WO2010089229A1

WO2010089229A1 - Finishable light strip

Info

Publication number: WO2010089229A1
Application number: PCT/EP2010/050858
Authority: WO
Inventors: Steffen Strauss; Thomas Preuschl; Florian Hockel
Original assignee: Osram Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
Priority date: 2009-02-09
Filing date: 2010-01-26
Publication date: 2010-08-12
Also published as: DE102009008095A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a light strip (7) having at least one band-shaped unit conductor plate (8), wherein the unit conductor plate (8) is equipped with at least one semiconductor light source (4), in particular a light diode, and has electrical contacts (9, 10) for electrical supply on the two end regions thereof, wherein the unit conductor plate (8) has a detachable contact section (12) connecting to the at least one lighting section (11) equipped with a semiconductor light source (4) and at least one connecting to the lighting section (11), wherein the lighting section (11) has electrical contacts (10) on the two end regions thereof to the electrical supply thereof and wherein electrical contacts (9) of the at least one contact section (12) and the electrical contacts (10) of the end region of the lighting section (11) are connected to one another on the respective contact section (12).

Description

Ready-to-use light strip

The invention relates to a tailor-made light strip and method for assembling light strips.

There are known quasi-endless LED light strips, which consist of a contiguous sequence of tape-shaped unit boards or unit board sections and can be separated at fixed intervals between two unit boards, z. B. every 200 mm. Such light bands are for example from the LINEARLight series FA. OS RAM known. A separation at other than the predetermined distances between the unit circuit boards (ie a separation of a unit board) would lead to an interruption of the circuit and thus to a destruction of the LED strip. For some applications, however, other than the fixed predetermined tape lengths are required, for example, to move the LED tape accurately in a corner. Another problem with the tailor-made confectioning of LED strips is that an extension of a light strip is connected by plugging together two unit circuit boards by means of a connector with an increase in the distance between the light emitting diodes arranged on both sides of the plug; this in turn leads to an uneven distance between the LEDs.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an easy-to-implement possibility for more accurate assembly of light bands. This object is achieved by means of a luminous band and method for assembling light bands according to the respective independent claim. Advantageous embodiments are in particular the dependent claims.

The light strip has at least one strip-shaped unit printed circuit board, wherein the unit printed circuit board is equipped in each case with at least one semiconductor light source and at its two end regions each having electrical contacts for electrical supply, wherein the unit circuit board one equipped with the at least one semiconductor light source luminous portion and at least one subsequent to the luminous portion , detachable contact portion, wherein the luminous portion at its two end portions each having electrical contacts to its electrical supply and wherein electrical contacts of the at least one contact portion and the electrical contacts of adjacent to the respective contact portion end portion of the luminous portion are interconnected. The semiconductor light source can advantageously have a light-emitting diode, but z. B. also a laser diode.

Thereby, a unit printed circuit board (or equivalent unit printed circuit board section) can be shortened simply by the length of the contact section by separating the contact section, and also by the length of the two contact sections in the presence on both sides. Since the contact portions are not equipped with the semiconductor light emitting diodes, a separation can be easily implemented without loss of function for the light band or the light emitting portion. In particular, a contact section may advantageously be merely conductor tracks. NEN and have contact surfaces and no electrical or electronic components such as integrated components. The separation can be accomplished for example by cutting or scribing and breaking. The printed circuit board can advantageously be flexible, inter alia, for laying the illuminated strip even on curved surfaces ('flexband').

In order to achieve the greatest possible length reduction, at least one unit printed circuit board can each have a contact section at both ends of the luminous section. However, the invention is not limited thereto, and a unit board may also have a contact portion only on one side. Also, the unit board may have on one side or on both sides of several subsequent to the luminous portion contact portions, whereby a particularly fine assembly is possible.

Advantageously, a length of the at least one contact section situated between two luminous sections can correspond to a spacing between two luminous sections connected via a plug. As a result, insertion of a plug into the light strip or between two light sections can be accomplished in a length-related neutral manner by removing corresponding contact sections.

Advantageously, the contacts of the at least one contact section and the contacts of the end region of the luminous section adjoining the respective contact section can be connected to one another via a back-side wiring. Here 'back' means an arrangement on the side ('back'), which the with the at least one half headlight source equipped side ('front') facing away. As a result, a position of contacts arranged on the front side can be better recognized and thus a separation of the contact section from the contacts of the luminous section is facilitated.

The contacts of the at least one contact section and the contacts of the end section of the luminous section adjacent to the respective contact section can advantageously also be designed as a continuous conductor track. This embodiment is particularly simple to manufacture and requires z. B. no vias.

