TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting system for lighting a space, more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a Concentric lens unit for an LED lighting system, capable of enabling the collimation of light emitted from a plurality of LED units, at a substantially uniform beam angle, independent of the type of LED units employed therein.

BACKGROUND

This section is intended to provide information relating to the field of the invention and thus, any approach or functionality described below should not be assumed to be qualified as prior art merely by its inclusion in this section.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting systems are commonly known in the lighting industry to illuminate a desired space or room. The LED lighting systems may be any of, but not limited to, a concealed lighting system, a wall mounted lighting system, and an anchor mounted lighting system. The LED lighting system commonly comprises a housing unit capable of housing and supporting the lighting unit, wherein the lighting unit is capable of emitting light in a desired space or room.

The housing unit of the LED lighting system further comprises an upper housing member, a lower housing member and a gasket therebetween to seal the upper housing member with the lower housing member. Further, the upper housing member is employed for housing the lighting unit therein, whereas the lower housing member is employed to cover the lighting unit positioned within the upper housing member. The lower housing member further defines a cavity for positioning of a transparent glass member. The upper housing member is attached to a mounting bracket on a rear side thereof, for fixing of the LED lighting system to one of a ceiling, a wall, and an anchor. Each of the upper housing member and the lower housing member define threaded holes on its periphery for allowing fastening means to pass therethrough.

The lighting unit of the LED lighting system comprises a plurality of LED units to emit a beam of light through a plurality of lens members for dispersion of light. The lighting unit further comprises a printed circuit board to electrically connect the components of the lighting unit thereto. Typically, each of the plurality of LED units are positioned within each of the plurality of lens members. The LED units are selected from any one of a group of LED packages consisting of 3030 module, 5730 module, 5830 module, 5050 module, 2835 module, 3528 module, 3020 module, 3014 module, 7020 module, 4014 module, 3535 module, 3258 module and the like.

At a time, the lens member known in the art is capable of accommodating the plurality of LED units of the type of only one of the aforementioned LED packages to collimate a beam of light at a defined output beam angle. Moreover, the plurality of LED units from each of the above-mentioned type of LED package when placed below the same lens member, results in a relatively different level of collimation thereof, i.e., relatively different output beam angle. Further, the conventional annular lens member is capable of collimating a beam of light at either 60 degrees or 90 degrees output beam angle. However, the said annular lens member fails to collimate light at a uniform beam angle apart from 60 degrees and 90 degrees. 'Collimation' refers to a beam of light having substantially parallel rays, which allows the light to spread minimally as the light propagates.

One solution to this problem may be a rectangular LED lens array, which has a wider range than the existing annular lens. However, the rectangular LED lens array is only capable of collimating the light in the range of 30 degrees to 60 degrees, i.e., even less than the collimation achieved by the existing annular lens. Hence, the existing rectangular LED lens also fails to provide a wide range of collimation of light in the range between 30 degrees and 90 degrees. Therefore, there is a well felt need to provide for an annular lens unit for an LED lighting system, capable of collimating a beam of light emitted from a plurality of LED units, at a substantially uniform beam angle in the range of 30 degrees to 90 degrees, independent of the type of LED units employed therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This section is intended to introduce certain objects of the disclosed method and system in a simplified form and is not intended to identify the key advantages or features of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure relates to a Concentric lens unit [200] for an LED lighting system [100], wherein the concentric lens unit [200] is employed to collimate light at a substantially uniform beam angle. Notably, the concentric lens unit [200] comprises a plurality of concentric lens members [202], such that each of the plurality of concentric lens members [202] defining at least two annular lens portions namely, a first lens portion [204] and a second lens portion [206] separated by an annular refractory portion [208], each of the two annular lens portions including an outer convex surface [204a, 206a]with a radius of curvature (Rl) and an inner concave surface [204b, 206b] with a radius of curvature (R2), wherein a ratio between Rl and R2 being in the range of 0 to 1, for enabling the collimation of light emitted from a plurality of LED units [106] at a substantially uniform beam angle between 35 degrees to 90 degrees. With such an arrangement, the concentric lens unit [200] is capable of collimating the light at a substantially uniform beam angle in the range of 35 degrees to 90 degrees, independent of the type of LED units [106] employed therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In order to explain the technical solution in the embodiments of the present application more clearly, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the application. For those skilled in the art, without any creative work, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of an LED lighting system, in accordance with the concepts of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a top perspective view of a concentric lens unit for the LED lighting system, in accordance with the concepts of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the concentric lens unit for the LED lighting system, in accordance with the concepts of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a graphical representation of constant collimation of light with change in the ratio between R1 and R2 for the concentric lens unit, in accordance with the concepts of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only one of the problems discussed above. Some of the problems discussed above might not be fully addressed by any of the features described herein. Exemplified embodiments of the present invention are described below, as illustrated in various drawings in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings.

