Abstract:
An LED lamp electrode structure includes a jutting coupling portion at a lower side of an LED lamp and two electrode passages corresponding to and communicating with LED chip electrodes. The electrode passages are filled with silver paste or hold electric wires to establish electric connection with the chip electrodes. Thus wiring can be concealed and aesthetic appealing improves, and safety and practicality are enhanced.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to an LED lamp electrode structure, and more particularly to provide improved connection of LED lamp electrodes. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Conventional LED lamps  1   a  and  1   b,  referring to  FIG. 1 , have LED chips  11   a  and  11   b  with a heat conduction element  20   a  at the bottom and electrodes  12   a  and  12   b  located at outer sides of the LED lamps  1   a  and  1   b.  When in use for illumination, the LED lamps  1   a  and  1   b  emit light and heat is conducted through the heat conduction element  20   a  at the bottom to lower the temperature of the LED lamps  1   a  and  1   b.    
         [0003]    To facilitate wiring and replacing of the LED lamps  1   a  and  1   b,  they are made in a modular fashion and have the wiring formed on a printed circuit board (PCB)  3   a  with the heat conduction element  20   a  mounted thereon. Then the LED lamps  1   a  and  1   b  are soldered on the PCB  3   a  to become a module. Such a module has drawbacks, notably: 
         [0004]    1. The LED lamps cannot be replaced individually on the LED lamp module, resource waste incurs. 
         [0005]    2. The PCB is formed in a fixed shape, direction and arrangement, and does not allow the LED lamps to be flexibly deployed thereon. 
         [0006]    3. The wiring is exposed to the PCB. It is not aesthetic appealing and has safety concern in terms of electric power utilization. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The primary object of the present invention is to solve the disadvantages of the conventional LED lamps that have electrodes located at two sides making deploying of the LED lamps inflexible and having exposed wiring to the PCB that result in use difficulty and safety concern. 
         [0008]    To achieve the foregoing object, the present invention provide an improved LED lamp electrode structure with a single LED lamp as a module and electrodes moved from two sides of the LED lamp to the bottom thereof so that they can be directly connected to an electric wire or power supply without a PCB to allow the LED lamp module to emit light. The LED lamp also can be replaced individually. 
         [0009]    The present invention is based on another invention of the inventor at U.S. application Ser. No. 11/907,279 incorporated with novel techniques, including repositioning LED chip electrodes, adding two electrode passages running through a jutting coupling portion at the bottom of an LED lamp, filling the electrode passages with a conductive medium such as silver paste or connecting electric wires to form electrodes to establish electric connection with the LED chip electrodes. By altering the positions of the LED lamp electrodes, installation and replacement of the LED lamp are simpler and easier. 
         [0010]    By means of the construction set forth above, the present invention provides many benefits, notably: 
         [0011]    1. The electrodes are concealed at the bottom of the jutting coupling portion and wiring is hidden. It is safer and more aesthetic appealing. 
         [0012]    2. With the lamp electrodes concealed at the bottom of the jutting coupling portion, the PCB can be dispensed with. The LED lamp can be deployed and arranged more flexibly. 
         [0013]    3. The LED module can be shrunk to become a single LED lamp, and can be replaced individually and still maintain the convenience of modular structure. 
         [0014]    4. The LED lamp can be mounted onto a seat or heat conduction element at varying angles according to requirements to generate desired lighting styles and illumination. 
         [0015]    The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional LED lamp electrode structure. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a top perspective view of the jutting coupling portion according to the invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a bottom perspective view of the jutting coupling portion according to the invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the jutting coupling portion according to the invention showing electrode passages. 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the jutting coupling portion according to the invention screwed on a heat conduction seat and a PCB. 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  is a schematic view of the invention mounted onto the heat conduction seat and the PCB. 
           [0022]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the invention mounted onto the heat conduction seat and the PCB. 
           [0023]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view of an embodiment of the invention showing a slanted electrode passage formed in the jutting coupling portion. 
           [0024]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention with soldered electric wires. 
           [0025]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of the invention with a T-shaped track and a T-shaped trough. 
           [0026]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of the invention with the T-shaped track wedged in the T-shaped trough. 
           [0027]      FIG. 12  is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the invention with a conductive clip formed on the jutting coupling portion. 
