Omni-Directional Lighting Device Technical Field

The present invention relates to an omni-directional lighting device .

Background Art

In current lighting devices, LED light sources are widely used. However, because of specific structures of the LED light sources and lenses used together with the LED light sources, omni-directional lighting of 360° cannot be realized by means of a single LED light source. Of course, in order to realize omni-directional lighting in a lighting device apply- ing an LED light source, a plurality of sets of LED light sources and lenses can be used in combination to realize omni-directional lighting. However, in such a lighting device, a relative high driving voltage is demanded, as a plu ^¬ rality of LED light sources has to be used, and in this case, the cost, service life and safety factor thereof are hard to control .

In addition, in order to be capable of matching a socket for traditional incandescent lamps, LED lighting devices (LED retrofit lamps) generally have the same contour as the tradi- tional incandescent lamps; in other words, the LED retrofit lamps also have a bulb similar to an incandescent lamp. In order to realize omni-directional lighting, a complex and in ^¬ dependent reflecting structure is generally required to be arranged in the bulb, or there is need to arrange a complex bracket structure to carry a plurality of LED light sources, so as to perform lighting in each direction. However, an LED retrofit lamp of such a type has a complex structure and high cost . Summary of the Invention

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an omni-directional lighting device, which is capable of providing a uniform light intensity distribu- tion, has a relative high optical efficiency, and has a sim ^¬ ple structure and low cost.

The object of the present invention is achieved through an omni-directional lighting device in such a manner, viz. said omni-directional lighting device comprises a bulb and a light-emitting unit arranged in the bulb, wherein the omnidirectional lighting device further comprises a reflecting structure, which is arranged on the inner side of the bulb facing the light-emitting unit, wherein at least a part of light from the light-emitting unit at least irradiates a first part of a spherical region directly through an area of the bulb, which is not covered by the reflecting structure, and the rest light, after being reflected by the reflecting structure, at least irradiates a second part of the spherical region opposite to the first part of the spherical region to realize omni-directional lighting. In an embodiment of the present invention, a part of the bulb per se is configured to have reflection capacity, and light from the light source can light a predetermined region through such a reflecting structure. In other words, lighting for each direction can be re- alized just through a unique light source. And the above ob ^¬ ject can be achieved just by improving the bulb itself, with ^¬ out using a complex and independent reflecting structure or using a plurality of light sources and a supporting structure for arranging these light sources. Hereby, it shall be pointed out that the so-called omni-directional lighting shall be construed as lighting in a three-dimensional spatial range of at least 320°, and said region can be construed as a spherical region for easy understanding, and the first part of the spherical region and the second part of the spherical region mentioned above commonly constitute said spherical re ^¬ gion . According to the present invention, it is provided that the reflecting structure includes a base body and a reflecting layer coated on the base body, wherein the base body and the bulb are formed integrally as one piece. Thus, a bulb having a reflecting structure can be formed just though one process step, which greatly reduces production complexity, and hereby reduces production costs.

It is preferable that the base body and the bulb are made of the same transparent material. The bulb per se has to allow light from the light source to irradiate the ambient environ ^¬ ment as far as possible. For this reason, a suitable trans ^¬ parent material has to be used to manufacture the bulb. In the meanwhile, although the base body is also made of a transparent material, it is not complicated to form a reflec- tive surface by coating a reflecting layer on the base body.

According to the present invention, it is further provided that the bulb includes a first bulb part and a second bulb part, wherein the first bulb part is supported on a mounting structure of the omni-directional lighting device through the second bulb part. The bulb and the reflecting structure formed on the bulb of the omni-directional lighting device according to the present invention are formed through one process step, for example injection molding, while the bulb is similar to a sphere as a whole, and thus has to be manu- factured into two parts for convenient demoulding.

It is preferable that the base body and the first bulb part are formed integrally as one piece. The first bulb part is positioned oppositely to the light-emitting unit, and light from the light-emitting unit can therefore be well reflected by the reflective surfaces of the reflecting structure.

According to the present invention, it is provided that the reflecting structure includes at least three reflecting units, wherein the reflecting units are arranged on the bulb in rotational symmetry with respect to an optical axis of the „

light-emitting unit. Such a symmetric arrangement way enables a more uniform reflection in a circumferential direction around the optical axis performed by the reflecting units.

It is preferable that the reflecting units respectively in- eludes at least two reflective surfaces, and the two reflec ^¬ tive surfaces of one of the reflecting units are in connec ^¬ tion with each other on one side to form convex contours ex ^¬ truding from the inner side of the bulb. The two reflective surfaces are respectively responsible for reflecting light towards different directions, which further improves uniform ^¬ ity of the light intensity distribution of the omni ^¬ directional lighting device according to the present inven ^¬ tion.

According to a preferable embodiment of the present inven- tion, it is provided that the convex contours are at least partially in connection with each other, so that a closed central region that is not covered by the reflecting units is formed on the bulb. In said embodiment, the convex contours are in connection with each other by means of the respective ends, so that the respective ends define a closed central re ^¬ gion, which then enables light from the light-emitting unit to irradiate the ambient environment through said central re ^¬ gion .

