Encapsulation housing and LED module with the same Technical Field

The present invention relates to an encapsulation housing for a LED module and a LED module with said encapsulation hous ^¬ ing .

Background Art In an existing illumination device, a low power LED module is usually used as a light source. In a general case, when this type of illumination device is applied in an outdoor environment, the requirement for a certain level of IP protection needs to be met. In order to achieve a good protection, one solution in the prior art is to use a single-side potting method, viz. a PCB board loaded with a LED chip is first placed in a half housing of a housing, the other half housing is then joined with said half housing to form an integral housing, later, a potting glue is pot into the housing via an potting hole formed on one half housing, and air is dis ^¬ charged from an exhaust hole also formed on said half hous ^¬ ing. After the potting glue gets solid, the housing achieves a better protection effect to meet the requirement for the level of IP protection. However, the drawback of this method lies in that, the potting glue may leak from the slim between the two half housings, and the leaking potting glue has a negative effect on the aesthetic properties of the housing. If the potting glue in the slim is pull off after getting solid, it will possibly results in a decrease in the leak- proofness of the housing, which affects the IP protection ef ^¬ fect adversely. Another solution in the prior art is that two housing members are welded together via ultrasonic weld ^¬ ing after being joined together, which obtains favorable leakproofness . However, the high frequency vibration of ul ^¬ trasonic might damage the LED chip. Summary of the Invention

In order to overcome the above defect, the present invention provides an encapsulation housing for a LED module and a LED module with said type of encapsulation housing.

The first object of the present invention is realized by one type of encapsulation housing for a LED module, viz. said encapsulation housing has an upper housing and a lower housing joined together and defining together a cavity, wherein at least one of the upper housing and the lower housing has an inner partition wall partitioning the cavity into an assembly cavity and an anti-leakage cavity encircling the assembly cavity. By using the encapsulation housing according to the present invention for encapsulating the LED module, potting glue is pot into the assembly cavity. During potting proc ^¬ ess, potting glue possibly leaking out from the inner parti- tion wall flows into the anti-leakage cavity rather than out of the encapsulation housing, thereby obtaining a good appearance while ensuring meeting the requirement for the level of IP protection.

According to one preferred design solution of the present in- vention, the upper housing has a first bottom wall and the lower housing has a second bottom wall, the inner partition wall consists of a first inner partition wall portion extend ^¬ ing from the first bottom wall and a second inner partition wall portion extending from the second bottom wall of the lower housing, and the contact surfaces of the first inner partition wall portion and the second inner partition wall portion form a first anti-leakage surface extending from the assembly cavity to the anti-leakage cavity. Said inner par ^¬ tition wall prevents the leakage of the potting glue to a great extent. Moreover, the possibly leaking potting glue is received by the anti-leakage cavity.

As provided according to the present invention, at least one of the upper housing and the lower housing further has a lateral wall extending from the first bottom wall and/or the second bottom wall, such that the upper housing and the lower housing join together to form the cavity. Said lateral wall further prevents the potting glue entering the anti-leakage cavity from leaking out of the encapsulation housing.

Preferably, the lateral wall consists of a first lateral wall portion formed on the upper housing and a second lateral wall portion formed on the lower housing, and contact surfaces of the first lateral wall portion and the second lateral wall portion form a second anti-leakage surface extending from the anti-leakage cavity to ambient environment. In the design solution of the present invention, the upper housing and the lower housing may both have lateral wall portions which form together an integral lateral wall. Of course, the upper housing or the lower housing may independently have an inte ^¬ gral lateral wall. As provided according to one preferred design solution of the present invention, the second anti-leakage surface is higher than the first anti-leakage surface. Since the second anti- leakage surface is higher than the first anti-leakage sur ^¬ face, the potting process might have already been ended be- fore the potting glue possibly leaking into the anti-leakage cavity reaches the second anti-leakage surface, which further prevents the potting glue from leaking into ambient environ ^¬ ment outside the encapsulation housing.

