WO2010069368A1

WO2010069368A1 - A screen forming apparatus, a supply means for a screen forming apparatus and a method for a screen forming apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2010069368A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/067719
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arttu Laitinen
Original assignee: Fogscreen Inc.
Priority date: 2008-12-17
Filing date: 2008-12-17
Publication date: 2010-06-24

Abstract

This invention concerns a screen forming apparatus for producing a transfer flow and a fog flow to be transferred by said transfer flow. The screen forming apparatus comprises a supply means for delivering at least the fog flow. The part of the supply means delivering the fog flow is configured to be dried by said transfer flow. The invention relates also a method and a supply means for the screen forming apparatus.

Description

A SCREEN FORMING APPARATUS, A SUPPLY MEANS FOR A SCREEN FORMING APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR A SCREEN FORMING APPARATUS

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a screen forming apparatus being configured to produce a transfer flow and a fog flow to be transferred by said transfer flow, and comprising supply means for delivering at least the fog flow. This invention also relates to a method and a supply means for such screen forming apparatus.

Background of the Invention

In this context, a screen forming apparatus refers to an apparatus forming substantially two-dimensional surface with such light reflection and/or light scattering properties that a moving or still image, or other performances or effects based on the use of light can be reflected on the surface by means of a projector, light effective device, laser device or the like. Such an apparatus may be configured also to form a projection volume, where a substantially three-dimensional object can be illuminated.

The most commonly used projection screens are solid projection screens, such as a movie screen. However, also non-solid projection screens can be found from related art. Such a non-solid projection screen is typically formed of fog. The fog can be sprayed from nozzles wherein images, or the like, can be projected on the thereby generated planar fog surface. The fog being generated may be supported with air flows that limit the fog flow between the air curtains as planar as possible.

Publication US 6,819,487 discloses a solution by means of which the projection screen will be planar, and the fog and transfer flows will stay laminar. In this solution, the screen forming apparatus is provided with a supply means for spreading the fog to the transfer flow. When supply means is in the form of tubes arranged in a matrix form, or a perforated sheet or a grating, the fog will condense onto walls of the supply means. This will be a drawback to such apparatuses that form the projection screen underneath the apparatus. This means that the condensed fog will eventually drip as water, and if floor is below the apparatus, the floor may become slippery. This will obviously have impact on the safety, but also on the aesthetic nature of the show room. Some of the apparatuses may comprise an additional suction device for collecting the dripping water, but this makes the apparatuses more complex. Therefore it seems that the prior art lacks a solution by means of which dripping water can be easily avoided without additional suction carpets, rags or devices.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention aims to solve the previous problem by means of a screen forming apparatus, a method for a screen forming apparatus and a supply means for screen forming apparatus.

An example of the screen forming apparatus being configured to produce a transfer flow and a fog flow to be transferred by said transfer flow, comprises supply means for delivering at least the fog flow, wherein the part of the supply means delivering the fog flow is configured to be dried by said transfer flow.

Another example of the screen forming apparatus comprises supply means that are arranged movable in relation to the transfer flow.

Yet another example of the screen forming apparatus produces transfer flow that is composed of air.

Yet another example of the screen forming apparatus comprises a fog nozzle for producing the fog flow and blowers for producing the transfer flow. Yet another example of the screen forming apparatus comprises a supply means having a width at least two times wider than an opening of the fog nozzle.

An example of the method for a screen forming apparatus comprises producing a transfer flow and a fog flow to be transferred by said transfer flow, delivering at least the fog flow by a supply means and drying at least the part of the supply means delivering the fog flow by said transfer flow.

An example of the supply means for a screen forming apparatus being configured to produce a transfer flow and a fog flow to be transferred by said transfer flow, is configured to deliver at least the fog flow, wherein at least the part of the supply means delivering the fog flow is configured to be dried by said transfer flow.

By means of the present solution, the condensed fog can be dried from the supply means before it drips from the apparatus. Therefore, the apparatus can be kept simply because no additional suction devices are needed. In addition, there is no need to place any suction carpet or similar under the apparatus, whereby the show room or similar space, will be presentable.

Description of the Drawings

The invention will be described in more detail in the following and with reference to the appended drawings, in which

Figures 1a, 1 b illustrate an example of a screen forming apparatus,

Figures 2a — 2c illustrate another example of a screen forming apparatus,

Figure 3 illustrates yet another example of a screen forming apparatus, and Figure 4 illustrates an example of a screen forming apparatus seen from the front of the apparatus.

Detailed Description of the Invention

This invention concerns an apparatus for forming a projection screen or a projection volume. An example of the apparatus is illustrated in very simplified manner in Figures 1a and 1 b. The apparatus 1 of this example produces a transfer flow 3 that can be formed of gas, such as air (Fig. 1 b). The apparatus 1 also produces a flow of scattering centres within the transfer flow 3 so that the scattering centres move along the transfer flow 3 in the inner part of the transfer flow. In this example the flow of scattering centres is fog flow 2. This combination of transfer flow 3 and fog flow 2 generates the projection screen or volume onto which moving and/or still images or luminous effect 4 may be projected by a movie projector, a video or a computer projector, a luminous effect device, laser device or similar. Figure 1a represents the apparatus 1 from the front, whereas Figure 1 b is a sideview of the apparatus 1 representing the different flows in more detailed manner.

