Patent Grant
7635206
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting device, and more particularly to a light emitting diode lighting device that achieves greater convergence of light beams.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditional light bulbs are tungsten light bulbs for light emitting sources for conventional lighting devices. However, light emitting diodes (LEDs) are replacing traditional bulbs in many applications for lighting devices, such as headlights, fog lights, turn-signal lights, brake lights or the like, because LEDs have longer useful lives, require less electricity than tungsten light bulbs and have faster reaction times.
Conventional LED headlights comprise reflector headlights and projector headlights.
A conventional reflector headlight comprises a reflector and an LED. The reflector has a reflecting front. The reflecting front is parabolic-shaped. The LED is mounted on the center of the reflecting front of the reflector so some of the light beams emitted by the LED will be reflected from the conventional reflector headlight.
A conventional projector headlight comprises a reflector, a base and an LED. The reflector has a reflecting front. The reflecting front is parabolic-shaped. The base is mounted horizontally in and covered by the reflecting front of the reflector. The LED is mounted on the base so some of the light beams emitted by the LED will be reflected from the conventional projector headlight.
However, an incident angle of each light beam is different from the incident angles of other light beams, and further, different incident angles of the light beams result in different reflecting angles of the reflected light beams based on the laws of reflection. Accordingly, light beams reflected from the conventional reflector headlights and projector headlights are scattered. Consequently, the scattered light beams ineffectively visible at greater distance.
A solution for resolving the short radiation distance of the conventional reflector headlights and projector headlights is xenon headlights. The xenon headlights are brighter, and light beams emitted by the xenon headlights have a longer radiation distance than the radiation distance of the light beams emitted from the conventional reflector headlights and projector headlights. However, the xenon headlights are larger than the conventional reflector headlights and projector headlights.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a light emitting diode lighting device that achieves greater convergence of light beams to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the invention is to provide a light emitting diode (LED) lighting device that achieves greater convergence of light beams.
An LED lighting device in accordance with the present invention comprises a base, a hood, an LED module, a light gathering element and a lens. The base has a container having an inner bottom. The inner bottom comprises a parallel surface and a mounting surface being connected to the parallel surface at an included angle. The hood has a reflective inner surface and is mounted in the container of the base. The LED module is mounted on the mounting surface of the container in the base, is covered by the hood and emits light beams at various angles. The light gathering element is mounted on the LED module to reflect light beams not emitted directly to the inner surface of the hood to ensure a greater percentage of light is reflected by the reflective surface to increase brightness of the LED lighting device.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The base (10) has a top, multiple optional fins (12), a front opening, a container (11) and an optional retaining wall (13) and may be a material having high thermal conductivity. The top of the base (10) may be curved to correspond to a light mount, such as a light mount in a vehicle. The fins (12) are formed on the top of the base (10). The container (11) has an inner top and an inner bottom. The inner top of the container (11) may be curved to correspond to the top of the base (10). The inner bottom of the container (11) comprises a parallel surface and a mounting surface. The mounting surface connects to the inner top of the container (11). The parallel surface is disposed parallelly with a direction of light beam and protrudes from the mounting surface at an included angle. The included angle between the mounting surface and the parallel surface may be 20 degrees. The retaining wall (13) is formed perpendicularly on the parallel surface of the inner bottom adjacent to the mounting surface of the container (11).
The hood (20) has a reflective inner surface, is mounted securely in the container (11), covers the inner bottom of the base (10), may be curved to correspond to the inner top of the container (11), may be mounted using fasteners onto the parallel surface of the container (11) and may have two slots (21). The slots (21) correspond to and are mounted securely on the retaining wall (13) to ensure the hood (20) is held stably in the container (11).
The LED module (30) is mounted on the mounting surface of the inner bottom of the container (11), is covered by the hood (20) and comprises a circuit board (31) and at least one LED (32). The circuit board (31) is mounted on the mounting surface of the inner bottom of the container (11). The LED (32) is mounted on the circuit board (31) and emits multiple light beams at various angles, the light beams may be characterized as being: a first group of light beams, a second group of light beams and a third group of light beams.
The first group of light beams are emitted directly at the reflective inner surface of the hood (20) and are reflected through the front opening of the base (10) by the reflective inner surface of the hood (20).
The light gathering element (40) is mounted on the LED module (30) and has at least one LED mount (41). Each LED mount (41) corresponds to one LED (32) to allow a corresponding LED (32) to be mounted through the LED mount (41) and has an inner edge and an inclined surface (411) formed around the inner edge of the LED mount (41). With further reference to
The lens (50) is connected to the hood (20), covers the front opening of the base (10) to allow the first and second group of light beams reflected by the reflective inner surface of the hood (20) to pass through and be focused, may be made of acrylic, may be curved, awl shaped, half oval shaped or half circle shaped and has diffusion capability to diffuse the light beams passed through the lens (50) to increase illuminating range of the LED lighting device.
From the foregoing description, the first and second groups of light beams emitting through the front opening of the base (10) are focused together because the second group of light beams are reflected at the reflective inner surface of the hood (20) beside the first group of light beams. Therefore, the LED lighting device in accordance with the present invention emits more focused light beams than conventional projector headlights and reflector headlights so the illuminating range of the LED lighting device of the present invention is longer than conventional LED lighting devices since more light beams are reflected through the lens. Moreover, the LED lighting device of the present invention is smaller than conventional xenon headlights because LEDs are still implemented.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6945672 | Du et al. | Sep 2005 | B2 |
| 6948836 | Ishida et al. | Sep 2005 | B2 |
| 7341366 | Iwasaki | Mar 2008 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090168428 A1 | Jul 2009 | US |
