Patent Application
20170336037
This invention relates generally to lighting systems and is particularly related to lighting systems for illuminating various structures such as commercial buildings, stores, homes and other objects. More particularly, this invention relates to a strip of lighting having increased unidirectional intensity capable of emitting greater light intensity in one predetermined direction.
The use of lighting strips for illumination of various structures have become increasingly popular in recent years. One example of such lighting strip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,115,858 B2 issued on Aug. 25, 2015. This patent describes an extended strip of lights emitting diode (LED) which strip has a protective covering with the light for the LED directed from all directions of the strip (see FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the patent). Since the LED light strip is within a transparent protective covering on all sides of the strip, the lights emitted from the LED strip have more limited illumination intensity through each side from a given power source. Frequently, it is desirable to transmit light from a strip of LEDs in one direction only in order to increase the intensity of the illuminated light from a given power source without scattering the light in other directions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an extended strip of a light source which transmits the light from the light source in one direction.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an extended length of light emitting diode (LED) light strip which has one transparent covering side for permitting the passage of lights therethrough and the other sides being opaque to block the passage of lights through the opaque sides of the strip.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an extended length of an LED light strip having unidirectional light transmitting characteristics in order to focus the transmitted lights in one direction only, thus conserving electric power by preventing transmittal of lights in other directions.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and accompanying drawings.
A lighting system is provided for illuminating outer structure with greater intensity by ensuring that the system directs the light in one predetermined direction thus avoiding scattering the light in other directions. The lighting system of this invention is a strip of elongated flexible plastic which has a transparent top surface while the bottom surface and the sides are opaque to prevent passage of light. A series of light emitting diodes are placed in a spaced apart relationship on the top surface in contact with a pair of spaced electric wires, and corresponding plurality of bulbs are positioned on each light emitting diode. When electric current is passed through the wires, each LED is illuminated and light is directed to the bulbs and in turn is emitted to the outside in one predetermined direction. Thus, this system can transmit light in one direction with higher intensity than transmittal of light in several directions.
Referring to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate like parts,
As shown in
Superimposed on each LED, and in electrical contact therewith is a bulb 31 formed from a transparent plastic attached to a generally U-shape base having an upper arm 31a and spaced apart lower arm 31b, with each arm having a central opening (not shown) aligned with each other and with opening 31c at the bottom of the bulb 31 to permit light transmittal from each LED to pass through said opening 31c into said bulb for transmittal from each bulb 31 to the surroundings in one pre-selected direction. As seen from
In the lighting system hereinbefore described the extended strip 21 is a strip of flexible PVC although it may be made of other flexible materials so long as it has one transparent covering side and opaque sides as well as opaque under covering, i.e., the opposite side of the transparent covering sides. This will insure that the light transmitted by the LED's will be transmitted in one direction only with higher intensity than would otherwise be possible if all sides of the extended strip 21 were transparent to passage of light.
The length of the extended strip 21 may be several feet, depending upon the structure being illuminated and the number of LED's may be varied as desired for providing the desired degree of illumination. Also, while the bulbs used for transmitting the light from the LED's 31 on electrical strip 21 have been described with certain degree of particularity and shape, other light transmitting bulbs may be used so long as each bulb is in contact with an LED and is capable of transmitting the light emitted by each LED to its associated bulb and through the bulb directed toward the desired structure.
While the system of the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity other obvious modifications may be made which are suggested from the detailed description herein.
