What’s the Difference With Reflective Cup and Lens

What is a reflective cup and what is a lens? This problem has puzzled me a long time ago. I believe many people think that the reflector and the lens are similar in the same way as I used to, but they are different in structure and are still the same. So there are not many people to go deep into this issue.

As we all know, reflectors and lenses are secondary optics, the role is to secondary light distribution, they can be said to be the core of the light effect of the lamp, if there is no such core application, then the lamp market is about to return to the original At the stage, there are fluorescent tubes everywhere. Since it is used, let us first understand the difference between the reflector and the lens.

What is reflective cup

The lamp should know that the original light angle of the LED is about 120°. In order to achieve the use of light and achieve the desired effect, the lamp will use a reflector to control the distance, area and spot effect of the light, and the reflector is usually The form of the cup appears, and the reflector industry that appears in this form is collectively referred to as the reflector.

Reflectors themselves fall into two broad categories:

Metal reflector: generally made of aluminum, which needs to be finished by stamping, polishing, oxidation, etc. It is easy to form, low in cost and high in temperature resistance, and is easily recognized by the industry.

Plastic reflector: it needs to be demoulded, its optical precision is high, there is no deformation memory, the cost is relatively higher than that of metal, but its temperature resistance is not as good as metal cup. For high temperature lamps, it is far away. Device.

It is also worth mentioning that the light that goes from the light source to the reflector is not all the light will be refracted. This part of the light that has not been refracted is optically called the secondary spot (as shown below). The presence of the light spot has a visual mitigation effect on the team.

What is lens

Reflective cups are classified, and lenses are also classified. LED lenses are divided into primary lenses and secondary lenses. The lens we generally refer to is a secondary lens by default, which is said to be closely combined with the LED light source. Different lenses can be used to achieve the desired optical effect, depending on the requirements.

LED lens is mainly used in the market as PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) and PC (polycarbonate). The transmittance of PMMA is 93%, while PC is only about 88%, but the latter is resistant. The temperature is relatively high, the melting point reaches 135°, and the PMMA is only 90°, so these two materials occupy the lens market almost by the advantage of each half.

The secondary lenses on the market today are generally TIR. The design of the lens penetrates the front side of the light, and the tapered surface collects and reflects all the side light. When the two lights are overlapped When you use it, you can get a perfect spot effect. The efficiency of TIR lenses is generally above 90%, and the beam angle is generally <60°, which can be applied to small angle lamps.