The invention concerns a beacon comprising a printed circuit board on which LEDs are arranged as light sources and reflectors for shaping the light emitted by the LEDs.

Beacons with reflectors and LEDs arranged on a printed circuit board are known, for example, from documents EP 2 199 661 B1 and US 8 033 683 B2.

The document EP 2 199 661 B1 reveals a beacon with two reflectors rotatably mounted so that they can be driven by a motor. The two reflectors are designed and arranged in such a way that the light of all LEDs or almost all LEDs of the Beacon can be bundled and emitted in one direction. As with a lighthouse, the rotation of the reflectors results in a flashing effect when the Beacon is viewed from one direction, even though the LEDs are permanently switched on. By concentrating the light of all or almost all LEDs, a high level of brightness can be achieved, in particular a brightness that meets the specifications of ECE-R65 TA1 or SAE J845 Class 2, for example.

The design from document EP 2 199 661 B1 is complex, especially because of the engine. The motor or the moving ones could be faulty due to a technical error or defect. The beacon may then no longer function properly.

Rotating parts or motors will be avoided with the beacon according to document US 8 033 683 B2. The Beacon identified in document US 8 033 683 B2 has circuit boards arranged in several planes on which LEDs are mounted. Each circuit board is assigned a monolithic reflector part in which reflectors are formed. Each reflector on the circuit board is assigned a reflector of the reflector part and vice versa. In order to achieve the desired brightness, several printed circuit boards with LEDs are arranged one above the other, which is complex. Almost every circuit board is connected to a heat sink. The heat generated when operating the LEDs can be dissipated into these heat sinks. Heat sinks are usually made of aluminium and therefore lead to a considerable cost contribution.

This is where the invention comes in.

The invention is based on the problem of designing a beacon without rotating parts in such a way that fewer circuit boards can be used.

According to the invention, this problem is solved by arranging LEDs of a first group of the LEDs on a first side of the printed circuit board on the printed circuit board and LEDs of a second group of the LEDs on a second side of the printed circuit board on the printed circuit board and that reflectors of a first group of the reflectors are arranged on the first side of the printed circuit board and reflectors of a second group of the reflectors are arranged on the second side of the printed circuit board.

The fact that the LEDs are arranged on both sides of the printed circuit board and that reflectors are arranged on both sides of the printed circuit board, which cooperate with the LEDs, means that one printed circuit board can be saved in comparison with the construction of a beacon described in document US 8 033 683 B2. This makes the beacon more compact - a comparable beacon according to the design presented in US 8 033 683 B2. With a smaller volume, the same light output can be achieved with the Beacon.

The circuit board can be a printed circuit board made of electrically insulating material with conductive connections ( conductive tracks ) adhering to it. A fibre-reinforced plastic can be used as insulating material. The printed circuit board of an invented viewing light is laminated on both sides so that the LEDs can be mounted on both sides. It can be a multi-layer printed circuit board.

At the same time, the Beacon according to the invention is designed in such a way that a heat sink is not necessary. This can be achieved by ... In a beacon according to the invention, each reflector of the first group can be assigned at least one LED of the first group and/or each reflector of the second group can be assigned at least one LED of the second group. Furthermore, it is possible that each LED of the first group is assigned at least one reflector of the first group and/or that each LED of the second group is assigned at least one reflector of the second group.

Preferably the reflectors of the first group are formed in a first monolithic part and/or the reflectors of the second group are formed in a second monolithic part. The monolithic parts can be plastic parts, which are for example produced by injection moulding and then provided with a reflective layer. The layer can be produced by electroplating, for example.

The first part and the second part can be the same. This reduces tooling costs and manufacturing costs.

The printed circuit board of a Beacon according to the invention can be attached to the first part and/or the second part can be attached to the printed circuit board and the first part. Screw connections, snap-on connections and/or rivet connections are particularly suitable as connections.

Preferably, the beacon does not have a heat sink directly connected to one of the LEDs of the first and/or second group. A direct connection is understood in particular to be a connection between the LED and a heat sink, where the LED is attached to the heat sink or the heat sink is attached to the LED. If only a direct connection between the heat sink and the LEDs is excluded, an indirect connection between one of the LEDs and a heat sink of the beacon could exist according to a variant of the invention. However, there may also be variants of the invention in which there is also no heat sink which is indirectly connected to one of the LEDs of the first and/or second group in order to absorb heat from the LED(s). In this context, an indirect connection between a heat sink and an LED is considered to be a connection through a structure or component which has a better thermal conductivity than the insulating material of the printed circuit board.

