Lunarc II Fiber Optic Illuminator (2004)

The Lunarc II was designed and built by Jeremy Lutes. I did the CAD/CAM and CNC work for the 'honeycomb' heatsinks on the Lunarc II. The light source in this illuminator is comprised of one 3 watt Blue Luxeon LED, three 1 watt Green Luxeon LEDs, and two 1 watt Red Luxeon LEDs. The LEDs are controlled via a custom controlller/driver circuit. The controller allows for many color combinations and unique lighting effects.

This illuminator was a potential replacement for the Lunarc illuminator which uses an arc lamp as its light source. The Lunarc II requires much less power and runs cooler than the original Lunarc. However, we found that optical inefficiencies in the Lunarc II greatly reduced the light output of the illuminator. Recent advances in high power RGB LED technology have allowed me to continue the development of an illuminator that comes very close to the light output of the original Lunarc; this new illuminator is called Eos.

The Lunarc series of illuminators are used with fiber optic lightsuits, lighted costumes, and fixed fiber optic lighting installations. Unlike other commercial RGB fiber illuminators, the Lunarc II is wearable, fully controllable and can be reprogrammed in the field.