DE20012459U1 - Illuminated advertising, especially contour lighting - Google Patents

Description

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DR. ULRICH OSTERTAG DR. REINHARD OSTERTAG

ElBENWEG 10 D-70597 STUTTGART TEL.+49-711-766845 FAX +49-711-7655701

Illuminated advertising, especially contour lighting

Applicant: Westiform Holding AG Freiburger Str. 596

CH-3172 Niederwangen Switzerland

Attorney file: 7095.1

AUN.246-186

7095.1

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16.07.2000

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Illuminated advertising, especially contour lighting

The innovation relates to a neon sign, in particular contour lighting, with a housing which comprises a front shell which is at least partially transparent, and with at least one circuit board equipped with light-emitting diodes (LED-PCB), the light of which passes through the transparent area of the front shell.

Illuminated signs that trace the outline of a building in a strip and are generally in certain company colors are called contour lighting. While fluorescent tubes were generally used as light sources in the past, LED PCBs have recently been increasingly used. They have the advantage of a longer service life and greater efficiency compared to conventional fluorescent tubes. One disadvantage of PCBs, however, is that the light cone that emerges from the LEDs has a relatively small opening angle. For this reason, in known illuminated signs of the type mentioned above, the individual LEDs within the housing were assigned diverging lenses with which the light cone could be widened. However, attaching a large number of such additional components is relatively expensive.

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The aim of the present innovation is to design a neon sign of the type mentioned above in such a way that a large opening angle of the emerging light can be achieved with a minimum number of inexpensively manufactured components.

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AUN.246-094

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7095.1 - 2 - 16.07.2000

This task is solved according to the innovation in that the front shell is designed as a diverging lens in the area through which the light passes.

According to the innovation, additional lenses are not introduced as separate components into the housing of the illuminated sign and assigned to the individual LEDs in the LED PCB. Instead, an already existing component, namely the transparent front shell, is designed as a diverging lens, which can be achieved by appropriate shaping during extrusion at no additional cost.

The front shell is designed as a cylindrical lens in the area through which the light passes. This corresponds to the shape of the neon sign as an elongated strip, which is common in contour lighting.

The diverging lens can be biconcave. This design is used in particular where particularly large opening angles of the light cone are desired.

Alternatively, the diverging lens can also be plano-concave. This is sufficient if the light cone is not to be widened too much. In this case, the outside of the front shell in particular can be kept flat, which is desirable under certain conditions.

Finally, a design of the diverging lens in a convex-concave form is also possible, with the convex curved side then facing outwards and forming a slightly curved outer surface of the illuminated sign.

If the light should be directed in a certain direction, e.g.

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7095.1

downwards or upwards, a design of the innovation comes into consideration in which the central plane of the diverging lens is arranged at an angle deviating from 90° with respect to the centroid plane spanned by the centroid rays of the light beams emitted by the light-emitting diodes.

For the same purpose, it can be provided that the centre line of the diverging lens, which runs parallel to the longitudinal extension of the illuminated sign, is arranged outside the centroid plane spanned by the centroid rays of the light beams emitted by the light-emitting diodes.

An embodiment of the innovation is explained in more detail below using the drawing; the only figure shows a schematic vertical section through a contour lighting system.

The contour lighting shown in the figure comprises a housing 1 made of plastic, which in the case shown is a single piece. It is of course also possible to separate the housing 1 into a corresponding number of detachable housing parts.

The rear wall 2 of the housing 1 can be attached to a building wall in a known manner. The front of the illuminated sign is formed by a transparent front shell.

0 In the interior of the housing 1 there is a row of LED PCBs 6 which extend perpendicular to the plane of the drawing essentially over the entire length of the illuminated sign. The LED PCBs 6 are attached to the housing 1 via a holder 5 in a manner not shown in detail.

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The front shell 4 has two concave cylindrical surfaces 9, 10 when viewed from the outside, such that it forms a biconcave cylindrical lens extending over the entire length of the illuminated sign. This design of the front shell 4 as a diverging cylindrical lens means that the light cone emanating from the LEDs and characterized by the edge rays 7, 8, which initially only has a relatively small opening angle, is further widened, as can be seen from the drawing. The light emitted by the contour lighting thus reaches a larger solid angle without the need for individual diverging lenses assigned to the LEDs.

In the embodiment described above, the center plane of the lens is perpendicular to the centroid plane, i.e. the plane spanned by the centroid rays of the individual light beams emitted by the LEDs. In addition, the center line of the lens, which runs in the longitudinal direction of the neon sign, i.e. perpendicular to the drawing plane, lies in this centroid plane. This means that the direction of radiation behind the lens corresponds to the direction of radiation in front of the lens; the centroid plane behind the lens coincides with that in front of the lens.

If this is not desired, i.e. if the light is to be directed in a different direction, e.g. more upwards or downwards, the geometrical relationships mentioned can be deviated from. In particular, the center plane of the lens can be positioned at an angle other than 90° to the centroid plane and/or the center line of the lens can be positioned outside the centroid plane.

Claims (6)

1. Illuminated advertising, in particular contour lighting, with a housing which comprises a front shell which is at least partially transparent, and with at least one circuit board equipped with light-emitting diodes (LED-PCB), the light of which passes through the transparent region of the front shell, characterized in that the front shell ( 4 ) is designed as a diverging lens in the region through which the light passes. 2. Illuminated sign according to claim 1, characterized in that the front shell ( 4 ) is designed as a cylindrical lens in the area through which the light passes. 3. Illuminated sign according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the diverging lens is biconcave. 4. Illuminated sign according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the diverging lens is plano-concave. 5. Illuminated sign according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the central plane of the diverging lens is arranged at an angle deviating from 90° with respect to the centroid plane spanned by the centroid rays of the light beams emitted by the light-emitting diodes. 6. Illuminated sign according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the center line of the diverging lens running parallel to the longitudinal extension of the illuminated sign is arranged outside the centroid plane spanned by the centroid rays of the light beams emitted by the light-emitting diodes.