Underwater lighting apparatus
First Claim
1. An underwater lighting unit, comprising:
- an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted against a wall of a thermally conductive housing;
a collimator comprising a clear transparent material in front of each LED in the array; and
a transparent screen aligned across front faces of the collimators and in contact with said front faces, the transparent screen being sealingly edge-mounted in a peripheral recess around walls of the housing so as to create and maintain a sealed air space between an interior of the housing and walls of the collimators, at least a portion of the walls of the housing being in direct heat exchange contact with water in which the lighting unit is submerged to provide cooling for the array of LEDs.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An underwater lighting unit (1) for marine or other underwater use incorporates LEDs (13) as the light source and provides an array of LEDs (13) mounted against the back wall (11) of a metal or thermally conductive plastic housing (10) which utilizes the cooling effect of direct contact between the water and the housing to dissipate the heat generated by the LEDs (13) in use. The LEDs (13) each have an associated collimator (20) protected from contact with the water in which the unit (1) is to be immersed by a sealed glass screen (22), and each LED may be from one to three watts or more in power. There may be 30 or more LEDs (13) and associated collimators (20) in each lighting unit (1). The lighting unit (1) may be mounted in a cofferdam (2) of a marine vessel, directly against or slightly forwardly of the back wall of the cofferdam, or may be surface-mounted on the hull (3) of the vessel directly against or slightly spaced from the hull (3) and below the waterline.
89 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An underwater lighting unit, comprising:
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an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted against a wall of a thermally conductive housing; a collimator comprising a clear transparent material in front of each LED in the array; and a transparent screen aligned across front faces of the collimators and in contact with said front faces, the transparent screen being sealingly edge-mounted in a peripheral recess around walls of the housing so as to create and maintain a sealed air space between an interior of the housing and walls of the collimators, at least a portion of the walls of the housing being in direct heat exchange contact with water in which the lighting unit is submerged to provide cooling for the array of LEDs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An underwater lighting unit comprising:
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an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted against a wall of a thermally conductive housing; a collimator comprising a conical or pyramidal moulding of a clear transparent material in front of each LED in the array; and a transparent screen aligned across front faces of the collimators and in contact with said front faces, the transparent screen being sealingly edge-mounted in a peripheral recess around side wall or walls of the housing so as to create and maintain a sealed air space between an interior of the housing and the conical or pyramidal walls of the collimators, at least a portion of walls of the housing being in direct heat exchange contact with water in which the lighting unit is submerged to provide cooling for the array of LEDs. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An underwater lighting unit, comprising
an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted against a wall of a thermally conductive housing; -
a collimator comprising a conical or pyramidal moulding of a clear transparent material in front of each LED in the array; and a transparent screen aligned across front faces of the collimators, the transparent screen being sealingly edge-mounted in a peripheral recess around side wall or walls of the housing so as to create and maintain a sealed air space between an interior of the housing and the conical or pyramidal walls of the collimators, at least a portion of walls of the housing being in direct heat exchange contact with water in which the lighting unit is submerged to provide cooling for the array of LEDs. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification