Abstract:
A light emitting diode (LED) lamp comprises a casing part inserted into the region on which the lamp is installed. A PCB part is seated on the casing part in two stage. A connector part connects and fixes the PCB part to the casing part to supply power to the PCB part. A cover part is disposed above the PCB part to protect the LED mounted on the PCB part. The casing part comprises a cover fixing part and a coupling protrusion is disposed on the cover part. The coupling protrusion is inserted and fixed into the cover fixing part. An adhesive is applied to the bottom surface of the coupling protrusion to insert the coupling protrusion into the cover fixing part, thereby firmly coupling the coupling protrusion to the cover fixing part.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a §371 application from PCT/KR2012/008873 filed Oct. 26, 2012, which claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0122998 filed Nov. 23, 2011, each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to an LED lamp, and more particularly, to an LED lamp which includes a casing part having a cover fixing part, a cover part having a coupling protrusion inserted and fixed into the cover fixing part, and an adhesive applied to the bottom surface of the coupling protrusion such that the cover part is more firmly coupled to the casing part when the coupling protrusion is inserted into the cover fixing part. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     In general, LED lamps are used for back lightings which are mounted inside dashboards or switches, or used for lightings which are mounted inside or outside a vehicle like incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps in order to help a user to distinguish things, such as courtesy lights of vehicles, license plate lamps for distinguishing license plates at night, trunk lamps, wing mirror lamps, fender lamps, winker lamps, and so on. Now, such conventional LED lamps will be described. 
     First, the conventional LED lamps use filament lamps of various shapes, but has several disadvantages in that they lamps have very short lifespan (about 100 hours to 1,000 hours), generate lots of heat so that a user may get scalded when grasping it with hands, consume lots of power (5 Watt to 30 Watt), and are darker than LED lights. 
     Second, the conventional LED lamps use high-intensity LEDs on a metal PCB, but have several disadvantages in that they are more expensive than other existing products because a metal PCB is applied only to resistance and LEDs which generate lots of heat and a general PCB is applied to the remaining circuit parts due to a high price of the metal PCB and in that the entire set of the LED lamp must be changed at the time of after service because they need separate controllers. 
     Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the LED lamp was manufactured into a socket type using the general PCB. However, due to a lack of thermal control technology, even though the quantity of light which corresponds to 40 percent of characteristics of the mounted LED is just used, namely, a rated current of the LED is 350 mA but only 150 mA is used, the LED lamp also needs radiation of heat using a reflector due to generation of high heat. 
     CITED REFERENCE 
     Cited Reference 1) Korean Patent No. 10-0830417 
     OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     TECHNICAL PROBLEM 
     Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior arts, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an LED lamp which includes a casing part and a cover part mounted above the casing part so as to spread light emitted from LEDs mounted on a PCB part. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide an LED lamp which can reduce material expenses because the casing part uses the existing injection-molded case as it is and which includes a plurality of through holes formed on the bottom surface of the casing part so as to increase a heat radiation effect. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide an LED lamp in which the PCBs having nonpolar circuits are mounted in two stages so that lots of components can be mounted in a narrow space, which can easily discharge a great deal of heat emitted from the LED mounted on the PCB because the two PCBs are spaced apart from each other at a predetermined interval, and which provides convenience in use of the LED by using the nonpolar circuit. 
     TECHNICAL SOLUTION 
     To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides an LED lamp including: a casing part inserted into the region on which the lamp will be installed; a PCB part seated on the casing part in two stages; a connector part adapted for connecting and fixing the PCB part to the casing part to supply electric power to the PCB part; a cover part disposed above the PCB part to protect an LED mounted on the PCB part, wherein the casing part includes a cover fixing part and the cover part includes a coupling protrusion, such that the cover part is fixed to the casing part. 
     The casing part includes: a PCB insertion part disposed at the central portion of the upper face for seating the PCB part thereon; and a base part extending downwardly from the PCB insertion part and having a plurality of vent holes formed in the bottom surface thereof. 
     The PCB insertion part includes: recesses located on the upper face of the casing part and formed in such a way as to expose the connector part inserted into the base part to the outside; a PCB seating part formed internally in such a way that the PCB part is seated thereon; and a cover fixing part located on the PCB seating part in order to fix the cover part. 
     The PCB part includes a plurality of PCBs which are different in size, are formed in a circular shape and are mounted in multiple stages, and a first PCB and a second PCB respectively includes a plurality of cover fixing part joining grooves formed in the side surfaces thereof in such a way as to be joined with the cover fixing part. 
     The cover part is seated above the casing part, and includes: a plurality of cavities formed at the lower portion thereof for exposing the connector fixing hole of the PCB part to the outside; the coupling protrusion which is coupled with the cover fixing part of the casing part; a retaining jaw joined with the outer circumferential surface of the first PCB; a light collecting part which is formed on the upper portion of the inner face of the cover part for collecting light emitted from the LED. 
     The light collecting part is formed to collect light emitted from the LED mounted above the PCB part and has a concave upper surface so as to widely spread the emitted light. 
     A pair of retaining protrusions are formed on the outer face of the casing part, and polarity(+,−) of the casing part is indicated in such a way that the retaining protrusions have different sizes or the connector part have different sizes or different colors from each other so as to indicate the polarity(+,−) of the casing part. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional LED lamp. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an LED lamp according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a casing part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a PCB of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a connector part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a cover part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a rear side view of the cover part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a sectional view of the cover part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a rear side view of a cover part of an LED lamp according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 11  is a sectional view of the cover part of the LED lamp according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
       
