Patent Publication Number: US-2013240944-A1

Title: Mounting device for a light emitting diode

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a mounting device for a light emitting diode, and more particularly to a mounting device for securely mounting a light emitting diode on a conductor. 
     2. Description of the Prior Arts 
     Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have low temperature and low power consumption properties and thus are widely used for electronic products such as lighting or the indicator lights. A Light emitting diode has a die encapsulated inside a transparent silicone rubber and electrode pins extending downwardly. The conventional LEDs are connected to two circuit boards with spot-welded structures. 
     With reference to  FIG. 11 , to connect the conventional LED  30  onto two circuit boards  32 , the two electrode pins  31  of the LED  30  are bent into 90 degrees, and then the distal ends of the two electrode pins  31  are respectively soldered on the positive and negative electrodes on the circuit boards  32  by spot welding process. Accordingly, the LED  30  is electrically connected to a power supply device via the circuit boards  32 . 
     However, the solder  33  needs a period of time for solidifying. If the LED  30  is not stably positioned by the welding spot within this period, the position of the LED  30  is easily shifted. In order to avoid the shifting of the LED  30 , the LEDs  30  have to be connected to the circuit boards  32  one by one and until the solders  33  of a previous LED  30  have been solidified. However, this is time-consuming and is hard to ensure that, during the welding time, the shifting of the LED  30  will not occur. 
     To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a mounting device to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Given that the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art such as spot-welded structures will cause the shifting of the LED, the present invention mainly provides a mounting device for securely mounting an LED on a conductor. 
     The mounting device in accordance with the present invention comprises: an LED and a conductor connecting to the LED. 
     The LED comprises two electrode leads, wherein the two electrode leads are bent outward relative to each other and each electrode lead has a distal end. A protrusion is formed from the bottom surface of the distal end. 
     The conductor comprises two electrode boards. A mounting leadframe is formed and protrudes from the surface of each electrode board and corresponds to one of the electrode leads of the LED. A mounting hole is formed in each electrode board at a position corresponding to one of the protrusions. The distal end of each electrode lead is inserted respectively into one of the mounting leadframes and each protrusion is engaged in the corresponding mounting hole, and then the distal end is mounted on the conductor with the corresponding mounting leadframe. 
     According to the aforementioned structure, the present invention is to insert each electrode lead of the LED into the corresponding mounting leadframe respectively and in the meanwhile to engage each protrusion of the electrode leads with the corresponding mounting hole on the conductor, and to mount each electrode lead on the conductor by the corresponding mounting leadframe. Thus the LED is stably mounted on the conductor. With the two mounting holes in the conductor that are previously formed in the conductor, the LED can be precisely located on the conductor. Moreover, after connecting the LED to the mounting leadframes on the conductor, a punching process is applied to the mounting leadframes along a direction from the mounting leadframes toward the electrode leads to clamp the LED more tightly to the conductor, thus avoiding the shifting of the LED. Consequently, this method is more timesaving and convenient compared to the method of welding. 
     Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mounting device for a light emitting diode in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the mounting device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view in partial section of the mounting device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is another side view in partial section of the mounting device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of the mounting device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom view of the mounting device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a mounting device for a light emitting diode in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view of the mounting device in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a side view in partial section of the mounting device in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 10  is another side view of the mounting device in  FIG. 7 ; and 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of a spot-welded structure of a conventional light emitting diode in accordance with the prior art. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention provides a mounting device for securely and stably mounting a light emitting diode on a conductor. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a first embodiment of a mounting device for a light emitting diode in accordance with the present invention comprises a light emitting diode  10  and a conductor  20 . 
     The light emitting diode  10  comprises two electrode leads  11  serving respectively as positive and negative electrodes, wherein the two electrode leads  11  are bent outward relative to each other, and each electrode lead  11  has a distal end. A protrusion  12  is formed downward from the bottom surface of the distal end. In the present embodiment, the distal end of each electrode lead  11  is plate-shaped, and the protrusions  12  are hemispherical. Each protrusion  12  is formed with a punching process along a direction from a top surface to the bottom surface of the distal end. Thus, a hemispherically shaped recess  13  is formed in the top surface of the distal end of each electrode lead  11  at a position corresponding to the protrusion  12 . 
