Why don't IR illuminators use reflectors for the IR light

[telc 0]

Is there a reason external IR illuminators don't use reflectors? They all seem to just be LED mounted to a board. If you were to take the same IR led and have one mounted on a board with no reflector and one mounted with a reflector with a reflectors I wonder what the difference would be.

 

If you were to mount a regular led light from a flashlight in the same way it won't close to the throw it has with a reflector.

[dvarapala 0]

You only need a reflector when the light source is omnidirectional and you want to force it to be more directional. Unlike an incandescent or fluorescent bulb, LEDs are inherently directional, hence no reflector is needed.

[kw23 0]

the reflector can be inside the LED