An illumination module may include at least one flexible carrier for a plurality of heat sources, including light sources, wherein the carrier is provided for being bent over at least part of its width.
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1. An illumination module comprising at least one flexible carrier for a plurality of heat sources, including light sources, wherein the carrier is provided for being bent over at least part of its width,
wherein the carrier is not provided for a bend at a strip running at least below the light sources, and is provided for a bend at least one strip running laterally with respect to the light sources, and
wherein the carrier comprises at least one heat spreading area at least on the at least one strip running laterally with respect to the light sources,
wherein at least part of the at least one heat spreading area is formed by at least one metallic conductor track, and
wherein substantially the at least one conductor track runs solely in the carrier strip provided for a bend,
wherein substantially no conductor tracks run in the strip running at least below the light sources,
wherein the conductor tracks are the electrical connection between at least one first light source of the light sources and at least one second light source of the light sources.
6. An illumination device comprising a bent support and at least one illumination module, the at least one illumination module comprising at least one flexible carrier for a plurality of heat sources, wherein the carrier is provided for being bent over at least part of its width, wherein the illumination module is fixed areally to the support at least regionally by a part of the carrier bent widthwise,
wherein the carrier is not provided for a bend at a strip running at least below the light sources, and is provided for a bend at at least one strip running laterally with respect to the light sources, and
wherein the carrier comprises at least one heat spreading area at least on the at least one strip running laterally with respect to the light sources,
wherein the support is embodied in the form of a substantially cylindrical tube and the at least one illumination module is arranged longitudinally in the tube such that the at least one illumination module is at least partly fitted to a curved inner side of the tube,
wherein substantially no conductor tracks run in the strip running at least below the light sources,
wherein the conductor tracks are the electrical connection between at least one first light source of the light sources and at least one second light source of the light sources.
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The present application is a national stage entry according to 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT application No. PCT/EP2010/056499 filed on May 11, 2010, which claims priority from German application No. 10 2009 023 052.1 filed on May 28, 2009.
Various embodiments relate to an illumination module having at least one flexible tape-type carrier for a plurality of heat sources, and to an illumination device having at least one illumination module.
Heat-generating electronic components, e.g. light-emitting diodes, have to be thermally linked to heat-dissipating components (heat sinks, housings, etc.). In the case of curved housing or heat sink forms, a standard circuit carrier such as an FR4 or metal-core circuit board cannot be directly linked. In that case, it is possible to use a lateral thermal linkage of the metal-core circuit board, but this causes poor heat dissipation, or it is possible to use specific extruded profiles or a heat sink geometry having planar areas or planar milled-out portions, which means a high outlay in terms of production and mounting, e.g. mounting using screws or clamping connections.
Furthermore, tapes which are equipped with light-emitting diodes and are flexible in their longitudinal direction (LED flex tapes) are known. Thus, by way of example, the LINEARlight Flex series from Osram is known, in which an LED tape wound up on a roll is obtainable (e.g. in the LM1X series), wherein the overall module has 120 to 600 LEDs, depending on the embodiment. The basic dimensioning of the smallest unit having 10 LEDs (L×W) is 140 mm×10 mm. A minimum bending radius of the LED tape is 2 cm. The LED tape has a self-adhesive rear side. However, areal mounting of the LED flexible tape on a support curved with respect to its width or transverse extent is not provided.
Various embodiments provide a possibility for simpler fixing and improved heat dissipation of an illumination module even on a support that is curved with respect to its width extent.
Various embodiments provide an illumination module, having at least one flexible carrier for a plurality of light sources, wherein the carrier is provided for being bent or deformable over at least part of its width. The illumination module can therefore be provided for being bent at least in sections transversely with respect to its longitudinal extent.
The carrier can be present in the form of a circuit carrier or a printed circuit board.
In addition to the light sources, even further electronic components, in particular other heat sources, can also be arranged on the carrier, preferably in a row with the light sources. A possible further configuration of a heat source can be an electronic component such as a driver unit or a resistor.
In accordance with one development, the carrier can be a tape-type carrier. In this case, the carrier can be a narrow carrier, that is to say that its longitudinal extent, which can be determined in particular by an alignment of the light sources, is larger than its transverse extent or width. Alternatively, the carrier can be a wide carrier, that is to say that its longitudinal extent is shorter than its transverse extent or width.
