Illuminating Device and Streetlight comprising said

Illuminating Device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an illuminating device and a streetlight comprising said illuminating device.

Background Art Nowadays, outdoor illuminating systems, particularly outdoor illuminating systems having LED as light source, are more and more applied. Such illuminating systems are generally used for illuminating for buildings, trees or other objects. The working environments thereof require the same to meet the re- quirements of corresponding industrial protection grade.

Moreover, their size and weight shall be relative small, the manufacturing expenses shall be relative low, and they shall also have good reliability.

Having the characteristics of energy saving and high effi- ciency, the streetlights having LED as light source are widely applied. The streetlights have to bear not only the changes of warm and cold of the outside world, but also the invasion of wind and rain. Thus, such illuminating devices generally have to meet the requirements in sealing of IP66 grade or above. Therefore, the designers have to solve the problem, viz. how to enhance the waterproofness and dust tightness of such illuminating devices.

In the prior art, the illuminating module assembled sealedly as one piece has to electrically connect with an external wire by a waterproof connector, so as to obtain working current or control signal. One end of such connector is sealedly inserted into an opening opened on the illuminating module, while the other end is in sealed connection with the external wire. As such connector is essential for the illuminating module, relative much costs are inevitably spent for the con ^¬ nector during the production and the installation. Furthermore, there is also need to additionally inspect the sealing performance of the connector during the maintenance process, in order to assure the normal operation of the illuminating module .

Summary of the Invention

Considering the various defects of the prior art, the present invention provides a novel illuminating device, which enables an illuminating system to meet the requirements of IP66 grade or above. Moreover, the manufacture and installation thereof is easy, and it also has good reliability. Furthermore, the present invention provides a streetlight comprising an illu ^¬ minating device of the above mentioned type. The illuminating device according to the present invention has a housing, a light-emitting assembly and a base, the housing and the base defining an accommodating cavity for the light-emitting assembly, characterized by further comprising an electrical connector, which is formed in the housing in one piece and has a first contact terminal for connecting with the light-emitting assembly, and a second contact termi ^¬ nal for connecting with an external assembly, the first con ^¬ tact terminal extending into the accommodating cavity.

