LED lamp

• US 9,810,379 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2016
• Issued: 11/07/2017
• 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., van de Ven, Antony Paul, Pickard, Paul Kenneth, Reier, Bart P., Lay, James Michael, Lopez, Peter E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Joseph L
• Application Number:
  US15/229,218
• Publication Number:
  US 20160363269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 459 Days
• 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;

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.

2. The lamp of claim 1 wherein the electrical conductor connects the LED assembly to lamp electronics in the base.

3. The lamp of claim 2 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.

4. The lamp of claim 3 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.

5. The lamp of claim 1 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.

6. The lamp of claim 5 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.

7. The lamp of claim 5 wherein the conductor and the second conductor extend through the body.

8. The lamp of claim 1 wherein the electrical interconnect is inserted into the heat sink to create an electrical connection to the LED assembly.

9. The lamp of claim 5 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.

10. The lamp of claim 9 wherein the alignment mechanism comprises a slot on one of the electrical interconnect and the heat sink that engages a mating slot on the other one of the electrical interconnect and the heat sink.

11. The lamp of claim 1 wherein the electrical interconnect is secured to the heat sink by a snap fit connector.

12. The lamp of claim 11 wherein the snap-fit connector comprises a deformable resilient finger on one of the electrical interconnect and the heat sink that engages an engagement member on the other one of the electrical interconnect and the heat sink.

13. The lamp of claim 12 wherein one of the deformable resilient finger and the engagement member comprises a camming surface and a lock member.

14. The lamp of claim 13 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.

15. The lamp of claim 1 wherein a snap-fit connector connects the base to the heat sink.

16. 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;

a clamping structure for clamping the LED assembly to the heat sink.

17. The lamp of claim 16 wherein the clamping structure comprises a pair of extensions on the LED assembly that engage mating receptacles formed on the heat sink.

18. The lamp of claim 17 wherein the LED assembly comprises a submount on which a plurality of LEDs are mounted on an LED mounting area and the extensions comprise portions of the submount that extend away from the LED mounting area.

19. The lamp of claim 17 wherein the extensions are formed with camming surfaces that engage the receptacles to clamp the LED assembly on the heat sink.

20. The lamp of claim 19 wherein the LED assembly has a three-dimensional shape having a first end and a second end.

21. The lamp of claim 20 wherein the engagement of the camming surfaces with the receptacles moves the first end of the LED assembly toward the second end of the LED assembly.

22. The lamp of claim 21 wherein as the first end and the second end of the LED assembly are moved toward one another, the inner circumference of the LED assembly is reduced such that the LED assembly exerts a clamping force on the heat sink as the LED assembly is inserted on the heat sink.

23. The lamp of claim 22 wherein the clamping force holds the LED assembly on the heat sink and ensures a tight surface-to-surface engagement between the LED assembly and the heat sink such that heat generated by the LED assembly is transferred to the heat sink.

24. The lamp of claim 16 wherein the clamping structure comprises a camming structure for moving a first end of the LED assembly towards a second end of the LED assembly.

25. The lamp of claim 16 wherein the heat sink comprises a heat conducting tower that is dimensioned and configured to make thermal contact with the LED assembly.

26. The lamp of claim 25 wherein the tower extends along the longitudinal axis of the lamp and extends into the center of the enclosure.

27. The lamp of claim 25 wherein the tower comprises an outer surface that is in surface to surface contact with an internal surface of the LED assembly.

28. The lamp of claim 25 wherein the tower is thermally coupled to a heat dissipating portion that dissipates heat from the lamp to the ambient environment.

29. The lamp of claim 28 wherein the heat dissipating portion extends from the interior of the enclosure to the exterior of the lamp.

30. The lamp of claim 29 wherein a plurality of heat dissipating members are formed on the heat dissipating portion to facilitate heat transfer to the ambient environment.