Foldable Plastic Lighting Housing for Cost Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current LED lighting devices are costly and complex, making them less appealing for mass market adoption and difficult to recycle, as they require additional components like driver electronics and have higher manufacturing costs compared to traditional lighting solutions.
Innovation Solution
A lighting device design featuring a housing made from optically transmissive plastic with a clamshell structure, connected by a flexible portion, allowing for easier assembly and disassembly, reduced material usage, and integration of heat spreaders and diffusing elements, along with wavelength conversion materials to enhance light distribution and aesthetics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If LED lighting devices use traditional housing structures with multiple separate components, then the device provides adequate structural support and protection, but the manufacturing cost increases and recycling becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple housing components (first housing portion, second housing portion, and connecting portion) into a single integrated housing structure formed from one piece of transparent plastic material. This merging eliminates the need for separate manufacturing and assembly steps for each component, reducing manufacturing cost and complexity while maintaining structural integrity and protection functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The single-piece housing structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, optical transparency for light transmission, flexibility for folding assembly, and integrated connection between housing portions. The connecting portion specifically provides both structural connection and flexibility, demonstrating multi-functionality that reduces overall device complexity.
2Reliability
If LED lighting devices are designed with integrated components for functionality, then the device provides complete lighting functionality, but the device becomes harder to recycle and sort
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with a flexible connecting portion that creates a natural segmentation point, allowing the housing to be easily separated into first and second portions during recycling. This segmentation enables straightforward disassembly without requiring complex tools or processes, facilitating sorting and recycling while maintaining the integrity of integrated components during normal use.
Solution Approach 2:
The single-piece housing design with flexible connecting portion enables easy recovery and recycling of the transparent plastic material. The housing can be disassembled by simply separating at the flexible connecting portion, allowing the material to be recovered and reused, while the integrated components remain functional for potential reuse in other applications.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the housing uses multiple separate parts for assembly, then the device allows flexible component placement, but the number of manufacturing steps increases
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple housing parts into a single integrated structure, the patent eliminates the need for separate assembly steps to join these parts. Components can be placed within the housing during a single manufacturing process, and the housing is then folded and sealed in one operation, significantly improving manufacturing efficiency while the internal component placement remains flexible.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible connecting portion introduces dynamic flexibility to the otherwise rigid housing structure. This allows the housing to be folded during assembly to enclose components, and then maintained in a stable closed position, providing the adaptability of multiple parts with the manufacturing efficiency of a single piece.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design reduces manufacturing costs, simplifies recycling, and provides a more energy-efficient and cost-effective LED lighting solution with improved light distribution and aesthetics, making it more appealing to consumers while being environmentally friendly.
Implementation Method 1
the lighting device housing comprises a first housing portion and a second housing portion connected to each other by a flexible connecting portion
Implementation Method 2
The lighting device housing is formed in an optically transmissive plastic material such that when the lighting device is in use, light emitted by the light source arranged within the lighting device housing is able to pass through said lighting device housing
Implementation Method 3
means for securing the first housing portion to the second housing portion to maintain the lighting device housing in a folded position
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing a lighting device (100), the method comprising the steps of providing (S1) a sheet of optically transmissive plastic material, forming (S2) a lighting device housing from the sheet of optically transmissive plastic material, such that the lighting device housing comprises a first portion (212) connected to a second portion (214) by a flexible connecting portion (202), folding (S3) the first (212) or second portion (214) about the flexible connecting portion (202) to enclose a light source (210) and driver electronics (206) within an enclosed region of the lighting device housing, and securing (S4) the first portion (212) to the second portion (214) such that the lighting device housing maintains the folded position.