The light sources can include semiconductor light sources and/or other types of light sources. At least one semiconductor light source can have at least one diode laser and/or at least one light-emitting diode. The light-emitting diode can emit in a single color or in a multicolored fashion, e.g. white. In the case where a plurality of light-emitting diodes are present, the latter can emit light e.g. in the same color (light in a single color or in a multicolored fashion) and/or in different colors. Thus, an LED group may have a plurality of LED chips (“LED cluster”) which together can produce a white mixed light, e.g. in “cold white” or “warm white”. In order to generate a white mixed light, the LED cluster preferably has LED chips which emit light in the primary colors red (R), green (G) and blue (B). In this case, one or a plurality of colors, in particular green and red, can also be generated by phosphor conversion of a typically blue LED. In this case, individual or a plurality of colors can also be generated simultaneously by a plurality of LEDs; combinations RGB, RRGB, RGGB, RGBB, RGGBB, etc. are thus possible. However, the color combination is not restricted to R, G and B. It is also possible to use more than three colors; by way of example, combinations of R, G, B with (phosphor-converted) white (W) and also yellow (Y) LEDs are advantageous in order to generate high color renderings. Advantageously particularly for generating a warm-white hue, by way of example, there can also be present fewer than three colors, that is to say one or a plurality of red or yellow LEDs and/or phosphor-converted LEDs, in particular in white (W) or mint-green (M). In the case of LEDs with different colors, these can also be driven such that the LED group emits in a tunable RGB color range. In order to generate a white light from a mixture of blue light with yellow light, it is also possible to use LED chips provided with a phosphor, e.g. using surface mounting technology, e.g. using so-called chip level conversion technology. It is also possible to use other methods, such as a red/green combination by means of the conversion technology. A “traditional” volume conversion is also possible. An LED group can also have a plurality of white individual chips, as a result of which a simple scalability of the luminous flux can be achieved. The individual LEDs and/or the LED groups can be equipped with suitable optics for beam guiding, e.g. Fresnel lenses, collimators, and so on. Instead of or in addition to inorganic light-emitting diodes, e.g. based on InGaN or AlInGaP, organic LEDs (OLEDs) can generally also be used.
The carrier can be made flexible by virtue of the fact that it is produced from a flexible or compliant base material. The carrier can be provided for being bent once or a plurality of times. One possible base material can encompass, for example, polyester, FR4, PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) and/or PI (polyimide).
The carrier can additionally or alternatively be structured for attaining the flexibility or deformability. For this purpose, the carrier can have for example at least one thinned portion such as an expansion joint, to be precise on a top side and/or an underside of the carrier.
It can be the case in one configuration that the carrier is not provided for a bend at a strip running at least below the light sources, and is provided for a bend at at least one strip running laterally with respect to the light sources. It is thereby possible to prevent a fixing and/or a contact-connection of the light sources from being lost as a result of the bend and thus leading to a functional failure.
It is also possible in one configuration that the carrier has at least one heat spreading area at least on the at least one strip running laterally. As a result, the size of the heat spreading area can be increased and, consequently, a cooling of the heat sources of the illumination module can be improved. The heat spreading area can be formed by a material having good thermal conductivity, e.g. by a copper coating.
It is further possible in one configuration that at least part of the at least one heat spreading area is formed by at least one conductor track. By virtue of this dual functionality of the conductor track for electrical and thermal conduction, the illumination module can be produced less expensively since the material for separate conductor tracks can be saved. A form, a number and a course of the conductor tracks are not restricted and can encompass, for example, straight or curved, e.g. meandering, conductor tracks and/or conductor tracks that widen and taper again.
It is additionally possible in one configuration that the at least one strip provided for a bend has at least one bearing area. Heat dissipation from the carrier to a support on which the carrier bears can be greatly improved as a result.
The bearing area can have an adhesion layer, in particular composed of a thermally conductive adhesive, for the purpose of fixing on a support.
It is possible in yet another configuration that the illumination module has at least one expansion joint extending along a longitudinal direction of the carrier. As a result, flexibility of the carrier can be achieved and/or good definition of predetermined bending edges can be achieved. In one configuration, the at least one expansion joint can be situated at the boundary between the strip running below the light sources and a strip running laterally and can thus decouple the strip running laterally and the strip running below the light sources with respect to a bend. Thus, a bend of the strip running below the light sources and resultant detachment of the light sources or of the other electronic components or heat sources are prevented.
It is possible in another configuration that the illumination module has at least one reflector. Beam guiding can thereby be configured in a defined fashion.
It is then possible in one development that the reflector is present or configured as a reflective area of the carrier or as a separately produced reflector element placed onto the carrier. The reflective area can be formed for example by polishing the heat spreading area(s) to form a specularly reflective area, or by applying at least one reflective layer. The reflective area of the carrier can be present for example in the form of a metallic or dielectric mirror layer or a metallic and/or dielectric mirror layer composite assembly.
Furthermore, various embodiments provide a luminaire having a bent support and at least one illumination module of this type, wherein the illumination module is fixed areally to the support at least regionally by its part bent widthwise. In other words, the illumination module is connected to the support by a bearing area that is bent at least over part of its width. As a result, the illumination module can also be fixed to a support that is bent to a great extent in the width direction of the illumination module. This facilitates simple fixing without further aids, which, moreover, can be effected for example in a strongly adhesive fashion. Moreover, an optically advantageous geometrically conformal adaptation of the illumination module to the support is thus achieved.
It is possible in one configuration that the support is embodied in the form of a tube and the at least one illumination module is arranged longitudinally in the tube such that the at least one illumination module is at least partly fitted to a curved inner side of the tube. As a result, the illumination module can be fixed to the tube in a simple manner and good heat transfer to the tube can be achieved.
