A Lens Module and an Illuminating Device Having the Lens Module

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a lens module for a light source and an illuminating device having the lens module.

Background Art In modern illuminating devices, the lens or reflector is an important part for obtaining an ideal illuminating effect. A lens module that can form different light distribution pat ^¬ terns is demanded for different applications. For instance, an elliptic light distribution pattern is preferred for hall- way illumination in order to reduce the number of the illuminating devices needed, while for a floodlight application, a round light distribution pattern is usually desired. In the prior illuminating devices, the lens module is often injected in one piece, which thus has such drawbacks that, on one as- pect, different lens modules should be selected for different applications, which significantly increases the installation cost, and on the other aspect, the customers have to take care on the lens module selection as the directional angle and beam angle are different, and a desired luminescence ef- feet can be realized just by installing a plurality of suit ^¬ able modules in one illuminating device.

Summary of the Invention

Therefore, the object of the present invention lies in pro ^¬ viding a novel lens module for a light source and an illumi- nating device having such lens module. This lens module has a low manufacturing and assembling cost, has strong universality and user-friendliness, and can obtain an ideal light distribution pattern through simple adjustment. A lens module for a light source is provided according to the present invention, comprising a base and at least two lenses, wherein at least two mounting holes are opened in the base in which the at least two lenses is respectively rotatably mounted at least with its light emergent portions, the light emergent portion of each lens has a structured surface, an orientation of the structured surface is adjusted through ro ^¬ tation of the lens in the mounting hole for outputting a combined light distribution pattern. The surface of the light emergent portion of the lens is structured according to an optical principle, so that input light can be output in a predetermined angle, and further a light spot output from a single lens module is combined by rotating the light emergent portions of respective lenses, so that various ideal light distribution patterns can be obtained. Accordingly, a simple and easy adjustment can be made according to different appli ^¬ cations, which fully exhibits the high universality of the lens module according to the present invention. Herein, the light emergent portion at least comprises the structured sur ^¬ face, and also may further comprise a portion where the lens and the structured surface are connected in a certain condi ^¬ tion.

According to a preferred solution of the present invention, the structured surface has a V-cut array or wave-form cut ar ^¬ ray. Such structured surface advantageously leads light, af- ter passing through the surface, to be offset towards a pre ^¬ determined direction. According to a preferred solution of the present invention, the V-cut array or wave-form cut array comprising a plurality of parallel lines. Such structured surface advantageously leads light, to be offset towards a same direction. According to a preferred solution of the present invention, the lens comprises a cup-shape portion receiving the incident light from inside and having an inner reflective wall, and a thin plate forming the light emergent portion and covering an opening of the cup-shape portion. Herein, the cup-shape por- tion and thin plate of the lens may form an enclosed cavity for accommodating the light source. Moreover, a surface of the thin plate away from the inner reflective wall is struc ^¬ tured, i.e., there is a V-cut array or wave-form cut array. Each individual lens may be rotated as a whole in the mount- ing hole, and due to the structured surface, the lens can produce a polarizing effect towards a predetermined direction according to an angular position thereof.

According to a preferred solution of the present invention, the base comprises an outer surface at emergent light side, and the thin plate is flush with the outer surface of the base. Such configuration ensures a delightful appearance of the lens module and also is favorable for assembling.

According to a preferred solution of the present invention, the thin plate is anti-rotationally assembled together with the cup-shape portion. Besides, the lens also can be formed by the cup-shape portion and the thin plate in one piece. Therefore, a good dismountability of the lens as a whole is reflected, and it is convenient to adjust respective lenses.

According to a preferred solution of the present invention, a rotary ring installed on the cup-shape portion and a locking piece for fixing the rotary ring on an inner surface of the base opposite to the outer surface are further comprised. The whole lens can be driven to rotate by manipulating such as rotating the rotary ring, and when the lens is rotated to a suitable position, the rotary ring can be stopped and fixed with the locking piece.

According to another preferred solution of the present invention, the locking piece is a hook, and other elements having a locking function also may be considered as the locking piece.

According to another preferred solution of the present invention, at least four lenses are arranged symmetrically. If four or eight or more lenses are arranged axially symmetri ^¬ cally or centrally symmetrically in the lens module, light spots of emergent light of respective lenses can be combined more precisely by adjusting the angular positions of respec ^¬ tive lenses, for obtaining a more complex light distribution pattern .

