Patent Application
20230125836
The present disclosure relates generally to light emitting diode (LED) lighting, and more particularly to LED tape light termination systems.
The use of LED tape lights may occur in lighting applications where a small form factor is desired. Such LED tape lights may emit white light, yellow light, and/or other colors. LED tape lights generally include a number of LED light sources mounted on the surface of a tape having an adhesive backing to adhere to objects, such as cabinets, countertops, cupboards and drawers. LED tape lights may be powered by a power supply and controlled with a switch and/or a rheostat.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
In an example, a tape light termination system may include a housing having a compartments that are aligned in the housing to have a common wall therebetween. Terminals may be positioned in each of the respective compartments. At least two of the compartments may have a shared slot providing egress to the at least two compartments by a light emitting diode (LED) tape light. The LED tape light may include a flexible strip. The flexible strip may be received in the shared slot to extend between and separate the at least two compartments from each other. The flexible strip may be electrically coupled with the terminals on opposite sides of the flexible strip.
In another example, a tape light termination system may include a housing having a first side configured to receive power conductors and a second side configured to receive a light emitting diode (LED) tape light. The LED tape light may include LED diodes mounted on a planar surface of a flexible strip. A terminal may be mounted in the housing such that a conductor termination end of the terminal is aligned with the second side of the housing. The conductor termination end of the terminal may be configured to electrically couple with the conductors. An LED tape light receptacle end of the terminal may be accessible from the first side of the housing. The housing may include a landing shelf formed in the housing and sized to receive the LED tape light. The landing shelf may be aligned with parallel slots formed in the housing on either side of the landing shelf to receive a portion of the LED tape light. The LED tape light receptacle end may be positioned in the housing to electrically couple with the LED tape light.
The embodiments may be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale. Moreover, in the figures, like-referenced numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.
Referring to
The LED tape light 102 may include one or more LED diodes 114 mounted on a planar surface 116 of a flexible strip 118. The flexible strip 118 has a length greater than a width of the flexible strip 118, and a thickness of the flexible strip is less than the width. Portions of the planar surface 116 of the flexible strip 118 includes conductive pads 120. In some examples, the conductive pads 120 may be included on a top planar surface 116 alongside the LED diodes 114, or on a bottom planar surface 116 of the flexible strip 118 on a side of the flexible strip 118 that is opposite the planar surface 116 on which the LEDs 114 are positioned. In still other examples, the conductive pads 120 may be included on opposing planar surfaces 116, such as on the top planar surface 116 and the opposing bottom planar surface 116 of the flexible strip 118, either in a back-to-back configuration or a staggered configuration along the edges of the flexible strip 118. In other examples, the conductive pads 120 may be in different locations on the planar surfaces 116. In the illustrated example, two LED diodes 114 are illustrated as sequentially spaced apart on the planar surface 116 with conductive pads 120 along opposing edges of the flexible strip 118 positioned in the space adjacently between the two LED diodes 114. In other examples, other configurations/positions of LED diodes 114 and/or electrically conductive pads 120 on the planar surfaces 116 of the flexible strip 118 are possible.
The housing 104 may also include a landing shelf 124 formed in the housing to receive and align the LED tape light 102 with parallel slots 126. Each of the parallel slots 126 are shared slots formed in the housing 104 to receive a respective portion of the flexible strip 118 extending outwardly from the LED diode(s) 114, on opposite sides of the LED diode(s) 114. The landing shelf 124 may be a flat planar surface defined on three sides by first, second and third curved surfaces 128A, 128B and 128C. First and third curved surfaces 128A and 128C are on opposite sides of the landing shelf 124 and extend from an upper surface 132 of the housing 104 a predetermined length toward the landing shelf 124 so as to leave a gap 134 of, for example, in a range of between about 0.2 mm to 1.0 mm between a bottom edge 136 of the curved surfaces 128A and 128C and the landing shelf 124. (where about is +/- .1 mm) The gaps 134 are entrances to the parallel slots 126, and are sized to receive and align a portion of the LED tape light 102 when the planar surface 116 of the LED tape light 102 on the side opposite the LED diodes 114 is received by and contiguously contacts the landing shelf 124.
