Field of the Invention

The present inventions pertain to devices for providing lighting and air treatment in a single device.

Background of the Invention

There are a large number of facilities and environments in which overhead light bulbs are used, and in which there is a desire to also treat the air in the vicinity of the light bulbs. Some of these facilities and environments may not have the infrastructure or budget to accommodate retrofit air treatment devices, and some of these facilities may not want to sacrifice significant room space in order to accommodate air treatment devices.

There is a need for devices which provide both lighting and air treatment to a given space which do not require infractructure changes to accommodate such devices, and which devices do not take up significant additional room space.

Summary of the Invention

In accordance with one aspect of the present inventions, a lighting and air treatment device is provided having a heat dissipating structure with an exterior surface and an interior surface defining an interior cavity, and having an anion driver disposed in the interior cavity of the heat dissipating structure, with an electrical connector element for connecting to a source of electrical power disposed in electrical contact with the anion driver, and with the device further having a plurality of LED lights disposed in electrical contact with the electrical connector element, with a heat insulating plate disposed between the LED lights and the anion driver and in thermal contact with the heat dissipating structure, and an anion probe in electrical contact with the anion driver and extending through the heat insulating plate. Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a device 10 of the present invention, shown in exploded view to the right; and

FIG. 2 shows six views of the device 10 of FIG. 1 .

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiment(s)

With initial reference to FIG. 1 , the lighting and air treatment device of the present invention has a heat dissipating structure 12 having an upper end 14, a lower end 16, an interior surface 18 (not shown in detail, and which defines an interior cavity 20 also not shown in detail) and an exterior surface 22.

The device 10 also has a driver 24 which controls the electrical power delivered to drive the LED lights 26 and also the anion probe 28. The driver 24 may be of any type known to those skilled in the art of LED lighting and anion devices. Such drivers are known to be sensitive to overheating and should be maintained at a reasonably or suitably low temperature during operation of the device. Anion probes are also well known devices for reducing pollutants in the air. As explained further below, the device 10 of the present invention may provide both LED lighting and an anion probe for treating the air in a compact package, despite the close proximity of the driver 24 to the light 26 which is required for such a compact package.

The driver 24 may be disposed within the interior cavity 20 of the heat dissipating structure 12 and maintained inside the interior cavity 20 by fastening an annular insulating ring 30 to the bottom surface 14 of the heat dissipating structure 12, such as by threaded engagement, and fastening of a screwcap 32 having contact 34 to the other side of the annular insulating ring 30.

Electrical supply wires 34 extend from the screwcap 32 and contact 34, respectively, to the driver 24, such that when the screwcap 32 portion of the device 10 is screwed into an energized conventional screwcap receptacle for conventional light bulbs, electric power is provided to the driver 24. LED wires (not shown) extend from the driver 24 to the LED lights, and an anion probe wire 36 extends from the driver 24 through the opening 38 in the lower end 16 of the heat dissipating structure 12. The LED wires and anion probe wire 36 are preferably all fully insulated, except for the tip portion 40 which extends outwardly beyond the cover 42 (as described further below). The LED lights 26 are mounted on an insulting plate 44, with the other side of the insulating plate 44 being mounted to the lower side 16 of the heat dissipating structure 12. The insulating plate 44 shields a significant portion of the heat produced from the LED lights 26 away from the driver 24 which is situated within the interior cavity 20 of the heat dissipating structure 12. The insulating plate 44 is preferably in direct thermal contact, and more specifically preferably in direct thermal conduction contact with the heat dissipating structure 12, so that the heat from the LED lights 26 which gets past the insulting plate 44 is thermally conducted to the heat dissipating structure 12, which facilitates dissipation of enough of this heat to maintain the driver 24 disposed in the interior cavity 20 of the heat dissipating structure 12 at a suitably cool temperature during operation of the LED lights 26.

In the illustrated embodiment, the heat dissipating structure 12 has a plurality of fins 46 extending radially outwardly from the interior cavity 20, with spaces between the fins 46 through which air may pass from outside the heat dissipating structure 12 to the interior cavity 20, and out from the interior cavity 20 through to outside the heat dissipating structure 12. So essentially, this structure allows air to pass through the interior cavity 20 to assist in cooling of the driver 24 disposed in the interior cavity 20. Air passing from outside the heat dissipating structure 12 through the interior cavity 20 cools the interior surface 18 of the heat dissipating structure 12 by convection, so that heat conducted through the insulating plate 44 and absorbed by the lower surface 16 of the heat dissipating structure 12 is carried away from the lower surface 16 of the heat dissipating structure 12 by air passing through the heat dissipating structure 12, with the air also passing over the driver serving to cool the driver 24 by convection heat transfer as well. The heat dissipating structure 12 preferably has a relatively large surface area which is exposed to ambient conditions during usage of the device to dissipate heat from the LED lights to the atmosphere. The heat dissipating structure may cover the majority of the outer surface of the device 10.