The at least one illumination module can be inserted into a prefabricated tube or be applied on an open support and be reshaped together with the support to form a tube.
It is possible in another configuration that the light sources are arranged in a plurality of rows on the support. As a result, in a tube, for example, the aperture angle of the resulting light beam can be increased. This can be advantageous for example for an illumination device which is configured as a fluorescent tube retrofit lamp.
It is possible in one development that the at least one carrier has a plurality of rows of light sources. It is possible in another development that a plurality of carriers each having a row of light sources are arranged in series with respect to one another.
It is generally possible in one development that the at least one carrier bears by an underside on the support, in particular tube. As a result, the light sources, for example in the case of use in a tube, point into the interior and, consequently, the light emitted by the light sources is emitted into the tube. As a result, it is possible to achieve the advantage that the tube can be used as an optical element (e.g. as a diffusing layer) for the light sources. Moreover, the at least one illumination module is comprehensively protected by the tube.
The tube can completely or partly consist of a light-transmissive material. In one development, the material can be transparent. In another development, the material can be opaque; it is thus possible to improve a homogenization of the light emission from the tube toward the outside.
In another configuration, the illumination device or its lateral surface can have at least one light passage window and otherwise be light-opaque. The light-opaque region can serve as a diaphragm. The material of the light-opaque region can furthermore be optimized toward a high thermal conductivity and/or toward a high strength.
It is possible in one development that the at least one light passage window fixes the illumination module, in particular the at least one carrier, e.g. presses it onto its support. It is thereby possible to achieve particularly reliable fixing of the illumination module to the illumination device without separate fixing means.
It is possible in one alternative configuration that the at least one carrier bears by its top side on the support, in particular tube. As a result, the light sources, for example in the case of use in a tube, face outward and no longer inward into the tube. In order to achieve an areal seating of the carrier and not of the light sources on the support, the light sources project into at least one cutout introduced in the tube. The at least one cutout can be a leadthrough, in particular, whereby direct cooling of the light sources is simplified.
In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the following description, various embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the following drawings, in which:
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific details and embodiments in which the invention may be practiced.
By virtue of the fact that the carrier 4 is not bent in the central strip 7, detachment—possibly caused by a bend—of the light sources 6 or breaking of electrical contacts is prevented. By virtue of the areal bearing on the tube 3, it is possible to achieve good adhesion and large-area heat transfer from the illumination module 2 to the tube 3.
During operation of the illumination module 2, the light emitted by the light sources 6 is emitted into the interior 5 of the tube 3. In the embodiment shown, the tube 3 consists of an electrically insulating and milky-white light-transmissive plastic or glass, such that the light emerges substantially from an upper half of the tube 3 with respect to the illumination module 2 as substantially diffuse light and the illumination module 2 is not or not sharply visible. The illumination device 1 can be used for example as a fluorescent tube retrofit lamp having a directional emission characteristic.
The illumination module 2 can be produced for example analogously to an LED flex tape from the LINEARlight Flex series from Osram, in particular as a quasi endless tape in a roll-to-roll method.
In this embodiment, the heat spreading areas, e.g. in the form of electrical conductor tracks, can be arranged at the top side 33 of the carrier 34 and possibly present expansion joints or similar thinned portions can be arranged e.g. at the rear side 35.
The above-described illumination modules of the first to sixth embodiments have a tape-type carrier in such a way that its longitudinal extent, which corresponds to the alignment of the light sources, is significantly larger than its transverse extent (extent in the width direction), e.g. more than twice as large.
In contrast to the above-described illumination modules of the first to sixth embodiments, the illumination module 38 now has a tape-type carrier 39 in such a way that its longitudinal extent, which corresponds to the alignment of the merely two light sources 6, is smaller than its transverse extent. Consequently, a tape-type configuration refers here to an extent of the light sources and/or of the carrier directed at least in sections. Consequently, the width of the lateral strips 8 having the heat spreading areas is much greater here than the width of the central strip 7.
It goes without saying that the present invention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiments shown.
Thus, the form of the electrical lines can be chosen freely and can be configured for example in a meandering fashion between two light sources. In the case of more than one electrical line per lateral strip, these can be configured identically or differently, to be precise with regard to their course and/or their size (conductor track width, etc.).
The at least one expansion strip can also be provided for producing pliability or flexibility of a carrier that otherwise is not provided for a bend; for example by introducing a plurality of expansion joints or other local thinned portions.
Moreover, it is possible in one development (not shown) that more than one light passage window is present on a basic body.
It is also possible in one development (not shown) that the at least one light passage window simultaneously fixes the at least one carrier. For this purpose, the light passage window can have suitable projections projecting into the interior of the tube, e.g. rods. The light exit window can also be embodied as an optical element, e.g. as a lens or as a collimator.
Generally, the features of the individual embodiments can be combined; by way of example, an embodiment having at least one reflector and an arrangement of light sources having at least two rows is possible.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The scope of the invention is thus indicated by the appended claims and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced.
Frost, Tobias, Bertram, Ralph, Herbold, Christian, Strauss, Steffen
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