The embodiments of the present invention relate to a Concentric lens unit [200] for a Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting system [100], capable of collimating light emitted from a plurality of LED units [106] at a substantially uniform beam angle, independent of the type of LED units [106] employed therein.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of the LED lighting system [100], in accordance with the concepts of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a top perspective view of the Concentric lens unit [200] for the LED lighting system [100], in accordance with the concepts of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the Concentric lens unit [200] for the LED lighting system [100], in accordance with the concepts of the present invention. FIG. 1, 2, and 3 are to be viewed in conjunction with one another, in order to completely understand the concepts of the present disclosure. The LED lighting system [100] comprises a lighting unit [102] for emitting light, a housing unit [110] for housing and supporting the lighting unit [102], and a concentric lens unit [200] to collimate light emitted from the lighting unit [102] at a substantially uniform beam angle. The structure and arrangement of various components of the LED lighting system [100] will be explained hereinafter in detail.

HOUSING UNIT

The housing unit [110] of the LED lighting system [100] employs an upper housing member [112], a lower housing member [114], and a gasket [116] disposed therebetween to seal the upper housing member [112] with the lower housing member [114], Further, the upper housing member [112] defines a cavity for housing and supporting the lighting unit [102] therein, and a mounting provision [120] on a rear side of the upper housing member [112], to affix a mounting bracket thereto. The mounting bracket is employed for mounting the LED lighting system [100] to one of a ceiling, a wall, an anchor and the like. The lower housing member [114] defines a cavity for positioning a transparent glass member [122] therein, such that the transparent glass member [122] allows the beam of light emitted from the lighting unit [102], to pass therethrough.

Moreover, the upper housing member [112] defines an inner peripheral cavity [118] on the inner periphery thereof, such that the inner peripheral cavity [118] is adapted to receive the gasket [116] therein. Further, each of the upper housing member [112] and the lower housing member [114] define a plurality of threaded holes [124] positioned on the inner periphery of the housing unit [110], for allowing screws to pass therethrough.

LIGHTING UNIT

The lighting unit [102] comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) [104], a surge protection device (SPD) [108], a plurality of LED units [106], The PCB [104] is employed in the lighting unit [102] to support and electrically connect the plurality of LED units [106] and the SPD [108] thereon, through conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. Further, the SPD [108] is electrically connected to the PCB [104] to provide the required current to the LED lighting system [100] and provide protection against failure of the LED lighting system [100] due to conditions such as, but not limited to overvoltage, undervoltage, short-circuit overcurrent, and current leakage.

The plurality of LED units [106] is concentrically and annularly embedded on the PCB [104], such that the plurality of LED units [106] is in the form of one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of LED units [106], for enabling the positioning of a plurality of concentric lens members [202] of the concentric lens unit [200] thereon. Notably, the one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of LED units [106] are symmetrically embedded across a length and a width of the PCB [104], further enabling the positioning of each of the plurality of concentric lens members [202] on each of the one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of LED units [106], The plurality of LED units [106] can be selected from a group consisting of 3030, 5730, 5830, 5050, 2835, 3528, 3020, 3014, 7020, 4014, 3535, and 3258 type of LED package, or any combination thereof.