While the device 10 may be constructed with the driver disposed further away from the LED lights to maintain the necessary or desired cooling of the driver 24, disposing the driver 24 within the interior cavity 20 of the heat dissipating structure 12 provides a significantly more compact design, and allows for the lighting and air treatment device 10 of the present invention to be configured in the same packaging space as a conventional light bulb, while providing greater lighting than a conventional light bulb and also providing air treatment.

The fins 46 of the heat dissipating structure 12 each have a step 48 near their lower ends 16 which define vertical lands 50 and horizontal lands 52. The vertical lands 50 define a thread (not shown) which threadably engages with the cover 42, either directly or through an annular cover engaging ring 54 to secure the cover 42 to, and covering, the lower side 16 of the heat dissipating structure 12. The passageways between the fins 46 of the heat dissipating structure also allow air to enter and leave the LED enclosure between the lower end 16 of the heat dissipating structure 12 and the cover 42 to provide still further dissipation of the heat generated by the LED lights 26.

It has been surprisingly found that the combination of the above mentioned structures for dissipating the heat generated by the LED lights 26 allows the LED lights 26 and driver 24 to be disposed in a device 10 having a compact packaging size, similar to or resembling that of a convention incandescent light bulb.

With reference to the lighting and air treatment device 10 shown in FIG. 1 , the device 10 may be constructed in a manner such that it resembles a conventional incandescent bulb when fully assembled, and may further be constructed to screw into a conventional screwcap socket for incandescent bulbs. Further, as seen in the top view of FIG. 1 the device may be constructed in a manner such that only the lit up curved cover of the device is visible when the device is viewed head-on from that end of the device, with the cover concealing the heat dissipating structure when so viewed. This makes the device of the present invention particularly suitable for use in overhead lighting, and even more particularly suitable for use in canister lighting or the like in which the sides of the device are hidden, and in which the cover end of the device faces straight downwardly, whereby a viewer looking up at the device from beneath it would believe it to be inclined to see it as a conventional light bulb.

The driver 42 also controls the electricity supplied to the anion probe wire 36 to achieve effective ionization of the air which makes operative contact with the exposed tip 40 portion of the anion probe wire 36. The anion probe wire 36 extends from the driver 24, through the opening 38 in the lower end of the heat dissipating structure 12, through the opening 60 in the center of the heat insulating plate 44, with its free end 40 extending out through the opening 58 provided in the cover 42. This negative ion generation at the exposed tip 40 of the anion probe wire 36 may have one or more of several beneficial effects on the air. Included among these are decrease or removal of formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, ammonia, acetone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other toxic gases which may airborne as a result of things such as tobacco smoke emitted into the air by smokers, smoky equipment in enclosed working facilities, or any of a wide variety of other things having undesirable airborne elements.

A wide variety of suitable drivers 24 will be known to those skilled in the art. A single driver may be used for controlling the electricity to both the LED lights and the anion probe 28. Alternatively, separate drivers may be used, with both being disposed within the interior space between the inner surface 18 of the lower side 16 of the heat dissipating structure 12 and the conductor end 34 of the screwcap 32. It has been found that when the device 10 is screwed into a ceiling socket receptacle of a smoky room and energized, the lighting produced by the device 10 may be better than an incandescent bulb while at the same time the device 10 significantly reduced the amount of smoke which was around it. Replacing some, or all, of the overhead incandescent bulbs in a large room with the lighting and air treatment device 10 of the present invention may allow the continual dissipation of smoke as it rises up to the devices, while at the same time providing excellent lighting to the room. The device 10 of the present invention allows for simple, straightforward substitution of

Known LED lights 26 have significantly longer functional lives than incandescent bulbs or many other types of lights. Also, since a plurality of LED lights are lit up simultaneously, even if one of the LED lights stops emitting light, it does not result in a significant dropoff in total lighting emitted from the device 10. The LED lights 26 of the device 10 also use lower power consumption, while offering fast response, as compared with conventional incandescent bulbs.

Accordingly, the device 10 of the present invention offers fast response, small size, low power consumption, environmental protection, longevity and convenience.

While the present inventions have been disclosed with reference to certain embodiments, numerous modifications, alterations, and changes to the described embodiments are possible without departing from the sphere and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims. For instance, various orientations of the device and its components are referenced, but this is merely used for convenience and is not intended to be limiting in any way as anyone skilled in the art would appreciate that this is not an appropriate limitation. Accordingly, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the described embodiments, but that it have the full scope defined by the language of the following claims, and equivalents thereof.