Two-piece LED attachment element

Abstract

The invention relates to an attachment element for electrically connecting an LED lighting device, the LED lighting device having a circuit board which is provided with a contact region for supplying power to the LED, the attachment element having a substantially annular frame, the invention relates to an attachment device for a circuit board, comprising a frame provided for covering the circuit board and mechanically holding the circuit board on an arrangement surface of a support, an attachment element having an outer ring and an inner ring arranged in the outer ring, the outer ring and the inner ring together forming the frame, the attachment element having a contact assembly, the invention relates to an LED lamp comprising a frame, an outer ring, an inner ring, a contact assembly, which is supported in the frame and is used to supply the LED, an attachment contact in the outer ring, which serves as a first part of the contact assembly, for connecting an attachment conductor, a supply contact in the inner ring, in particular in a solderless manner, and an attachment contact in the outer ring, which serves as a second part of the contact assembly. And a supply contact element which is used as a second part of the contact assembly and is used for electrically contacting and conducting a contact area of the circuit board, and the attachment contact element and the supply contact element are connected with each other.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an attachment element for electrically connecting an LED lighting device. - wherein the LED lighting device has a circuit board provided with contact areas for supplying power to the LED, the attachment element has a substantially annular frame which is provided to cover the printed circuit board and to mechanically hold the printed circuit board on the arrangement surface of the carrier, - the attachment element has an outer ring and an inner ring arranged in the outer ring, the outer ring and the inner ring together forming the frame, The attachment element has a contact assembly which is supported in the frame and serves to supply power to the LED. Background Art

[0002] LED attachment elements are known, for example, from EP2083489A1. The LED attachment elements are used to mechanically arrange an LED lighting device - a circuit board with LEDs arranged thereon - on a support, in particular a heat sink. In addition, these LED attachment elements provide a contact component, which is used on the one hand to connect the attachment conductors and on the other hand to contact and conduct (contaktiert) the contact areas on the circuit board. In this way, the contact component is also used for the power supply of the LED lighting device. Such LED attachment elements have the great advantage that the mechanical fixing and electrical contact conduction of the LED lighting device are integrated and in this way the use of the LED lighting device in modern lamps is simplified.

[0003] The applicant of the present application has disclosed a newly developed LED attachment element with the help of the priority document DE202023105716U1. The LED attachment element is distinguished in that it is constructed in two parts. The outer ring is configured to be fixed on the cooling body and to accommodate the LED circuit board in a precisely matched manner in the receiving frame. The inner ring is placed into the outer ring, which covers the circuit board and thus fixes the circuit board in the attachment element. In addition, the inner ring applies a pressing force to the circuit board so that the circuit board is pressed against the cooling body for optimizing heat conduction. This is preferably achieved via a spring element.

[0004] In addition, the spring-supported arrangement of the inner ring in the outer ring allows compensation of unavoidable tolerances in the thickness of the circuit board. In this respect, the inner ring is arranged in a manner with a certain position tolerance in the light emission direction of the LED or in a direction perpendicular to the support or the arrangement surface of the support for the LED. For details in this regard, reference is made to DE 202023105716 U1.

[0005] The aforementioned document discloses two different embodiments of a two-part attachment element. In a first embodiment, the inner ring is inserted vertically in the direction of the support into the outer ring and then twisted relative to the outer ring. In other words, the inner ring is fixed in the outer ring in the manner of a bayonet lock.

[0006] The second embodiment is limited to inserting the inner ring vertically into the outer ring, wherein the latching projections of the inner ring are covered by the latching springs of the outer ring. Summary of the invention

[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a contact assembly which ensures the power supply of an LED lighting device even in the case of a two-part attachment element.

[0008] The above-mentioned object of the present invention is solved by an attachment element having the following characteristics, the contact assembly comprising: an attachment contact in the outer ring, the attachment contact being a first part of the contact assembly, the attachment contact being used to connect the attachment conductor, in particular in a solderless manner, - a supply contact in the inner ring, which is a second part of the contact assembly and is used for electrically contacting the contact area of ​​the printed circuit board, wherein: The attachment contact and the supply contact are connected to one another.

