Novel projection engine with dual paraboloid reflector and polarization recovery systems

Abstract

Projection engine designs are mostly based on discrete optical components including color filters, mirrors, relay lenses, prisms, etc., which tends to be expensive and increase the space requirement. With the advancement of light pipe based illumination system, e.g. the Wavien patented dual paraboloid reflector system, and light-pipe based polarization recovery system, it would be advantage to design a light-pipe based projection engine for a complete light-pipe based system for low cost and space saving applications. In this paper, a totally light-pipe based projection engine is described. It consists of an etendue efficiency illumination system using the dual paraboloid reflector system with a lensed tapered light pipe as the output. The output is then directed into a light-pipe based polarization recovery system such that the output is polarized. The polarized light is then separated into its individual RGB colors, and is directed into the corresponding HTPS imager chips separately by the use of light pipes, prism, and beam splitters. The outputs from the imager chips are then recombined by an X-cube and projected onto the screen. This light-pipe based system uses low cost optical components and take up much less space than the traditional projection system.