LED Lighting Module and Luminaire Technical Field

The present invention relates to an LED lighting module and a luminaire .

Background Art

The LED luminaire, as a new light source, is widely used due to its advantages such as high efficiency, pure light color, low energy consumption, long service lifetime, reliability and durability, non-pollution and flexible control.

An LED lighting module usually demands IP (waterproof and dustproof) protection. When an IP protection is applied to the LED lighting module, a currently common method is to seal a solder pad and electronic components on a circuit board by potting a sealing material.

In reference to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, a known LED lighting module 100 is shown. The LED lighting module 100 comprises a housing 101 and a circuit board 105. The housing 101 is formed into a cup shape opening at an upper end so as to form a cavity for accommodating a sealing material. LED chips 107 and other electronic components 109 to be sealed by the seal ^¬ ing material are arranged on the circuit board 105. In this known LED lighting module 100, the circuit board 105 and the housing 101 must be assembled together prior to the potting process. Such assembling is usually carried out through the following two methods: The first method is as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, that is, an adhesive 103 is coated on a whole bottom surface of the circuit board 105, and then the circuit board 105 is bonded to an inner bottom surface of the cavity of the housing 101, and further the sealing material is potted into the cavity of the housing 101 so as to realize sealing.

The second method is to form corresponding screw holes on the circuit board 105 and the housing 101, respectively, so that the circuit board 105 is fixed in the cavity of the housing 101 through screws.

The above known techniques at least have the following short ^¬ comings :

1. In order to form connection between the housing 101 and the circuit board 105, the housing 101 must be formed with a bottom wall, that is, the housing 101 is formed into the cup shape with the opening only at the upper end. The housing in such shape should be formed with many materials, and the cost is high;

2. As the connection is realized by placing the circuit board 105 in the cavity of the housing 101 in the known technique, the side wall of the housing 101 should be wider and higher so as to accommodate the circuit board 105 and the sealing material, so that many materials are needed and the cost is high; 3. In the known technique as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, a large-area adhesive 103 should be coated on the whole bottom surface of the circuit board 105 to realize joint with the housing 101, as a result, a large amount of adhesive is used, and the cost is high, moreover, the process of coating the adhesive and the bonding process are relatively complex; and

4. In the know technique of fixing with screws, the screw holes should be formed on the circuit board, while the cir ^¬ cuit board, on which circuits and electronic components are arranged, is easily damaged when the screw holes are opened; in addition, the screw holes should be opened and the screws should be installed with multiple dedicated means and a lot of manpower, and the processes are complex.

Summary of the Invention The object of the present invention lies in overcoming the defects in the prior art to provide an LED lighting module and a luminaire so as to provide a structure that is simple and easy to joint and has a low cost.

According to one aspect of the present invention, an LED lighting module is provided, comprising: a circuit board, LED chips mounted on a surface of the circuit board; and a hous ^¬ ing, the housing comprises an annular side wall that defines openings at both ends, and the housing is jointed with the surface of the circuit board via one end surface of the annu- lar side wall to define a cavity for accommodating a sealing material. As a result, the housing according to the present invention can be formed to be much smaller than that in the known art so as to save the material for forming the housing. In addition, the housing of the present invention can be jointed with the circuit board via one end surface of the an ^¬ nular side wall, so that it is unnecessary to coat a large- area adhesive on the whole bottom surface of the circuit board, saving the adhesive material and simplifying the proc ^¬ ess. Besides, the housing of the present invention avoids the material cost and the manpower cost needed by use of screws, as well as damage to the circuit board by opening the screw holes .

Preferably, the housing is jointed with the circuit board through a surface mount technology. Compared with the fasten- ing modes of using adhesive and screws in the known art, the surface mount technology is simple and practicable, and will not cause damage to the circuit board.

Preferably, a first solder pad is formed on the end surface of the housing, a second solder pad corresponding to the first solder pad is formed on the surface of the circuit board, and the housing and the circuit board are jointed to ^¬ gether via the first solder pad and the second solder pad. Via such joint formed by means of solder pads, stable connec ^¬ tion between the housing and the circuit board can be formed in a simple manner.

Preferably, the first solder pad is formed along the whole end surface of the housing. As a result, firm joint between the housing and the circuit board can be realized on the whole end surface, so that the finally formed LED lighting module is more reliable.

Preferably, the housing is formed through a molding process, so that the housing is formed in a simple manner.

Preferably, the housing is formed from a plastic material. The plastic material has good molding performances and has a low cost, and the whole LED lighting module can be further enabled to be manufactured in a simple and low-cost manner.

