Lantern, preferably for use on board ships, in particluar leisure craft

• US 20040252511A1
• Filed: 04/26/2004
• Published: 12/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aqua Signal AG
• Original Assignee: Aqua Signal AG
• Inventors: Rohlfing, Ralph, Serfass, Wolfgang
• Granted Patent: US 7,134,769 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/331
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 45/04 the devices being intended to indicate the vessel or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 11/06 using crossed laminae or strips , e.g. grid-shaped louvers; using lattices or honeycombs
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/89 Metals
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/045 the lens having discontinuous faces, e.g. Fresnel lenses
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 7/0091 using total internal reflection
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2107/20 for water vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]

Abstract

The invention relates to a lantern, preferably for use aboard ships, in particular leisure vessels, which has a housing, at least one illuminant and a light-permeable cover.

According to the invention, at least one LED is provided as the illuminant and is associated with a beam baffler.

Claims

1. A lantern (10) preferably for use on board ships, in particular on leisure craft, with a housing, at least one illuminant and a light-permeable cover (14), characterized by the following features:

a) at least one LED (22) is provided as the illuminant,

b) the illuminant is assigned a beam baffler.

2. The lantern according to claim 1, characterized in that exactly one LED (22) is provided as the illuminant.

3. The lantern according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the illuminant is arranged with a principal beam direction (arrow 23) directed perpendicular to a rear wall (12) of the housing.

4. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the other claims, characterized by a shield for the purpose of limiting and shadowing the light emitted by the illuminant.

5. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the further claims, characterized in that the illuminant is assigned a cooling element (21).

6. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the further claims, characterized in that an electronic circuit (17) for controlling the LED (22) is arranged in an auxiliary housing (15).

7. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the further claims, characterized in that the light-permeable cover (14) is configured as a Fresnel lens with stepped regions.

8. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the further claims, characterized in that the light-permeable cover (14) is configured with a smooth inner and outer surface.

9. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the further claims, characterized in that the light-permeable cover (14) is inserted in the housing and that the latter conforms to the outer contour of the cover (14) in the vicinity of the cover (14).

10. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the further claims, characterized by an electronic circuit (17) for the purpose of compensating for different supply voltages such that any supply voltage lying between an minimum voltage and a maximum voltage can be applied, with the maximum voltage being at least 1.5 times greater than the minimum voltage.

11. The lantern according to claim 1 or one of the further claims, characterized in that the beam baffler has an essentially semi-cylindrical, prism-like, solid lens with a plurality or all of the following features:

a) the main axis—

based on the emitted light—

of the beam baffler is intersected by an axis of curvature perpendicular thereto,

b) an outer surface of the beam baffler extends semi-cylindrically about its said axis of curvature,

c) said axis of curvature is at the same time the axis of curvature for a semi-cylindrical inner surface of the beam baffler,

d) the semi-cylindrical outer surface and the semi-cylindrical inner surface run essentially parallel to one another and are preferably intersected concentrically by the main axis of the beam baffler,

e) the beam baffler is solid between its outer surface and inner surface,

f) when light is emitted in a preferably horizontal plane, the axis of curvature extends essentially in the vertical direction,

g) the outer surface and inner surface extend to a wall which runs essentially transverse to the main axis,

h) provided in the wall running perpendicular to the main axis is a recess, into which the illuminant at least partially enters,

i) the recess is limited by the semi-cylindrical inner surface, a transverse flat top wall and a like bottom wall,

j) in the direction of the axis of curvature, a top side lies outside of the top wall and a bottom side lies below the bottom wall of the beam baffler,

k) top side and bottom side each extend between the semi-cylindrical outer surface and the wall running transverse to the main axis,

l) top side and bottom side are each configured essentially in the shape of a reference cone so that together they have essentially V-shaped cross sections, being spaced far apart from each other in the region of the outer surface and at a small distance from each other in the vicinity of the illuminant.