A beacon according to the invention can have a housing which has an upper part which is transparent or translucent at least in one wavelength range, in which the reflectors, the printed circuit board and the LEDs are arranged and through which the light generated by the LEDs and shaped by the reflectors can escape from the housing.

The housing may have a lower part with fixing structures for fixing the beacon to a third object. The lower part of the housing and the first monolithic part with the first reflectors can be a monolithic unit.

On the basis of the attached drawings, the invention is further explained below. Thereby shows:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of a first variant of the beacon according to the invention, Fig. 2 an exploded view of the first variant,

Fig. 3 a side view of a second variant of the beacon according to the invention,

Fig. 4 an exploded view of the second variant,

Fig. 5 a unit consisting of a first part and a housing lower part of the second variant in perspective view,

Fig. 6 a section through the second variant,

Fig. 7 a perspective view of a third variant of the invented beacon with a holder,

Fig. 8 a perspective view of the upper side of the holder and

Fig. 9 a section through the holder.

The variants of the beacon according to the invention have a housing with a lower part and an upper part 6.

The housing encloses a printed circuit board 3 with LEDs 2, 4 arranged on it. The

LEDs (not shown) are mounted on a first side 31 of the circuit board 3 and a second side 32 of the circuit board 3, namely the LEDs of a first group on the first side 31 and LEDs of a second group on the second side 32. On each of the two sides 31 , 32 the LEDs are arranged in a circular ring. The LEDs have an angle of 22.5° to each other. Thus 16 LEDs are arranged on each of the two sides.

Each of the LEDs of the first group is a first reflector 10 of the first group and each of the LEDs of the second group is assigned a second reflector 50. The light produced by the LEDs can be shaped by these reflectors 10, 50.

The first reflectors 10 form a first monolithic part which, together with the lower part of the housing, forms a monolithic unit 1 which can be produced by plastic injection moulding. At least the surfaces of the first reflectors 10, which reflect and shape the light produced by the LEDs, are covered with a reflective layer. This can be applied to the injection-moulded part by electroplating, for example. The reflective surfaces are aligned and shaped so that the light can be emitted essentially radially outwards.

The second reflectors 50 together form a second monolithic part 5, which, like unit 1 , can be made from the first part and the lower part of the housing by plastic injection moulding. At least surfaces of the second reflectors 50, which reflect and shape the light produced by the LEDs, are also provided with a reflective coating. This layer can also be applied to the injection-moulded part, for example by electroplating. The reflecting surfaces of the second reflectors 50 are also aligned and shaped so that the light can be emitted essentially radially outwards.

The reflectors 10 of the first group are arranged at equal distances around a central axis of the Beacon and the reflectors 50 of the second group are arranged at equal distances from the same central axis.

The unit 1 consisting of the first monolithic part and the lower part of the housing and the second monolithic part 5 are arranged one above the other. Between the two is the circuit board 3. The printed circuit board 3 is arranged so that the central axis passes through the centre of the circular ring in which the LEDs are arranged. Unit 1 , second part 5 and printed circuit board 3 are connected to each other by screws 8, which pass through the second part 5 and printed circuit board 3 and are screwed into unit 1 consisting of the first part and the lower part.

The upper part of the housing 6 is a transparent cover which is put over the second reflectors 50, the printed circuit board 3 and the first reflectors 10. The upper part of the housing 6 allows orange light to pass through. However, it could also be designed to allow light with other colours or white light to pass through.

The first two variants differ essentially in the lower parts of the housing or the units 1 consisting of the lower part of the housing and the first monolithic part, while the circuit boards 3 and the arrangement of the LEDs on top of them and the second part 5 and the attachment of the second part 5 and the circuit board 3 can be the same..

The third variant differs from the first variant only in that the fourth variant has an additional holder 7, which is connected to unit 1 of the first monolithic part and the lower part of the housing by screws. This holder 7 can be mounted on the end of a post. For this purpose, the holder 7 has a clip into which the post can be inserted and which can be closed by tightening a screw.

List of reference signs

1 unit consisting of the first monolithic part and the lower part of the housing

10 reflectors of the first group

2 LEDs of the first group

3 printed circuit board

31 first side of the printed circuit board

32 second side of the printed circuit board

4 LEDs of the second group

5 second monolithic part

50 reflectors of the second group

6 upper part of housing

7 holder

8 screws