The flat planar surface of the landing shelf 124 is aligned with the parallel slots 126 formed in the housing on either side of the landing shelf 124 such that a portion of the LED tape light 102 extends through the gap 134 into the parallel slots 126 when the lower planar surface 116 is contiguously aligned with the landing shelf 124. The landing shelf 124 positioned between the slots 126 may contiguously contact a planar surface 116 of the flexible strip 118 on the side opposite LED diodes 114 such that the landing shelf 124 cooperatively operates with the slots 126 to align an electrically conducting contact area of the terminal 202 to contiguously contact the electrically conductive pad 120 and enable the current flow path therebetween.
The second curved surface 128B extends from the upper surface 132 to form a wall abutting the landing shelf 124 and operable as a stop to preclude further progress of the LED tape light 102 into the housing 104 when the LED tape light 102 is inserted into the parallel slots 126 and is received by the landing shelf 124. An end or edge 140 of the flexible strip 118 may be positioned to abut the second curved surface 128B where the second curved surface 128B meets the landing shelf 124. Thus, the second curved surface 128B in cooperative operation with the parallel slots 126 provides three-dimensional alignment of the LED light strip 102.
The terminal 202 may be formed of metal or some other rigid but flexible electrically conductive material. The terminal 202 may be mounted in the housing 104 such that a conductor termination end 204 of the terminal 202 is aligned with the second side 106 of the housing 104. The conductor termination end 204 may be configured to electrically couple with one of the conductors 108, such as with a compression connection, lugs, solder, mechanical connection or any other fixed coupling providing an electrically conducting bond between the one of the conductors 108, and a respective terminal 202.
The terminal 202 may also include an LED tape light receptacle end 206 accessible from the first side 112 of the housing 104. The LED tape light receptacle end 206 of the terminal 220 is positioned in the housing 104 to electrically couple with the LED tape light 102, and more particularly, to the conductive pads 120 inserted into the parallel slots 126 through the gap 134.
In the cut-way view of
At the LED tape light receptacle end 206, the terminals 202A and 202B are mounted to be separated apart when parallel slots 126 are empty, and when the portion of the flexible strip 118 is inserted into the parallel slots 126 the terminals 202A and 202B are separated and electrically isolated by the opposing planar surfaces 116 of the flexible strip 118. The end or edge 140 of the flexible strip 118 may be inserted into the housing 104 to abut an end 214 of the alignment wall 210. Thus, the end 140 of the LED tape light positioned on the landing shelf 124 is slidable into the housing 104 to butt up against the end 214 of the alignment wall 210 to align the LED tape light 102 in the housing 104 such that the terminals 202A and 202B are aligned with respective conductive pads 120 on the LED light tape 102.
The terminals 202A and 202B are independently connected to respective conductors 108 to provide different input signals/power to the conductive pads 120 on the opposing sides of the flexible substrate planar surface. In the illustrated example, there are two top terminals 202A mounted on opposite sides of the housing 104 and two bottom terminals 202B mounted on opposite sides of the housing 104, such that four independent and different power/control signals may be provided by the terminals 202A and 202B to drive the LED circuitry. Control may, for example, include sensing temperature sensing, power consumption, and the like, in order to control the operation of the LEDs, such as dimming and color. This allows the size of the conductive pads 120 on the opposing planar surfaces of the flexible substrate to be as wide as the flexible strip 118 allows while also providing four separate connections.
In the illustrated example, the LED tape light 102 is a RGB (red, green, blue) multicolor LED tape light. In other examples, the LED tape light 102 may be other types of LED tape lights, such as a white color tunable (CCT) LED tape light. In the example of
In the example schematic of
In the example of
In other examples, other locations on the top and bottom planar surfaces 116 are possible for the conductive pads 120A-D. In addition, in other examples fewer conductive pads, such as a conductive pad supply power V+ and a conductive pad WHT GND, may be on the opposing planar surfaces 116. In still other examples, additional conductive pads may be included on the opposing planar surfaces 116 of the flexible strip 118 for example, conductive pad supply power V+, conductive pads 120A-D, and conductive pad WHT GND may be included in on opposing planar surfaces of the same LED tape light 102. This solution could be extended to additional top/bottom conductive pads may be accomplished by increasing the width of the flexible strip 118, or reducing the width of the conductive pads 120.
