AT517059A2 - Flat illuminant carrier, method for producing a planar illuminant carrier having a predetermined bending, and illumination device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a planar illuminant carrier (1), with light units (2), which are arranged distributed over the illuminant carrier (1); a plurality of lateral notches (3) which are formed in at least one predetermined side region of the illuminant carrier (1) and which each form a material bridge (4); and electrical conductor tracks, which extend for electrically connecting the lighting units (2) via the respectively associated material bridge (4); wherein the number, arrangement and dimensions of the individual lateral indentations (3) define at least one maximum bending radius of the illuminant carrier (1) in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1). Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for producing such a, having a predetermined bend illuminant carrier (1) and a lighting device having such a planar illuminant carrier (1).

Description

Flat illuminant carrier, method for producing a planar illuminant carrier having a predetermined bending, and illumination device

The present invention relates to a planar illuminant carrier, to a method for producing a planar illuminant carrier having a predetermined bend, and to a lighting device having such a planar illuminant carrier.

Due to the increased use of LEDs in the field of lighting devices, the doors have been opened for hitherto unrealizable forms of lighting device, such as oval, round or spiral lights in strip form or the like. In lighting devices which have bending radii, individual smaller or specially designed circuit boards are manufactured so far, each having one of the different bending radii, and electrically and mechanically connected to each other. This is disadvantageously associated with a high production cost and high manufacturing costs. The individual modules on the individual boards are also usually disadvantageously spaced apart, so that a homogeneous illumination with such an arrangement can not be guaranteed.

Thus, the present invention has for its object to provide a flat illuminant carrier, which can be formed at least in the plane of the Leuchtmittelträ gers with predetermined bending radii in a simple and cost-effective manner.

This object is achieved by the strip-shaped lamp carrier with the features of claim 1, by the method for producing a predetermined bending having illuminant carrier with the features of claim 11 and by a lighting device with the features of claim 19.

The idea on which the present invention is based is that the planar illuminant carrier light units, which are distributed over the illuminant carrier in distributed; a plurality of lateral notches, which are formed in at least one predetermined side region of the illuminant carrier (1) and which each form a material bridge; and electrical conductor tracks, which extend for electrically connecting the light units over the respectively associated material bridge; wherein the number, arrangement and dimensions of the lateral indentations define a maximum bending radius of the illuminant carrier at least in the plane of the illuminant carrier.

Thus, the present invention over the known approaches according to the prior art has the advantage that such a trained strip-shaped light source carrier is flexible due to the predefined indentations in a desired curved shape in a simple and cost-effective manner, at least in the plane of the illuminant carrier. If the number, arrangement and dimensions of the lateral notches are suitable, any desired bending radii can be realized. Further advantageously, the planar illuminant carrier can also be formed with different radii of curvature.

Furthermore, the idea on which the present invention is based consists in that the method for producing a planar illuminant carrier having a predetermined bend comprises the following method steps: provision of luminous units on the illuminant carrier which are distributed over the illuminant carrier; Providing a plurality of lateral indentations formed in at least one predetermined side region of the illuminant carrier (1), the number, arrangement and dimensions of the indentations defining a maximum bending radius of the illuminant carrier at least in the plane of the illuminant carrier, and each one Forming a material bridge; Provision of electrical conductor tracks, which extend for electrically connecting the light units over the respectively associated material bridge; and forming the illuminant carrier with a predetermined bend at least in the plane of the illuminant carrier.

Thus, the present invention over the known approaches according to the prior art has the advantage that with the notched illuminant carrier in the plane of the illuminant carrier arbitrarily curved illuminant carrier can be produced, which realizes a homogeneous illumination along its entire extent.

Advantageous refinements and improvements of the strip-type illuminant carrier specified in claim 1 and of the production method specified in claim 8 can be found in the subclaims.

According to a preferred embodiment, the indentations are arranged at regular intervals. This is advantageous on the one hand from a production engineering point of view and furthermore makes it possible, if necessary, to provide a uniform curvature of the illuminant carrier. However, it is also obvious to one skilled in the art that the indentations may be provided at irregular intervals.

According to a further preferred development, the indentations are provided at least between all adjacent lighting units. This advantageously makes it possible for the illuminant carrier to be curved with a maximum bending radius. However, it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the indentations can also be provided only between every other pair of adjacent lighting units, with arbitrarily larger distances therebetween or in areas without lighting units.