Figure 2a illustrates another example of the screen forming apparatus 1 as a sideview (Figure 4 illustrates similar configuration of the screen forming apparatus seen from the front). In this example, the transfer flow is produced by a flow device, such as two blowers 15, and the fog flow is produced by a nozzle 16. It is also possible to have different number of blowers 15, e.g. one or more than two. If one blower is used, then the flog nozzle 15 can be located inside the blower. If the screen forming apparatus comprises more than two blowers, they can be placed next to the fog nozzle 15. The number of blowers and fog nozzles should not necessarily be interpreted as a limiting feature for the present invention. What is important, is the way they generate the projection screen or volume. The generated flows are transmitted via supply means 10 to the place where the screen is to be created. The purpose of the supply means 10 is to make the transfer flow and the fog flow substantially laminar. The supply means can be formed of tubes arranged in a matrix form, or the supply means can be a perforated sheet or a grating or another material-releasing organ or structure applicable for the present purpose. The supply means 10 can be made of thin aluminium or any other suitable material. An example of the supply means 10 is presented in Figure 2b seen from a direction opposite to the flow direction of the transfer and the fog flow. In this figure, the supply means 10 comprises cells 11 via which the transfer flow and the fog flow are transmitted.

As described in the background part of the present application, the fog delivered via supply means condenses onto walls of the supply means. As a result of this, the supply means drop water every now and then. The water does not harm the projection screen but wets anything under the projection screen apparatus.

The basic idea of the invention is to use the transfer blow produced by the blowers 15 and generated for transferring the fog also for drying the supply means 10. In order to achieve this purpose, the supply means 10 can be arranged movable in relation to the transfer flow. In figure 2a it is presented that the supply means 10 are provided with wheels 12 that make the supply means movable. The moving can be controlled simply by a linear stepper motor 13 and flexible push-pull cable 14 (Figure 2c). In Fig. 2c, the motor 13 is located in connection to the fog nozzle 16. However, it is appreciated that the motor 13 may be located in other place as well. As a result of this solution, the supply means 10, or at least that part of the supply means that supplies the fog, is moved under influence of the blowers 15. Therefore, the supply means 10 will be dried before dropping the water.

Instead of a supply means 10 that covers both the transfer flows and the fog flows, the supply means may be provided only for fog flow as illustrated in Figure 3. In such a configuration and for the purpose of the invention, the width of the supply means 10 (see Figure 3, segment

"w") has to have a size of at least two times the size of the opening "o" of the fog nozzle 16. Therefore, when the other half of the supply means 15 can be used for supplying fog, while the other half is being dried. However, in the preferred example the width of the supply means 15 is three times bigger than that of opening of the fog nozzle 16. The moving can also be preferably done in a two-way enabling the total drying time to be the same all over the supply means 15.

The moving of the supply means 15 has to be made slowly enough not to have a negative visual effect on the screen quality. A typical moving speed can be 1 cm in 1 minute. It is appreciated that any other amount is possible as well, as long as the screen quality can be maintained.

It is appreciated that instead of moving the supply means or a part of it, also fog nozzle and the blowers may be moved. However, the drawback of this configuration is that the screen being formed will be moved accordingly.

In the previous example the supply means is dried by means of blowing. In addition to the blowing, also other methods may be used. For example, the apparatus may have an additional heating system (e.g. infra-red) that makes the drying process more effective.

The present invention was described above by means of examples. It is appreciated that the examples were provided for understanding purposes. Therefore, the configuration of the screen forming apparatus may vary depending on the situation. The screen forming apparatus may also comprise additional functions that enhance the performance of the apparatus. For example, the screen forming apparatus may be provided with a projector for projecting image material to the screen.

Claims

Claims:

1. An screen forming apparatus (1 ) being configured to produce a transfer flow (3) and a fog flow (2) to be transferred by said transfer flow (3), the apparatus comprising supply means (10) for delivering at least the fog flow (2), characterized in that, at least the part of the supply means (10) delivering the fog flow (2) is configured to be dried by said transfer flow (3).

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , characterized in that the supply means (10) is arranged movable in relation to the transfer flow (3).

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transfer flow (3) is composed of air.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, characterized in that the supply means (10) is configured to deliver also the transfer flow (3).

5. The apparatus according to any of the claims 1 — 4, characterized by a fog nozzle (16) for producing the fog flow (2).

6. The apparatus according to any of the claim 1 — 5, characterized by blowers for producing the transfer flow (3).

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the width of the supply means (10) is at least two times wider than an opening of the fog nozzle (16).

8. A method for a screen forming apparatus (1 ), the method comprising

- producing a transfer flow (3),

- producing a fog flow (2) to be transferred by said transfer flow (3),

- delivering at least the fog flow (2) by a supply means (10), characterized in that, the method further comprising

- drying the at least the part of the supply means (10) delivering the fog flow (2) by said transfer flow (3).

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the method comprises moving at least the part of the supply means (10) delivering the fog flow (2) under influence of said transfer flow (3).

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that in the method the transfer flow (3) is composed of air.

11. The method according to any of the claims 8 — 10, characterized by delivering also the transfer flow (3) by said supply means (10).

12. A supply means (10) for a screen forming apparatus (1 ), said apparatus being configured to produce a transfer flow (3) and a fog flow (2) to be transferred by said transfer flow (3), wherein the supply means (10) is configured to deliver at least the fog flow (2), characterized in that, at least the part of the supply means (10) delivering the fog flow (2) is configured to be dried by said transfer flow (3).

13. The supply means according to claim 12, characterized in that the supply means (10) is arranged movable in relation to the transfer flow (3).