[0009] The invention utilizes the division of the attachment element into an outer ring and an inner ring in order to also separate the contact assembly, which is one-piece in the prior art, into an attachment contact piece and a supply contact piece. The attachment contact piece located in the outer ring is used in particular for connection with an external attachment conductor and can therefore be oriented precisely to this purpose in terms of its geometry, metal alloy and contact finishing.

[0010] The supply contact located in the inner ring is primarily intended to contact the associated contact area of ​​the conductive circuit board in a correctly positioned manner and can be constructed in terms of its geometry, its contact force and its contact finish in a direction that achieves optimized electrical conduction from the supply contact to the contact area on the circuit board.

[0011] When the inner ring is put into the outer ring, the attachment contacts and the supply contacts are connected to each other through this assembly process, so that the power supply of the LED lighting device is established.

[0012] It is therefore provided in particular that the attachment contact part forms the contact surface, the supply contact part forms the mating contact surface, and that the contact surface and the mating contact surface lie directly against one another.

[0013] An embodiment is particularly preferred in which the attachment contact piece forms a contact arm which extends into the region of the frame enclosed by the inner ring and in which a contact surface for the supply contact piece is formed.

[0014] This embodiment ensures a particularly simple connection of the attachment contact and the supply contact, because when the inner ring is inserted into the outer ring against the light emission direction, the mutual contact surfaces face each other and are exposed. Inserting the inner ring into the outer ring has the effect, as it were, that the contact surface of the attachment contact, which is provided for attaching the supply contact, is covered by the inner ring and the required contact protection is thus ensured.

[0015] In particular, it is provided that the supply contact is designed as a contact bridge which spans a region between a contact surface of the attachment contact and a contact region of the printed circuit board.

[0016] In this case, it is specifically provided that the supply contact has a first contact leg which is designed to contact a mating contact surface of the lead-through attachment contact and that the supply contact has a second contact leg which is provided for bearing on a contact region of the printed circuit board.

[0017] Furthermore, the invention provides that the first contact leg is deflected in a spring-returning manner in the direction of the contact area of ​​the attachment contact and the second contact leg is deflected in a spring-returning manner in the direction of the contact area of ​​the circuit board.

[0018] On the one hand, the spring-return elasticity of the contact legs of the supply contact ensures that a sufficiently high contact force is present not only between the attachment contact and the supply contact, but also between the supply contact and the contact area of ​​the circuit board in order to establish a secure electrical connection. In addition, the spring-return elasticity of the contact legs can also help to compensate for circuit board tolerances with respect to the thickness of the circuit board in an unrestricted manner while maintaining the quality of the contact conduction.

[0019] An embodiment is particularly preferred in which the supply contact piece has a geometrical pivot axis which is arranged parallel to the arrangement surface of the support and in which the supply contact piece is arranged in the inner ring so as to be pivotable about the pivot axis.

[0020] An important advantage of this embodiment is that the supply contact piece is arranged so as to be movable about a pivot axis and can thus be pivoted. The supply contact piece is arranged on the inner ring in the manner of a weighing rod or a rocker. The pivot axis is - as mentioned above - oriented parallel to the arrangement surface of the support or parallel to the surface of the circuit board on which the LEDs are arranged.

[0021] The oscillating arrangement of the supply contact element also allows better compensation of thickness tolerances of the circuit board than when using only the spring elasticity of the contact arm. In addition, the oscillating suspension of the supply contact element also compensates for increased or reduced spring forces on the side of the contact legs of the supply contact element that lie flat on the contact area of ​​the circuit board by distributing them between the contact legs. In this way, a sufficient, but not excessive, contact pressure of the contact legs on their respectively corresponding contact surfaces is ensured.

[0022] Furthermore, it is possible for the pivot axis to be arranged eccentrically with respect to the distance between the contact surface of the attachment contact and the contact region of the printed circuit board.

[0023] The eccentric arrangement of the pivot axis can be used to fine-tune the contact force of the supply contact not only on the circuit board but also on the attached contact. In particular, the contact force can be increased or reduced in the direction of the circuit board or in the direction of the attached contact by the eccentric arrangement of the pivot axis. In this way, it is possible, for example, to address specific requirements for the tempering of the contact surface and thus not only determine an optimized contact pressure with regard to optimized electrical conduction, but also ensure that the contact force is distributed in a wear-reducing manner.

[0024] Specifically, the inner ring forms a retaining pin for arranging the supply contact, the supply contact forms a retaining opening for the retaining pin, and the retaining pin passes through the retaining opening for anchoring the supply contact.

