Patent Application
20100085730
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a device for tools and, in particular, to an illuminating device for tools.
2. Related Art
As shown in
1. The conventional halogen light bulb consumes too much electrical power. Each one consumes about 50 W power on the average. The cost in electricity after a long time of usage will not be cost-effective.
2. The lifetime of the conventional halogen light bulb is short and about 2000 hours on the average. That means it burns out and needs to be replaced after 3 to 5 months.
3. When illuminating, a conventional halogen light bulb produces a lot of heat, resulting in a high temperature on its surface. The operator has the risk of carelessly being burned when he or she puts the object in position or replaces blades.
4. The conventional halogen light bulb uses AC power. The glaring phenomenon occurs when the power becomes too large. The flashing effect of he halogen light bulb is obvious. Therefore, the operator's eyes feel tired very easily.
5. The light emitted by the conventional halogen light bulb contains strong ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) components. If the operator is exposed to a working environment having such much radiation for a long time, his or her skin may be burned, even so seriously to get cancer. Moreover, the UV light greatly increases the possibility for the operator to have cataract. This is particularly apparent in workers who work near the lamps.
The halogen light bulb used by a usual machining tool has a relatively short distance to the object being processed in order to enhance the illumination effect. In addition to its high temperature, the halogen also produces high radiation heat due to its strong UV and IR components. Therefore, if the halogen light bulb shines on the object at a short distance for a long time, the material of the object may be altered due to the high radiation heat. This will result in thermal stress that changes the desired precision on the object being processed.
Although the light-emitting diode (LED) has the advantages of power saving and long lifetime, its brightness is generally insufficient for illumination in machining. As shown in
The invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned issues.
An objective of the invention is to provide an illuminating device for tools. It provides sufficient and homogeneous light at a better efficiency. It also eliminates the optical interference phenomenon.
Another objective of the invention is to provide an illuminating device for tools that has reduced power consumption and thus a longer lifetime.
Yet another objective of the invention is to provide an illuminating device for tools that has a lower temperature while working to ensure the worker's safety.
A fourth objective of the invention is to provide an illuminating device for tools that does not emit UV or IR radiation to harm human bodies.
A fifth objective of the invention is to provide an illuminating device for tools that has a lower radiation heat because it is a cold light source. This can effectively prevent the radiation heat from affecting the precision of object being processed.
A sixth objective of the invention is to provide an illuminating device for tools that effectively confines light beams from the LED lamp to avoid halos.
To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the invention discloses an illuminating device for a machining tool. The disclosed illuminating device uses a high-power and single-source LED made using the multi chip single module packaging technique. The illuminating device thus has longer lifetime, smaller power consumption, and lower temperature. Moreover, the emitted light does not contain UV and IR components. This design provides a cold and single light source, which can effectively prevent undesirable effects on the precision of the object being processed.
The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below illustration only, and thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements.
Please refer to
The light-emitting principle of the LED is to produce photons by combining the electrons and holes in a semiconductor. Unlike the usual halogen light bulb that produces a lot of heat while working and unlike the fluorescent light bulb that requires a high voltage to excite electrons, the LED works under a voltage of 24 V and the room temperature just like normal electronic devices.
Please refer to
One end of the base 22 is formed with an installation surface 221 for the installation of an LED module 28. The other end of the base 22 protrudes outwards with a plurality of heat-dissipating fins 222.
The outer shell 23 has a cylindrical shape with an accommodating space formed therein. Several heat-conductive fins 232 are disposed along a ring around the outer shell 23. Both ends of the outer shell 23 are connected with the environment, with one end connected to the installation surface 221 of the base 22. Therefore, the LED module 28 can be accommodated in the accommodating space 231 of the outer shell 23.