     The conductor  20  comprises two electrode boards  21  serving respectively as positive and negative electrodes. A mounting hole  23  is formed in each electrode board at a position corresponding to one of the protrusions  12  of the light emitting diode  10 . Furthermore, a mounting leadframe  22  protrudes from the surface of each electrode board  21 , is formed over the mounting hole  23  in the electrode board  21  and corresponds to one of the electrode leads  11 . The two electrode leads  11  of the light emitting diode  10  are respectively inserted into the mounting leadframes  22  of the two electrode boards  21  and the two protrusions  12  on the electrode leads  11  are respectively engaged in the mounting holes  23  on the electrode boards  21 . In the present embodiment, the lengths of the mounting leadframes  22  match the widths of the plate-shaped distal ends of the electrode leads  11  of the light emitting diode  10 . Additionally, the mounting holes  23  are round holes so as to fit and engage the hemispherically shaped protrusions  12 . Furthermore, the mounting holes  23  and the mounting leadframes  22  are formed together by a punching process along a direction from the bottom face to the top face of the conductor  20 , thus each mounting hole  23  aligns with the corresponding mounting leadframe  22 . 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the distal end of each electrode lead  11  of the light emitting diode  10  is inserted respectively into one of the mounting leadframes  22  of the conductor  20 . With the plate shape of the distal ends of the electrode leads  11 , the contact area between the electrode leads  11  and the mounting leadframes  22  is increased. Consequently, the light emitting diode  10  has an excellent electrical connection with the conductor  20 . With reference to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , each protrusion  12  on the electrode lead  11  respectively engages the mounting holes  23  on the electrode boards  21 . Because the shape of the mounting holes  23  fits the shape of the protrusions  12 , the protrusions  12  are capable of securely engaging the mounting holes  23  and holding the electrode leads  11  securely to the mounting leadframes  22  so as to securely mount the light emitting diode  10  on the conductor  20 . Moreover, after connecting the light emitting diode  10  to the mounting leadframes  22  on the conductor  20 , a punching process is applied to the mounting leadframes  22  along a direction from the mounting leadframes  22  toward the electrode leads  11  to clamp the light emitting diode  10  more tightly to the conductor  20 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 7 , in the second embodiment, the light emitting diode  10  has a structure the same as that of the first embodiment except the conductor  20 ′. 
     In the present embodiment, each mounting leadframe  22 ′ of the electrode boards  21 ′ on the conductor  20 ′ comprises two bent sheets  221  disposed on the two sides of a corresponding electrode lead  11  of the light emitting diode  10  in order to clamp the corresponding electrode lead  11  between the two bent sheets  221 . The bent sheets  221  are formed on the conductor  20 ′ with a punching process. With reference to  FIG. 8 , two straight sheets  221   a  are firstly formed on each electrode board  21 ′ of the conductor  20 ′. After mounting each electrode lead  11  of the light emitting diode  10  between the corresponding two straight sheets  221   a , the straight sheets  221   a  are bent face to face to clamp the electrode leads  11  between the bent sheets  221 . Additionally, with reference to  FIGS. 9 and 10 , in the second embodiment, the conductor  20 ′ further comprises a positioning socket  24 . The positioning socket  24  has a socket hole  240  defined in the positioning socket  24  and facing the distal end of one of the electrode leads  11  of the light emitting diode  10  to make the distal end of the corresponding electrode lead inserted into the socket hole  240  of the positioning socket  24 . With reference to  FIG. 8 , after each electrode lead  11  of the light emitting diode  10  is mounted between the corresponding two straight sheets  221   a  and before the straight sheets are bent, one of the two electrode leads  11  is inserted into the socket hole  240  of the positioning socket  24  to prevent the light emitting diode  10  from toppling down and to facilitate the following process of bending the straight sheets  221   a.    
     In conclusion, with the engagement between the protrusions  12  of the two electrode leads  11  and the two mounting holes  23  in the conductor  20  that are previously formed in the conductor  20 , the light emitting diode  10  can be precisely located on the conductor  20  to prevent the light emitting diode  10  from shifting. In addition, the mounting leadframes  22 , 22 ′ can hold the electrode leads  11  of the light emitting diode  10  in position because the mounting leadframes  22 , 22 ′ are either formed by punching process as in the first embodiment or composed of two bent sheets  221  as in the second embodiment. Accordingly, the light emitting diode  10  can be stably mounted on the conductor  20 , 20 ′ and the method for assembling the light emitting diode  10  onto the conductor  20 , 20 ′ is more timesaving and convenient. 
     Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.