The contacts may advantageously be designed symmetrically, i. h., that they are independent of the orientation of the plug. This prevents reverse polarity. In particular, the contacts can advantageously be arranged objectively mirror-symmetrically with respect to a longitudinal axis of the printed circuit board. The contacts may advantageously also be mirror-symmetrically populated with a potential with respect to a longitudinal axis of the printed circuit board.

Advantageously, the lighting section may comprise a control circuit and a plurality of semiconductor light sources connected in series in series, at least one of the semiconductor light sources being assigned a set of bridging contacts whose bridging forms a circuit behind this semiconductor light source. As a result, the electric or electronic components lying behind the bridging contacts with respect to the control circuit are no longer supplied with power. In particular, can then the luminous portion are separated behind the bridging contacts, without destroying the light strip. The bridging of the bridging contacts and a separation of the underlying part of the luminous band can be easily performed on site, z. B. by an installation expert.

For particularly simple and trouble-free assembly can advantageously have at least one set of bridging contacts SMD contacts. Bridging can then advantageously be done by mounting surface mountable resistors (SMDs).

The method for manufacturing such a luminous band comprises at least the following step: separating at least one contact section from a luminous section of a unitary circuit board. As a result, as already explained above, a particularly fine assembly can be achieved.

Advantageously, the method may also include the following step: connecting the luminous section to a contact section or a luminous section of another unit circuit board. As a result, in particular a length of a connecting element, for. B. a plug, at least partially offset.

Advantageously, the method may comprise at least the following steps: separating a contact section from a luminous section of a first unit circuit board; Separating a contact section from a luminous section of a second unit circuit board and connecting the luminous bar sections of the first unit board and the second unit board, e.g. B. by means of a connecting element such as a plug. This also allows in particular a length of a connecting element, for. B. a plug, at least partially offset.

In particular for making up a luminous band at its end by dividing also the luminous portion, the method may advantageously comprise at least the following steps: cutting a luminous portion behind a set of bridging contacts and bridging the bridging contacts by means of at least one resistor. In particular, the bridging may include equipping the associated bridging contacts by means of at least one SMD resistor.

In the following figures, the invention will be described schematically with reference to exemplary embodiments. For the sake of clarity, identical or equivalent elements may be provided with the same reference numerals.

1 shows in plan view a conventional light strip made of two unitary printed circuit boards produced together;

FIG. 2 shows the luminous band from FIG. 1 after separation of the unit circuit boards and subsequent assembly by means of a plug; 3 shows a plan view of a light strip made of two unitary printed circuit boards produced in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows the luminous band from FIG. 3 after separation of the unit circuit boards and subsequent assembly by means of a plug;

5 shows a plan view of a light strip made of two unitary printed circuit boards produced together according to a second embodiment of the invention;

6 shows in the two subfigures 6A and 6B each a section of a terminal portion of a contact portion or a luminous portion of a unit printed circuit board according to the invention with differently assigned contacts.

7 shows a top view of a unit printed circuit board according to a third embodiment of the invention; and

8 shows a possible circuit diagram of the unit printed circuit board from FIG. 7.

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a conventional flexible light strip 1 of, for example, two contiguous identical unit circuit boards 2. Each of the unit circuit boards 2 has a flexible substrate 3 made of polyimide, whose visible front side is equipped with four light emitting diodes 4. The LEDs 4 are equally spaced with respect to a longitudinal direction of the unit printed circuit board 2 (equidistant) positioned. At both end regions (seen with respect to the longitudinal direction), each of the unit printed circuit boards 2 has electrical contacts 5, in this case two contacts 5 each.

In the manufacture of the luminous band 1, the unit boards 2 are integrally formed with the substrates 3 of the unit boards 2 as a single, one-piece quasi-endless substrate of the luminous ribbon 1. Likewise, the adjacent contacts 5 of two adjacent unitary circuit boards 2 are designed as a single contact strip, which extends over both unit circuit boards 2.

For the separation of the light strip 1, this can be separated along a dividing line T, as indicated symbolically by the scissors. So that a separation of the light strip 1 does not lead to a power interruption of all unit circuit boards 2, the unit circuit boards 2 hang electrically parallel. In a separation thus only those unit circuit boards 2 are cut off from a power supply, which of a -. B. external - electrical supply source can be separated. However, a separation between light emitting diodes 4 of a unit board 2 causes all LEDs 4 of this unit board 2 to fail because the LEDs 4 of a unit board 2 are electrically connected in series.

2 shows the light strip 1 of FIG 1 after a separation of the unit circuit boards 2 along the dividing line T and a subsequent assembly by means of a plug 6. The plug 6 connects the opposite contacts 5 and causes, inter alia, that the two unit circuit boards. 2 now have a distance d determined by the connector 6 to each other. As a result, the distance between the two opposite with respect to the connector 6 light-emitting diodes 4a is increased by d, so that the LEDs 4 of the light band 1 are no longer evenly spaced.