Preferably, the end surface of the housing is formed to be corresponding to edges of the whole circuit board. Accord- ingly, the annular side wall of the housing can enclose all LED chips and electronic components on the whole circuit board, thus, multiple parts to be sealed can be sealed through one-time potting. Preferably, the end surface of the housing is formed to only enclose a part of the circuit board to be sealed. Such hous ^¬ ing is particularly suited to the situation that there are only a small number of parts on the circuit board to be sealed, so that, on one hand, the housing can be made smaller to save the housing material, and on the other hand, the sealing material is saved as only a small amount of the seal ^¬ ing material needs to be potted to only enclose the parts to be sealed.

Preferably, the annular side wall of the housing is formed to have an annular cross section in a circular shape or a rectangular shape. Such annular side wall of the housing makes it more adapted to the shape of conventional circuit board, and the annular side wall in such shape has a regular shape and is easy to manufacture. According to the other aspect of the present invention, an LED luminaire is provided. The LED luminaire comprises the LED lighting module of any type according to the preceding.

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 compo- nents are represented by the same reference numbers. As shown in the drawings :

Fig. 1 shows a cross section diagram of an LED lighting module according to the known art; Fig. 2 shows an exploded 3D diagram of the LED lighting module according to the known art;

Fig. 3 shows a 3D diagram of an LED lighting module according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 shows an exploded 3D diagram of an LED lighting module according to the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 shows a cross section diagram of an LED lighting module according to the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a 3D diagram of a circuit board of the LED lighting module according to the embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 7 is a 3D diagram of a housing of the LED lighting module according to the embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged 3D diagram of part A of the housing shown in Fig . 7.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments The present invention will be illustrated more comprehen ^¬ sively in reference to the figures of the exemplary embodi ^¬ ment of the present invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in multiple varied forms and should not be limited to constructions according to the exemplary embodi- ments illustrated herein. Of course, these exemplary embodi- ments are provided for making the present disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and can sufficiently convey the scope of the present invention to the person skilled in the art . Next, the present invention will be illustrated in detail in reference to Figs. 3-8.

As shown in Fig. 5, a cross section diagram of an LED lighting module 200 according to one embodiment of the present in ^¬ vention is shown. The LED lighting module 200 comprises a housing 201 and a circuit board 205. The circuit board 205 is mounted with LED chips 207 and other electronic components 209.

Further reference is made to Fig. 4, Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. The circuit board 205 is substantially formed into a quadrate shape, and the housing 201 comprises an annular side wall

2011. As viewed from the figures, upper and lower ends of the annular side wall 2011 are openings. In addition, the housing 201 is jointed with a surface 2051 of the circuit board 205 (i.e. a surface 2051 of the circuit board 205 mounted with the LED chips) via one end surface 2013 of the annular side wall 2011. After the housing 201 is jointed with the circuit board 205, a shape with one opening at the upper end as shown in Figs. 3 and 5 is formed, that is, the housing 201 and the circuit board 205 together enclose and form a cavity so that a sealing material can be potted into the cavity via the up ^¬ per opening of the cavity.

It should be noted that the annular side wall 2011 according to the present application means a hollow cylindrical body, while the shape of the annular side wall 2011 is not specifi- cally limited. For instance, the annular side wall 2011, as shown in Fig. 3, can be annular in a quadrate shape corre ^¬ sponding to the quadrate shape of the circuit board 205, and the annular side wall 2011 of the housing 201 also can be an ^¬ nular in other shapes, such as circular ring or polygonal an- nular shape. Selection of the shape of the annular side wall 2011 can be dependent upon the shape of the circuit board 205 to be jointed with according to requirement, or the selection of the shape of the annular side wall 2011 can be determined by the shape of the part it needs to enclose on the circuit board 205. Therefore, the shape of the annular side wall 2011 of the present application should not be limited to the shape shown .

Upon comparison of Fig. 5 of the embodiment of the present invention with Fig. 1 in the known art, the structure of the present invention at least can be found to have the following advantages :

The housing 101 in the prior art as shown in Fig. 1 presents a substantially cup shape with a bottom wall, and the purpose of forming such cup shape is, on one hand, placing the cir- cuit board 105 on the bottom wall thereof, and on the other hand, forming a cavity opening at one end to accommodate a sealing material. Thus, a material for forming the bottom wall is indispensable for manufacturing the housing 101 as shown in Fig. 1. But in the structure of the present inven- tion as shown in Fig. 5, a shape opening at both ends is formed, that is, the housing does not have the bottom wall as in Fig. 1, as a result, the material for forming the bottom wall is saved during the manufacture process, and the manu ^¬ facture of the housing can be simpler; Besides, the housing 101 in the known art as shown in Fig. 1 should accommodate the circuit board 105 therein, and then, a „

height of the housing 101 should be a sum of a height of the circuit board 105 and a height of the sealing material, more ^¬ over, a width of the housing 101 should be a sum of a width of the circuit board 105 and a thickness of the side wall of the housing 101. But in the structure of the present inven ^¬ tion as shown in Fig. 5, the housing 201 is jointed to an up ^¬ per surface of the circuit board 205 so that a height thereof is only formed to be equal to that of the sealing material, and a width of the housing also can be formed to be smaller than or equal to that of the circuit board 205. That is to say, the housing according to the embodiment of the present invention can be formed shorter and narrower than that in the know art as shown in Fig. 1, as a result, the material for forming the housing can be saved;

