Methods of tolerancing injection-molded parts for illumination systems

Mark E. Kaminski; R. John Koshel

doi:10.1117/12.508520

12 November 2003 Methods of tolerancing of injection-molded parts for illumination systems

Mark E. Kaminski, R. John Koshel

Proceedings Volume 5186, Design of Efficient Illumination Systems; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.508520
Event: Optical Science and Technology, SPIE's 48th Annual Meeting, 2003, San Diego, California, United States

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.

Citation Download Citation

Mark E. Kaminski and R. John Koshel "Methods of tolerancing of injection-molded parts for illumination systems", Proc. SPIE 5186, Design of Efficient Illumination Systems, (12 November 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.508520

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