It is advantageous that the closed central region is formed in such a manner that the optical axis passes through the symmetry center of the closed central region. This means that said closed central region is just positioned at the top of the bulb, viz. a region through which the optical axis passes, and light passing through said closed central region can just cover the ambient environment right opposite to the light-emitting unit.

According to another preferable embodiment of the present in ^¬ vention, the convex contours are arranged in a predetermined interval with respect to each other, so that an open central region that is not covered by the reflecting units is formed on the bulb. In other words, in the present embodiment, the convex contours maintain a predetermined interval from each other, instead of being in connection with each other, and an open central region is therefore defined by these convex con ^¬ tours, which also allows direct irradiation of light from the light-emitting unit on the ambient environment.

It is preferable that the open central region is formed in such a manner that the optical axis passes through the symme- try center of the open central region. Said open central re ^¬ gion is also located at the top of the bulb, the same as the closed central region, viz. a region through which the optical axis passes, and light passing through said open central region can just cover the ambient environment right opposite to the light-emitting unit.

It is provided according to the present invention that the omni-directional lighting device further comprises a support ^¬ ing structure and a power supply arranged on a first side of the supporting structure, wherein the bulb is supported on a second side of the supporting structure opposite to the first side. As the omni-directional lighting device according to the present invention is used to replace traditional incan ^¬ descent lamps, it is demanded that the lighting device ac ^¬ cording to the present invention has a contour similar to that of a traditional incandescent lamp, and the supporting structure forms a carrier for the bulb and the light-emitting unit, while the power supply can be in reliable connection with a socket for traditional incandescent lamps.

It is preferable that the supporting structure is configured as a heat sink. The heat sink per se can be used as a sup ^¬ porting structure, while acting as a heat dissipating struc ^¬ ture for heating components of the omni-directional lighting device, which observably reduces the costs of the omni ^¬ directional lighting device according to the present inven- tion. It is further preferable that the power supply includes: a lamp base; a driver housing in connection with the lamp base; and a driver arranged in the driver housing, and the light- emitting unit is configured as an LED light-emitting unit.

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.

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 components are represented by the same reference numbers. As shown in the drawings :

Figure 1 is an exploded schematic diagram of an omni ^¬ directional lighting device according to the present inven ^¬ tion;

Figure 2 is a top view of a bulb in a first example of the omni-directional lighting device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a top view of a bulb in a second example of the omni-directional lighting device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an optical pathway diagram of the omni ^¬ directional lighting device according to the present inven ^¬ tion; and

Figure 5 is a light intensity distribution diagram of the omni-directional lighting device according to the present in ^¬ vention . 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", "upper",

"lower", 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 be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following de- tailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limit ^¬ ing sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

Figure 1 shows an exploded schematic diagram of an omni ^¬ directional lighting device 100 according to the present in- vention. It can be seen from the figure that the omnidirectional lighting device 100 according to the present in ^¬ vention comprises: a bulb 1 and a light-emitting unit 2 arranged in the bulb 1, a supporting structure 4 and a power supply 5 arranged on a first side of the supporting structure 4, wherein the bulb 1 is supported on a second side of the supporting structure 4 opposite to the first side.

In addition, it can be seen from the figure that the omnidirectional lighting device 100 further comprises a reflect ^¬ ing structure 3, which is arranged on the inner side of the bulb 1 facing the light-emitting unit 2. It is provided ac ^¬ cording to the present invention that the reflecting structure 3 includes a base body 31 and a reflecting layer coated on the base body 31, wherein the base body 31 and the bulb 1 are formed integrally as one piece. Thus, the bulb having the reflecting structure can be made just through one process step, which greatly reduces production complexity, and re- duces hereby production costs. However, during actual produc ^¬ tion processes, the base body 31 and the bulb 1 are made of the same transparent material, and are generally manufactured through injection molding, while the bulb 1 itself has a con- tour similar to a sphere, so as to obtain a contour similar to that of traditional incandescent lamps. Thus, for conven ^¬ ient demoulding, the bulb 1 is configured to have two parts. It can be seen from Figure 1 that the bulb 1 includes a first bulb part 11 and a second bulb part 12, wherein the first bulb part 11 is supported through the second bulb part 12 on a mounting structure of the omni-directional lighting device 100, viz. on the supporting structure 4 as heat sink. More ^¬ over, the base body 31 and the first bulb part 11 are formed integrally as one piece. The first bulb part 11 is positioned oppositely to the light-emitting unit 2, and light from the light-emitting unit 2 can therefore be well reflected by the reflecting structure 3. Thus, the reflecting structure 3 is enabled to be arranged on the inner side of the bulb 1 facing the light-emitting unit 2, wherein at least a part of light from the light-emitting unit 2 at least irradiates a first part of a spherical region directly through an area of the bulb 1, which is not covered by the reflecting structure 3, and the rest light, after being reflected by the reflecting structure 3, at least irradiates a second part of the spheri- cal region opposite to the first part of the spherical region to realize omni-directional lighting.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the omni ^¬ directional lighting device 100 is configured as an LED ret ^¬ rofit lamp for replacing traditional incandescent lamps. For this reason, the power supply 5 of the omni-directional lighting device 100 is configured to have a contour similar to that of traditional incandescent lamps, and the light- emitting unit 2 is configured as an LED light-emitting unit, which may include one or a set of LED chips. Moreover, it can be seen from the figure that said power supply 5 includes a lamp base 51; a driver housing 52 in connection with the lamp base 51; and a driver (not shown) arranged in the driver housing 52.