[0025] Such a retaining pin can be produced particularly easily in terms of production technology during an injection molding process. The supply contact can also be mounted particularly easily on such a retaining pin. In this case, the retaining pin is oriented completely perpendicularly to the arrangement surface of the support or parallel to the light emission direction of the LED. However, the pin can provide a geometric pivot axis, which is arranged parallel to the arrangement surface of the support, by configuring the connection to the supply contact in a corresponding manner.

[0026] In order to ensure a defined movement of the feed contact piece about its pivot axis, it is provided that the inner ring forms at least one guide web which bears against an edge of the feed contact piece and prevents a rotation of the feed contact piece about the retaining pin. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The following description of an embodiment of the invention clarifies further features and further advantages. The accompanying drawings show: Figure 1 is an exploded schematic diagram of an attachment element according to the present invention, Figure 2 is based on Figure 1 A view from below of the inner ring of the attachment element, Figure 3 is based on Figure 2A top view of the attachment element, Figure 4 is based on Figure 3 The first section view of section line AA in Figure 5 is based on Figure 3 Second sectional view along section line AA. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In the figures, the attachment element is indicated as a whole by the reference numeral 10 .

[0029] The attachment element 10 is used to arrange the LED lighting device 11 on an arrangement surface A (not shown) of a cooling body. Figure 4 and 5 The arrangement surface A extends parallel to the underside of the circuit board 12 , which carries the LEDs 13 and the contact areas 14 on its upper side and is part of the lighting device 11 .

[0030] The attachment element 10 firstly comprises an outer ring 15, the underside of which is also located on the arrangement surface A of the support (not shown), and which faces away from the light emission direction L of the LED 13. The outer ring 15 firstly forms a frame 16 for accommodating the circuit board 12, by means of which the circuit board 12 is held in a direction parallel to the arrangement surface A.

[0031] The outer ring 15 then carries attachment contacts 17, which are arranged in contact receptacles 18 of the outer ring 15. Each contact receptacle 18 is closed toward the upper side of the outer ring 15 by a cover 19, so that as long as the attachment contacts are located in the contact receptacles 18, they are arranged in a contact-proof manner.

[0032] The attachment element 10 then comprises an inner ring 20, which is placed into the receiving space 21 formed by the outer ring 15. In the assembled state, the inner ring 20 covers the circuit board 12, but allows the lighting device 11 to emit light via a light exit opening 22 in the center of the inner ring, which surrounds the LED 13. In addition, the inner ring 20 carries a supply contact 23.

[0033] Each supply contact piece 23 has a first contact leg 24 and a second contact leg 25. The supply contact piece 23 forms a holding opening 26 between the contact legs 24, 25.

[0034] Each attachment contact 17 has a contact arm 27. When the attachment contact 17 is located in the contact receptacle 18 assigned to the attachment contact, the contact arm 27 protrudes from the contact receptacle 18 and engages in the receptacle 21, which is formed by the outer ring 15 for accommodating the inner ring 20. In this embodiment, an insert contour 29 is formed in the bottom section 28 of the outer ring 15. The insert contour is used to accommodate the contact arm 27 protruding from the receptacle 21. The insert contour 29 is advantageous in every respect, but is not absolutely necessary for the present invention.

[0035] Each contact arm 27 is formed with a contact surface 30 pointing in the direction of the inner ring 20 , which contact surface is provided for connection with a mating contact surface 31 of the first contact leg 24 of the supply contact piece 23 .

[0036] Figure 2 A view of the lower side of the inner ring 20 is shown. Here, the retaining pins 32 of the inner ring 20 are constructed on both sides of the light exit opening 22. Each retaining pin 32 is oriented approximately parallel to the light exit direction L or perpendicular to the arrangement surface A of the support not shown, and holds the supply contact 23. For this purpose, the corresponding retaining pin 32 passes through the retaining opening 26 of the supply contact 23. In order to prevent the supply contact 23 from slipping off the retaining pin 32, after the supply contact 23 is placed, the retaining pin 32 is formed in a mushroom head shape on its free end. On the side of each supply contact, two guide strips 33 of the inner ring 20 are respectively constructed. Each of the two guide strips 33 accommodates the supply contact 23 between each other. In this way, the guide strips 33 prevent the supply contact from rotating around the longitudinal axis of the retaining pin 32.