CONCENTRIC LENS UNIT The concentric lens unit [200] comprises a plurality of concentric lens members [202] for collimation of the beam of light emitted from the one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of the LED units [106], at a substantially uniform beam angle between 35 degrees and 90 degrees. Further, each of the plurality of concentric lens members [202] define at least two annular lens portions namely, a first lens portion [204] and a second lens portion [206] separated by an annular refractory portion [208], each of the two annular lens portions including an outer convex surface [204a, 206a] with a radius of curvature (Rl) and an inner concave surface [204b, 206b] with a radius of curvature (R2).

The ratio between Rl and R2 for the concentric lens member [202] is in the range of 0 to 1, for enabling the collimation of light emitted from a plurality of LED units [106], at a substantially uniform beam angle between 35 degrees and 90 degrees. The plurality of concentric lens members [202] is placed on the plurality of LED units [106], such that the first lens portion [204] and second lens portion [206] of each of the plurality of concentric lens members [202] receive each of the one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of the LED units [106] proximal to the inner concave portion [204b, 206b] therein. With such an arrangement, the light emitted from the one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of the LED units [106] is collimated at a substantially uniform beam angle being any of 45 degrees, 60 degrees and 90 degrees. The structure of various embodiments of the concentric lens member [202], in accordance with the concepts of the present disclosure, will be discussed hereinafter in detail.

In a first embodiment, the ratio between Rl and R2 for the concentric lens member [202] is in the range of 0.39 to 0.55, for enabling the collimation of light emitted from a plurality of LED units [106], at a substantially uniform beam angle of 45 degrees, independent of the type of the LED units [106] employed therein. Further, the plurality of LED units [106] employed to emit light through the concentric lens member [202] of the present embodiment, may be selected from a group consisting of 3030, 5730, 5830, 5050, 2835, 3528, 3020, 3014, 7020, 4014, 3535, 3258 type of LED package or any combination thereof.

In a second embodiment, the ratio between R1 and R2 for the concentric lens member [202] is in the range of 0.50 to 0.85, for enabling the collimation of light emitted from a plurality of LED units [106], at a substantially uniform beam angle of 60 degrees, independent of the type of the LED units [106] employed therein. Further, the plurality of LED units [106] employed to emit light through the concentric lens member [202] of the present embodiment, may be selected from a group consisting of 3030, 5730, 5830, 5050, 2835, 3528, 3020, 3014, 7020, 4014, 3535, 3258 type of LED package or any combination thereof.

In yet another embodiment, the ratio between R1 and R2 for the concentric lens member [202] is in the range of 0.25 to 0.45, for enabling the collimation of light emitted from a plurality of LED units [106], at a substantially uniform beam angle of 90 degrees, independent of the type of the LED units [106] employed therein. Further, the plurality of LED units [106] employed to emit light through the concentric lens member [202] of the present embodiment, may be selected from a group consisting of 3030, 5730, 5830, 5050, 2835, 3528, 3020, 3014, 7020, 4014, 3535, 3258 type of LED package or any combination thereof.

EXAMPLE

Following examples are given by way of illustration, and therefore, should not be construed to limit the scope of this invention.

The variation in the ratio between R1 and R2 for the concentric lens member [202] results in the collimation of light passing therethrough, at a substantially uniform beam angle of 45 degrees, independent of the type of LED units [106] employed therein, as is apparent from below given example. FIG. 4 shows a graphical representation of the constant collimation of light at 45 degrees with change in the ratio between R1 and R2 for the concentric lens member [202], in accordance with the present disclosure. The below given example is to be read in conjunction with FIG. 4, in order to properly understand the concepts of the present disclosure.

An experiment was performed by placing a plurality of LED units [106] selected from the group of 2835, 3030 and 5050 type of LED package, wherein the plurality of LED units [106] is in the form of three pairs of concentric-annular strips of the LED units [106], such that each pair of concentric-annular strips of the LED units [106] is positioned within the first and the second annular portions of each of the three concentric lens members [202], The values of Rl, R2, and ratio between Rl and R2 for the respective concentric lens members [202] are disclosed hereunder:

CONCENTRIC LENS MEMBER 1:

Radius of Curvature (Rl) = 4.5 millimeters;

Radius of Curvature (Rl) = 11.4 millimeters;

Ratio (R1/R2) = 0.395.

