LIGHT BAR AND METHOD FOR MAKING
First Claim
1. A process for making an emergency light whose external housing is divided into separable sections and contains light assemblies comprising beam shaping devices that each produce a separate light beam, the process including:
- populating a circuit board with two or more of the light assemblies by registering each of the light assemblies with respect to one or more references on the circuit board, which registration properly positions the light assembly for generating a light beam;
fastening each of the light assemblies to the circuit board at the proper position, where the proper position orients the light beam produced by the beam shaping device of the light assembly to be substantially in a direction perpendicular to a normal of a flat surface of the circuit board;
piloting the circuit board to mate with an interior surface of at least one of the sections of the housing by aligning one or more references fixed to the circuit board and one or more references fixed to the housing, which alignment registers each of the light assemblies fastened to the circuit board with a lens in the housing;
fastening the circuit board to the interior surface of the housing section; and
mating the sections of the housing so that the circuit boards and the light assemblies are contained within a closed space defined by the interior of the housing.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A light bar is described that is of a modular construction based on one or more large circuit boards that are populated with light beam assemblies and then fastened to an interior space of the light bar housing. Keys that automatically align the light beam assemblies on each of the boards precisely control placement of the assemblies on the board. In turn, each of the boards is keyed to the interior of the light bar housing so that when the board is fastened to the housing the light beam assemblies are automatically registered into alignment with the lenses in the housing so that the beams from the assemblies are properly oriented. The light bar is inexpensive to fabricate and can be assembled quickly and reliably, yet it provides for a high degree of customization, which is a requirement in the emergency vehicle lighting industry.
102 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A process for making an emergency light whose external housing is divided into separable sections and contains light assemblies comprising beam shaping devices that each produce a separate light beam, the process including:
-
populating a circuit board with two or more of the light assemblies by registering each of the light assemblies with respect to one or more references on the circuit board, which registration properly positions the light assembly for generating a light beam; fastening each of the light assemblies to the circuit board at the proper position, where the proper position orients the light beam produced by the beam shaping device of the light assembly to be substantially in a direction perpendicular to a normal of a flat surface of the circuit board; piloting the circuit board to mate with an interior surface of at least one of the sections of the housing by aligning one or more references fixed to the circuit board and one or more references fixed to the housing, which alignment registers each of the light assemblies fastened to the circuit board with a lens in the housing; fastening the circuit board to the interior surface of the housing section; and mating the sections of the housing so that the circuit boards and the light assemblies are contained within a closed space defined by the interior of the housing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
4. The process of claim 4 including placing the circuit board and the said another circuit board in the housing section such that the flat section of the circuit board is substantially coplanar with a flat section of said another circuit board.
-
9. A self-powered light bar for mounting to a vehicle, the light bar comprising:
-
an elongated housing for spanning a roof of the vehicle; emergency lighting mounted within the housing; solar cells mated with the housing for providing power to the emergency lighting; a storage device also mated with the housing and in communication with the solar cells for storing energy generated by the solar cells when the energy is not being used by the emergency lighting; a controller mounted within the housing for controlling the emergency lighting and for coordinating the flow of energy to the emergency lighting from the solar cells and the storage device; and a receiver mounted within the housing for wirelessly communicating with a control head in a passenger compartment of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method for retrofitting a vehicle to include an emergency signaling system, the method including:
-
mounting an emergency signaling system contained in a common housing to the vehicle without any external wiring connecting the housing and the vehicle; applying energy to emergency lights within the common housing from a source of energy that is mated with the common housing; providing command signals to a controller in the common housing by way of a wireless connection between the controller and a user interface remote from the common housing; and operating the emergency lights in response to commands from the controller that are in keeping with the command signals received by way of the wireless connection such that the emergency lights contained by the common housing are operated and controlled without any wiring connecting the emergency lights to sources of energy or control that are external to the common housing. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification