Compact lens with circular spot profile for square die LEDs in multi-LED projectors

In the stage illumination industry, LED technology is promising both in terms of energy use and novel features, but it also has inherent issues. This paper presents a solution to the poor color homogeneity arising when multiple rectangular images formed from LED dies are combined into a circular spot profile. Using ray tracing, a nonrotationally symmetric collimating lens was optimized to round off such die images. The result is a high-output lens with an almost perfectly circular spot. In a simulated red green blue color mixing projector with seven LEDs, the lens reduced measurable color inhomogeneity by ≈24.1%, with a 5.3% luminous gain, compared to the best rotationally symmetric benchmark lens.