Rotating polygon mirror assembly with an interior motor

Claim 2

A rotating mirror assembly, comprising an electric motor having a shaft rotated thereby about an axis of rotation at a constant angular velocity, said shaft extending out of at least one end of said motor, a stationary housing enclosing said motor in a manner to permit rotating shaft to extend therethrough at one end thereof, a mirror element including a plurality of planar reflective outside surfaces that are parallel to a center axis of said mirror element, said plurality of reflective outside surfaces joined together to form a regular polygon when viewed in crosssection across a plane that is perpendicular to the mirror center axis, said mirror element being closed at one end thereof across a plane perpendicular to said mirror center axis while being otherwise substantially hollow and open at its other end, and means for fixedly attaching said mirror element at its said closed end to the motor shaft portion extending beyond said housing in a manner that said axis of rotation and said mirror element center axis are coincident and in a manner that said plurality of reflective outside surfaces surround at least a portion of said housing.

Claim 3

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 1 wherein said means for attaching said mirror element to said rotating shaft includes a mounting flange rigidly connected to said shaft for rotation therewith interior of said mirror element closed end and means for connecting said mirror element closed end to said flange in a manner that it may be tilted with respect thereto for adjusting the center axis of said mirror element with respect to the axis of rotation of said shaft.

Claim 4

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 1 wherein said rotating shaft is journaled to said housing at two positions, one position being where said shaft extends through said housing and another position being on an opposite side of the motor at an opposite side of said housing.

Claim 5

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 1 wherein the mirror element and housing are held relative to one another to form a space therebetween for air flow.

Claim 6

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 1 wherein at least a portion of said housing is constructed of a ferromagnetic material for efficiently shielding an environment outside of said mirror assembly from said motor and said mirror element is constructed substantially entirely of non-ferromagnetic material.

Claim 7

A rotating mirror assembly, comprising a housing, at least a portion of which is constructed of a ferromagnetic material, an electric motor within said housing, and a mirror element constructed substantially entirely of non-ferromagnetic material and having a plurality of mirror reflective elements joined together to form a shell extending from an end piece, said mirror element being operably connected to said motor for rotation thereby and further being positioned to cover at least a portion of said housing.

Claim 8

A rotating mirror assembly, comprising a housing, at least a portion of which is constructed of a ferromagnetic material, an electric motor within said housing, and a mirror element constructed substantially entirely of non-ferromagnetic material and having a plurality of mirror reflective elements joined together to form a shell extending from an end piece, said mirror element being operably connected to said motor for rotation thereby and further being positioned to cover at least a portion of said housing.

Claim 9

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 6 wherein said motor is an alternating current synchronous motor designed for operation at 60 Hz.

Claim 10

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 6 wherein said mirror element is formed substantially of aluminum that is coated with a highly reflective material on its outside surfaces.

Claim 11

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 6 wherein said plurality of mirror reflective surfaces on said mirror element includes exactly six planar reflective surfaces joined together at their sides thereof in a manner that a cross-sectional shape is a regular polygon.

Claim 12

In an infrared electromagnetic energy detecting thermograph contained within a single package and having a rotating polygon mirror assembly for scanning an image in a horizontal direction across a single element detector, a rocking mirror assembly for scanning said image vertically across said detector, a cathode ray tube for displaying an optical image of said object field, video processing circuits for operably connecting said detector with said cathode ray tube, and scanning circuits for synchronizing the scanning of an electron beam of said cathode ray tube with the mechanical motion of said rotating polygon and rocking vertical mirror assemblies, the improvement wherein said polygon mirror assembly comprises: an electric motor having a shaft rotated thereby about an axis of rotation, said shaft extending out of at least one end of said motor, a housing enclosing said motor in a manner to permit said rotating shaft to extend therethrough at one end thereof, at least a portion of said housing being constructed of a ferromagnetic material, and a mirror element including a plurality of planar reflective surfaces of equal rectilinear shape joined together with equal angles therebetween in a manner to form a hollow shell, said mirror element connected to said shaft at its extension beyond said housing in a manner that said reflective surfaces remain parallel with the axis of rotation of said shaft and so that said hollow shell encloses at least a portion of said housing, said mirror element additionally being formed substantially entirely of non-ferromagnetic material.

