the LED, special holders are available. When glued to the PCB, these both retain the optic and locate it correctly relative to the emitter package. The optical efficiency of TIR Optics is around 85%, including the Fresnel losses that are always incurred when light passes through a medium. To widen and shape the beam, a variety of surface textures or contours may be employed. These can be frosted surfaces, ripple patterns or pillow lenses. A pillow lens is a diverging optic, widely used in automotive signal lamps. TIR-type optics are available from a number of suppliers, including lenses with special properties such as linear ripple patterns that produce ellipsoidal beams, or frosted surfaces that produce focused, smooth Fig.4: Collimating secondary TIR optic Gaussian output.

Table.1: Characteristics of commonly-available secondary optics

Catadioptric reflector
The catadioptric reflector combines a thin reflector and lens. The body of the lens is plastic, as in a LED optic, but the refractive surfaces of the lens are coated with a reflective mirror coating to produce highly focused beams.

Light boxes
Light boxes are particularly useful for creating large diffuse sources. These are constructed as a box with highly reflective walls and base, and with a diffusing output window. They can produce large, even areas of illumination by letting the light circulate a large number of times within the box before it escapes.