LEP builds

[likevvii]

I am working on compact throwers using LEP modules from bl-light.com

These modules have integrated Lasers, Phosphors, and Optics that work together to produce white light. The modules can basically be treated as a weirdly shaped LED with a narrow emission angle. Just like an LED, you will need to find a way to drive it and have a condensing optic to focus the light.

Based on my tests, this company makes quality phosphors that are much better than silicone based phosphors that are used on top of LEDs. I believe the phosphor they make are sintered ceramic.

If you have questions or purchasing, feel free to contact TED. He is very helpful:
ted@flamingoo-light.com

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The modules I am interested in integrating are: NR2, NR8, and P20

NR2:
1900 cd/mm²
1800 lumens
50 watts (16V @ 3A)

NR8:
2000 cd/mm²
4900 lumens
100 watts (32V @ 3A)

P20:
1260 cd/mm²
11000 lumens
250 watts (82V @ 3A)

NR2 / NR8 development:
These modules are nearly the same size and can be interchanged with small modifications to the host.

I am working on a prototype host that is flexible in design and using only the minimum amount of CNC machined components.

This host has the following specs for the NR2:
Dimensions: 82 x 82 x 117mm / 3.23 x 3.23 x 4.6 inches
Optics: 75mm PCX, 70mm PCX, 50mm PCV. The 50mm lens actuates 30mm.
Throw: 8 million candela / 5600 meters. Flood beam is 40° angle.
Battery: 4x 21700, interchangeable
Run time: 70 minutes at max output

Cost breakdown for MOQ 500pcs in USD:
NR2 module: can not disclose
laser diode array, Nichia NUBB23 - 41
3 lens set: 60
CNC machined components: 43
battery 4x 5000mah 21700 cells: 11
laser driver: 12
electronics: 9
fans: 8
heatsinks: 7
mini OLED: 6
optic actuator components: 6
3D printed components: 5
fasteners: 5
heat pipe: 4

TOTAL: 217USD, excluding NR2 module and assembly

I’m wondering if there are vendors in China that may be interested to sell some when prototype is more mature. Everything will be sorted out for them. They would just need to be willing to stock inventory and build them. The price would probably end up being 500USD. They can keep all profits.
Not sure how the law and trade restrictions would work for this. For reference, I had no issues buying samples of laser diode arrays ranging from 20 ~ 110W laser light output shipped to USA. If shipped functional, I might need to integrate an interlock system to disable the light when any part of the enclosure is removed.

Potential to further reduce unit costs:

Laser module:
I am hoping to coordinate with bl-light to redesign their module so that it is 100% integrated for this host only. This would GREATLY reduce costs, assembly complexity, and increase thermal performance.

Lens: 60 > 21USD
It is viable to use fresnel lenses to reduce cost. They can be made with an ASPHERIC profile!
For example: NTKJ
Additionally, they can be AR coated, which will bring the transmission efficiency to 95% for a consumer grade quality. For reference, an AR coated glass optic has a 98.5% transmission.

Mold cost for PMMA fresnel concave lens: 2400

CNC machined parts: 48 > 22USD
Aluminum extrusions are well suited for a design like this. Aluminum casted parts may also work well. For aluminum extrusion, the thermal performance may slightly improve as there will be a little bit more aluminum surface area for the heat to spread instead of plastic.

Mold cost for AL extrusion: 1300
Mold cost for AL casting: 6000

Plastic injection molded parts:
By using “PA6 30GF” (Nylon + 30% Glass Fibers), parts can be extremely durable and abrasion resistant. This is the material they use on power tool shells. Definitely more tough than aluminum.

Mold cost for plastic IM: 6000 (with a few sliders and lifters)
Unit cost per part: 0.75USD

This current design is focused on flexibility, so there is a screw for everything. A version intended for mass production would have a reduction in the usage of screws.

If I were to implement all these changes and without factoring in mold costs, there is a good possibility to bring reduce the unit cost by 80USD.

Making the TOTAL: 137 USD, excluding NR2 module and assembly

Current Progress:

Driver:
The biggest bottleneck and struggle for me right now is designing a compact laser driver that is also cheap. I have two contractors working on this, but the results are slow.
Examples of compact drivers:
https://www.taskled.com/techuboost.shtml
https://www.loneoceans.com/labs/gxb17/
These are using high grade boost converters and inductors.

If anyone is familiar with LED/Laser drivers, DC-DC converters, I am offering 85USD/hr for design/prototype services.

MCU to control:

1. laser driver output
2. temperature monitoring (laser diode array and driver)
3. OLED screen display data
4. lens actuating motor controller
5. fans speed
6. interlock (If any panels are removed, the laser will not function. Comply with laser safety)

NR2 Pictures:

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3D printed components:

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CNC machined components:

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Thermal components:
The heat pipe is directly contacting 5 out of the 7 aluminum parts (2x heatsink, top, bot, back plate), except for the side plates.

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P20 development:
This module is VERY heavy and oddly shaped. It will be very challenging to create a compact system for this. The unit cost for this module is out of this world!!

The beam pattern converges to a point at the front of the module! The recoil reflector design, narrower beam angle, and efficiency of capturing most the light leads to this effect.

Since this is a large design, any customized part will be exponentially more expensive. I wanted to mostly use parts that are standard, or are 3D printed and laser/water cut. Example: https://sendcutsend.com/

I made some progress, and I’m not happy with it yet. It looks ugly.

The current design with AIO cooler can hold up thermally for about 8 minutes before the P20 module reaches it’s limit of 65°C and needs to reduce output power.

