Description of the invention

The present invention relates to a LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp that is a lamp having a LED as lighting source, in particular said lighting source is designed for mounting on an PCB (Printed Circuit Board), said PCB being replaceable by user.

As above the lighting source of the LED lamp according to the present invention is a lighting device having a High Power LED - hereinafter HPLED - mounted by manufacturing process, and therefore fixedly, on a PCB provided with every electronic component and all the electric connections to the HPLED, such that it only needs connection of the PCB to an external power supply in order to be operated. This is a conventional manufacturing process adopted for many other electronic device which are commonly referred as surface-mount device or SMD.

Prior art replaceable SMD-LED lamps provide, similarly to solution proposed by the present invention, opportunity to replace the SMD-LED lighting source through simple extraction of the actual SMD-LED from a slideable slot and further insertion of a new SMD-LED within said slot. However no miniature SMD-HPLED replaceable lamp has been so far proposed or known from state of the art: the constructional solution provided by the lamp according to the present invention, conversely, allows to obtain a lamp having a HPLED of fairly small size, that is a miniature HPLED lamp, by reducing to the minimum dimensions of electrical connectors formed on said lamp and necessary for power supplying the lighting source, such connectors being used also for locking the SMD-HPLED on the slot provided therefor. Moreover, the present invention by means of the constructional solution disclosed in the following allows for having all the lighting beam generated by the source at disposal, since the SMD-HPLED is housed flush to an external surface of said lamp. Finally, the same lamp is used as heat sink associated to the SMD-HPLED source, as more clearly disclosed by the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the miniature SMD-HPLED lamp according to the present invention, the description being taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings in which like reference numerals indicate similar or identical elements. In particular:

fig. 1 is a perspective view of the miniature replaceable SMD-HPLED lamp according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a second perspective view of the embodiment in fig. 1 ;

fig. 3 is a perspective view of an electric component of the embodiment in fig. 1 ; and

fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the miniature replaceable SMD- HPLED lamp according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

The embodiments disclosed in the following can be alternatively adopted mainly on the basis of the material desired for the lamp. Specifically two different materials can be selected: a ceramic material or a metallic material, in particular aluminium. A ceramic material is generally preferred because of its better heat dissipating properties and electrical insulation characteristics which eliminate all risks related to short circuits; on the other hand the ceramic moulding process is not able to grant the surface finish required for all the applications of present invention. Therefore, if a more accurate assembling of lamp parts and components is desired, a metallic material can be adopted and machined so as to obtain an improved manufacturing quality.

With reference now to figs. 1 and 2, a miniature replaceable SMD-

HPLED lamp 10 is constituted by a ceramic main body 1 , a SMD-HPLED 3 and a electric connector 20. The ceramic main body 1 is preferably cylindrically moulded and provided with an upper slot 2 formed thereon. Said upper slot 2, in turn, has an approximatively rectangular shape and a depth equal to thickness of a PCB 3a on which the HPLED and its pair of power supply contacts 3b are embedded. The upper slot 2 is therefore suitably dimensioned for housing the SMD-HPLED 3, which once inserted into the slot 2 has the PCB 3a flush to the upper surface 1a of the ceramic main body 1. The upper slot 2 is also provided with a pair of through-holes 2a and 2b each of them placed midway on one longest side of the same slot 2. As shown in fig. 2, on the lower surface 1 b of the main body 1 a substantially rectangular groove 4 is formed having its longest sides displaced along a direction normal to longest side of the slot 2 and its shortest sides under said through-holes 2a and 2b of the slot 2: according to this configuration the groove 4 results in communication with each through- holes 2a and 2b.

Fig. 3 shows an electric component or connector 20 designed to be inserted and housed into the above disclosed rectangular groove 4: connector 20 comprises an electrical insulating member 5 having a shape conjugated to shape of the groove 4; moreover in the middle portion of said insulating member

5 a pair of through-holes 5a is provided. A pair of guides 5b is then formed over the insulating member 5, each guide 5b placed out of the portion occupied by said pair of through-holes 5a. A conductor 6 in the form of a metal band provided, at one end thereof, with a through hole 6a is housed in each guide 5b such that said through-hole 6a is coaxial to said through-hole 5a. The conductor

6 is plastically deformed and folded back on itself such that the profile of the metal band results C-shaped; therefore the other end 6b of the conductor 6 will be suspended by the vertical side of the C-shaped profile. An electric terminal 7 in the form of a pin is inserted into the through-holes 6a of each band 6 and into each through-hole 5a of the insulating member 5. In such manner the electrical continuity is achieved from tip 7a of each terminal 7 to the end 6b of each metal band conductor 6. A head 7b, at the end opposite to tip 7a, is formed on each terminal 7 such that any vertical movement of the same terminal 7 is avoided; moreover the stem of said terminal 7, i.e. the portion under said head 7b being in contact with through-hole 6a, is provided with an increased diameter 7c which, during assembling, deforms diameter of the through-hole 6a and allows an improved coupling thereof. The connector 20 can therefore be inserted into the groove 4 with the conductor ends 6b being passed through said pair of through- holes 2a and 2b. The vertical sides of the metal band C-shaped profile consequently have to be dimensioned such that, at insertion of the SMD- HPLED 3, the connector ends 6b are adequately pressed on the power supply contacts 3b of the PCB 3a. In order to achieve this results, each connector end 6b is slightly downwardly further deformed and therefore they result elastically loaded by each power supply contact 3b; moreover, each connector 6b end has a downwardly directed concavity for further assuring a reliable connection with the below contact 3b. In such terms the connector 20 serves not only for power supplying the SMD-HPLED 3 but also for locking it into the slot 2. Finally, distance between each through-holes 5a of the pair is advantageously selected in order to have a distance between axes of the terminals 7 complying with electrical connection standards set for G4, G5.3, GX5.3, G6.35 or even GY6.35.

In fig. 4 an alternative embodiment of the present invention is shown: the lamp 10 is constituted by an aluminium main body 1 still having a preferably cylindrical shape: on said cylindrical body a slot 2 is formed with sizes adapted to house a SMD-HPLED 3, namely an approximatively rectangular slot resulting from a face milling of the upper surface 1a down to a depth equal to thickness of the PCB 3a and for a width smaller than diameter of said aluminium main body 1. Along a direction normal to the longest side of said slot 2, an approximatively rectangular groove 4 having the longitudinal side greater than width of the slot 2 and provided, at its base surface, with a pair of through-holes 4a is also milled. Said groove 4 and said through-holes 4a are designed so as to house the previously disclosed connector 20, the distance between axes of said through-holes 4a being adapted for coaxially receive said terminals 7.

All the disclosed embodiments are provided with a pair of protrusions 1d formed on the ceramic or metallic main body 1. Said protrusion 1d are arranged so as to be coupled by a snap-fit engagement with a ring 8 which, in turn, supports a lens 9, also shown in the fig. 4.