Patent attributes
A rotary refractive laser scanner head uses two sets of lenses and prisms aligned along a common optical axis. Each prism is paired with one of the lenses. The lens-prism pairs are separately mounted rotatable on a common axis coaxial with the optical axis. A motor drives two gear sets. Each gear set is separately coupled to one of the two lens-prism pairs and rotates them at selected, typically different speeds. An input laser beam is directed along the optical axis at one of the lens-prism pairs. The first pair collimates and refracts the input beam into an intermediate deflected beam according to Snell's law and the characteristics of the laser beam and optics. The second pair receives the intermediate beam and further deflects it to form an output beam. By selecting the motor speed, gear ratios, optics spacing, characteristics and prism wedge (deflection) angle, the scanner head effectively can scan an output laser beam over a desired pattern area.