While at 11000 lumens, it is only 1260cd/mm². Using a 110mm diameter fresnel lens only gets me Throw value: 10Mcd / 6300meters

Cooler is an “AIO cooler for CPUs”. They are widely available for cheap.

I will need a 12S lithium battery pack to drive this module.

Current Progress:
If I were to jump back into developing this, I would try fitting coolers from Dynatron:
https://www.dynatron.co/air-cooler
They are really well made for their price (~50USD). The bottom is a vapor chamber. These things can disperse about 220W of heat for CPUs. But that is assuming it is operating at 90C. So probably 130W of heat for a limit of 65C.

P20 Pictures:

I was able to make a very compact boost driver (V1 left, V2 middle, V3 right):

[likevvii]

place holder 1

[Haedesz]

Wow, definitely following this one! Very impressive.

[thefreeman]

@likevvii

The biggest bottleneck and struggle for me right now is designing a compact laser driver that is also cheap.

The 3 modules have pretty different power/voltage requirements, a driver for NR2 should be relatively simple with low BOM cost, for P20, 82V is pretty high, that limits a lot the LED driver ICs/converter ICs option, and with the power it’ll certainly be more costly.

I’ve designed many LED drivers, that said I’m bad at coding so I always used community made firmwares like Anduril, if you only need hardware development for the driver then I can do it.

[Pöbel]

Sounds very interesting. If a real product comes to life I think I’ll be on board

[likevvii]

Back plate made:

[grin]

I am pushing 19km with the WP20 module. It is actually and ERS light engine.

[likevvii]

Wow that is great! If your setup can interchange modules, you could put a NR8 and probably achieve 100Mcd.

What does ERS mean?

[grin]

Elipsoidal reflector spotlight. The optic collects the light and projects it to a second point. Do not put your hand in that F2 it will instantly burn. The focal length of that reflector governs the emission angle.
I have a 300mm optic but it doesn’t give me enough throw. Next option is 24ich parabolic mirror. I want 35km and might have to use the 90cm. to use a mirror the emission angle has to be diverged.
Anything under 10000lm doesn’t cut it. I still think about using a TIG welder in the 24inch mirror.
Just something to add in my opinion to get the most throw there needs to be more than 1 optic element, there need to be an aperture. An ERS is the ultimate spot light and has both. Some of the ERS lights are so expensive they build scaffolding to carry the light into position because hoisting them may cause damage,

[grin]

I don’t think the driver for this type of light needs so many features. The modules themselves do not output coherent light and the only way to access the blue light source is to dismantle the module. So interlocks are not really needed. One 9f the things that I would say it does need is pwm and analogue input.

[likevvii]

Thanks for the explanation.
I totally forgot the LEP module itself is the main enclosure. I really didn’t want to do any interlocks.
I haven’t spent anytime at all to check the regulations to ship a flashlight using internal laser module. I hope it is still in favor of LEPs.

@grin Do you have information about multi optics designs? I had always thought you only need 1 lens. Maybe if using spherical lenses, there needs to be multiple to compensate? I really want to experiment with fresnel lenses. A compact flashlight can be made using fresnel lens system that is collapsible during transport.

If there is a lead, I want to try to find someone on upwork.com or optics manufacturer to explain how to get maximum throw using fresnel lens.

[Sirstinky]

There are restrictions to shipping high powered laser modules into the US. over 5 mW is by law restricted to everyone except those with proper licensing (labs, agencies, universities, etc), but sellers bypass that all the time and send 100 mW and even 5000 mW handheld lasers to people with zero experience with high powered lasers that can damage your eyesight even without looking at the laser beam. These sound like ultra high ppwer lasers!

[likevvii]

There are laser projectors that have more than 100,000mW of laser output internally. They also direct the 450nm laser to a phosphor wheel internally.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=Laser%20DLP%20Projector&sts=ma

I hope customs categorize LEPs as the same thing as laser projectors.

I found an article about someone using an LEP flashlight on a helicoptor. Authorities wanted to charge the person for using a laser. But In the end, it seems it was inconclusive.
https://www.laserpointersafety.com/calif-flashlight.html

[Sirstinky]

LEPs aren’t really lasers by definition. They’re a laser light source, but like the article said, the end product is not by definition a laser anymore. The wavelength is wrong, and the intensity is far less. I think customs classifies leps as flashlights for that reason and not as they would a typical laser module.

[Lumenheir]

The quality of a laser that makes it dangerous is the high intensity, right? For aircraft and for eyeballs. If true, it would seem like legal bodies need to drop the term “laser” in place of a “high intensity light source” and provide a sensible definition based on power per area or something.

Who knows when that will ever happen though

[likevvii]

Why does Acebeam W50 limit sales to company entities only? They use the NR1 module inside the W50.
https://www.acebeam.com/white-laser-lights-w50

test fit and compared next to Convoy L2

[grin]

I am not an engineer I have no formal training in optics or engineering. There are lots of reasons why multiple optics are better. An aspheric lens or mirror has been “tuned” to the light source. So an aspheric is basically multiple Spherical lens combined into one. A bit like code that has been transferred to hardware in the form of an IC.
Aspheric lenses don’t allow for changes I a lens train.

[Sirstinky]

Yes the high energy, concentrated light. Leps, while intense, are not as inense as a laser an don’t retain the same wavelength as the true laser beam. Laser light can be invisible or barely visible, but still extremely intense and dangerous to unshielded eyes (or objects).

[lorbas]

You guys can’t imagine my envy. I also have a P20 laying at home but are struggling in the hospital .

[LaGgY_42o]

If anyone’s interested they will sell you a full 50mcd+ demo kit from the videos w/ 230mm lens / WP-P20 / driver & power boards for cheaper than a Maxa Beam. Just got me a quote.