Patent Publication Number: US-2009231848-A1

Title: Illuminator module

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     The invention generally relates light emitting devices, more particularly to illuminators using one or more light emitting diode. 
     2. Related Art 
     In recent years, light emitting diodes (LEDs) are extensively required by various markets. Manufacturing technologies of the LEDs have been developing. However, the manufactures of the LEDs always tend to increase lighting efficiency but do not make enough effort at applications and processes. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a conventional LED has a conductive support frame  10 , a chip  11  placed in a bowl-shaped carrier  101  of the support frame  10 , and an epoxy case  12  for wrapping the support frame  10  and chip  11 . 
     In the procedure of manufacturing LED, the support frame  10  and the expoxy case  12  must be made by a molding process and high temperature forming process, respectively. The molding process of the support frame  10 , which includes the various steps of pressing, cutting, polishing and coating, is considerably complicated and uneconomical. It may also cause environment pollution. On the other hand, the expoxy case  12  must consume a long period of time for baking. Thus, it is disadvantageous to mass production. 
     In real applications, the LEDs are usually arranged in a row or matrix for increasing lighting intensity. For example, a backlight module based on LED disposes a plurality of LEDs on a circuit board in a matrix to form a uniform planar light source. 
     The single packaged LEDs abovementioned tend to be mislaid. And their exposed support frame  10  is easy to be damaged because of excessive weakness. Furthermore, when arranging the LEDs in a row or matrix, the LEDs must be mounted on a circuit board one by one. It is very disadvantageous for processing. 
     On the other side, the higher the power of the LEDs is, the more serious the heat from the LEDs is. The LEDs can not normally function if the problem of heat dissipation can not be effectively solved. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary object of the invention is to provide an independent illuminator module having multiple LEDs, which is easy to be manufactured and can be rapidly processed. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide an illuminator, which has better heat dissipation effect for satisfying circumstances of high power LEDs. 
     To accomplish the objects abovementioned, the illuminator according to the invention is composed of one or more lighting chips, a heat dissipating body and two conductive strips. The heat dissipating body is provided with two positioning grooves for accommodating the conductive strips separately. The heat dissipating body including the positioning grooves is under oxidation treatment to form an insulating layer on its surface. The lighting chips are mounted on the insulating layer. The conductive strips are embedded in the positioning grooves separately. A wire is disposed between the lighting chip and conductive strip for constituting an electric connection. The lighting chips can illuminate when an external power source is connected through the conductive strips. 
     In comparison with the prior art, the illuminator of the invention contains multiple LEDs for supporting applications of high lighting intensity, mixing color or wide-angled lighting. The heat dissipating effect also can be increased by tangible touch between the lighting chips and heat dissipating body. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a conventional LED; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the illuminator according to the invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the illuminator with different lighting chip; and 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4 , an illuminator of the invention is composed of one or more lighting chips  20 , a heat dissipating body  21  and two conductive strips  22 . The heat dissipating body  21  can be preferably made of aluminum because of its great thermo-conductivity. The conductive strips  22  can be preferably made of copper and can be of a plate shape. 
     A top side of the heat dissipating body  21  is provided with two positioning grooves  210  for accommodating the conductive strips  22  separately. In process of manufacture, the conductive strips  22  which are corresponding to the positioning grooves  210  in both size and shape are tightly embedded in the positioning grooves  210 . 
     An insulating layer  211  having a predetermined thickness is coated on the surface of the heat dissipating body  21  including the positioning grooves  210  by means of the oxidation treatment. The insulating layer  211  is aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) when the heat dissipating body  21  is made of aluminum. It is worthy of note that aluminum oxide has a property of high hardness, it is hard to be scratched when the heat dissipating body  21  suffers friction with other objects. Further, the insulating layer  211  formed by aluminum oxide does not tend to deform in a high temperature circumstance. In comparison with conventional epoxy resin, aluminum oxide has better stability. The lighting chip  20  is mounted on the heat dissipating body  21 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a wire  30  is provided between an electrode (not shown) of the lighting chip  20  and the conductive strip  22  to constitute an electric connection. A protective layer  23  can further be formed on the heat dissipating body  21  for covering the lighting chip  20  and the wire  30 . The lighting chip will light when an external power source is applied through the conductive strips  22 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates another preferred embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the heat dissipating body  20  is of a cylindrical shape. The lighting chips  20  are distributed over the surface of the cylindrical heat dissipating body  21 . By connection via wires  30 , the lighting chips  20  can electrically connect to the conductive strips  22  in the positioning grooves  210 . Such a type of illuminator can be a lamp core of lighting devices for functioning as an annular or cylindrical light source. 
     In comparison with the prior art, the illuminator of the invention contains multiple LEDs for supporting applications of high lighting intensity, mixing color or wide-angled lighting. The heat dissipating effect also can be increased by tangible touch between the lighting chips  20  and heat dissipating body  21 . 
     Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting. The present invention is limited only as defined in the following claims and the equivalents thereto.