3 shows in plan view a light strip 7 made of two unitary printed circuit boards 8 produced according to a first embodiment of the invention. In contrast to the conventional embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, each unit printed circuit board 8 now has two identical sets of contacts 9 and 10 spaced apart in the longitudinal direction L at each end region. The contacts 9,10 are connected to each other via rear electrical connections. The outer contacts 9 can thus be regarded as an electrical extension of the inner contacts 10. The two unit circuit boards 8 can be separated from each other as before along a dividing line T. However, in order additionally to compensate for the distance d, which results in a connection of two unit circuit boards 8 by means of the plug 6, the unit circuit boards 8 can also be cut off at the inner contacts 10 along a dividing line S. This results in a structure of the unit circuit boards 8, which corresponds to a functional division into a respective luminous portion 11 and on both sides thereof in each case a contact portion 12. A contact section 12 can thus be separated from the central illumination section 11 along a dividing line S. While all light-emitting diodes 4 as well as possible further electrical or electronic switching elements, such as transistors and / or resistors, are mounted on the illumination section 11, a contact section 12 merely has the external contacts 8 and electrical connection lines (not shown) to the inner contacts 8. A contact portion 12 thus serves only to extend contacts. The unit board 8 with the luminous portion 11 and the two contact portions 12 is the same length as the conventional unit board 1, and like this, is initially made in a quasi-endless process.

FIG. 4 shows the luminous band 7 from FIG. 3 after a separation of the unit circuit boards 8 and the following assembly by means of the plug 6. In contrast to a separation along the dividing line T, those two contact sections 12 are removed and the plug 6 is to be replaced. For this purpose, the unit circuit boards 8 are separated at their contiguous end in each case along the dividing line S and are connected to one another via their inner contacts 10, which correspond to the contacts of the luminous section 11, via the plug 6. In the example shown, a length of the contact portions 12 is about d / 2, so that by removing two contact portions 12, the light strip 7 is shortened by the length by which it is extended by the plug 6. Overall, therefore, the length of the light band 7 remains constant and thus the distance between the LEDs 4, 4a. For confectioning the light strip 7 can be further divided between the unit circuit boards 8 along the dividing line T and then z. B. by means of the plug 6 are extended by a length d, or the light strip 7 can between the unit circuit boards 8 by a length d / 2 by means of a separation of only one contact portion 12 by separating along a dividing line S and a dividing line T and subsequent insertion of the plug 6 be extended. FIG. 5 shows a top view of a light strip 13 made of two unitary printed circuit boards 14 produced in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention. In contrast to the first embodiment according to the invention from FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the unit circuit boards 14 are now designed such that the (inner) contacts 10 and the (outer) contacts 9 of two adjacent unit circuit boards 14 are designed as continuous conductive strips 9, 10 as shown. This allows a particularly simple production and a particularly variable length adjustment, since the contact portions 15 can be separated at any point between the two outermost separating lines S and thus can be regarded as contact portions 15 of variable length.

FIG. 6 shows, in the two subfigures 6A and 6B, a detail of a terminal region of a contact section or a luminous section of a unitary circuit board 16 according to the invention with differently assigned contacts 17 of a specific set of contacts. The contacts 17 are representational and with respect to their occupancy with an electrical potential (indicated here by the symbols '+' and '-' indicated) arranged symmetrically to the longitudinal axis, so that a polarity reversal can be prevented when using a plug.

7 shows a plan view of a unit circuit board 18 according to a third embodiment of the invention. In contrast to the unitary circuit board 8 of the first embodiment according to the invention, a pair of bridging contacts 20 is now in each case between two light-emitting diodes 4 of the lighting section 19 Form of solder fields arranged. Each of the pairs of bridging contacts 20 can be bridged, for example, by soldering on a surface-mountable resistor (not shown). By this arrangement, a light section 19 can now be severed between two LEDs 4, z. B. along a dividing line U, more precisely between a pair of bridging contacts 20 and the electrically downstream, here: further right arranged LED 4.