According to a further preferred development, all indentations are formed with the same dimensions. This ensures a simple and cost-effective production and, if necessary, allows a uniform bending of the illuminant carrier along the longitudinal extent thereof in a reproducible manner. However, it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the individual indentations can also be designed with differing dimensions.

According to a further preferred development, the indentations are dimensioned such that the material bridges formed are formed sufficiently stable for performing a desired bending operation. This advantageously ensures that the illuminant carrier does not break apart in the region of the material bridges in a predetermined bending operation, but that these material bridges can stably absorb the force flow during the bending process.

According to a further preferred refinement, the illuminant carrier has electrical connection sections for an electrical connection of the illuminant carrier in the region of the light units terminating in each case at the end. As a result, the illuminant carrier can be electrically connected in a simple and cost-effective manner. It is also conceivable that a plurality of such illuminant carriers are electrically connected to one another via these electrical connection sections.

According to a further preferred development, the lighting units each have one or more LEDs. In this case, the individual LEDs of a lighting unit can emit the same wavelength or different wavelengths. Particularly advantageously, each lighting unit has only one LED, so that the largest possible bending radius can be achieved with as many notches.

According to a further preferred development, the lateral notches are provided in the same side area or in differing side areas, for example opposite side areas.

According to a further preferred development, the indentations are arranged and dimensioned such that the illuminant carrier is flexible in the plane of the illuminant carrier and / or out of the plane of the illuminant carrier, in particular arbitrarily in the 3-dimensional space.

According to a further preferred development, the indentations are arranged and dimensioned such that the illuminant carrier is flexible in the plane of the illuminant carrier and / or out of the plane of the illuminant carrier into different bending directions, for example serpentine or S-shaped.

According to a further preferred development, the bending of the illuminant carrier takes place by means of a bending device. Preferably, the associated bending device, by means of which the illuminant carrier is formed with a predetermined bend in the plane of the illuminant carrier, is designed as a bending mold with a predetermined illuminant carrier receiving geometry. As a result, excessive overbending of the illuminant carrier is advantageously avoided, so that any possible breakage of the illuminant carrier in the area of the material bridges can additionally be prevented.

According to a further preferred development, the bending mold is formed with a luminous means carrier receiving geometry, which has a predetermined overbending of the

Ensures illuminant carrier such that a rebound of the illuminant carrier after removal of the illuminant carrier from the bending mold results in the ultimately desired bending of the illuminant carrier. As a result, the light source carrier after removal from the bending mold and after completion of rebounding must not be further processed, since he already has the desired final bend for further processing. However, it is also possible that the bending mold has a receiving geometry, which has exactly the final desired bending, which in the case of a rebound this can be compensated by a subsequent bending process again.

According to a further preferred development of the light source carrier is bent in the direction of the notches having side. As a result, the force input is kept as low as possible in the material bridges, so that the risk of breakage in the material bridges is reduced. However, it is obvious to the person skilled in the art that bends are also possible in the plane of the illuminant carrier and in the 3-dimensional space in the direction of the indentations having side, serpentine bends or S-shaped bends arbitrarily oriented bends.

According to a further preferred development, the bending device is designed as a bending plate which has fastening pins at predetermined locations such that the illuminant carrier is bent by engagement of predetermined notches with associated fastening pins along these fastening pins. In this case, advantageously, the sheet can be used both as a bending device and as a final carrier sheet, so that after the bending process, the lamp carrier is already positioned suitably on the support plate. In this case, the material bridges are particularly stable form and of particular importance.

The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures of the drawing. From the figures show:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a light source carrier according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a perspective view of a Leuchtmittelträ-gers according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a perspective view of a Leuchtmittelträ-gers according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a bending device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a bending operation of a

Illuminant carrier by means of a bending device according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

6 shows a cross-sectional view of a fastening means for fastening a luminous means carrier to a carrier device according to a preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention along the section line B-B from FIG. 5.

The accompanying figures of the drawing are intended to convey a further understanding of the embodiments of the invention. They illustrate embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles and concepts of the present invention. Other embodiments and many of the stated advantages will become apparent with reference to the figures of the drawing. The elements of the figures are not necessarily shown to scale to each other.

In the figures of the drawing are the same, functionally identical and same-acting elements, features and components - unless otherwise stated - each provided with the same reference numerals.

