Patent Publication Number: US-8523423-B2

Title: LED mounting seat

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 101200756, filed on Jan. 12, 2012. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to an LED mounting seat, more particularly to an LED mounting seat adapted to mount a light emitting diode to a circuit board. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a conventional light emitting diode (LED) mounting seat  1  is used in, for example, a vehicle lighting system, and includes a plurality of reflector covers  11  (only one is shown), and a circuit board  12  interlocked with the reflector covers  11 . Each of the reflector covers  11  has a through hole  111 . The conventional LED mounting seat  1  further includes a plurality of LEDs  13  (only one is shown) extending respectively through the through holes  111  and electrically connected to the circuit board  12 . 
     Each of the LEDs  13  includes a light emitting portion  131  received in a respective one of the through holes  111 , and a pair of leads  132  (only one is visible) electrically connected to the light emitting portion  131 , extending respectively through two lead-inserting holes  121  (only one is visible) of the circuit board  12  and soldered to a bottom surface of the circuit board  12 . 
     In a process of assembling the conventional LED mounting seat  1 , the reflector covers  11  and the circuit board  12  are first interlocked as a unit followed by inserting the LEDs  13  into the through holes  111 . The leads  132  of each LED  13  extend respectively through the corresponding pair of the lead-inserting holes  121  and are soldered to the circuit board  12 . 
     However, it is difficult to precisely insert the leads  132  of each of the LEDs  13  into the corresponding lead-inserting holes  121  after the LEDs  13  are inserted into their corresponding through holes  111 . The assembling of the LEDs  13  with the circuit boards  12  is becoming more difficult owing to the recent unrestrained and irregular design of the reflector cover  11 . Additionally, for each of the LEDs  13 , the light emitting portion  131  is merely supported on and secured to the circuit board  12  by the leads  132 , so that the light emitting portion  131  has a tendency to shake which jeopardizes the effect of safety lighting and which may even cause detachment of the leads  132  from the circuit board  12  and malfunction of the LED  13 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide an LED mounting seat adapted to rapidly, precisely and stably mount a LED to a circuit board. 
     Accordingly, an LED mounting seat of the present invention is adapted to mount a LED to a circuit board. The LED has a light emitting portion and a pair of leads extending from a bottom surface of the light emitting portion. Each of the leads has a distal end that extends through the circuit board and that is secured to a bottom surface of the circuit board. 
     The LED mounting seat comprises a main body having a supporting surface, a connecting end and a side surface. The supporting surface is adapted to abut against the bottom surface of the light emitting portion of the LED. The connecting end is adapted to be connected to a top surface of the circuit board opposite to the bottom surface of the circuit board. The side surface interconnects the supporting surface and the connecting end, and is formed with opposite lateral grooves extending from the supporting surface to the connecting end. Each of the lateral grooves has an opening that is between the supporting surface and the connecting end, and is defined by a groove-defining surface that has an abutting surface portion facing the opening. The leads of the LED extend respectively through the lateral grooves and abut respectively against the abutting surface portions of the groove-defining surfaces. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded sectional view of a conventional LED mounting seat and an LED; 
         FIG. 2  is an assembled sectional view of the conventional LED mounting seat and the LED; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of an LED and the first preferred embodiment of an LED mounting seat according to this invention; 
         FIG. 4  is an assembled side view of the LED and the first preferred embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is a partly assembled sectional view of the LED and the first preferred embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a plurality of the LED mounting seats of the first preferred embodiment connected to a rib structure; 
         FIG. 7  is a partly exploded sectional view of an LED and a second preferred embodiment of the LED mounting seat according to this invention; and 
         FIG. 8  is a partly assembled sectional view of the LED and the second preferred embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it should be noted that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure. 
       FIGS. 3 to 5  illustrate a first preferred embodiment of an LED mounting seat  2  adapted to be used in a vehicle lighting system (not shown) for inclinedly mounting a LED  5  to a circuit board  3 . 
     The LED  5  includes a light emitting portion  51  and a pair of leads  52  that are parallel to each other, that are electrically connected to the light emitting portion  51 , and that extend from a bottom surface  53  of the light emitting portion  51  of the LED  5 . 
     The LED mounting seat  2  includes a main body having a rectangular prism  22  that has an inclined connecting end  24  connected to a top surface  32  of the circuit board  3 , and a four-sided prism  21  that has four rounded longitudinal edges, that is connected to a top surface of the rectangular prism  22  longitudinally opposite to the connecting end  24 , and that has a supporting surface  23  longitudinally opposite to the rectangular prism  22 . It should be pointed out that the shape of the LED mounting seat  2  should not be limited by the preferred embodiment of this invention. 
     The supporting surface  23  abuts against the bottom surface  53  of the light emitting portion  51  of the LED  5 . The LED mounting seat  2  further has a side surface  25  that is defined cooperatively by side surfaces of the rectangular prism  22  and the four-sided prism  21 , and that is formed with a pair of opposite lateral grooves  251  extending from the supporting surface  23  to the connecting end  24 . The circuit board  3  is formed with a pair of lead-inserting holes  31  that are respectively in spatial communication with the lateral grooves  251 . Each of the lateral grooves  251  has a width equal to the width of each of the leads  52 . Each of the lateral grooves  251  is defined by a groove-defining surface  252  and has an opening  255  which is between the supporting surface  23  and the connecting end  24 . The groove-defining surface  252  of each of the lateral grooves  251  has an abutting surface portion  253  facing the opening  255  of the corresponding one of the lateral grooves  251 . The leads  52  extend respectively through the lateral grooves  251  and abut respectively against the abutting surface portions  253  of the groove-defining surfaces  252 . Each of the leads  52  has a distal end  54  that extends through a corresponding one of the lead-inserting holes  31  of the circuit board  3  and is soldered to a bottom surface  33  of the circuit board  3  opposite to the top surface  32 . In this embodiment, a distance between the abutting surface portions  253  of the lateral grooves  251  increases from the supporting surface  23  to the connecting end  24 . The minimum distance between the abutting surface portions  253  is equal to a distance between the parallel leads  52 . When the leads  52  are being inserted into the lateral grooves  251  of the side surface  25  during assembling of the LED  5  to the LED mounting seat  2 , the leads  52  will be forced to deform outwardly and resiliently. In the meantime, each of the leads  52  exerts a clamping force against deformation and abuts tightly against the corresponding one of the abutting surface portions  253 . Therefore, the LED  5  is able to be rapidly, precisely and stably mounted to the circuit board  3 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , a plurality of the LED mounting seats  2  of this invention may be connected to a rib structure  4  which is mounted on the circuit board  3  instead of being mounted individually on the circuit board  3 . With the use of the rib structure  4 , the LED mounting seats  2  may be rapidly mounted to the circuit board  3 . 
       FIGS. 7 and 8  illustrate a second preferred embodiment of the LED mounting seat  2  according to the present invention. Differences with respect to the first preferred embodiment reside in the following. In this embodiment, the abutting surface portions  253  of the groove-defining surfaces  252  are mutually parallel. Each of the abutting surface portions  253  is formed with a recess  254 . Each of the leads  52  of the LED  5  has a protrusion  55  adapted to engage a corresponding one of the recesses  254  for stably positioning the LED  5  relative to the LED mounting seat  2 . 
     It should be pointed out that the LED mounting seat  2  may not be inclinedly mounted to the circuit board  3 . For example, the LED mounting seat  2  may be perpendicular to the circuit board  3  while the supporting surface  23  is parallel to the circuit board  3 . 
     While the present invention has been described in connection with what are considered the most practical embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.