FIG. 8 shows a possible circuit diagram of the unit circuit board 18 from FIG. 7. At one end, here left, the luminous section 19 is equipped with a control circuit 21, which has two transistors Q1, Q2 and two resistors R1, R2. The control circuit 21 is connected via the contacts 9 and / or 10 to an electrical supply (not shown). The control circuit 21, the LEDs 4 are electrically connected in series. If the luminous portion 19 is severed without further measures along the dividing lines U of FIG. 7, the circuit of this luminous portion 19 is interrupted, as a result of which all LEDs 4 would no longer light up. By an electrical bridging of a pair of bridging contacts 20 by means of a respective bridging resistor R3, R4 and R5, the circuit can be closed before (with respect to the control circuit 21) the bridging contacts 20 again, whereby the part of the circuit which is then closed again LEDs 4 can shine. Since power is to be dissipated via the bridging resistors R3, R4, R5, an advantageous size of at least 0603 (inch code, 1608 in the metric code), 0805 (inch code, 2012 in the metric code) or in particular for SMD resistors 1206 (inch code, 3216 in metric code) prefers. In a substantially resistanceless bridging over the still powered LEDs 4 too low voltage drop would occur.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown. Thus, to prevent reverse polarity, a set of contacts may also have more than three contacts. Also, a contact portion may be provided only on one side of a luminous portion. In general, features of the various embodiments can also be used in other combinations, e.g. Example, the configuration of the contacts of the second embodiment with the configuration of the luminous portion of the third embodiment or the embodiment of the contacts shown in FIG 6 with the other unit circuit boards.

Reference sign list

1 illuminated strip

2 unit board 3 substrate

4 LED

5 contact

6 plugs

7 luminous band 8 unit circuit board 9 external contact

10 inner contact

11 light section

12 contact section 13 light strip

14 unit PCB

15 contact section

16 unit PCB

17 contact 18 unit PCB

19 light section

20 bridging contact

21 control circuit d distance L longitudinal axis

Q transistor

R resistance

S dividing line

T dividing line U dividing line

Claims

claims

1. Luminous band (7; 13) with at least one band-shaped unit circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18), wherein the unit circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18) each equipped with at least one semiconductor light source (4), in particular light emitting diode and at their two end regions each have electrical contacts (9, 10; 17) for the electrical supply, wherein the unit circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18) has a luminous section (11; 19) equipped with the at least one semiconductor light source (4) and at least one separable contact section (12, 15) adjoining the luminous section (11, 19), the luminous section (11, 19) having electrical contacts (10) for its electrical supply at its two end regions, and electrical contacts (9) of the at least one contact section (12; 15) and the electrical contacts (10) of the end region of the luminous section (11; 19) adjoining the respective contact section (12; nd.

2. Luminous band (7; 13) according to claim 1, wherein at least one unit circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18) has a contact section (12; 15) at both ends of the luminous section (11; 19).

3. Luminous band (7; 13) according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein a length of the at least one between two

Luminous sections (11, 19) located contact section (12; 15) corresponds to a spacing (d) between two luminous sections (11; 19) connected via a connecting element, in particular a plug (6).

The light strip (7) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the contacts (9; 17) of the at least one contact section (12) and the contacts (10; 17) of the end section of the light section adjoining the respective contact section (12; (11) are interconnected via a back wiring.

5. light strip (13) according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contacts (9; 17) of the at least one contact portion (15) and the contacts (10; 17) of the adjacent to the respective contact portion (15) end portion of the luminous portion (11) are designed as a continuous conductor track.

6. strip light (7, 13) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the contacts (17) are designed symmetrically.

7. Luminous band (7; 13) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the luminous portion (11; 19) has a control circuit (21) and a plurality of the control circuit (21) in series downstream semiconductor light sources (4), wherein at least one of Semiconductor light sources (4) is associated with a set of bridging contacts (20), the bridging a circuit behind this semiconductor light source (4) is closed.

The light strip (7; 13) of claim 7, wherein at least one set of bridging contacts (20) comprises SMD contacts.

A method of assembling a luminous band (7; 13) according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising at least the following step:

Separating at least one contact section (12; 15) from a luminous section (11; 19) of a unit circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18).

10. The method of claim 9, comprising the following step:

- Connecting the luminous portion (11, 19) with a contact portion (12; 15) or a luminous portion (11;

19) of another unit printed circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18).

11. The method of claim 10 for assembling a fluorescent strip (7; 13) according to claim 2, comprising at least the following steps:

- separating a contact portion (12; 15) from a luminous portion (11; 19) of a first unit circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18);

Separating a contact section (12; 15) from a luminous section (11; 19) of a second unit circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18) and

- connecting the luminous sections (11; 19) of the first unitary circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18) and the second unitary circuit board (8; 14; 16; 18).

12. A method, in particular according to one of claims 10 or 11, for assembling a luminous band (7; 13) according to one of claims 7 or 8, comprising at least the following steps: - severing a luminous portion (11; 19) behind a set of Bridging contacts (20); and bridging the bridging contacts (20) by means of at least one resistor (R3, R4, R5).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the bridging step comprises populating the bridging contacts (20) by means of at least one SMD resistor (R3, R4, R5).