Patent Grant
9360193
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting diode (LED) tube and an LED tube fastener therefor, and more particularly to an LED tube fastener securely mounted on an LED tube to prevent the LED tube from bending toward the ground due to gravitational force and an LED tube having the LED tube fastener.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tube lights are one of the most extensively used lighting equipment in the modern world. To keep abreast with technological development, manufacturers produce a multitude of tube lights with different specifications. Some manufacturers start providing tube lights with prolonged lengths for increasing lighting range of the tube lights.
However, when the tube lights exceed a certain length, the middle portion of the tube lights away from two ends of the tube lights fails to stand the gravitational force of the tube lights and is thus bent toward the ground because of insufficient material strength of the tube lights.
With reference to
The drawback of the foregoing solution resides in that lighting of the tube light 80 is partially blocked by the tube clamp 90 as the tube clamp is mounted around a part of the tube light 80, leading to a reduced lighting range.
Moreover, the portion of the lamp fixture 92 fastened by the tube clamp 90 must be machined by processes, such as drilling, screw tightening and the like, before the tube clamp 90 can be fastened on the lamp fixture 92, making the job of mounting the tube clamp inconvenient.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a light-emitting diode (LED) tube fastener and an LED tube using the LED tube fastener that block no lighting range of the LED tube and can be easily mounted.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the LED tube has a tube and at least one LED tube fastener.
Each one of the at least one LED tube fastener has a body and a magnetic core.
The body is mounted on a top of the tube and has at least one insertion leg mounted into a bottom of the body.
The magnetic core is magnetically and adjustably attached to a top of the body.
Given the foregoing LED tube, a bottom portion of the tube of the LED tube faces an area intended to be illuminated, two end portions of the tube are inserted into a lamp fixture, the at least one LED tube fastener is mounted on at least one portion of the LED tube that is prone to bending, and the magnetic core of each one of the at least one LED tube fastener faces up toward the lamp fixture. Regular lamp fixture is usually made of a magnetically attracted metal material such that each one of the at least one LED tube fastener employs at least one insertion leg on a top thereof to be connected to the LED tube and the magnetic core to magnetically connect the lamp fixture, so as to support portions of the LED tube that are prone to bending, share partial weight of the LED tube, and avoid bending of the LED tube due to the weight of the LED tube. Each one of the at least one LED tube fastener is mounted between a top portion of the LED tube and the lamp fixture without contacting the bottom portion of the tube. In other words, structurally, each one of the at least one LED tube fastener will neither block the bottom portion of the tube nor reduce the lighting range of the LED tube. As each one of the at least one LED tube fastener is magnetically attached to the lamp fixture using the magnetic core, mounting each one of the at least one LED tube fastener does not need to change the structure of the lamp fixture, thereby facilitating easy mounting of each one of the at least one LED tube fastener.
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
With reference to
The heat sink 30 is elongated, is slidably mounted in the elongated breach 22 of the tube shell 20, and has a top surface 31 and a bottom surface 32. The top surface 31 aligns with the elongated breach 22 of the tube shell 20 and has multiple heat-dissipating fins 311, a sliding channel 312 and an indentation 313. The heat-dissipating fins 311 are formed on and protrude upwards from the top surface 31 and are spaced apart from each other by a gap. The sliding channel 312 is longitudinally formed in two proximal walls of two adjacent ones of the head-dissipating fins 311 across an axial length of the heat sink 30. The indentation 313 is longitudinally formed in top edges of the two adjacent heat-dissipating fins 311 that have the sliding channel 312.
The tube shell 20 further has two first holding ribs 24, two second holding ribs 25 and two first sliding channels 26. The two first holding ribs 24 are respectively formed on and protrude inwards from two axial edges of the covering wall 23. The two second holding ribs 25 are formed on and protrude horizontally and inwards from two opposites positions on an inner periphery of the covering wall 23 and are located under the first holding ribs 24. Each first sliding channel 26 is formed between the first holding rib 24 and the second holding rib 25 adjacent to each other. The heat sink 30 has two sliding ridges 321 respectively formed on and protruding downwards from a bottom of the heat sink 30 to correspond to and to be slidably mounted into the respective first sliding channels 26 of the tube shell 20. Two sliding slots 322 are oppositely formed in two inner sides of the two sliding ridges 321.
The tube 10 further has an LED light board 40 and two lamp caps 50. The LED light board 40 is mounted on the bottom of the heat sink 30 to dissipate heat generated from the LED light board 40 to the heat-dissipating fins 311 of the heat sink 30. The LED light board 40 has two electrical connection parts 411 and multiple LED elements 42. The two electrical connection parts 411 are formed on the LED light board 40 and are adjacent to one end 41 of the LED light board 40 corresponding to one of the end openings 21 of the tube shell 20. In the present embodiment, the LED light board 40 is slidably mounted in the heat sink 30 through the two sliding slots 322.
The two lamp caps 50 are respectively mounted around the two end openings 21 of the tube shell 20. Each lamp cap 50 has an open side, a closed side, two electrode terminals 51, multiple fin-fixing portions 52 and a screw 53. The two electrode terminals 51 are mounted through the closed end of the lamp cap 50 in a direction from the closed end to the open end, and are electrically connected to the respective electrical connection parts 411. Each fin-fixing portion 52 is formed on an inner wall of the lamp cap 50 to correspond to the gap between two adjacent ones of the heat-dissipating fins 311 such that the fin-fixing portions 52 respectively engage the heat-dissipating fins 311 to further fix the lamp cap 50 when the lamp cap 50 is mounted around a corresponding end opening 21 of the tube shell 20. The screw 53 has a head 54 and a stud 55. The head 54 is formed on one end of the stud 55. The other end of the stud 55 is mounted into the lamp cap 50 through the sliding channel 312 of the heat sink 30 until the head 54 abuts against an outer end face of the closed end of the lamp cap 50, thereby fastening the lamp cap 50 to one end of the tube 10.
With reference to
When the LED tube is in use, the magnetic cores 62 are adjustably and magnetically attached to appropriate locations for adjusting heights of the LED tube fasteners 60 in a vertical direction to match a distance between the heat sink 30 and the lamp fixture 70. The LED tube fasteners 60 are slidably positioned at locations of the LED tube that are structurally prone to bending, so as to support the LED tube and prevent the LED tube from being bent by its weight.
With reference to
From the foregoing description, all embodiments of the LED tube fasteners 60 only employ the insertion legs 611 to connect with the backlight surface of the LED tube in accordance with the present invention without blocking the tube shell 20. Hence, the LED tube fasteners 60 will not affect the lighting range of the LED tube in accordance with the present invention. Furthermore, the top sides of the LED tube fasteners 60 facing the lamp fixture 70 can be attached to the lamp fixture 70 by magnetic force of the magnetic bores 62. There is no need to alter the design of the lamp fixture 70 for matching the LED tube fasteners 60. Accordingly, the LED tube fasteners 60 are more conveniently mountable than conventional tube clamps.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8727586 | Wakimoto | May 2014 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20150077983 A1 | Mar 2015 | US |
