Patent Application
20140111084
The invention relates to a lighting device, and more particularly to an organic light-emitting diode lighting device.
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted extensive attention in display and lighting applications since they have several advantages such as self-luminous, low power source consumption and fast response time. OLED electrically excites a light-emitting layer of a fluorescent or phosphorescent organic compound to emit light.
A conventional OLED lighting device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,964 or U.S. Pat. No. 8,154,200, in which a cap is fixed to a substrate so as to protect the OLED element on the substrate by the cap and the substrate. Moreover, electrodes of the OLED element have contact portions extending to outside of the cap, for electrically connecting with an external power source, so that the OLED element is driven to emit light.
However, since the clamps 17 of the external power source do not completely cover the contact portions 121,141, the contact portions 121, 141 are exposed partially and thus they are easily contacted by other conductive object inadvertently. This leads to a short-circuit problem by conduction of the contact portions 121, 141. Moreover, since the clamps 17 themselves have conductive properties, they also have the risk of causing short-circuit.
One object of the invention is to provide an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting device, so as to solve the short-circuit problem of the conventional OLED lighting device.
The invention provides an OLED lighting device, including an organic light emitting unit and a power supply unit. The organic light emitting unit has a substrate, and a first electrode layer, an organic light emitting layer and a second electrode layer are sequentially laminated on the substrate. The first electrode layer and second electrode layer have a first contact portion and a second contact portion extending toward the periphery of the substrate, respectively. The power supply unit has a plurality of power supply elements. Each power supply element includes a conductive terminal portion and an insulating portion. Each conductive terminal portion has an inner surface and an outer surface opposite to the inner surface. These inner surfaces are correspondingly connected to and completely cover the first contact portion and the second contact portion, respectively, and each insulating portion completely covers the outer surface of each conductive terminal portion.
In an embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned substrate is a transparent substrate.
In an embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned organic light emitting unit further includes a protection layer disposed above the organic light emitting layer.
In an embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned protection layer is fixed on the substrate by a sealant.
In an embodiment of the invention, each of the above-mentioned power supply element is a conductive clamp element clamped on the periphery of the substrate, each conductive clamp element includes a metallic clamp arm as the conductive terminal portion and an insulation cover as the insulating portion for covering the metallic clamp arm.
In an embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned power supply unit further has a circuit board, and an end of each power supply element is fixed on the circuit board.
In an embodiment of the invention, the shape of the above-mentioned substrate is rectangular, the number of the first contact portions is four, which are disposed at four sides of the rectangular substrate, respectively, and the number of the second contact portions is four, which are disposed at four sides of the rectangular substrate, respectively.
In an embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned power supply unit is a flexible circuit board, the flexible circuit board has a plurality of branch portions as the power supply elements, and each branch portion includes a conductive wire as the conductive terminal portion and an insulating layer as the insulating portion for covering the conductive wire.
In an embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned power supply unit is a probe unit, the probe unit has probe elements as the power supply elements, each probe element has a probe as the conductive terminal portion and an insulation case as the insulating portion for covering the probe
According to the invention, the upper surfaces of the first contact portion and the second contact portion are completely covered by the conductive terminal portions of the power supply elements, and the conductive terminal portions are completely covered by the insulating portions. In this way, the first contact portion, the second contact portion and the conductive terminal portions would not be easily contacted by other conductive object inadvertently and cause a short-circuit problem.
The invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
The invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
The organic light emitting unit 20 has a substrate 21, and a first electrode layer 22, an organic light emitting layer 23 and a second electrode layer 24 are sequentially disposed on the substrate 21. The substrate 21 may be, but not limited to, a transparent substrate in a rectangular shape. The organic light emitting layer 23 may include, for example, an electron transport layer, an electroluminescent layer and a hole transport layer deposited sequentially. The first electrode layer 22 is made of, for example, a transparent conductive film that is at least partially transparent. The second electrode layer 24 is made of, for example, an opaque metallic thin film.
The first electrode layer 22 has at least a first contact portion 221 extending toward the periphery of the substrate 21, and the second electrode layer 24 has at least a second contact portion 241 extending toward the periphery of the substrate 21.
Moreover, the organic light emitting unit 20 further includes, for example, a protection layer 25 disposed above the organic light emitting layer 23. The protection layer 25 is, for example, a cap made of glass, a plastic material or other insulating material. The protection layer 25 is, for example, fixed on the substrate 21 by a sealant 26, in a manner that the first contact portion 221 and the second contact portion 241 are exposed to outside of the protection layer 25. Moreover, alternative to the practice of a protection layer with a sealant, the protection layer 25 may be, for example, a multi-layer light-transmissive thin film stacked on the substrate 21 to cover the organic light emitting layer 23.
The power supply unit 30 has a plurality of power supply elements 31 corresponding to the first contact portion 221 and the second contact portion 241. In this embodiment, each power supply element 31 is, for example, a conductive clamp element which is fixed on the substrate 21 by clamping on the periphery of the substrate 21, and is electrically connected with the first contact portion 221 and the second contact portion 241. Each conductive clamp element includes a metallic clamp arm as a conductive terminal portion 311, and an insulation cover as an insulating portion 312 for covering the metallic clamp arm. Each conductive terminal portion 311 has an inner surface 313 and an outer surface 314 opposite to the inner surface 313. The insulating portion 312 completely covers the outer surface 314 of the conductive terminal portion 311.
When a voltage is applied, a current flows from the power supply element 31 at the left side of
The upper surfaces of the first contact portion 221 and the second contact portion 241 are completely covered by the conductive terminal portions 311, and the outer surfaces 314 of the conductive terminal portions 311 are completely covered by the insulating portions 312. Therefore, the first contact portion 221 and the second contact portion 241, or the conductive terminal portions 311 themselves would not be easily contacted by other conductive object inadvertently and cause a short-circuit problem.
Moreover, as shown in
It should be noted that the power supply unit is not limited to the conductive clamp, the flexible circuit board, or the probe unit of the above-mentioned embodiments. Other power supply unit that completely covers the contact portion and has insulating material on its outer surface can also be used in practical implementation.
In summary, the invention has at least the following advantages:
The upper surfaces of the first contact portion and the second contact portion are completely covered by the conductive terminal portions of the power supply elements, and the conductive terminal portions are completely covered by the insulating portions. Therefore, the first contact portion, the second contact portion or the conductive terminal portions themselves would not be easily contacted by other conductive object inadvertently and cause a short-circuit problem.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101138817 | Oct 2012 | TW | national |
