Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Luminar, LLC

Sean P Hughes

John G Hughes

Nicholas Ventola

Christopher A Engberg

John P Engberg, Jr

A scanner for a lidar system is configured to direct emitted light to scan a field of regard of the lidar system in accordance with a scan pattern. The scanner includes a mirror and an actuator assembly. The mirror includes a reflective surface and a rear surface and is pivotable along a mirror axle. The actuator assembly is disposed along the rear surface of the mirror and is configured to exert a torque on the mirror to cause the mirror to pivot about the mirror axle.

Imaging system having coil on mirror actuator

A lidar system includes a light source configured to produce a beam of light, a scanner configured to scan a field of regard of the lidar system, and a receiver configured to detect light from the beam of light scattered by a remote target. The scanner includes a polygon mirror having a block with a first wall, a second wall, and several reflective surfaces angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the block, the polygon mirror configured to rotate about a scan-mirror rotation axis to scan the beam of light across the field of regard. The scanner further includes a bracket adjacent to the polygon mirror, where at least one of the polygon mirror or the bracket includes a noise-reducing feature configured to reduce acoustic noise produced when pressure waves generated by the polygon mirror during rotation are incident on one or more components of the scanner.

Lidar system with a polygon mirror and a noise-reducing feature

A lidar system comprises a light source to emit pulses of light, a scanner, a receiver, and a controller. The scanner includes a rotatable polygon mirror with reflective surfaces, the reflective surfaces being angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the block. The scanner further includes a polygon mirror axle extending into the block, about which the block rotates, a rotary encoder having a rotational component with an axis of rotation aligned with the polygon mirror axle, the rotational component having one or more characteristics configured to cause the rotary encoder to return a signal, and a second mirror pivotable along an axis orthogonal to the polygon mirror axle. The controller is configured to determine a rotational parameter of the polygon mirror in response to the signal returned from the rotary encoder.

Monitoring rotation of a mirror in a lidar system

A lidar system includes a light source configured to produce a first and second beams of light, receivers to configured to detect light from the first and second beams of light and scattered by one or more remote targets, and a scanner including a first scan mirror configured to pivot along a first-mirror pivot axis to scan the first beam of light along a first direction, a second scan mirror configured to pivot along a second-mirror pivot axis to scan the second beam of light along the first direction, and a polygon with multiple reflective surfaces configured to rotate about a polygon-mirror rotation axis to scan the first and second beams of light along a second direction.

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Belle Isle, FL, United States of America

Sean P Hughes