Furthermore, in the structure of the know art, as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, the whole bottom surface of the circuit board 105 should be coated with the adhesive 103 to realize joint with the housing 101, which obviously demands a large amount of adhesive. But in the structure according to the em ^¬ bodiment of the present invention as shown in Fig. 3, the housing 201 thereof is formed with the annular side wall 2011, and then, a joint portion 203 can be formed only along a small-area end portion of the annular side wall 2011, and thus, it is not necessary to coat a large-area adhesive on the whole bottom surface of the circuit board, saving the ma ^¬ terial for joint between the housing 201 and the circuit board 205 and simplifying the process;

Moreover, compared with the second know art of fixing with screws in the preceding, in the structure according to the embodiment of the present invention, the housing 201 of the present invention can be jointed with the surface of the cir ^¬ cuit board, which avoids damage to the circuit board due to opening of the screw holes and the complex processes of open ^¬ ing the screw holes and installing the screws, and saves the material cost and the manpower cost needed for installing the screws . Furthermore, according to the embodiment of the present in ^¬ vention, the housing 201 preferably can be jointed with the circuit board 205 through a surface mount technology. For in ^¬ stance, the joint can be realized with the following struc ^¬ ture: as shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, a firs solder pad 2015 is formed on the end surface 2013 of the housing 201, a sec ^¬ ond solder pad 2053 corresponding to the first solder pad 2015 is formed on the surface 2051 of the circuit board 205, and the housing 201 and the circuit board 205 are jointed to ^¬ gether via the first solder pad 2015 and the second solder pad 2053 so that the joint portion 203 (see Fig. 3) is formed between the housing 201 and the circuit board 205. As shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, the first solder pad 2015 can be formed along the whole end surface 2013 of the housing 201. Prefera ^¬ bly, as shown in Fig. 8, a shape of the first solder pad 2015 can be configured to substantially conform to a shape of the end surface 2013 of the annular side wall 2011 of the hous ^¬ ing. As a result, the housing can be well jointed with the circuit board 205 on the whole end surface such that the sealing effect of the finally formed LED lighting module can be further guaranteed.

The housing 201 can be formed through a molding process.

Preferably, the housing 201 can be made from a plastic mate ^¬ rial or other easily molded materials.

As shown in Figs. 3-5, the annular side wall 2011 of the housing 201 is formed to be corresponding to edges of the whole circuit board 205. Such housing 201 encloses in the cavity all the LED chips 207 and the electronic components 209 on the whole circuit board, so that all components formed on the circuit board 205 can be sealed when the sealing mate ^¬ rial is potted into the cavity, which can complete the seal- ing in a highly efficient manner.

Nevertheless, the annular side wall 2011 of the housing 201 is not limited to such structure. For example, the annular side wall 2011 of the housing 201 also can be formed to only enclose a part of the circuit board 205 to be sealed. For in- stance, modification is made to the housing as shown in Figs. 3-5 such that it only encloses the LED chips 207. Obviously, the modified housings are much smaller than the housing 201 enclosing the housing 201 of the whole circuit board 205 as shown in Figs. 3-5, so that the material needed for manufac- turing the housing can be saved. In addition, in this situation, as only the LED chips 207 are needed to be sealed, the amount of the sealing material to be potted is also appar ^¬ ently smaller than that demanded by the structure as shown in Figs. 3-5. That is to say, to form such housings that only enclose the part on the circuit board 205 to be sealed can greatly save the material needed for manufacturing the hous ^¬ ing as well as the amount of the sealing material.

The above is only preferred embodiments of the present inven ^¬ tion but not to limit the present invention. For the person skilled in the art, the present invention may have various alterations and changes. Any alterations, equivalent substi ^¬ tutions, improvements, within the spirit and principle of the present invention, should be covered in the protection scope of the present invention. List of reference signs

100 LED lighting module in known art

101 housing

103 adhesive

105 circuit board

107 LED chip

109 electronic component

200 LED lighting module according to the present invention

201 housing

203 joint portion

205 circuit board

207 LED chip

209 electronic component

2011 annular side wall

2013 end surface of housing

2015 first solder pad

2051 surface of circuit board

2053 second solder pad