[0037] However, the supply contact piece 23 is held on each holding pin 32 with a certain amount of play, so that each supply contact piece 23 can be swung about the pivot axis S—guided by the guide tab 33 . Figure 2 As shown, the pivot axis S is parallel to the arrangement surface A for the circuit board 12 , so that the supply contact element 23 can be pivoted in the manner of a pivot lever or a weighing beam.

[0038] Figure 3 Show according to Figure 1 1 . A top view of the assembled attachment element 10 including the LED lighting device 11. It can be seen here how the inner ring 20 is located in the outer ring 15 and how the light exit opening 22 of the inner ring 20 surrounds the LED 13, so that the light emitted by the LED 13 can exit unhindered. It is also shown how the cover 19 closes the contact receptacle 18 toward the upper side of the attachment element 10, in order to clarify the section plane AA. The section line extends longitudinally through the supply contact 23.

[0039] Figure 4 Show according to Figure 3 The schematic diagram shows a sectional view along the longitudinal axis of the supply contact 23. Only a small section of the circuit board 12 is shown, namely the corner in which the contact area 14 is arranged.

[0040] If you can Figure 4 As can be seen, the attached contact 17 shown is located in its contact receptacle 18, which is closed toward the top by means of a cover 19. A contact arm 27 extends from the contact receptacle 18 into a receiving space 21 for receiving the inner ring 20. The contact arm is located in an insert contour 29, which is formed by a bottom section 28 of the outer ring 15. It can be clearly seen that the contact arm is located in the region of the receiving space 21 that is covered by the inner ring 20.

[0041] The inner ring 20 is located in the receiving space 21 and—fixed on the retaining pins 32—carries the supply contact 23. The supply contact 23 is designed as a contact bridge and spans the area between the contact surface 30 of the contact arm 27 and the contact region 14 of the circuit board 12.

[0042] The supply contact 23 rests with its mating contact surface 31 of the first contact leg 24 on the contact surface 30 of the contact arm 27 of the attachment contact 17. The second contact leg 25 rests with its free end on the contact area 14 of the circuit board 12.

[0043] If the attachment conductor for supplying the LED 13 now comes into contact with the attachment contact 17 , the power is transmitted to the printed circuit board 12 via the coupling of the attachment contact 17 with the supply contact 23 .

[0044] Figure 4 A printed circuit board 12 is shown which—indicated by a dashed line—has a thickness D1 perpendicularly to the arrangement plane A. In this figure, the printed circuit board 12 with the thickness D1 is smaller in its height measured perpendicularly to the arrangement plane A than the base thickness of the outer ring 15 .

[0045] Figure 4 Basically, it shows Figure 5 Same factual situation. In this respect, refer to the description there.

[0046] exist Figure 5 Particular attention should be paid to circuit board 12. Figure 4The circuit board 12 in the embodiment is thicker and has a thickness D2. In addition, a heat conducting element 34 is arranged below the circuit board, between the underside of the circuit board 12 and the arrangement surface A of the support or the cooling body. The heat conducting element 34 is used to optimize the heat conduction from the circuit board 12 to the cooling body. In other words, in addition to the thickness D2, the thickness DW of the heat conducting element 34 is also raised.

[0047] Therefore, the depth of the inner ring 20 covering the circuit board 12 in the receiving space 21 of the outer ring 15 is small.

[0048] If in Figure 4 The second contact leg 25 is arranged deeper than the first contact leg 24 of the supply contact member 23 relative to the arrangement surface A. Figure 5 Here, the second contact leg 25 is arranged higher than the first contact leg 24 relative to the arrangement surface A. This can be achieved by a swing-type suspension of the supply contact piece 23, which is suspended in the inner ring 20 in a swinging manner about the pivot axis S.

[0049] That is, the important advantage of the present invention lies first in the separation of the contact assembly known from the prior art into the attachment contact 17 and the supply contact 23, so as to ensure a simple assembly of the inner ring 20 in the outer ring 15 and a simple arrangement of the circuit board 12 in the outer ring 15. In addition, the separation of the contact assembly into the attachment contact 17 and the supply contact 23 can improve the tolerance compensation for the thickness of the circuit board required in the prior art. By arranging the supply contact 17 in the inner ring 20 in a swinging manner, it is possible to safely avoid excessive contact pressure (Andruckcontakte) between the supply contact 23 and the usually high-quality refined (veredelten) contact area 14 of the circuit board 12. In this way, damage to the refined part of the contact area due to excessively high pressing forces is safely avoided, which increases the durability of the lamp when using the attachment element 10 of the present invention.