The conception of the present invention lies in the abandon- ment of an additional sealing member for mounting the elec- trical connector on the housing and/or the base, instead of that, the segment of the electrical connector, with exception of the first and the second contact terminals, is integrated in the housing in one piece, when manufacturing the housing. Thus, it can be assured that the electrical connector is sealedly fixed in the housing. In this case, the electrical connector has the first contact terminal, which extending in the accommodating cavity formed by the housing and the base and is connecting with light-emitting assembly, and the sec- ond contact terminal, which is connecting with an assembly arranged outside the illuminating device. Therefore, current and/or control signal can be provided to light-emitting as ^¬ sembly by the electrical connector. The assembly arranged outside the illuminating device can be, for example, a power net or a signal receiver or the like.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, the housing includes a first part coupling with the base for defining the accommodating cavity, and a second part projecting from the first part in a side direction. As main part of the housing, the first part is used for coupling with the base to define the accommodating cavity, while the second part of the housing, as a projecting part, appreciably ex ^¬ tends beyond the edge of the first part in a direction paral ^¬ lel with the housing, viz. in a side direction of the hous- ing.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, the second part defines a protective cavity, and the second contact terminal extends into the protective cavity. The second contact terminal, as an end of the electrical con- nector, separately extends beyond the first part, which is used to define the accommodating cavity. Thus, particularly for protecting the second contact terminal, the second part is configured as a protective cavity having at least one open end, so as to accommodate the second contact terminal. There ^¬ fore, it can be prevented that the second contact terminal is damaged by an external force or has unexpected electrical connection.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, the electrical connector is formed with the housing in one piece using injection molding process. When manufacturing the housing, the segment of the electrical connector, with exception of the first and the second contact terminals, can be sealedly embedded in the housing using injection molding process. However, other proper modes for pre-arranging the electrical connector in the housing are also considerable. Therefore, PC or PMMA is preferably selected to manufacture the housing.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, the electrical connector comprises a pair of conductive metal bars, wherein the first contact terminal in the accom ^¬ modating cavity can press against the light-emitting assem- bly. The pair of conductive metal bars used as electrical connector can have a predetermined shape. The segment inte ^¬ grated in the housing in one piece can be configured as elon ^¬ gated, while the first and the second contact terminals ex ^¬ tending respectively from the housing can have a shape suit- able for fixedly connecting with the component to be con ^¬ nected, wherein the first contact terminal is particularly configured as contact plate, which can press against the electrical connection region of the light-emitting assembly when assembling the housing and the base. Moreover, as copper has good conductivity and costs little, it is preferably pro ^¬ vided that the conductive metal bars are copper bars. According to another preferable embodiment of the present in ^¬ vention, the electrical connector comprise at least one set of wires. The wires can as feed wire be in electrical connec ^¬ tion with the light-emitting assembly, and can also as signal wire be in electrical connection with the control circuit of the light-emitting assembly.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, the housing is a lens. Hereby, the housing is configured as transparent, so as to transmit light and realize other corresponding optical effect, in the meanwhile, the light-emitting assembly can be protected. Thus, there is no need to arrange an additional housing and/or lens for the il ^¬ luminating device.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven- tion, the light-emitting assembly includes a light source and a circuit board carrying the light source, wherein the light source faces the lens. The circuit board having a light source mounted is fixed in the accommodating cavity, wherein the light source mounted on one side of the circuit board emits light facing the lens, and the other side arranged op ^¬ posite to the side of the light source can be fixed on the base by means of fasteners or binders.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, the light source is a LED chip. Having high luminance and low power consumption, LED chips are perfectly suitable for being used as light source of the illuminating device of the present invention.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, the base comprises a heat sink. Said base is made from material having good thermal conduction property, such as thermal conductive metal or plastic, and the side facing the housing can be configured as a plane carrying the light- emitting assembly, while the other side deviating from said plane can be configured as having a cooling structure. The cooling structure can be e.g. a plurality of cooling ribs.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven ^¬ tion, it further comprises a sealing member, the housing and the base being fixedly connected by matching at respective edge regions, and the sealing member sealing the edge re- gions. The edge region of the first part of the housing can e.g. be fixedly connected with the edge region of the base in mechanical manner such as splicing or engaging, to define an accommodating cavity. However, because of manufacturing tolerance and fitting allowance, the connection, which only de- pends upon form-fit, cannot assure the sealing performance of the accommodating cavity. In this case, the sealing performance of the accommodating cavity can be improved by means of an additional sealing member.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven- tion, the sealing member is a rubber ring. As having elasticity, the rubber ring matching the edge region of the accommo ^¬ dating cavity, can be clamped between the first part of the housing and the edge of the base using the elasticity per se, to further assure that the light-emitting assembly is

sealedly arranged in the accommodating cavity.

The present invention further relates to a streetlight com ^¬ prising the above mentioned illuminating device, wherein the housing, the light-emitting assembly and the base have an elongated-shape. Such streetlight particularly suitable for being mounted outdoors has a sealing performance meeting IP66 grade. Thus, it can resist climatic changes of the nature and therefore, has relative longer service life. Furthermore, such streetlight has an elongated light area.

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 exploded assembly drawing of the first example of the illuminating device according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 3D perspective of the housing with an electrical connector of the first example as shown in Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 upward view of the first example as shown in Fig. 1.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. In this regard, direc ^¬ tional terminology, such as "top", "bottom", "inner",

"outer", is used in reference to the orientation of the fig- ures being described. Because components of embodiments of the present invention can be positioned in a number of dif ^¬ ferent orientations, the directional terminology is used for purposes of illustration and is in no way limiting. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

It is to be understood that the features of the various exem ^¬ plary embodiments described herein may be combined with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise.

