FR2495278A3 - LED signalling or warning light for control panel - has three LED's mounted on base plate attached to conventional lamp base and selectively connected to base contacts - Google Patents

Abstract

The indicator light includes a conventional lamp base (1) with the cylindrical body and the end point forming two connection terminals. An insulating circular plate (2) is supported above this base with its axis coinciding with the axis of the base. Light emitting diodes (3A,3B,3C) are mounted on this plate with their light emitting surfaces uppermost, and their connecting wires extending down toward the lamp base. Vertical insulating plates provide support for the circular plate, and at the same time separate the connecting wires of the L.E.s. Connections may be made to the lamp base terminals via protective resistances (40) situated within the base.

Description

Lighting arrangement
The subject of the present invention is an illuminating arrangement for signaling equipment, and in particular for indicator lights for panels or light tables in continuous operation.

 It is well known to use luminous panels to produce block diagrams making it possible to follow the operation of a complex apparatus such as a united production line, or the evolution of traffic, such as rail traffic.

 Conventionally, the light panels are produced using a plurality of distinct light sources each having a different meaning according to its state of illumination; these light sources are conventionally filament electric bulbs, which are possibly duplicated when the security constraints 1 'require.

 Indeed, often such light panels are in constant operation because they are one of the safety elements of the equipment they represent and the failure of a light source can have serious consequences.

 One of the drawbacks of filament bulbs is that their reliability is considered to be too limited under the conditions in which they are used, since these conditions are often severe.

Indeed, such tables often group together a large number of heat dissipating elements which each have a housing of the smallest possible size, which entails for example the use of small bulbs dissipating energy relatively high thermal in poorly ventilated LEDs and often heated both internally and externally.

 The present invention therefore relates to an illuminating arrangement which is both more reliable and thermally less dissipative than the electric bulbs conventionally used and which is immediately adaptable to the sockets which conventionally receive such bulbs.

 According to a characteristic of the invention, this lighting arrangement comprises a conventional base of an electric bulb in which is fitted an insulating body serving to support at least one light-emitting diode whose supply conductors are selectively connected to the conductive elements of the base.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the insulating body supports the light-emitting diodes and is constituted by a plate, subject to a foot end piece in the bottom @ t and individually crossed by the power supply conductors of the diodes.

 Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will be described in the following description, in relation to the figures mentioned below.

 FIG. 7 shows an example of an lighting arrangement according to the invention.

 FIG. 2 presents a related view of the lighting arrangement in FIG. 1.

 The light arrangements according to the invention are intended to replace light bulbs for the reasons mentioned above.

 Consequently, given the very wide distribution and the existence of a widely applied standardization for systems for supplying electric lamps by a socket-socket assembly, the lighting arrangement according to the invention is designed to be able to be mounted. in a conventional socket, for example with cu bayonet screw, and therefore it comprises a conventional lamp base.

 The base I presented in FIGS. 1 and 2 is therefore a conventional base comprising a conductive cylindrical body 10 provided with lateral stapling elements 11 and a central conductive stud 12 embedded in an insulating material fixed to one of the ends of the cylindrical body 10.

 According to the invention, the lighting arrangement comprises an insulating body 2 which is fitted by its foot 20 into the base 1. This insulating body also comprises a plate 21 disposed at the top of the foot 20, this plate 21 is intended to serve for supporting at least one light-emitting diode such as diode 3A.

 In a non-limiting example of embodiment presented, three light-emitting diodes 3A, 3B, 3C are shown, this embodiment has been chosen according to the characteristics of the supply voltage supplied to the base.

 The plate 21, which here has a circular, flat shape, practical but not essential, is crossed by conduits 23 and 24, such as 23A and 24A, which are intended for the passage of the supply conductors 33 and 34, such as 33A and 31mol, diodes 3; in the embodiment presented the conduits 23 and 24 do not have the same diameter and serve as polarizing devices, in connection with the conductors 33 and 34 themselves of different diameters R to allow suitable identification of the diodes 3 which are polarized.

 In known manner, the active part of each light-emitting diode 3 is encapsulated in a cap 30, such as 30A made of transparent material, possibly tinted.

 In the example chosen, the plate 21 and the foot 20 are made of insulating material molded in a single block, without this being a requirement specific to the invention, it is of course possible to replace the conduits 23 and 24 with grooves made from the periphery of the plate, to allow the passage of the supply conductors 33 and 34, without actually departing from the scope of the invention.

 In the variant embodiment presented, the foot 20 has a middle part whose cross section is less than the surface of the plate 21 and greater than the cross section of the bottom part which fits into the conductive cylindrical body 11 of the base 1. This middle part comprises a central part 27, here cylindrical, having as axis the longitudinal axis of the foot 1 as well as insulating longitudinal grooves 25, such as 25A, which are intended to prevent any accidental contact under the plate 21 between supply conductors neighbors and different polarities, such as 33C and 340.

 Of course, depending on the electrical characteristics of the diodes and the supply voltages, it is possible to provide a parallel or series connection of the diodes 3; we can therefore consider different types of connections, known in principle, between the diodes and the two conductive elements supplying the base, whether these are constituted by two insulated pads, or by a conductive pad such as 12 and the conductive cylindrical body of the base, such as the body 10 of the base 1.

 According to a variant, provision is made for the possibility of adding a discrete component 40 such as a resistor or a protective diode, placed between a conductive element supplying the base and a diode supply conductor, ie for example between the body 10 of the base 1 and the conductor 33C.

 In the embodiment shown, the 3 diodes 3A, 3B, 3C are connected in series under the plate 21 by welding, not shown, of the conductors 34C to 33B and 34B to 33A. The conductors 33C and 34A are the only ones to be directly and selectively connected, one to the conductive element constituted by the body 10 and the other to the stud 12.

 For this purpose the middle part and the lower part of the foot 2 comprise a longitudinal housing 26 formed in the central part 27 of this foot for the conductor 34A which is connected to the central stud 12 so as to avoid any contact of this conductor 34A with the conductive cylindrical body 10.

 Of course, it is possible to envisage making several longitudinal housings such as 26 in the central part 27 of the base 2 If the type of connection chosen leads to doing so.

Claims (6)

1 / Illuminating arrangement, in particular for signaling equipment, characterized in that it comprises a conventional base (1) of an electric bulb in which is fitted an insulating body (2) serving to support at least one light-emitting diode (3 ) whose supply conductors (33, 34) are selectively connected to the electrical supply conductor elements (10, 12) of the base. 2 / lighting arrangement, according to claim 1, characterized in that the insulating body (2) carrying the light emitting diodes (3) consists of a plate (21), which is individually crossed by the supply conductors (33, 34 ) diodes and which carries on a foot (20) carried in the base (1). 3 / Illuminating arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that the foot (20) which carries the plate (21) has a median part of cross section, greater than that of the lower part of the foot which is carried in the base ( 1) and less than the surface of the plate, said middle part comprising longitudinal isolation ribs (25) between supply conductors (33, 34) of the same diode. 4 / Illuminating arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that the insulating body (1) comprises at least one insulating longitudinal housing (26) for one of the supply conductors, said housing being formed in the cylindrical middle part ( 27) from the foot and extending to the base of the latter. 5 / lighting arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises three light-emitting diodes 3A, 3B, 3C) equidistant on the plate (21) which carries them, in that these three diodes are connected in series under the plate ( 21) so that only two conductors (33C, 34A) are directly connected to the base. 6 / lighting arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that it comprises at least one discrete protective component (40) placed between a diode supply conductor and a conductive element supplying the base and disposed in a longitudinal housing insulator (26).