Patent attributes
A Fresnel lens array is provided in which the vertical part of a lens element is replaced by a tilted surface designed to focus impinging light into the focal point of an adjacent lens in the array. Since the new surface forms an angle with the lens plane that is shallower than the vertical step, such a lens element configuration may ease the molding of the lens array in glass type materials. The configuration is not limited to cylindrical arrays, since another array with lens elements perpendicular to the first lens array may be molded on the other side of the lens sheet, resulting in an array of point focusing lenses. Furthermore, by placing mirrors at the edges of the lens array (or at the edge of a single lens thereof) with surfaces perpendicular to the lens plane, the edge light rays may be redirected back to the said focal point(s). In particular, single circular lenses, with lens element cross-sections similar to the one described above and with a vertical mirror at the edge, will also concentrate collimated light to the focal point.