Figure 2 shows a top view of the bulb 1 in a first example of the omni-directional lighting device 100 according to the present invention as shown in Figure 1. Figure 3 shows a top view of the bulb 1 in a second example of the omni ^¬ directional lighting device 100 according to the present in ^¬ vention as shown in Figure 1. The viewing directions of the two figures are both a view from the bottom of the first bulb part 11 to the lamp base 51. It can be seen from the figures that the bulbs according to the above two examples both have a reflecting structure 3, which includes at least three re ^¬ flecting units 32, wherein in the first example, the reflect ^¬ ing structure 3 has four reflecting units 32, while in the second example, the reflecting structure 3 has five reflect- ing units 32. However, it shall be emphasized hereby that the number of the reflecting units 32 is not limited to the above numbers, instead of that, a technician can adjust the amount of the reflecting units 32 according to the desired light in ^¬ tensity distribution. Moreover, the common ground between the reflecting units 32 respectively shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 lies in that the reflecting units 32 are on the bulb 1, be ^¬ ing specific, they are arranged on the first bulb part 11 in rotational symmetry with respect to the optical axis of the light-emitting unit 2, and the reflecting units 32 respec- tively include at least two reflective surfaces 321 (in the present example, reflectively includes two reflective sur ^¬ faces) , and the two reflective surfaces 321 of one of the re ^¬ flecting units 32 are in connection with each other on one side to form convex contours extruding from the inner side of the bulb 1. These reflective surfaces 321 are respectively responsible for reflecting light towards different direc ^¬ tions, which further improves uniformity of the light inten ^¬ sity distribution of the omni-directional lighting device ac ^¬ cording to the present invention. The differences of the two bulbs 1 respectively shown in Fig ^¬ ure 2 and Figure 3 lie in arrangement ways of the convex con- tours and their shapes. In the first example as shown in Fig ^¬ ure 2, the convex contours are at least partially in connec ^¬ tion with each other, so that a closed central region that is not covered by the reflecting units is formed on the bulb 1. In said embodiment, the convex contours are in connection with each other by means of the respective ends, so that the respective ends define the closed central region 111, which enables light from the light-emitting unit 2 to irradiate the ambient environment through said central region, wherein the closed central region 111 is formed in such a manner that the optical axis passes through the symmetry center of the closed central region 111. It can be seen from Figure 2 that these convex contours are connected to form a star-shaped distribu ^¬ tion. In the second example as shown in Figure 3, the convex con ^¬ tours are arranged in a predetermined interval with respect to each other, so that an open central region 112 that is not covered by the reflecting units 32 is formed on the bulb 1. Said open central region 112 are formed in such a manner that the optical axis passes through the symmetry center of the open central region 112. The difference between the first and the second examples lies in that the convex contours in the second example are dispersedly arranged on the first bulb part 11, instead of being in connection with each other.

Moreover, the respective convex contours in the second exam ^¬ ple have a geometric shape differing from that in the first example, wherein the convex contours in the second example are more similar to a foliaceous shape.

However, it shall be emphasized hereby that the geometric shapes of the convex contours are not limited to the two kinds of contours mentioned above, and a technician can con ^¬ figure different convex contours according to different lighting demands under the concept of the present invention.

Figure 4 shows an optical pathway diagram of the omni- directional lighting device 100 according to the present in- vention, and it can be seen from the figure that a part of light from the light-emitting unit 2 emerges directly through a part of the bulb 1 that is not blocked by the reflecting structure 3, while the other part of light emerges, after be- ing reflected by the reflecting structure 3, through the part of the bulb 1 that is not blocked by the reflecting structure 3. From the light intensity distribution diagram of the omnidirectional lighting device 100 according to the present in ^¬ vention as shown in Figure 5, it can be seen that light emer- gent from the omni-directional lighting device 100 covers a spatial range of at least 320°, and there is substantially no particularly significant difference of light intensity dis ^¬ tribution in the respective directions.

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 bulb

11 first bulb part

111 closed central region

112 open central region

12 second bulb part

2 light-emitting unit

3 reflecting structure

31 base body

32 reflecting unit

321 reflective surface

4 supporting structure

5 power supply

51 lamp base

52 driver housing

100 omni-directional lighting device