The reflective mask 24 has a long conic shape that has a large-diameter end 241 and a small-diameter end 242. The reflective mask 24 is coaxially installed in the accommodating space 231 in the outer shell 23. The reflective mask 24 urges against the installations surface 221 of the base 22 with its small-diameter end 242. The LED module 28 is disposed at the opening of the small-diameter end 242 of the reflective mask 24. Therefore, when the LED module 28 functions to produce light, the reflective mask 24 can deflect and converge the initially divergent light. The light emitted by the LED module 28 can thus travel in the same direction.
The lens 25 and the protective lens 26 constitute a lens set. They are installed in sequence on the large-diameter end 241 of the reflective mask 24. As shown in
After the light emitted by the LED module 28 is collected and converged by the reflective mask 24 and the lens 25, respectively, the beam is focused homogeneously on the object being processed. The fixing ring 27 is used to connect to the other end of the base 22 opposite to the outer shell 23. It fixes the protective lens 26, the lens 25, and the reflective mask 24 in the accommodating space 231 of the outer shell 23.
The disclosed LED module 28 has an LED lamp made using the multi chip single module packaging technique. The LED lamp is disposed on an aluminum substrate. Moreover, the LED lamp is formed with a plurality of light-emitting objects 281. When each of the light-emitting objects 281 on the LED lamp is activated by an electrical current, light is produced for the single high-power LED lamp. Since the light-emitting objects 281 are simultaneously disposed in a single LED lamp, the volume of the LED module 28 is greatly reduced. Furthermore, this is a single light source because the produced light points to a single direction, rendering sufficient and homogeneous light. It effectively avoids shadows due to interference. The emitted light is gentle, continuous, smooth, and close to the natural light. Therefore, the invention provides good illumination effects.
As shown in
As illustrated in
The light produced by the disclosed LED module 28 has high illumination. As the lens 25 has a microlens structure that can effectively converge and focus the light to the object in the machining area, sufficient illumination can be provided for the operator, avoiding the difficulty in machining because of insufficient light or halos. The quality and precision of machining can thus be improved.
It should be emphasized that the LED used herein is a high power LED to provide sufficient light. It has gentle, smooth, and continuous illumination. Moreover, it is close to the natural light. Therefore, it is an ideal light source. The color temperature of such an LED can be as high as 5000K and thus has better color quality.
Using the LED as the light source for the object in a machining tool has the following advantages:
1. The disclosed illuminating device uses the LED as its light source. Therefore, it has higher power, lower electrical power consumption, and better light-emitting efficiency. This effectively saves the electricity cost. Moreover, the light emitted by the LED has a fixed orientation, rendering better illuminating effects.
2. The invention employs the multi chip single module packaging technique to dispose several light-emitting objects on a single aluminum substrate simultaneously. In addition to greatly reducing the volume of the LED module, the light-emitting objects produce light in the same direction, amplifying the illumination. Such an illumination is also so uniform that no shadows are produced due to interference.
3. The LED used herein has longer lifetime, about 50000 hours on the average.
4. When the LED of the invention is turned on for illumination, its surface is never so hot to burn the operator's hand. Therefore, even if the worker carelessly touches the LED while disposing the object to be processed or replacing the blades, he or she would not be burned. The safety of the operators is thus enhanced.
5. The invention uses the LED as its light source. Since the light produced by the LED does not have UV or IR components, it is harmless to human bodies. The LED uses a low-voltage constant current. There are no such problems as glaring and flashing. It can illuminate a concentrated area with higher brightness and uniformity. Therefore, it has a better visual effect. The operator's eyes do not get tired even after watching for a long time. Its color temperature can achieve 5000K or more. Consequently, it has better quality in colors.
6. The light produced by the LED used in the invention does not contain UV or IR component. Its radiation heat is lower because it is a cold light source. Therefore, the invention can effectively prevent material deterioration due to high-temperature radiation or worse precision in the object due to thermal stress.
7. The lens used in the disclosed illuminating device has a refractive surface with positive curvature manufactured using the microlens structure. Therefore, light passing through it can be effectively converged to avoid the production of halos.
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.
