NL2005633C2

NL2005633C2 - Cover for covering at least a part of a translucent element of a light source.

Info

Publication number: NL2005633C2
Application number: NL2005633A
Authority: NL
Inventors: Gerard Langenberg
Original assignee: Gerard Langenberg
Priority date: 2010-11-05
Filing date: 2010-11-05
Publication date: 2012-05-08

Description

Cover for covering at least a part of a translucent element of a light source FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of covers for a light source and in particular for 5 covering a translucent element of a light source

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The translucent part of a lamp is frequently made from glass. Proper protection of the glass cover is appreciated, as glass is a delicate and fragile material. Furthermore, 10 depending on the location where a lamp is used, a certain colour of the emitted light may be desired. Though solutions exist, such solutions are either inflexible or expensive.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

15 A cover for a translucent element of a light source as claimed by claim 1 is preferred for various reasons, in particular from a viewpoint of cost and/or flexibility.

In a first aspect, the invention provides a removable cover for covering at least a part of a translucent element of a light source having a substantially similar shape as the 2 0 translucent element to be covered and comprising a heat-resistant and translucent compound. By providing a removable cover, for example separately from a light source - an in particular a lamp, which may be any type of lamp -, the cover can be applied flexibly on multiple light sources. Additionally or alternatively, multiple covers may be used on the same light source, either together or separately. The covers may be 25 employed for several purposes. Such cover can be manufactured at a relatively low price and by removing the cover and replacing it with a cover with for example another colour, the characteristics of the ensemble of the light source and the cover can be changed in a quick an flexible way.

30 In an embodiment of the cover according to the invention, the cover comprises a pigment. By providing a pigment, the colour of light emitted by a lamp passing through the cover can be controlled. The cover and in particular the pigment in the colour acts as a filter that passes through light emitted by the lamp or other light source in the colour of the pigment.

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In a further embodiment of the cover according to the invention, the compound comprises an elastic material. This is particularly advantageous with light bulbs having a 2 maximum diameter that is larger than the diameter of the base of the lamp or other light source. In this way, a cover can be provided of which the opening one hand can be put over the maximum diameter circumference and on the other hand still tightly fits around the base. Furthermore, a flexible cover has a certain tolerance with respect to 5 sizes of lamps on which the cover is to be applied.

In a second aspect, the invention provides a kit of parts comprising a light source and the cover according to any of the preceding claims having dimensions such that the 10 cover is enabled to cover at least a substantial part of the translucent part of the light source comprised by the kit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention and embodiments thereof will now be discussed in further details by 15 means of figures. In the figures,

Figure 1: shows an incandescent light bulb; and

Figure 2: shows a cover for covering a translucent bulb of an incandescent light bulb.

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DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of an incandescent light bulb 100. The light bulb 100 comprises a translucent bulb 102, a filament 104, a first contact wire 106, a second contact wire 108, a threaded cap 110 forming a base of the light bulb 100, a 25 base contact 112 that is electrically isolated from the cap 110 by an isolation ring 114. The first contact wire 106 is connected to the base contact 112 and the second contact wire 106 is connected to the cap 110. By applying a voltage between the cap 110 and the base contact 112, a current flows through the filament 104. This results in heating up of the filament 104, which subsequently results in emission of light, including visible 30 light.

The translucent bulb 102 may be provided in a transparent or opaque, though still translucent material. The translucent bulb 102 may be provided with no colour, white colour or another colour. The translucent bulb 102 may be provided in glass, a 35 translucent polymer like polycarbonate or another suitable translucent material.

3 A person skilled in the art will appreciate that light bulbs such as the light bulb 100 are available in many different dimensions, with respect to size as well as shape. The same person skilled in the art will also be familiar with standardisation of shapes and sizes of light bulb mostly used. Standard lamp shapes and dimensions are 5 characterised by a letter and a number. The letter represents the shape and the number represents the size of the lamp, in particular the maximum diameter. As the metric system is not used in the whole world, certain regions use different numbers than generally accepted in most of the world. Letters characterising the shape are generally accepted, as for example the letter A relates to a mushroom shaped bulb and B relates 10 to candle lamps.