Fig. 1 illustrates a plan view of a lamp carrier 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The illuminant carrier 1 is formed for example as a strip-shaped board and has a plurality of light units 2. The light units 2 preferably consist of one or more LEDs. In Fig. 1, each lighting unit 2 is exemplified as a single LED. The individual LEDs of the light units 2 may, for example, light in the same wavelength range or in different wavelength ranges, i. send out with different color components. Alternatively, each lighting unit 2 can have one or more CoB modules (chip on

Board modules) or corresponding LED-based bulbs. Furthermore, other bulbs may be provided or a combination of different bulbs.

According to a preferred embodiment, the light source carrier 1 is formed as an aluminum printed circuit board. Alternatively, however, embodiments are also provided as a plastic circuit board, possibly with aluminum core, as a hard paper circuit board or the like.

Furthermore, a lateral notch 3 is preferably provided on a predetermined longitudinal side of the illuminant carrier 1 between each two neighboring luminous units 2. On the side of the notches 3 opposite longitudinal side of the illuminant carrier 1 respective material bridges 4 are formed by the formation of the notches 3. Notches 3 on other sides may alternatively or additionally be provided.

Preferably, the lateral notches 3 and the associated material bridges 4 are provided in a regular arrangement such that between each lighting unit 2, such a lateral notch 3 is provided with associated material bridge 4, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Furthermore, the lateral notches 3 and the material bridges 4 are dimensioned such that the material bridges 4 formed are configured sufficiently stable for carrying out a desired bending operation in the plane of the illuminant carrier 1. For example, a notch 3 with a illuminant carrier width of 15 mm can have a depth of approximately 11 mm and a width of approximately 4 mm. The associated material bridge 4 therefore has an extension of about 4 mm in the transverse direction of the Leuchtmit telträgers 1. These details are exemplary only and it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that any conceivable dimensions are possible as needed.

The individual light units 2 are preferably connected to one another via correspondingly assigned strip conductors (not shown). These electrical interconnects run from a lighting unit 2 to the respective adjacent light unit via the intermediate material bridge 4. Accordingly, the transverse extent of the material bridge 4 must be at least large enough that the placement and management of the associated interconnects can be realized. Such conductor tracks are embedded, for example, in a copper coating provided on the aluminum support.

Depending on the desired bending radius, the number, arrangement and dimensions of the individual side notches 3 can be varied and changed. It should only be noted that the remaining material bridges 4 can absorb the resulting forces, without causing fractures of the illuminant carrier during the bending process.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the illuminant carrier 1 according to this preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention has electrical connection sections 5 on the end-side luminous units 2, which provide an electrical connection of the illuminant carrier 1 to an electrical supply and / or an electrical connection to a serve further, adjacent light source carrier.

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a luminous means carrier 1 according to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention. Accordingly, the light source carrier 1 has a different geometry, namely a U-shaped circuit board, and has a large number of light units 2. In this regard, reference may be made to the comments on Figure 1, unless otherwise stated below.

The planar illuminant carrier 1 according to FIG. 2 has two lateral, opposite legs 6, which each have the lateral notches 3 on the outside. Notches 3 on other sides may alternatively or additionally be provided. Consequently, these notches 3 also serve to bend the illuminant carrier 1 about arbitrary bending axes in the space.

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of a luminous means carrier 1 according to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention. The illuminant carrier 1 is thus formed with a different geometry, namely as a U-shaped board with slightly bent legs 6 and has a plurality of light units 2. In this regard, reference may be made to the comments on Figure 1 or Figure 2, unless otherwise stated below.

The planar illuminant carrier 1 according to FIG. 3 has two lateral, opposite and slightly upwardly bent legs 6, which each have the lateral notches 3 on the outside. Notches 3 on other sides may alternatively or additionally be provided. Consequently, these notches 3 serve a

Bending of the illuminant carrier 1 to any bending axes in the room.

It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that any planar geometries of the planar illuminant carrier are possible, wherein indentations for ensuring a bending of the illuminant carrier about predetermined bending axes are provided on predetermined side regions.

In the following, an embodiment of a method for producing a light-emitting means carrier 1 having a predetermined bend according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG.

According to the embodiment of Fig. 4, a bending mold 7 is formed for example as a wooden plate, which has, for example, a plate thickness of about 12 mm. In this bending mold 7, one or more cutouts 8, 9 are incorporated with, for example, a cutting depth of 4-6 mm such that is bent by inserting the rectilinear and strip-shaped illuminant carrier 1 in the plane of the illuminant carrier 1 in accordance with the predetermined bends of the recesses 8, 9.

