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MicroVision ShowWX+ HDMI Laser Pico Projector

Info
Info

Here’s the teardown of the projector itself! On the right is the info label from the projector, which covers the flex ribbon to the VGA/composite input board below.

This unit is held together with Allen screws, but is easy to get apart.

 

PicoP Display Engine
PicoP Display Engine

Here’s the insides of the projector, with just the top cover removed. The main board can be seen under the shielding can, the Micro HDMI connector is on the left & the MicroUSB connection is on the right. The USB connection is solely for charging the battery & provides no data interface to the unit.

On top of the main board is the shield can covering the PicoP Display Engine driver board, this shield was soldered on so no peek inside unfortunately!

Laser Module
Laser Module

The laser module itself is in the front of the unit, the laser assemblies are closest to the camera, on the left is the Direct Doubled Green module, in the centre is the blue diode, and the red diode on the right. Inside the module itself is an arrangement of mirrors & beamsplitters, used to combine the RGB beams from the lasers into a single beam to create any colour in the spectrum.

Module Innards
Module Innards

 

Here is the module innards revealed, the laser mounts are at the top of the screen, the green module is still mounted on the base casting.
The three dichroic mirrors in the frame do the beam combining, which is then bounced onto the mirror on the far left of the frame, down below the MEMs. From there a final mirror directs the light onto the MEMs scanning mirror before it leaves through the output window.

A trio of photodiodes caters for beam brightness control & colour control, these are located behind the last dichroic turning mirror in the centre of the picture.

Green Module Cavity
Green Module Cavity

This is inside the green laser module, showing the complexity of the device. This laser module is about the size of a UK 5p coin!

Green Module Labeled
Green Module Labeled

 

 

 

 

 

And here on the left is the module components labelled.

 

Main PCB Top
Main PCB Top

Here is the main PCB, with the unit’s main ARM CPU on the right, manufactured by ST.

User buttons are along the sides.

 

Main PCB Bottom
Main PCB Bottom

Other side of the main board, with ICs that handle video input from the HDMI connector, battery charging via the USB port & various other management.