Figure 2 shows a cover 200 for covering the translucent bulb 102 of the light bulb 100. The cover 200 comprises a membrane 202 and an opening 204. The dimensions of the cover 200 are substantially equal to the outer dimensions of the translucent bulb 102. 15 The cover 200 preferably comprises silicon rubber or another synthetic rubber with a pigment. In the embodiment shown by Figure 2, the cover 200 is provided as a contiguous membrane comprising silicon rubber with a pigment.

With the cover 200 applied on the translucent bulb 102, the light emitted by the filament 2 0 104 is filtered and light passing though the cover 200 will have the same colour as the colour of the pigment of the cover 200. The pigment may also be omitted, providing a colourless cover. Such cover will pass substantially all of the visible light emitted by the filament 104, having no function on colouring of light. However, such cover is nonetheless well suited for protecting the translucent bulb 102 of the light bulb 100.

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For optimal use of the cover 200, the cover 200 preferably fits tightly around the translucent bulb 102 to prevent any wrinkles and other unevennesses, as such artefacts that will cause a spatially uneven transmission of light through the cover 200. Such spatially uneven transmission will cause shadows on surfaces on which the light of the 30 light bulb 100 shines. Such tight fit is preferably achieved using an elastic material for the cover 200. By properly dressing the cover 200 around the translucent bulb 102, wrinkles can be prevented and due to the elastic nature of the cover 200, the cover 200 will remain properly in place on the translucent bulb 102. This effect may be enhanced by a certain degree of roughness of the surface of the cover 200.

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An additional advantage of using an elastic material is that the opening 204 can be stretched to fit around the broadest part of the translucent bulb 102, whereas the 4 opening will subsequently be tightly fit around a narrower part of the translucent bulb 102 near the cap 110. In an embodiment where the membrane 202 is manufactured from silicone rubber of 1 millimetre thick, the membrane 202 can be stretched to a size that is 20% to 30% of its original size. This stretch factor has been 5 demonstrated to be sufficient for most shapes of light sources that can be covered with the cover 200. In case larger stretch factors are required, for example for a reflector lamp or a large ball shaped lamp like G-40, thinner silicon rubber or another material with a higher stretch factor may be used.

10 As already discussed, silicon rubber may be used as a material for manufacturing the cover 200. Such cover 200 is preferably produced in accordance with FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and USP (The United States Pharmacopeia) standards, with a thickness of 1 millimetre and hardness between 20° and 90° Shore A DIN 53505. Such material can be used with temperatures between -100°C and 350° ambient temperature 15 (dry air). In particular when the cover 200 is used with incandescent lamps as the light bulb 100, good temperature resistance is required as over 90% of the energy consumed by an incandescent lamp is transformed in heat rather than light.

As indicated, the light bulb 100 is an incandescent lamp. However, a person skilled in 2 0 the art will appreciated that the cover 200 can also be used with other light sources like halogen lamps, LED lamps, gas discharge lamps, other lamps and other light sources. Such light sources may have shapes and sizes very different than those of conventional incandescent light bulb, but also have the same shapes for reasons of compatibility, either for technical and/or esthetical reasons.

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Light sources having efficiency significantly higher than incandescent lamps, such as LED lamps, have a lower operating temperature because more energy consumed by the lamp will be transferred in light and less energy will be transformed to heat. This allows other materials to be used for manufacturing of the cover 200. An alternative to 30 silicon rubber is natural rubber that is less resistant to higher temperatures. Therefore, use of natural rubber is not preferred for manufacturing of covers for incandescent lamps, whereas it does provide an alternative to silicone rubber for LED light sources.

