The present invention is directed to an LED (light emitting diode) light used as an omnidirectional visual indicator light such as an airfield light, aircraft obstruction light, or other beacon style light.
Commonly, beacon lights are made using a Fresnel lens revolved around a central light source. In the past, incandescent bulbs or other traditional light sources were used. More recently LEDs have been used as the light source.
This approach using a Fresnel lens suffers from several deficiencies. One deficiency arises because the outer surface of the Fresnel lens has optical features and is not smooth. Dirt and ice may accumulate and obstruct the light output. A second deficiency is the poor optical efficiency of the Fresnel lens when used with common high-power LEDs.
In addition, the high power LEDs are being used in more applications. However, high power LEDs generally emit light in a very wide angular pattern. This wide pattern does not work well with the revolved Fresnel lens because most of the high-angle light is not collected by the Fresnel lens.
The present invention relates generally to a compact omnidirectional light emitting diode (LED) light. In one embodiment, the compact omnidirectional LED light comprises a metal base including a stalk, a power supply coupled to the metal base, a reflector including one or more reflector cups coupled to the metal base and enclosing the power supply, an LED circuit board including one or more LEDs coupled to the reflector and a lens coupled to the metal base and enclosing the LED circuit board and the reflector, wherein the lens surface is smooth.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a compact omnidirectional LED light comprising a reflector comprising one or more reflector cups, an LED circuit board comprising one or more LEDs coupled to said reflector, a heat sink coupled to said LED circuit board, at least one LED coupled to said heat sink, a metal base comprising a stalk coupled to said reflector and a lens coupled to said metal base and enclosing said LED circuit board, said reflector, said heat sink and said at least one LED coupled to said heat sink, wherein said lens surface is smooth.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a reflector for use in a compact omnidirectional light emitting diode (LED) light comprising. The reflector comprises a cavity for enclosing a power supply, a means for coupling one or more LEDs to an opposite side of said cavity and one or more reflector cups made of metalized plastic opposite said cavity for receiving a respective one of said one or more LEDs. The one or more reflector cups comprise a conic shape and two different axes of curvature.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
Embodiments of the present invention resolve the above noted problems associated with using a combination of a high power LED and a Fresnel lens. For example, the present invention utilizes optical designs such metalized plastic reflectors or internal lenses to create a more efficient optical system. This allows the outer lens to be a simple smooth dome. The dome can be thin walled and have minimum features. This results in a lighter weight and lower cost product.
The metal base 104 may be designed to be fitted with various collars for various mounting configurations of the compact omnidirectional LED light 100 as illustrated in
In another embodiment illustrated in
The fully assembled compact omnidirectional LED light 100 with the collar 1202 is illustrated in
For example, using the collar 1202 illustrated in
An example of this configuration is illustrated in
In yet another embodiment, the compact omnidirectional LED light 100 fitted with the collar 1202 may be coupled to a housing 1600 for coupling to a conduit sideways. For example, the housing 1600 may include a threaded hole 1602 for coupling to a conduit or pipe. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a diameter of the threaded hole 1602 may be any diameter to match a diameter of the conduit or pipe that the housing 1600 will be coupled to.
Referring back to
The metal base 104 may also serve as a mounting means when the compact omnidirectional LED light 100 is required to be mounted onto the end of a conduit. In one embodiment, the metal base 104 comprises a threaded hole 128 for a pipe fitting. The threading diameter may be between 0.45 and 2.05 inches, for example, in order to provide appropriate support for the compact omnidirectional LED light 100.
Referring back to
The LED circuit board 108 may be, for example, a metal core circuit board. In another embodiment, the metal core board is a standard circuit board that is mounted to a metal plate. The metal core board is mounted to a metal stalk, described below, and, therefore, transfers heat to the metal stalk and out of the compact omnidirectional LED light 100.
In one embodiment, LEDs (not shown) are mounted on the LED circuit board 108. Thus, the LEDs are directed along an axis of the stalk and toward the metal base 104. The LEDs point downward into one of the four metalized plastic reflector cups 110. A shape of the metalized plastic reflector cups 110 may be designed so the light from the LEDs is distributed in a full 360° radial coverage. In one embodiment, there may be two posts 112 protruding upward to accurately position the LED circuit board 108 to the metalized plastic reflector 106.
In one embodiment, the one or more reflector cups 110 are conic or conic like with two axes of curvature. The curvatures along the two axes of curvature are not the same. In one embodiment, the two axes of curvature are angled relative to each other.
The curved cross sections are formed by projecting the reflector cross section along a curved trajectory. The curved trajectory is also known as a swept curvature. In one embodiment, the one or more reflector cups 110 can be continuous and form a circle or can be segmented depending on the radius of the curved trajectory and the number of reflector segments that are used. The reflector cups 110 can be concave or convex. The reflector cups 110 shown as an example in
The LEDs are at about 90 degrees with respect to reflector axes. Although the present illustration depicts a configuration for four LEDs, one skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be configured for any number of LEDs. The LED circuit board 108 may be secured to the metalized plastic reflector 106 via screws 114.
A wire harness 136 is illustrated at the bottom of the metalized plastic reflector 106. The wire harness 136 may be attached to the LED circuit board 108 and a power supply assembly (shown in
As illustrated in
Referring back to
As discussed above, the lens 102 may be smooth and free of optical features because of the unique design of the metalized plastic reflector 106 and the one or more reflector cups 110. The proper optical features to re-direct light emitted from the one or more LEDs is provided mostly by the metalized plastic reflector 106 and the one or more reflector cups. This reduces the cost and weight of the lens 102, thus providing a cheaper and more efficient compact omnidirectional LED light 100.
In addition, as illustrated by
The heat sink 128 may be positioned between the LED circuit board 108 and the upward directed LED 130 for mounting and thermal purposes. In one embodiment, the heat sink 128 may be star shaped. The upward directed LED 130 may be mounted to the heat sink 128 via screws 134. The heat sink 128 may be mounted to the LED circuit board 108 via screws 132.
While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of a preferred embodiment should not be limited by any of the above-described embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/971,793, filed on Sep. 12, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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