           [0028]      FIG. 13  is a sectional view of still another embodiment of the invention with the conductive clip formed on the jutting coupling portion. 
           [0029]      FIG. 14  is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention mounted onto an arched heat sink. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0030]    Please refer to  FIGS. 2 through 5 , the LED lamp electrode structure according to the invention mainly includes an LED lamp  4  that has an LED chip  41  inside with two chip electrodes  410  and a jutting coupling portion  40  at the bottom. The jutting coupling portion  40  has screw threads  401  on the periphery and two electrode passages  421  and  422  communicating with the chip electrodes  410 . One electrode passage  421  is tortuous and has an opening in the center of the bottom of the jutting coupling portion  40 , and the other electrode passage  422  has another opening close to the outer edge of the bottom of the jutting coupling portion  40 . The electrode passages  421  and  422  are filled with a conductive medium  423  such as silver paste so that the openings of the electrode passages  421  and  422  form two lamp electrodes  42  to electrically connect with the chip electrodes  410 . 
         [0031]    Referring to  FIGS. 5 ,  6  and  7 , the jutting coupling portion  40  of the LED lamp  4  can be fastened to a tapped heat conduction seat  5  with an aperture  51  formed thereon. The heat conduction seat  5  has a PCB  6  located at the bottom. The PCB  6  has a plurality of power supply elements  61  each has a contact  611  in the center and a power supply ring  612  located around the contact  611 . When the LED lamp  4  is screwed on the heat conduction seat  5  and mounted onto the PCB  6 , the lamp electrode  42  in the center of the LED lamp  4  is connected to the contact  611  and the other lamp electrode  42  located at the outer edge is connected to the power supply ring  612  so that the LED lamp  4  is energized to emit light. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 8 , a slanted electrode passage  424  may also be formed in the LED lamp  4  with the opening in the center at the bottom of the jutting coupling portion  40  while the other electrode passage  422  has the opening close to the outer edge at the bottom. The two electrode passages  424  and  422  also are filled with the conductive medium  423  such as silver paste to form the lamp electrodes  42  at the openings to electrically connect with the two chip electrodes  410  as previously discussed. 
         [0033]    Refer to  FIG. 9  for another embodiment of the invention. Electric wires  7  are provided and inserted into the electrode passages  422  and  424  from the bottom of the jutting coupling portion  40  to the LED lamp  4  soldered to form electric connection. 
         [0034]    Refer to  FIGS. 10 and 11  for yet another embodiment of the invention. A T-shaped track  402  is provided at the bottom of the LED lamp  4  with the electrode passages  422  and  424  formed thereon to receive the electric wires  7  to electrically connect with the LED lamp  4  for lighting. The T-shaped track  402  is wedged in a T-shaped trough  531  formed on a heat conduction trough  53 . The heat conduction trough  53  has a notch  532  at the bottom to allow the electric wires  7  to run through the heat conduction trough  53 . 
         [0035]    Refer to  FIGS. 12 and 13  for still another embodiment of the invention. It has a jutting coupling portion  8  with a conductive clip  84  located thereabove and a fastening portion  81  located thereon to fasten an LED lamp  4   a.  The LED lamp  4   a  has lamp electrodes  42   a  at two sides and electrode passages  82  beneath the lamp electrodes  42   a  with openings formed at the bottom of the jutting coupling portion  8  close to the outer edge thereof. The jutting coupling portion  8  has screw threads  83  formed at a lower side on the periphery. A set of conductive clips  84  are elastic to clip the lamp electrodes  42   a  at the two sides of the LED lamp  4   a.  A set of electric wires  7  run through the electrode passages  82  to be soldered on lower sides of the conductive clips  84  to establish electric connection among the electric wires  7 , conductive clips  84  and lamp electrodes  42   a.  Finally, the jutting coupling portion  81  is screwed into a socket  85 , and a lamp shade  86  can be coupled or screwed on the socket  85 . 
         [0036]    Refer to  FIG. 14  for another embodiment of the invention. LED lamps  4  are mounted onto an arched surface of an arched heat sink  52  which can conceal wiring. The LED lamps  4  can be positioned at varying angles in different directions by means of the arched heat sink  52  to meet special illumination requirements.