[0050] Reference numerals list 10 Attaching components 11 LED lighting devices 12 Circuit Board 13 LED 14 Contact area 15 Outer Ring 16 Frame 17 Attaching contacts 18 Contact accommodating portion 19 Cover 20 Inner Ring 21 Accommodation Space 22 Light exit opening 23 Supply contact 24 First contact leg 25 Second contact leg 26. Keep your mouth open 27 Contact arm 28 Bottom section 29 Insert profile 30 Contact surface 31 Mating contact surface 32 Retaining pin 33 Guide tab 34 Thermal Conductive Components A Layout surface DW Thickness D1 Thickness D2 Thickness L Light emission direction S Pivot axis

Claims

1. An attachment element (10) for electrically connecting an LED lighting device (11), in, The LED lighting device (11) has a circuit board (12), wherein the circuit board is provided with a contact area (14) for supplying power to the LED (13). The attachment element has a substantially annular frame (16) which is configured to cover the circuit board (12) and mechanically hold the circuit board on a placement surface (A) of a support. The attachment element has an outer ring (15) and an inner ring (20) arranged in the outer ring (15), the outer ring and the inner ring together forming the frame (16), The attachment element has a contact assembly which is supported in the frame (16) and is used to supply power to the LED (13). Features: an attachment contact (17) in the outer ring (15), the attachment contact being a first part of the contact assembly, the attachment contact being used to connect an attachment conductor, in particular in a solderless manner, A supply contact (23) in the inner ring (20), the supply contact serving as a second part of the contact assembly, the supply contact being used to electrically contact and conduct a contact area (14) of the circuit board (12), wherein: The attachment contact (17) and the supply contact (23) are connected to each other.

2. The attachment element (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that The attachment contact piece (17) forms a contact surface (30), The supply contact piece (23) is configured with a matching contact surface (31), The contact surface (30) and the counter-contact surface (31) are in direct contact with one another.

3. The attachment element (10) according to claim 2, characterized in that The attachment contact (17) forms a contact arm (27) which extends into the region of the frame (16) enclosed by the inner ring (20) and forms a contact surface (30) for the supply contact (23) in this region.

4. The attachment element (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that The supply contact (23) is designed as a contact bridge, which spans a region between a contact surface (30) of the attachment contact (17) and a contact region (14) of the circuit board (12).

5. Attachment element (10) according to claims 2 and 4, characterized in that The supply contact (23) has a first contact leg (24), which is configured to contact a mating contact surface (31) of the attachment contact (17). The supply contact element (23) has a second contact leg (25) which is provided for bearing on a contact region (14) of the printed circuit board (12).

6. The attachment element (10) according to claim 5, characterized in that The first contact leg (24) is deflected in a spring-return elastic manner in the direction of the contact area (14) of the attachment contact piece (17), The second contact leg (25) is deflected in the direction of the contact area (14) of the circuit board (12) in a spring-return elastic manner.

7. The attachment element (10) according to any one of claims 1 or 4 to 6, characterized in that The supply contact piece (23) has a geometrical pivot axis (S) which is arranged parallel to the arrangement surface (A) of the support and is arranged in the inner ring (20) so as to be pivotable about the pivot axis (S).

8. The attachment element (10) according to claim 7, characterized in that The pivot axis (S) is arranged eccentrically relative to a section between a contact surface (30) of the attachment contact (17) and a contact region (14) of the circuit board (12).

9. The attachment element (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that The inner ring (20) is configured with retaining pins (32) for arranging the supply contact element (23). The supply contact piece (23) is configured as a holding opening (26) for the holding pin (32), The retaining pin (32) passes through the retaining opening (26) and is used to anchor the supply contact (23).

10. The attachment element (10) according to claim 9, characterized in that The inner ring (20) forms at least one guide web (33) which bears against an edge of the supply contact piece (23) and prevents the supply contact piece (23) from rotating about the retaining pin (32).

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