Claim 13

In an infrared electromagnetic energy detecting thermograph contained within a single package and having a rotating polygon mirror assembly for scanning an image in a horizontal direction across a single element detector, a rocking mirror assembly for scanning said image vertically across said detector, a cathode ray tube for displaying an optical image of said object field, video processing circuits for operably connecting said detector with said cathode ray tube, and scanning circuits for synchronizing the scanning of an electron beam of said cathode ray tube with the mechanical motion of said rotating polygon and rocking vertical mirror assemblies, the improvement wherein said polygon mirror assembly comprises: an electric motor having a shaft rotated thereby about an axis of rotation, said shaft extending out of at least one end of said motor, a housing enclosing said motor in a manner to permit said rotating shaft to extend therethrough at one end thereof, at least a portion of said housing being constructed of a ferromagnetic material, and a mirror element including a plurality of planar reflective surfaces of equal rectilinear shape joined together with equal angles therebetween in a manner to form a hollow shell, said mirror element connected to said shaft at its extension beyond said housing in a manner that said reflective surfaces remain parallel with the axis of rotation of said shaft and so that said hollow shell encloses at least a portion of said housing, said mirror element additionally being formed substantially entirely of non-ferromagnetic material.

Claim 14

An improved infrared thermograph according to claim 10 wherein said mirror element is constructed primarily of aluminum.

Claim 15

For an instrument having a scanning optical system installed in a single package along with video signal processing circuits, a rotating mirror assembly comprising: an electric motor having a shaft rotated thereby about an axis of rotation, said shaft extending out of at least one end of said motor, a ferromagnetic housing enclosing said motor in a manner to permit said rotating shaft to extend therethrough at one end thereof, a substantially non-ferromagnetic mirror element including a plurality of planar reflective outside surfaces that are parallel to a center axis of said mirror element and joined together to form a hollow cylinder-like shell, said cylinder-like mirror element being closed at one end thereof across a plane perpendicular to said mirror center axis while being open at its other end, and means for fixedly attaching said mirror element at its said closed end to the motor shaft portion extending beyond said housing in a manner that said axis of rotation and said mirror element center axis are coincident and in a manner that said cylinder-like mirror element surrounds at least a portion of said housing adjacent said one end of the housing.

Claim 16

For an instrument having a scanning optical system installed in a single package along with video signal processing circuits, a rotating mirror assembly comprising: an electric motor having a shaft rotated thereby about an axis of rotation, said shaft extending out of at least one end of said motor, a ferromagnetic housing enclosing said motor in a manner to permit said rotating shaft to extend therethrough at one end thereof, a substantially non-ferromagnetic mirror element including a plurality of planar reflective outside surfaces that are parallel to a center axis of said mirror element and joined together to form a hollow cylinder-like shell, said cylinder-like mirror element being closed at one end thereof across a plane perpendicular to said mirror center axis while being open at its other end, and means for fixedly attaching said mirror element at its said closed end to the motor shaft portion extending beyond said housing in a manner that said axis of rotation and said mirror element center axis are coincident and in a manner that said cylinder-like mirror element surrounds at least a portion of said housing adjacent said one end of the housing.

Claim 17

A rotating mirror assembly according to claim 12 wherein said mirror element attaching means comprises: a mounting flange rigidly connected to said shaft for rotation therewith interior of said mirror element, means for fixedly attaching said flange to the mirror element closed end, and adjustable spacer means attached to the mirror element closed end for setting the angle between the closed end of the mirror element and said flange, whereby the mirror element center axis may be adjusted with respect to the motor shaft axis of rotation.

Claim 18

In an electromagnetic imaging apparatus contained within a single package that includes an optical scanning system, an electromagnetic energy detector and video processing electronic circuits, a rotating mirror assembly comprising: a housing, at least a portion of which is constructed of a ferromagnetic material, an electric motor within said housing, and a mirror element constructed substantially entirely of non-ferromagnetic material and having a plurality of mirror reflective elements joined together to form a shell extending from an end piece, said mirror element being operably connected at its said end piece to said motor for rotation thereby and further being positioned to cover at least a portion of said housing.

Claim 19

In an electromagnetic imaging apparatus contained within a single package that includes an optical scanning system, an electromagnetic energy detector and video processing electronic circuits, a rotating mirror assembly comprising: a housing, at least a portion of which is constructed of a ferromagnetic material, an electric motor within said housing, and a mirror element constructed substantially entirely of non-ferromagnetic material and having a plurality of mirror reflective elements joined together to form a shell extending from an end piece, said mirror element being operably connected at its said end piece to said motor for rotation thereby and further being positioned to cover at least a portion of said housing.