Preferably, there are four lenses which arranged with each other to form an array of square. In this simple situation, a light distribution pattern of a simple geometrical shape can be formed by rotating respective lenses having structured surfaces in the base.

According to a preferred solution of the present invention, the structured surfaces of the lenses have the same angular position for outputting a combined long-strip light distribution pattern. That is to say, the structured surfaces of re ^¬ spective lenses have the same orientation so that the emer ^¬ gent light is offset to one direction for forming the long- strip light distribution pattern. According to another preferred solution of the present invention, the structured surfaces of the lenses have an angular position difference of 90° with each other for outputting a combined heart-shape light distribution pattern. In this situation, the structured surfaces of respective adjacent lenses have orientations perpendicular to each other, so that two portions of offset emergent light are perpendicular to each other, thus combining the heart-shape light distribution pattern . The present invention further relates to an illuminating device comprising the lens module and light-emitting assemblies installed in respective lenses of the lens module, wherein the light-emitting assembly comprises a circuit board and a light source arranged on the circuit board. According to a preferred solution of the present invention, the light source is located in an enclosed cavity defined by a cup-shape portion and a thin plate and located on position opposite to the thin plate.

Preferably, the light source is an LED, and common fluores- cent light source or light sources in other forms also may be selected as alternatives of the LED.

It shall be understood that both the above general descrip ^¬ tions and the following detailed descriptions are for illus ^¬ trative and explanative purposes in order to provide further descriptions of the claimed invention.

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 com- ponents are represented by the same reference numbers. As shown in the drawings :

Fig. 1 is a 3D view of a bottom surface of a lens module ac ^¬ cording to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a lateral view of a lens according to the present invention;

Fig. 3 is an optical pathway diagram of the lens in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4a is a front view of a first embodiment of a lens mod ^¬ ule according to the present invention;

Fig. 4b is an optical pathway diagram of the lens module in Fig. 4a;

Fig. 5a is a front view of a second embodiment of a lens mod ^¬ ule according to the present invention; and

Fig. 5b is an optical pathway diagram of the lens module in Fig. 5a. Fig. 6a is a front view of a third embodiment of a lens mod ^¬ ule according to the present invention; and

Fig. 6b is an optical pathway diagram of the lens module in Fig. 6a.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments Fig. 1 is a 3D view of a bottom surface of a lens module ac ^¬ cording to the present invention. A lens module 10 comprises a base 1, lenses 2 (there are four lenses in the present em ^¬ bodiment) and mounting holes 3. In order to enable at least a light emergent portion 4 of the lens 2 to be rotatably in ^¬ stalled in the mounting hole 3, the lens module 10 further comprises a rotary ring 8 to be installed on the lens 2 and a locking piece 9 for fixing the rotary ring 8 onto an inner surface of the base 1. The lens 2 comprises a cup-shape por- tion 6 having an inner reflective wall, and the rotary ring 8 is arranged on the cup-shape portion 6.

As each lens 2 has a structured surface 5 (see Fig. 2 to Fig. 5) , emergent light can be offset to a predetermined direc ^¬ tion. Light spots generated by respective lenses 2 can be adjusted by using the rotary ring 8 to drive the cup-shape portion 6 and further the light emergent portion 4 to rotate in the mounting hole 3, and the lens 2 is locked in a posi ^¬ tion via the locking piece 9 such as hook when the lens 2 is located in a suitable angular position. For the whole lens module 10, an expected light distribution pattern can be formed by combining respective light spots generated by the respective lenses 2, accordingly, the light distribution pat ^¬ terns of various shapes can be generated with as few lens modules 10 as possible, which greatly reduces the number of the lens modules 10 needed to be installed in the prior illu ^¬ minating devices. Besides, as the lens can be fixed rota ^¬ tionally in the base 1 via a mechanical connection, it is easy to change or adjust respective lenses 2, which fully ex ^¬ hibits a strong user-friendliness and universality. Fig. 2 is a lateral view of a single lens according to the present invention. The lens 2 comprises the cup-shape por ^¬ tion 6 and a thin plate 7 anti-rotationally fixed on and cov- ₀

