Insulating End Cap for Light Strip Conductor Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing light strip designs with current-carrying profiles pose safety risks due to exposed electrical conductors at axial ends, which can lead to short circuits and hazards during installation, and thermal expansion can cause conductors to protrude, potentially contacting adjacent conductors.
Innovation Solution
A current-carrying profile with a separate, electrically insulating end cap that axially covers the electrical conductors and includes an escape space for thermal expansion, and pins for secure attachment, ensuring electrical safety and preventing conductor contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the electrical conductors are free-standing or open at the axial ends of the current-carrying profile, then the manufacturing and assembly is simplified, but safety hazards increase due to risk of short circuits and contact during installation
Solution Approach 1:
An end cap is introduced as an intermediary component between the electrical conductors and the external environment. This end cap axially covers the free-standing conductors at the axial ends of the current-carrying profile, preventing direct contact while maintaining the simplified open-conductor design for easy manufacturing and assembly.
2Reliability
If the electrical conductors are made of metal with different thermal expansion coefficients than the plastic current-carrying profile, then electrical conductivity is improved, but thermal expansion causes conductors to protrude axially from the plastic body
Solution Approach 1:
The end cap is designed with an escape space that anticipates and accommodates the axial protrusion of metal conductors during thermal expansion. This escape space acts as a cushioning volume that absorbs the dimensional changes without causing the conductors to contact external objects or adjacent conductors.
3Reliability
If the end cap is designed with an escape space for thermal expansion, then conductor movement during heating is accommodated, but the end cap structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The end cap is segmented into functional zones: a main body portion for electrical insulation and coverage, and an integrated escape space portion for thermal accommodation. This segmentation allows the single component to fulfill multiple functions without requiring additional separate parts, thereby managing complexity while achieving thermal expansion accommodation.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple electrical conductors are arranged in the current-carrying profile, then electrical functionality is improved, but the risk of direct contacting between adjacent conductors increases during thermal expansion
Solution Approach 1:
The end cap serves as a mediator that axially covers and separates multiple adjacent conductors at the open ends of the current-carrying profile. The escape spaces within the end cap structure prevent direct contact between adjacent conductors during thermal expansion, while still allowing each conductor to be electrically functional.
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
The solution significantly reduces safety hazards by preventing short circuits and ensuring the conductors remain insulated, even during thermal expansion, while simplifying assembly through frictional fixation.
Implementation Method 1
there can be a significant increase in temperature in the current-carrying profile. On the one hand, plastic and metal have very different thermal expansion coefficients. As a result, with the usual increases in temperature, it can happen that the respective electrical conductor moves out significantly at the axial ends
Implementation Method 2
at least one pin, which can be inserted axially into one of the gaps in the current-carrying profile and is fixed to the web sections by a force fit and/or friction fit
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~7
AI summary
The lamp (2) has a carrier rail (6), a carrier plate (7) and a flow guiding profile (16), which is a separate component with respect to the carrier rail and is arranged in the carrier rail. The flow guiding profile has multiple bar sections running parallel to each other. The flow guiding profile is provided with an end cap at one of its longitudinal ends, which is a separate component relative to the flow guide profile. An independent claim is also included for a light-band with two lamps arranged in its longitudinal direction.