As provided according to the present invention, a potting hole and an exhaust hole respectively penetrating into the assembly cavity are formed on the second bottom wall of the lower housing. By potting the potting glue into the potting hole, air is discharged from the exhaust hole, such that the potting glue is pot uniformly into the inside of the assembly cavity without forming bubbles therein. Preferably, the second anti-leakage surface is higher than a lower surface of the assembly cavity, said lower surface be ^¬ ing a surface of the second bottom wall of the lower housing provided with the potting hole and the exhaust hole and de ^¬ fining the assembly cavity. Thus, when the assembly cavity is filled up with the potting glue, the potting glue possibly leaking out will not reach the second anti-leakage surface, thereby preventing the potting glue from leaking out of the encapsulation housing.

The technical term "higher" mentioned in the design solution of the present invention shall be understood as follows, viz. when potting the assembly cavity with the potting glue, the height of liquid level of the potting glue is taken as a ref ^¬ erence criterion. When the assembly cavity is filled up with the potting glue, the liquid level of the potting glue reaches the surface of the second bottom wall of the lower housing provided with the potting hole and the exhaust hole and defining the assembly cavity. Therefore, the heights of the first anti-leakage surface and the second anti-leakage surface shall be understood as the heights relative to the liquid level of the potting glue. _n

5

As provided according to one preferred design solution of the present invention, the first lateral wall portion or the sec ^¬ ond lateral wall portion is provided with a recess part, and the second lateral wall portion or the first lateral wall portion is provided with a protrusion part shaped to adap- tively engage the recess part. Such a design solution re ^¬ markably increases the area of the first anti-leakage sur ^¬ face, thereby improving effectively the anti-leakage capabil ^¬ ity of the first anti-leakage surface. As provided according to the present invention, a lateral wall guide wire hole and an inner partition wall guide wire hole are formed on the lateral wall and the inner partition wall, respectively, and the lateral wall guide wire hole and the inner partition wall guide wire hole have a cross section corresponding to the cross section of the guide wire, respec ^¬ tively. Preferably, the cross sections of the lateral wall guide wire hole and the inner partition wall guide wire hole are slightly smaller than that of the guide wire, such that a tight engagement is achieved between the guide wire and the guide wire hole to prevent the potting glue from leaking out of the guide wire hole. Further preferably, the lateral wall guide wire hole is formed by joining the recesses which are respectively formed on the contact surfaces of the first lat ^¬ eral wall portion and the second lateral wall portion, and the inner partition wall guide wire hole is formed by joining the recesses which are respectively formed on the contact surfaces of the first inner partition wall portion and the second inner portion wall portion.

Preferably, the first lateral wall portion or the second lat- eral wall portion has a fixing channel, and the second lat ^¬ eral wall portion or the first lateral wall portion has a fixing hook fixable into the fixing channel for firmly con- necting the upper housing and the lowing housing together.

Another object of the present invention is realized by one type of LED module. Said LED module has the above type of encapsulation housing. The LED module according to the pre- sent invention can meet the requirement for the level of IP protection while obtaining a good appearance.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The accompanying drawings constitute a part of the present Description and are used to provide further understanding of the present invention. Such accompanying drawings illustrate the embodiments of the present invention and are used to de ^¬ scribe the principles of the present invention together with the Description. In the accompanying drawings the same components are represented by the same reference numbers. As shown in the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an encapsulation housing according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an upper housing of an encap ^¬ sulation housing according to the present invention; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a lower housing of an encap ^¬ sulation housing according to the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an encapsulation housing according to the present invention. As can be seen from the figure, said encapsulation housing has an upper housing 1 and a lower housing 2. The upper housing 1 has a first bottom wall 12 and the lower housing 2 has a second bottom wall 13, respectively, wherein the upper housing 1 and the lower hous ^¬ ing 2 abuts against each other via the lateral walls extend ^¬ ing from the first bottom wall 12 and the second bottom wall 13 and define together a cavity. At least one of the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 further has an inner partition wall partitioning a cavity into an assembly cavity 3 for receiving a PCB board 16 pro ^¬ vided with a LED chip of a LED module and an anti-leakage cavity 4 encircling the assembly cavity 3. In this embodi- ment, the inner partition wall consists of a first inner par ^¬ tition wall portion lb extending from the first bottom wall 12 of the upper housing 1 and a second inner partition wall portion 2b extending from the second bottom wall 13 of the lower housing 2, and the contact surfaces of the first inner partition wall portion lb and the second inner partition wall portion 2b form a first anti-leakage surface 14 extending from the assembly cavity 3 to the anti-leakage cavity 4. In this embodiment, the lateral wall consists of a first lateral wall portion la formed on the upper housing 1 and a second lateral wall portion 2a formed on the lower housing 2, and contact surfaces of the first lateral wall portion la and the second lateral wall portion 2a form a second anti-leakage surface 15 extending from the anti-leakage cavity 15 to ambi ^¬ ent environment. In addition, as can be seen from Fig. 1, the second anti-leakage surface 15 is higher than the first anti-leakage surface 14.

