LED lamp

• US 8,591,062 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2013
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IDEAL Industries Lighting, LLC (Ideal Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CREE Incorporated (Wolfspeed, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hussell, Christopher P., Edmond, John Adam, Negley, Gerald H., Progl, Curt, Edmond, Mark, Athalye, Praneet, Swoboda, Charles M., Pickard, Paul Kenneth, Reier, Bart P., Lay, James Michael, Lopez, Peter E., van de Ven, Antony Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Vip
• Application Number:
  US13/781,847
• Publication Number:
  US 20130271991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 270 Days
• Field of Search: 362/249.01, 362/249.02, 362/249.06, 362/219
• US Class Current: 362/249.01
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/232 specially adapted for generating an essentially omnidirectional light distribution, e.g. with a glass bulb
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/238 Arrangement or mounting of circuit elements integrated in the light source
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 19/003 Fastening of light source holders, e.g. of circuit boards or substrates holding light sources
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 19/004 by deformation of parts or snap action mountings, e.g. using clips
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/00 Supporting, suspending, or attaching arrangements for lighting devices F21V17/00, F21V19/00 take precedence; arrangement of signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor, for vehicles in general B60Q, stands for supporting apparatus or articles in general F16M11/00; Hand grips
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/06 the elements being coupling devices , e.g. connectors
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/503 of light sources cooling arrangements structurally associated with gas-discharge or vapour-discharge lamps H01J61/52; cooling arrangements structurally associated with electric incandescent lamps H01K1/58; cooling arrangements structurally associated with light-emitting diodes H01L33/64
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/70 characterised by passive heat-dissipating elements, e.g. heat-sinks
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/773 the planes containing the fins or blades having the direction of the light emitting axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/777 the planes containing the fins or blades having directions perpendicular to the light emitting axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 7/00 Reflectors for light sources characterised by cooling arrangements F21V29/505
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2107/30 on the outer surface of cylindrical surfaces, e.g. rod-shaped supports having a circular or a polygonal cross section
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2107/40 on the sides of polyhedrons, e.g. cubes or pyramids
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/05 Insulated conductive substrates, e.g. insulated metal substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10106 Light emitting diode [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49826 Assembling or joining

Abstract

A lamp has an optically transmissive enclosure and a base. A tower extends from the base into the enclosure and supports an LED assembly in the enclosure. The LED assembly comprises a plurality of LEDs operable to emit light when energized through an electrical path from the base. The tower and the LED assembly are arranged such that the plurality of LEDs are disposed about the periphery of the tower in a band and face outwardly toward the enclosure to create a source of the light that appears as a glowing filament. The tower forms part of a heat sink that transmits heat from the LED assembly to the ambient environment. The LED assembly has a three-dimensional shape. An electrical interconnect connects a conductor to the heat sink where the conductor is in the electrical path between the LED assembly and the base.

Claims

1. A lamp comprising:

an optically transmissive enclosure;

a base comprising an Edison connector;

a heat sink comprising a tower extending from the base into the enclosure and supporting an LED assembly in the optically transmissive enclosure and a heat dissipating portion extending to the exterior of the lamp, the LED assembly comprising a plurality of LEDs operable to emit light when energized through an electrical path from the base, the tower and the LED assembly are arranged such that the plurality of LEDs are disposed about the periphery of the tower in a band and face outwardly toward the enclosure to create a source of the light that appears as a centrally located glowing portion.

2. The lamp of claim 1 wherein the LED assembly comprises a submount on which the plurality of LEDs are mounted.

3. The lamp of claim 2 wherein the submount comprises at least one of a PCB, metal core board, lead frame and metal core printed circuit board.

4. The lamp of claim 2 wherein the submount has a three-dimensional shape where a portion of the tower is inside of the submount and the plurality of LEDs are mounted on an outside surface of the submount.

5. The lamp of claim 2 wherein the submount comprises a connector portion that couples the LED assembly to the tower and electrically couples the LED assembly to the electrical path.

6. The lamp of claim 1 wherein the tower extends along the longitudinal axis of the lamp and the LED assembly is mounted on the tower such that at least some of the LEDs of the plurality of LEDs emit light laterally.

7. A lamp comprising:

an optically transmissive enclosure;

a base comprising an Edison screw adapted to engage an Edison socket;

an LED assembly connected to the base and extending into the optically transmissive enclosure, the LED assembly comprising a plurality of LEDs operable to emit light when energized through an electrical path from the base, the LED assembly is arranged such that the plurality of LEDs are disposed about a longitudinal axis of the lamp in a band and face outwardly toward the enclosure to create a source of the light that visibly appears as a centrally glowing area.