In this case, the inserted into the cutouts 8, 9 a light source carrier 1 is preferably bent in the direction of the notches 3 having longitudinal side, that is, after the bend, the notches are preferably on the inner curve of the curved illuminant carrier 1. However, it is obvious to a person skilled in the art, that also in the opposite direction or in any other direction can be bent.

By such bending molds 7 with corresponding cutouts 8, 9 all imaginable bending radii and bending shapes of the illuminant carrier 1 can be realized. The cutouts 8, 9 need only according to the desired

Biegeform be configured. Also serpentine or S-shaped bends with uniform or different bending radii can be easily configured if necessary.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bending mold 7 recesses 8, 9, which generate an overbending of the inserted illuminant carrier 1 predetermined so that after removal of the illuminant carrier 1 from the associated milled-out 8, 9 of these after completion of a rebound of

Illuminant carrier 1 finally only finds the desired bending shape. In other words, the cutouts 8, 9 preferably have a bending shape slightly modified with respect to the finally desired bending shape such that the radii of the cutouts 8, 9 or of the individual cutout sections are somewhat smaller than the finally desired radii of the correspondingly assigned sections of the illuminant carrier 1. A corresponding degree of rebound of the illuminant carrier 1 after removal from the bending mold 7 can be determined in advance for the respective illuminant carrier 1 and bending molds used in each case, so that depending on the final desired bending shape of the illuminant carrier 1 corresponding to milled recesses 8, 9 in the bending mold 7 are provided. Any rebound depends in particular on the material of the illuminant carrier 1 and the width of the material bridge 4.

It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that it is alternatively also possible to exactly match the cutouts 8, 9 in the bending mold 7 to the ultimately desired bending shape of the illuminant carrier 1. In this case, the illuminant carrier must be bent accordingly due to any rebound after removal from the bending mold 7.

As can be seen in Fig. 4, the cutouts 8, 9 can take any shape. For example, in FIG. 4, the left portion of the cutout 8 has a first bending radius, the right portion of the cutout 8 has a second bending radius, the left portion of the cutout 9 has a third bending radius, and the right portion of the cutout 9 has a fourth bending radius. The number of bending forms, the respectively provided thereon recesses and the different bending radii of the individual cutouts can be arbitrarily selected according to the respective requirements.

5 illustrates another embodiment of a bending method according to the present invention, wherein in this exemplary embodiment the bending device is preferably designed both as a bending plate 11 and as a carrier plate for a subsequent attachment to an associated illumination device.

The bending plate 11 preferably already has the finally desired bending shape and has for example centrally along the longitudinal extent of the bending plate 11 mutually spaced receiving holes 12. In these receiving holes 12 associated mounting pins 13 can be used, which serve both a bending process of the light medium carrier 1 and a stable attachment of the illuminant carrier 1 to the bending plate 11. The illuminant carrier 1 engages with respective notches 3 respectively associated mounting pins 13 and is for example bent manually along these mounting pins 13, as shown in Figure 5.

Furthermore, the bending plate preferably has a plurality of fastening holes 15, for example in the side region, for attachment to an associated section of the lighting device.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an exemplary attachment point of a luminous means carrier 1 on an associated bending plate 11 along the section line B-B of FIG. 5. The individual mounting pins 13 are formed, for example, as prestressed spring pins 13 with an associated clamping head 14, so that both a stable reception of the illuminant carrier 1 on the bending plate 11 and a stable bending process along the individual mounting pins 13 is ensured.

It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the abovementioned exemplary embodiments can also be combined with one another as desired, in particular the illuminant carriers can be shaped or bent by means of a mold according to FIG. 4 and subsequently connected to a correspondingly shaped and assigned carrier plate. In this case, this support plate may also be formed analogously to the bending plate 11 according to FIG. 5 together with the fastening pins 13 and the fastening arrangement according to FIG. 6. It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that other types of fastening for attaching the illuminant carriers to a carrier plate or to an illumination device are also conceivable.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, it is not limited thereto, but modifiable in a variety of ways.