A potting hole 5 and an exhaust hole 6 respectively penetrat ^¬ ing into the assembly cavity 3 are formed on the lower hous ^¬ ing 2, and the second anti-leakage surface is higher than a lower surface 17 of the assembly cavity 3, said lower surface 17 being a surface of the second bottom wall 13 of the lower housing 2 provided with the potting hole 5 and the exhaust hole 6 and defining the assembly cavity 3.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an upper housing 1 of an encapsulation housing according to the present invention, as can be seen from the figure, said upper housing 1 has the first bottom wall 12 in the middle of which there is provided a position for mounting a lens. In addition, said upper housing 1 is provided with the first lateral wall portion la extending from the first bottom wall 12 and encircling the edges of the first bottom wall 12 and the first inner parti- tion wall portion lb also extending from the first bottom wall 12 and along a direction in which the first lateral wall portion la extends and spaced thereapart. Likewise, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a lower housing 2 of an encapsula ^¬ tion housing according to the present invention, as can be seen from the figure, said lower housing 2 is provided with the second lateral wall portion 2a extending from the second bottom wall 13 and encircling the edges of the second bottom wall 13 and the second inner partition wall portion 2b also extending from the second bottom wall 13 and along a direc- tion in which the second lateral wall portion 2a extends and spaced thereapart. When the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 abut against each other, the first lateral wall portion la engages the second lateral wall portion 2a so as to constitute an enclosed cavity, moreover, the first inner partition wall portion lb engages the second inner partition wall portion 2b so as to partition the enclosed cavity into the assembly cavity 3 and the anti-leakage cavity 4 encir ^¬ cling the assembly cavity 3. In addition, the potting hole 5 and the exhaust hole 6 respectively penetrating into the as- sembly cavity 3 are formed on the lower housing 2.

As can be seen from Fig. 2, the first lateral wall portion la is provided with a recess part 7, and as can be seen from _

y

Fig. 3, the second lateral wall portion 2a is provided with a protrusion part 8 shaped to adaptively engage the recess part 7. In addition, as can be seen from Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, recesses are formed on the contact surfaces of the first lat- eral wall portion la and the second lateral wall portion 2a; when the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 abut against each other, said recesses form a lateral wall guide wire hole 9a, and recesses are also formed on the contact surfaces of the first inner partition wall portion lb and the second in- ner partition wall portion 2b; when the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 abut against each other, said recesses form a inner partition wall guide wire hole 9b.

In addition, the first lateral wall portion la of the upper housing 1 as shown in Fig. 2 has a fixing channel 10, and the second lateral wall portion 2a of the lower housing 2 as shown in Fig. 3 has a fixing hook 11 fixable into the fixing channel 10 for firmly connecting the upper housing 1 and the lowing housing 2 together.

The descriptions above are only preferable embodiments of the present invention and are not used to restrict the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present inven ^¬ tion may have various changes and variations. Any modifica ^¬ tions, equivalent substitutions, improvements etc. within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall all be included in the scope of protection of the present invention. ₁

List of reference signs

1 upper housing

2 lower housing

la first lateral wall portion

2a second lateral wall portion

lb first inner partition wall portion

2b second inner partition wall portion

3 assembly cavity

4 anti-leakage cavity

5 potting hole

6 exhaust hole

7 recess part

8 protrusion part

9a lateral wall guide wire hole

9b inner partition wall guide wire hole

10 fixing channel

11 fixing hook

12 first bottom wall 13 second bottom wall

14 first anti-leakage surface

15 second anti-leakage surface

16 PCB board provided with LED chip 5 17 lower surface of assembly cavity