8. The lamp of claim 7 wherein the LED assembly comprises a submount on which the plurality of LEDs are mounted.

9. The lamp of claim 8 wherein the submount comprises at least one of a PCB, metal core board, lead frame and metal core printed circuit board.

10. The lamp of claim 8 wherein the submount comprises a flat member that is bent into a three-dimensional shape where the plurality of LEDs are mounted on an outside surface of the submount.

11. The lamp of claim 8 wherein the submount comprises a connector portion that couples the LED assembly to a heat sink and electrically couples the LED assembly to the electrical path.

12. The lamp of claim 8 wherein the LED assembly is thermally coupled to a heat sink, the heat sink being located between the enclosure and the base.

13. A lamp comprising:

an optically transmissive enclosure;

a base;

a heat sink extending into the enclosure and supporting an LED assembly in the optically transmissive enclosure, the LED assembly operable to emit omnidirectional white light equivalent to at least a 40 watt incandescent bulb when energized through an electrical path from the base, the heat sink being thermally coupled to the LED assembly for transmitting heat from the LED assembly to the ambient environment where the heat sink and the LED assembly are arranged such that the LED assembly is disposed substantially in the optical center of the enclosure, the LED assembly comprising a plurality of LEDs disposed about the periphery of the heat sink.

14. The lamp of claim 13 wherein the LED assembly comprises a submount on which the plurality of LEDs are mounted.

15. The lamp of claim 14 wherein the submount comprises at least one of a PCB, metal core board, lead frame and metal core printed circuit board.

16. The lamp of claim 14 wherein the submount has a three-dimensional shape where a portion of the heat sink is inside of the submount and the plurality of LEDs are mounted on an outside surface of the submount.

17. The lamp of claim 14 wherein the submount comprises a connector portion that electrically couples the LED assembly to the electrical path.

18. The lamp of claim 13 wherein the heat sink extends along the longitudinal axis of the lamp and the LED assembly is mounted on the heat sink such that at least some of the LEDs of the plurality of LEDs emit light laterally.

19. The lamp of claim 13 wherein the plurality of LEDs are positioned in a band such that a high intensity area of light produced from the plurality of LEDs appears as a glowing line of light when energized.

20. The lamp of claim 19 wherein the band has a height and a length, the height of the band, in the dimension along a longitudinal axis of the lamp, being smaller than the length of the band.

21. A lamp comprising:

an optically transmissive enclosure;

a base;

an LED assembly disposed in the optically transmissive enclosure operable to emit light when energized through an electrical path;

a heat sink thermally coupled to the LED assembly for transmitting heat from the LED assembly to the ambient environment;

an electrical interconnect for mechanically connecting a conductor to the heat sink where the conductor is in the electrical path between the LED assembly and the base.

22. The lamp of claim 21 wherein the electrical conductor connects the LED assembly to lamp electronics in the base.

23. The lamp of claim 22 wherein the electrical conductor comprises a first contact that is electrically coupled with the LED assembly and a second contact that is electrically coupled with the lamp electronics.

24. The lamp of claim 23 comprising a first contact coupling between the first contact and the LED assembly and a second contact coupling between the second contact and the lamp electronics.

25. The lamp of claim 21 wherein the electrical interconnect comprises a body that retains the conductor and a second conductor where the conductor connects to one of an anode side or a cathode side of the LED assembly and the second conductor connects to the other one of the anode side or the cathode side of the LED assembly.

26. The lamp of claim 25 wherein the conductor forms a first LED-side contact and a first lamp electronics-side contact and the second conductor forms a second LED-side contact and a second lamp electronics-side contact.

27. The lamp of claim 25 wherein the electrical interconnect comprises an alignment mechanism that is configured to position the conductor and the second conductor relative to corresponding electrical contacts of the LED assembly and the lamp electronics.

28. The lamp of claim 21 wherein the electrical interconnect is secured to the heat sink by a snap fit connector.

29. The lamp of claim 24 wherein the first contact coupling comprises a first resilient member that deforms to bias into engagement with a first contact on the LED assembly and the second contact coupling comprises a second resilient member that deforms to bias into engagement with a first contact on the lamp electronics.

30. The lamp of claim 21 wherein a snap-fit connector connects the base to the heat sink.