Since the tape LED 102 is closely aligned with the terminals 202 by the parallel slots 126, the area of each of the conductive pads 120 may be advantageously sized to optimize available real estate on the portion of the flexible strip 118 contained in the parallel slots 126. Even with relatively large conductive pads 120, the opposed surfaces provide twice the possible number of electrical connections when compared to a design having electrical connections with only one side of the strip 118. Thereby allowing for increased functionality in the same space. The tape light termination system therefore provides additional electrical connections to power and control the LED tape light 102 in a variety of application with more reliability and ease of use.
The terminals 202A and 202B may be slidably installed in the respective cavities 402 by entry via the first side 112 of the housing 104. The installation may be performed by positioning the LED tape light receptacle end 206 in the housing 104 on the alignment wall 210. The cavity 402 in the housing 104 is sized to receive the terminal 202 between the centrally positioned alignment wall 210 and an outer interior wall 408 of the housing 104. The outer interior wall 408 forms part of the housing 104 and is formed to include a slot or channel 410 sized and shaped to receive a keeper tab 412 included on the terminal 202. The keeper tab 412 may be a piece of the terminal 202 that has been partially punched and bent away from the body. The keeper tab 412 may be release-able or have a non-release-able locking functionality for the system. In other examples, other forms of latches may be used in place of the keeper tab 402 and/or the channel 410, such as a clasp arrangement, friction fit, releasable socket, and the like.
In the example of
With reference to
Referring now to
The second member section 606 may include the releaseable keeper tab 412. In some examples, the releaseable keeper tab 412 may include memory to snap into the slot or channel 410 as described elsewhere. In other examples, the memory may be provided by the curved member section 606 to compressibly maintain the terminal 202 in the compartment 402. In addition, the releaseable keeper tab 412 may provide memory bias to urge the electrically conducting contact area 602 into contiguous contact with the conducting pads on the LED tape light 102. In addition, or alternatively, curved member section 606 may include memory bias to urge the electrically conducting contact area 602 into contiguous contact with the conducting pads on the LED tape light 102. As also described elsewhere, respective terminals 202 are disposed in the respective compartments 402 in the housing 104 to align with opposing planar surfaces 116 of the LED tape light 102. Each of the opposing planar surfaces 116 may have at least one electrically conductive pad 102 adjacent at least one edge of the opposing edges of the LED tape light 102 to create the current flow path for each respective terminal 202 to the LED diode circuitry 302.
Within the conductor termination end 204 of the terminal 202, is a conductor termination point 612. The conductor termination point 612 may be a mechanical termination point having a conductive area 614 that is in electrical communication with the electrically conducing contact area 602. In the illustrated example, the conductor termination point includes wire crimp arms 616 to mechanically press a conductive part of a conductor 108 into contiguous electrical contact with the conductive area 614, and insulation crimp arms 618 to mechanically grip an insulation sheath on the conductor 108.
Referring to
A second action may be said to be “in response to” a first action independent of whether the second action results directly or indirectly from the first action. The second action may occur at a substantially later time than the first action and still be in response to the first action. Similarly, the second action may be said to be in response to the first action even if intervening actions take place between the first action and the second action, and even if one or more of the intervening actions directly cause the second action to be performed. For example, a second action may be in response to a first action if the first action sets a flag and a third action later initiates the second action whenever the flag is set.
To clarify the use of and to hereby provide notice to the public, the phrases “at least one of <A>, <B>, ... and <N>” or “at least one of <A>, <B>, ... <N>, or combinations thereof” or “<A>, <B>, ... and/or <N>” are defined by the Applicant in the broadest sense, superseding any other implied definitions hereinbefore or hereinafter unless expressly asserted by the Applicant to the contrary, to mean one or more elements selected from the group comprising A, B, ... and N. In other words, the phrases mean any combination of one or more of the elements A, B, ... or N including any one element alone or the one element in combination with one or more of the other elements which may also include, in combination, additional elements not listed.
While various embodiments have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible. Accordingly, the embodiments described herein are examples, not the only possible embodiments and implementations.