         
           
                 
               
                 
                 
                 
               
             
                 
                     
                 
                 
                   Explanation of essential reference numerals in drawings: 
                 
                 
                     
                 
               
               
                 
                     
                 
               
            
             
                 
                     
                   10: casing part 
                   20: PCB part 
                 
                 
                     
                   30: connector part 
                   40: cover part 
                 
                 
                     
                     
                 
               
            
           
         
       
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will be now made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings. In the drawings, the same components have the same reference numerals even though they are illustrated in different figures. In addition, in the description of the present invention, when it is judged that detailed descriptions of known functions or structures related with the present invention may make the essential points vague, the detailed descriptions of the known functions or structures will be omitted. 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an LED lamp according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a casing part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a PCB of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a connector part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a cover part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 8  is a rear side view of the cover part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 9  is a sectional view of the cover part of the LED lamp according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 9 , the LED lamp which is mounted inside or outside a vehicle in order to help user to distinguish things includes: a casing part  10  inserted into the region on which the lamp is installed; a PCB part  20  seated on the casing part  10  in two stages; a connector part  30  adapted for connecting and fixing the PCB part  20  to the casing part  10  to supply power to the PCB part  20 ; and a cover part  40  disposed above the PCB part  20  to protect the LED mounted on the PCB part  20 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 2 to 4 , the casing part  10  includes: a PCB insertion part  11  disposed at the central portion of the upper face for seating the PCB part  20  thereon; and a base part  12  extending downwardly from the PCB insertion part  11  and having a plurality of vent holes  122  formed in the bottom surface thereof. 
     The casing part  10  further includes a retaining protrusion  13  formed on the outer face thereof to firmly couple the casing part  10  with an outer case of the lamp. 
     The PCB insertion part  11  includes: recesses  111  located on the upper face of the casing part  10  and formed in such a way as to expose the connector part  30  inserted into the base part  12  to the outside; a PCB seating part  112  formed internally in such a way that the PCB part  20  is seated thereon; and a cover fixing part  113  located on the PCB seating part  112  in order to fix the cover part  40 . 
     The recesses  111  are spaced apart from one another at regular intervals in such a manner that the connector part  30  inserted into one side of the base part  12  is exposed to the outside so as to apply power flowing from the outside to the PCB part  20  fixed to the connector part  30 . 
     The PCB seating part  112  is formed between the PCB insertion part  11  and the base part  12 , and the undermost PCB out of PCBs which are inserted in multiple stages may be seated on the PCB seating part  112 . 
     The cover fixing part  113  is located on the PCB seating part  112  and has an insertion through hole  1131  formed therein. The insertion through hole  1131  has a predetermined depth in such a manner that the coupling protrusion  42  of the cover part  40  is inserted thereinto so as to fix the cover part  40  to the casing part  10 . 
     The base part  12  is formed below the PCB insertion part  11  and has a predetermined depth, and includes: a heat circulation passage  121  for circulating heat emitted from the PCB part  20 ; a plurality of vent holes  122  communicatably connected with the heat circulation passage  121  and formed in the bottom surface of the base part  12  to discharge the heat to the outside; and a connector insertion part  123  formed on the side of the base part  12  in such a way that the connector part  30  is inserted thereinto. 
     The connector insertion part  123  is formed to insert the connector part  30  thereinto and includes a T-shaped partition  1231  formed between the connector insertion part  123  and the heat circulation passage  121  to press the inserted connector part  30  so as to prevent the connector part  30  from being easily separated from the base part  12 . 
     A pair of the retaining protrusions  13  are formed on the outer face of the casing part  10  and opposed to each other. Polarity (+,−) of the casing part  10  can be indicated in such a way that a pair of the retaining protrusions  13  have different sizes from each other. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the PCB part  20  includes a first PCB  21  and a second PCB  22  which are different in size and are formed in a circular shape, and can increase a heat radiation effect when the first and second PCBs  21  and  22  are spaced apart from each other at a predetermined interval. Moreover, differently from the conventional product that many components are mounted on one PCB and that requires a wide space, the PCB part  20  according to the present invention can be used conveniently even at a small space because the components are divided and mounted on the two PCBs, namely, on the first PCB  21  and the second PCB  22 . 