CONCENTRIC LENS MEMBER 2:

Radius of Curvature (Rl) = 4.8 millimeters;

Radius of Curvature (R2) = 11.16 millimeters;

Ratio (R1/R2) = 0.43.

CONCENTRIC LENS MEMBER 3:

Radius of Curvature (Rl) = 5.0 millimeters;

Radius of Curvature (R2) = 11.0 millimeters;

Ratio (R1/R2) = 0.45.

With such an arrangement, a substantially uniform beam angle of 45 degrees (+ 20% tolerance) is achieved.

Table 1 shows the output beam angles for different type of LED units [106] employed in each of the three concentric lens members [202] with different ratio between Rl and R2. Table 1:

ASSEMBLY

In assembly of the LED lighting system [100], various components of the LED lighting system [100] are assembled together in the following manner:

First step: The one or more of pair of concentric-annular strips of LED units [106] are symmetrically embedded across the length and the width of the PCB [104], Second step: The SPD [108] is electrically connected to the PCB [104] for protecting the LED lighting system [100], against overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage, short circuit, current leakage, and the like. Thus, this step completes the assembly of the lighting unit [102],

Third step: Each of the plurality of concentric lens members [202] of the concentric lens unit [200] is positioned on each of the one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of LED units [106] of the lighting unit [102], such that each of the one or more pair of concentric-annular strips of LED units [106] is covered within the first lens portion [204] and the second lens portion [206] of each of the plurality of concentric lens members [202], proximal to the inner concave surface [204b, 206b] thereof.

Fourth step: The lighting unit [102] is positioned within the cavity of the upper housing member [112] to be housed and supported therein, and is fastened thereto by means of screws. Fifth step: The gasket [116] is thereafter positioned within the inner peripheral cavity [118] of the upper housing member [112], whereafter the lower housing member [114] is positioned on top of the upper housing member [112] to engage with the gasket [116], enabling sealing of the assembly in a fluid-tight manner.

Sixth step: The lower housing member [114] is then attached with the upper housing member [112] by means of screws, across the threaded holes [124] on the inner periphery of each of the lower housing member [114] and the upper housing member [112], Thus, this arrangement completes the assembly of the LED lighting system [100],

Seventh/Final step: The LED lighting system [100], thus assembled, is then mounted on any of the ceiling, the wall, the anchor and the like, with the help of a mounting bracket capable of engaging and locking with the mounting provision [120] of the upper housing member [112] and a desired mounting area.

With such an arrangement, the LED lighting system [100] comprising a concentric lens unit [200] is capable of collimating a beam of light emitted from the plurality of LED units [106] employed therein, at a substantially uniform beam angle between 35 degrees and 90 degrees, which was not possible with the existing LED lighting system. Further, the plurality of the concentric lens member [202] of the concentric lens unit [200] for the LED lighting system [100], in accordance with the concepts of the present disclosure, is capable of employing the plurality of LED units [106] selected from either one or any combination of 3030, 5730, 5830, 5050, 2835, 3528, 3020, 3014, 7020, 4014, 3535, 3258 type of LED packages, while maintaining a substantially uniform beam angle being one of 45 degrees, 60 degrees and 90 degrees.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described hereinabove, it should be understood that various changes, adaptations, and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive.

LIST OF COMPONENTS

100 - LED lighting system

102 - Lighting Unit

104 - Printed circuit board

106 - LED units

108 - Surge Protection Device

110 - Housing Unit

112 - Upper Housing Member

114 - Lower Housing Member

116 - Gasket

118 - Inner Peripheral Cavity

120 - Mounting Provision

122 -Transparent glass member

124 -Threaded Holes

200 - Concentric lens unit

202 - Concentric lens member

204 - First lens portion

204a - Outer convex surface of the first lens portion

204b - Inner concave surface of the first lens portion

206 - Second lens portion

206a - Outer convex surface of the second lens portion

206b - Inner concave surface of the second lens portion

208 - Annular refractory portion