It should be noted at this point again that by providing the lateral notches different bends advantageously allows or at least be facilitated, such as a bend of the Leuchtmittelträ-gers in the plane thereof in and / or against the direction of the notches having side or an intermediate direction in this plane. Any bending in the 3-dimensional space is ensured by these lateral notches. Advantageously, the illuminant carrier can thereby be bent at least about two mutually perpendicular axes in space or over at least two levels.

REFERENCE LIST 1 Illuminant carrier 2 Light unit 3 Side notch 4 Material bridge 5 Electrical connection section 6 Leg 7 Bending form 8 Milling 9 Milling 11 Bending plate 12 Mounting holes 13 Mounting pin 14 Clamping head 15 Mounting hole

Claims (19)

1. Flat illuminant carrier (1), comprising: light units (2) which are arranged distributed over the illuminant carrier (1); a plurality of lateral notches (3) which are formed in at least one predetermined side region of the illuminant carrier (1) and which each form a material bridge (4); and electrical conductor tracks, which extend for electrically connecting the lighting units (2) via the respectively associated material bridge (4); wherein the number, arrangement and dimensions of the individual lateral indentations (3) define a maximum bending radius of the illuminant carrier (1) at least in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1). 2. Lamp carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that the notches (3) are arranged at regular or irregular intervals. 3. Lamp carrier according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the notches (3) are provided at least between all adjacent, or only selected adjacent lighting units (2). 4. Lamp carrier according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that all notches (3) are formed with the same or different dimensions. 5. Lamp carrier according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the notches (3) are dimensioned such that the formed material bridges (4) are sufficiently stable for performing a desired bending operation. 6. Lamp carrier according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the illuminant carrier (1) in the region of each end-side terminating light units (2) electrical connection sections (5) for electrical connection of the illuminant carrier (1). 7. Lamp carrier according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lighting units (2) each have one or more LEDs. 8. Lamp carrier according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lateral notches (3) in the same side area or in differing side areas, for example, opposite side areas, are provided. 9. illuminant carrier according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the notches (3) are arranged and dimensioned such that the illuminant carrier (1) in the plane of the Leuchtmittelträ-gers (1) and / or from the plane of the illuminant carrier ( 1), in particular arbitrarily in 3-dimensional space, is flexible. 10. Lamp carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that the indentations (3) are arranged and dimensioned such that the illuminant carrier (1) is in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1) and / or out of the plane of the illuminant carrier ( 1) out in different bending directions, such as snake- or S-shaped, flexible. 11. A method for producing a sheet-like illuminant carrier (1) having a predetermined bending, comprising the following method steps: providing luminous units (2) on the illuminant carrier (1) which are distributed over the illuminant carrier (1); Providing a multiplicity of lateral indentations (3) which are formed in at least one predetermined side region of the illuminant carrier, the number, arrangement and dimensions of the individual lateral indentations (3) having a maximum bending radius of the illuminant carrier (1) at least in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1) define, and which each form a material bridge (4); Providing electrical conductor tracks which extend for the electrical connection of the lighting units (2) via the respectively associated material bridge (4); and forming the illuminant carrier (1) with a predetermined bend in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1). 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the step of forming the illuminant carrier (1) with a predetermined bend in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1) by means of a bending device (7; 11) is performed. 13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the bending device is designed as a bending mold (7) with a predetermined illuminant carrier receiving geometry. 14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the bending mold (7) is formed with a Leuchtmittelträger- receiving geometry which ensures an overbend of the illuminant carrier (1) such that a rebound of the illuminant carrier (1) after removal of the illuminant carrier (1 ) from the bending mold (7) results in the desired bending of the illuminant carrier (1). 15. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that the illuminant carrier (1) in the direction of the notches (3) having side and / or in the direction of the notches (3) opposite side is bent. 16. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the bending device is formed as a bending plate (11) having fixing pins (13) at predetermined locations such that the illuminant carrier (1) by engaging predetermined notches (3) with associated fixing pins (13) is bent along these fixing pins (13). 17. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that the notches (3) are arranged and dimensioned such that the illuminant carrier (1) in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1) and / or from the plane of the illuminant carrier (1 ), in particular arbitrarily in 3-dimensional space, becomes flexible. 18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that the notches (3) are arranged and dimensioned such that the illuminant carrier (1) in the plane of the illuminant carrier (1) and / or from the plane of the illuminant carrier (1 ) is in different bending directions, such as snake- or S-shaped, flexible. 19. Lighting device, which has a strip-shaped light source carrier (1) according to at least one of claims 1 to 10.