Fig. 1 exemplarily shows the exploded assembly drawing of the illuminating device 100 according to the present invention. The illuminating device 100 includes a housing 1 used as lens, a light-emitting assembly 2 composed of a light source 2.1 and a circuit board 2.2 carrying the light source 2.1, a base 3 used as heat sink, and an electrical connector 4 for providing the light-emitting assembly with current and/or control signal. The housing 1 , which has optical curve (not show in figures of the present invention) , includes a first part 1.1 matching the base 3 and a second part 1.2 as pro ^¬ jecting end extending from one side of the first part 1.1. The first part 1.1 and the base 3 fixedly connect with each other by the respective edge regions per se, to define an ac ^¬ commodating cavity Rl for accommodating the light-emitting assembly 2. Moreover, in order to enhance the sealing performance of the accommodating cavity Rl, a sealing member 5 clamped between the first part 1.1 and the base 3 can be ad ^¬ ditionally arranged, the sealing member 5 being shown in the figure as sealing ring. As the electrical connector 4 needs to electrically connect a component located outside the illuminating device 100 with the light-emitting assembly in the accommodating cavity Rl, there is need to fix the electrical connector in the illumi ^¬ nating device 100 in a sealed manner. According to the pre- sent example, the most segment of the electrical connector 4 is firstly pre-arranged in the housing 1 in e.g. injection molding mode. Hereby, the sealing between the electrical con ^¬ nector 4 and the housing 1 can be assured. As shown in Fig. 1, the electrical connector 4 is a pair of conductive metal bars made from e.g. copper, having a first contact terminal Al for the light-emitting assembly 2 and a second contact terminal A2 for the external assembly, wherein the first con ^¬ tact terminal Al in the accommodating cavity Rl is configured as contact plate having a bended part. When the housing 1 and the base 3 are assembled together, the first contact terminal Al bears a pressure applied by the housing 1 to the base 3, and is pressed against an electrical connection region 2.3 of the circuit board 2.2.

The base 3 has on one side a flat area carrying the circuit 2.2, and on the other side opposite the flat area a plurality of cooling ribs 3.1 for increasing cooling area. In order that the circuit board 2.2 can be mounted on the base 3 in a position fixed manner, the flat area can be configured as base facing cupped grooves of the cooling ribs 3.1. Thus, it can be assured that the first part 1.1 of the housing 1 can be fixed together with the base 3 in a form-fitted manner, to define an accommodating cavity Rl .

Fig. 2 shows the electrical connector 4 and the housing of Fig. 1. In this case, the electrical connector 4 is formed in the housing 1 in one piece, wherein only the first contact terminal Al and the second contact terminal A2 fail to be en ^¬ capsulated in the housing 1. The first contact terminal Al is located in an area covered by the first part 1.1, so as to electrically connect with the circuit board 2.2, which is covered by the first part 1.1 as well. The second contact terminal A2 extends into a protective cavity R2 defined by the second part 1.2. The second part 1.2 in the present exam ^¬ ple has a contour, whose cross-section is approximately ring form; the protective cavity R2 defined hereby has a cylindri ^¬ cal contour. Through the protective cavity R2, it can be pre ^¬ vented that the second contact terminal A2 is damaged by an external force, or has unexpected electrical connection with other external components.

Fig. 3 shows an upward view of the first example as shown in Fig. 1. According to Fig. 3, it can be identified that, in the illuminating device 100, only the second contact terminal A2 extends along the bottom surface of the protective cavity R2 defined by the second part 1.2 into the protective cavity R2, so as to electrically connect with an external component. Such structure having good sealing performance can assure that the illuminating device 100 can work normally, even in harsh working environmental conditions, such as when bearing fierce wind and/or heavy rainfall. Furthermore, as the base 3 configured as heat sink has a plurality of cooling ribs 3.1, it can also assure that the illuminating device 100 has good cooling function. In the unshown second example, the electrical connector 4 can also be configured as at least one set of wires integrated with the housing 2 as one piece.

In the examples according to the present invention, a LED chip is preferably used as light source 2.1. In addition, while a particular feature or aspect of an em- bodiment of the present invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature or aspect may be combined with one or more other fea tures or aspects of the other implementations as may be de ^¬ sired for any given or particular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "include", "have", "with", or other variants thereof are used in either the detailed de ^¬ scription or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclu sive in a manner similar to the term "comprise".

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.

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List of reference signs

1 housing

1.1 first part

1.2 second part

2 light-emitting assembly

2.1 light source

2.2 circuit board

2.3 electrical connection region

3 base

3.1 cooling rib

4 electrical connector

5 sealing member

Al first contact terminal A2 second contact terminal

Rl accommodating cavity

R2 protective cavity