Another alternative for manufacturing of the cover 200 is a mix of elastic and non-elastic 35 materials. For example cotton, linen and/or polyester threads or threads of another nonelastic material may be mixed with threads of an elastic material like lycra - also known as spandex. The materials can be used to provide a woven membrane for the cover 200 5 or a non-woven membrane for the cover 200. In the latter case, the materials do not necessarily all have to be provided in threads.

Most light bulbs have a maximum diameter that is larger than the diameter of the base 5 of the light bulb. In particular in such cases, a flexible cover is preferred. Certain types of light bulbs, for example light bulbs having shapes characterised by the letter T, have a diameter that does not vary over most of the length of the light bulb. In particular for such light bulbs, the cover 200 may also be provided in a non-flexible material or a combination of various non-flexible materials. Such materials include, but are not limited 10 to, materials already reference above.

Non-flexible covers may also be provided to mushroom shaped light bulbs, including reflector light bulbs, even though this is less preferred than elastic materials. In such cases, but also for T-type light bulbs, an elastic material may be provided around the 15 opening 204 of the cover 200 for securing the cover around the light bulb, in particular in the vicinity of the lamp base. Elastic materials for application of an elastic ring around the opening 204 are silicon rubber, natural rubber, spandex, other or a combination thereof.

2 0 Expressions such as "comprise", "include", "incorporate", "contain", "is" and "have" are to be construed in a non-exclusive manner when interpreting the description and its associated claims, namely construed to allow for other items or components which are not explicitly defined also to be present. Reference to the singular is also to be construed in be a reference to the plural and vice versa.

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In the description above, it will be understood that when an element such as layer, region or substrate is referred to as being öhpühtoDor "connected to" another element, the element is either directly on or connected to the other element, or intervening elements may also be present.

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Furthermore, the invention may also be embodied with less components than provided in the embodiments described here, wherein one component carries out multiple functions. Just as well may the invention be embodied using more elements than depicted in Figure 2, wherein functions carried out by one component in the 35 embodiment provided are distributed over multiple components.

6 A person skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various parameters disclosed in the description may be modified and that various embodiments disclosed and/or claimed may be combined without departing from the scope of the invention.

5 It is stipulated that the reference signs in the claims do not limit the scope of the claims, but are merely inserted to enhance the legibility of the claims.

Claims

1. Removable cover for covering at least a part of a light-transmitting element of a light source, which cover has a similar shape to the air-permeable element to be covered, the cover comprising a heat-resistant and light-transmitting material or mixture of materials.

The cover of claim 1, wherein the material or mixture of materials contains a pigment. 10

The cover of claim 2, wherein the pigment is a non-white pigment.

The cover of claim 1, wherein the material or mixture of materials comprises an elastic material. 15

The cover of claim 4, wherein the material or mixture of materials comprises silicone rubber.

6. Cover as claimed in claim 1, wherein the material or mixture of materials comprises a non-elastic material.

The cover of claim 1, wherein the material or group of materials is formed as a continuous membrane.

The cover of claim 1, wherein the material or group of materials are formed at least in part in a wire or wires.

The cover of claim 8, wherein the threads comprise an elastic and / or a non-elastic material and the threads are woven. 30

The cover of claim 9, wherein the elastic material and the non-elastic material are formed in one and the same thread or threads.

11. Cover as claimed in claim 9, wherein the elastic material and the non-elastic material are formed in separate threads.

The cover of claim 9, wherein the elastic material is lycra and the non-elastic material is linen or cotton.

13. Assembly of elements, comprising a light source comprising a light-transmitting part and a cover according to any one of the preceding claims, which cover has dimensions such that this cover is adapted to cover at least a substantial part of the light-transmitting part of the light source.

14. Assembly of elements according to claim 13, wherein the light source is a lamp.

An assembly of elements according to claim 13, wherein the cover has a substantially similar shape to the air-permeable element to be covered.