     An LED  23  is mounted on the first PCB  21 , and can be connected without regard to polarity (+,−) due to a nonpolar circuit formed on the PCB part  20 . 
     Furthermore, the first PCB  21  which is located at an upper portion is larger than the second PCB  22 , and includes a connector fixing hole  211  formed at one side thereof for fixing the connector part  40 . Therefore, electric power flown from the connector part  40  can flow to the first PCB  21  and the second PCB  22 . 
     Additionally, a plurality of cover fixing part joining grooves  213  and  223  are formed in the side surface of the first and second PCBs  21  and  22  in such a way as to be joined with the cover fixing part  113 . 
     The connector part  30  serves to fix the PCB part  20  to the casing part  10  and to supply power to the PCB part  20 , and is inserted and fixed into the connector insertion part  123  formed in the casing part  10 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the connector part  30  includes: a protrusion  31  formed on the upper face thereof in such a way as to be inserted into the connector fixing hole  211  of the first PCB  21 ; and a power inflow part  32  protruding from the side of the connector part  30  toward an end portion or the outside so as to apply electric power introduced from the outside. 
     Furthermore, the connector parts  30  are inserted into both sides of the casing part  10 , and polarity (+,−) of the casing part  10  can be indicated in such a way that the connector part  30  have different sizes or different colors from each other. 
     The cover part  40  is seated above the casing part  10 , and as shown in  FIGS. 7 to 9 , and includes: a plurality of cavities  41  formed at the lower portion thereof for exposing the connector fixing hole  211  of the PCB part  20  to the outside; the coupling protrusion which is coupled with the cover fixing part  113  of the casing part  10 ; a retaining jaw  43  joined with the outer circumferential surface of the first PCB  21 ; a light collecting part  44  which is formed on the upper portion of the inner face of the cover part  40  and has a concave upper surface so as to collect light emitted from the LED  23  mounted on the upper surface of the first PCB  21  and to widely spread the emitted light; and an inclined surface  45  formed at an end portion of the light collecting part  44  so as to facilitate the light widely spread by the light collecting part  44 . 
     Additionally, when the coupling protrusion  42  is coupled with the cover fixing part  113  of the casing part  10 , the bottom surface of the coupling protrusion  42  is coated with an adhesive or treated with ultrasonic waves, and then, the coupling protrusion  42  is inserted into the cover fixing part  113  so as to be coupled with the cover fixing part  113  more firmly. 
     In the meantime, in order to avoid interference with the outer case to which an LED assembly is inserted, as shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , the upper height of the cover part  40  may get higher 
     As described above, while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the example embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the above embodiments of the present invention are all exemplified and various changes, modifications and equivalents may be made therein without changing the essential characteristics and scope of the present invention. Therefore, it would be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not to limit the technical idea of the present invention but to describe the present invention, and the technical and protective scope of the present invention shall be defined by the illustrated embodiments. It should be also understood that the protective scope of the present invention is interpreted by the following claims and all technical ideas within the equivalent scope belong to the technical scope of the present invention. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     Through the above-mentioned structure, the LED lamp according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention can get the following effects. 
     The present invention relates to a lamp which is installed inside or outside of a vehicle in order to help a user to distinguish things like courtesy lights of vehicles, license plate lamps for distinguishing license plates at night, trunk lamps, wing mirror lamps, fender lamps, winker lamps, and so on. When the coupling protrusion of the cover part is coupled with the cover fixing part of the casing part, the bottom surface of the coupling protrusion is coated with an adhesive or treated with ultrasonic waves, and then, the coupling protrusion is inserted into the cover fixing part so as to be coupled with the cover fixing part more firmly. After that, necessary components are mounted on the PCB in such a manner that the nonpolar circuit is formed on the PCB so that the LED can be mounted on the PCB without regard to its polarity, and in this instance, the components are dividedly mounted on the upper PCB and the lower PCB, such that lots of the components can be mounted even on the narrow space. Because the PCBs are spaced apart from each other at the predetermined interval, it provides the heat radiation effect. Because a plurality of the through holes are formed in the bottom surface of the casing part, the heat generated from the PCB part is circulated so as to increase the heating effect. 
     Moreover, the PCBs formed in two stages can be simply inserted and fixed into the casing part using the connector part, thus being used to the cases of the conventional lamps, reducing expenses, and providing a simple assembly of the components because its structure is simple.