o ering the cup-shape portion 6, thus defining an enclosed cav ^¬ ity for accommodating a light source 13. In addition, the lens 2 also may be made by the cup-shape portion 6 and the thin plate 7 in one piece, wherein the thin plate 7 is used as the light emergent portion 4. In order to obtain good lu ^¬ minescence efficiency, the cup-shape portion 6 has an inner reflective wall, and the thin plate 7 has a structured sur ^¬ face 5. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, the structured surface 5 has a V-cut array 11. Herein, the V-cut array 11 comprises a plurality of parallel lines. Of course, the V-cut array 11 also may be replaced by a wave-form cut array. The thin plate 7 is anti-rotationally assembled together with the cup-shape portion 6 for facilitating adjustment, dismantle ^¬ ment and assembling of the lens 2. In conjunction with the optical pathway diagram shown in Fig. 3, incident light emitted form the light source 13, after re ^¬ flected by the cup-shape portion 6, emerges from the struc ^¬ tured surface 5 passing through the thin plate 7. Emergent light is offset towards a predetermined direction (towards the left side in Fig. 3) due to the V-cut array 11 on the structured surface 5. That is to say, such lens 2 can render a polarizing effect.

Fig. 4a is a front view of a first embodiment of a lens mod ^¬ ule according to the present invention. Light emergent por- tions 4 of four lenses 2 are located symmetrically in the mounting holes 3 of the base 1 to form four vertexes of a square. For the sake of delightful decoration and convenient installation, at least the thin plate 7 preferably is located in the mounting hole 3, and is flush with a surface of the base 1. In the present embodiment, the V-cut array 11 on the structured surface 5 is oriented to a vertical direction by rotationally adjusting the lens 2 in the mounting hole 3. _

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With reference to Fig. 4b, such adjusted lenses 2 offset the emergent light to one and the same direction, thus obtaining a uniform long-strip light distribution pattern. Such light distribution effect is particularly suitable to illumination of hallway or other long-strip extending region.

Fig. 5a is a front view of a second embodiment of a lens mod ^¬ ule according to the present invention. In this embodiment, each lens 2 is rotated by 90° with respect to an adjacent lens thereof. As can be seen from Fig. 5a, the V-cut arrays 11 of respective lenses 2 are perpendicular to each other, and naturally, two groups of light spots of the emergent light will be perpendicular to each other based on the polarizing effect. A light distribution pattern of such lens module 10 can be seen in conjunction with Fig. 5b. The light spots perpendicular to each other are heart-shaped. As the four lenses 2 are configured to be symmetrical, two edge re ^¬ gions of the heart-shaped light distribution pattern are per ^¬ pendicular to each other and have the same length and area. Such light distribution effect is particularly suitable to corner illumination. By adjusting the angular positions of the lenses 2, the emergent light can be prevented from strik ^¬ ing region where illumination is not needed such as wall, thus the energy consumption can be saved, and the lumines ^¬ cence efficiency of the effective illuminated region is im- proved.

The lens 2 also can be rotated in the mounting hole 3 accord ^¬ ing to a practical application condition, to adjust it to other suitable angular position, for instance, (see Fig. 6a) two columns of lenses 2 may have an angular position differ- ence of 60° for combining and forming the heart-shape light distribution pattern having an angle of 60° (see Fig. 6b) . Of course, more than four lenses 2 may be arranged in the base 1 and respective lenses 2 are adjusted, and especially an orientation of the structured surface 5 thereof is ad ^¬ justed, for obtaining a more precise light distribution pat ^¬ tern . In an illuminating device according to the present invention having the lens module 10 further comprises light-emitting assemblies 12 installed in respective lenses 2 of the lens module 10, wherein the light-emitting assembly 12 comprises a circuit board and a light source 13 arranged thereon. The light source 13 is located in an enclosed cavity defined by the cup-shape portion 6 and the thin plate 7 and located on position opposite to the thin plate 7. The light source 13 may be, for instance, an LED, and also may be other common light sources such as halogen light source or fluorescent light source.

The above is merely preferred embodiments of the present in ^¬ vention but not to limit the present invention. For the per ^¬ son skilled in the art, the present invention may have vari ^¬ ous alterations and changes. Any alterations, equivalent sub- stitutions, 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

1 base

2 lens

3 mounting hole

4 light emergent portion

5 structured surface

6 cup-shape portion

7 thin plate

8 rotary ring

9 locking piece

10 lens module

11 V-cut array/wave-form cut array

12 light-emitting assembly

13 light source