Retractable Lighting Fixture Drum Mounting for Layer Spacing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing retractable lighting fixtures for events and retail promotions are overly complex and expensive, with unnecessary spacer mechanisms and difficulty in exchanging optical layers for effective backlighting.
Innovation Solution
A retractable lighting fixture design featuring a rotatable drum with a flexible multilayer lighting sheet composed of an LED layer and a diffusing optical layer, where the layers are mounted at different positions on the drum, automatically spacing apart when unwound, eliminating the need for additional spacer mechanisms and allowing for easy optical layer exchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a spacer mechanism is used to space the LED layer and optical layer apart, then proper illumination is achieved, but the construction becomes unnecessarily complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the spacer mechanism entirely from the system. Instead of adding a spacer to maintain distance between layers, the invention mounts the LED layer and optical layer at different positions on the drum circumference, allowing the drum's geometry to inherently provide the necessary spacing without additional components.
Solution Approach 2:
The drum serves multiple functions: it stores the rolled lighting sheet, provides the mounting structure for both layers, and through its rotational unwinding, automatically spaces the layers apart. The drum's circumference and rotation mechanism replace the specialized spacer function, integrating spacing into the existing structural element.
2Device complexity
If the LED layer and optical layer are mounted at the same position on the drum, then the construction is simpler, but the layers cannot be properly spaced apart for effective illumination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a single-point mounting approach to a distributed mounting approach along the drum's circumference. By positioning layers at different angular positions (different dimensions on the drum surface), the solution achieves both simplicity and effectiveness - the layers remain mounted to the same drum structure but are spaced apart through their different circumferential positions.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the optical layer is integrated into a fixed multilayer structure, then the construction is stable, but the optical layer cannot be easily exchanged for different information displays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates the optical layer from the LED layer and drum structure, making the optical layer an independent, interchangeable component. The optical layer can be mounted and removed separately at the drum's mounting position, allowing different information-containing optical layers to be exchanged while the LED layer and drum remain in place, maintaining structural stability while enabling adaptability.
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 provides a simplified, cost-effective construction that ensures proper illumination of the optical layer without additional spacer mechanisms, while also facilitating easy exchange of optical layers for adaptive lighting solutions.
Implementation Method 1
The multilayer lighting sheet is composed of at least one LED layer and at least one diffusing optical layer, the at least one LED layer having a first LED layer edge mounted at a first mounting position
Implementation Method 2
at least one diffusing optical layer having a first optical layer edge mounted at a second mounting position at the outer circumference of the rotatable drum
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a retractable lighting fixture, comprising an elongated drum rotatable over a length axis; and a flexible multilayer lighting sheet movable between a retracted position and a protracted position, with the multilayer lighting sheet in the retracted position being at least partially retracted in one or more windings around the drum and with the multilayer lighting sheet in the protracted position being fully unwound from the drum; the multilayer lighting sheet being composed of at least one LED layer and at least one diffusing optical layer, the at least one LED layer having a first LED layer edge mounted at a first mounting position of the drum and the at least one diffusing optical layer having a first optical layer edge mounted at a second mounting position of the drum, the first mounting position being located at an arc length from the second mounting position.