Patent Publication Number: US-10317053-B2

Title: Clamp for holding a flexible lighting unit

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/377,460, filed on Aug. 19, 2016 and incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates generally to lighting and, more particularly, to clamp for holding a flexible lighting unit. 
     BACKGROUND 
     There have been various uses of lighting units, such as for cabin lighting in an aircraft. One form of lighting unit includes a printed circuit board (“PCB”) having electronics and light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”). 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       While the appended claims set forth the features of the present techniques with particularity, these techniques, together with their objects and advantages, may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of lighting unit having a clamp at a twisted portion according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is an isometric view of the clamp shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     The disclosure is generally directed to a clamp for holding a flexible lighting unit in its intended orientation. In various embodiments, a flexible lighting unit may be twisted and easily mounted with the clamp. 
     In an embodiment, the clamp includes a body member having a base with spaced side walls and intermediate end walls which extend upwardly from the base. A top wall is formed by the tops of the side walls and end walls. A slot extends downwardly from the top wall toward the base through an end wall and a side wall to form a passage completely through the body member. The passage is bounded by surfaces inwardly of the end wall and side wall. The surfaces have planar portions parallel to each other over a portion of the passage width for contacting an encased PCB outwardly of the twist. The remainder of the passage is shaped to accommodate the twist itself. 
       FIG. 1  shows a lighting unit  1 , which includes a PCB having electronics and LEDs encased in a flexible material, such as silicone. Although the flexible material can be easily bent and stretched, the encased PCB generally cannot. There are, however, circumstances where it is necessary to change the orientation of the PCB along different portions of the length of the lighting unit. As shown in  FIG. 1  one portion  2  is in a generally horizontal orientation, while its adjacent portion  4  has been twisted 90 degrees to a generally vertical orientation. Portion  6  is then twisted to a horizontal orientation.  FIG. 1  illustrates the location of a twisted portion  8  between portions  4  and  6 . The twisted portion  8  may include small cutouts  9  on its sides to allow the PCB to twist.  FIG. 1  also illustrates a clamp  10  in accordance with an embodiment. The clamp  10  (also referred to herein as a “Fusilli clamp”) maintains the adjacent portions  2  and  4  in their intended orientation. A similar clamp  10  would also be located at the twisted portion  8  to maintain lighting unit portions  4  and  6  in their intended orientation. 
       FIG. 2  is an isometric view of a clamp  10  in accordance with an embodiment. As shown therein, clamp  10  is in the form of a body member  12  having a base or bottom wall  14 . A pair of upstanding side walls  16  and  18  are located between intermediate upstanding end walls  20  and  22 . Body member  12  also includes a top wall  24  created at the tops of the side walls and end walls. A slot  26  extends downwardly from the top wall at side wall  16  and end wall  20  toward the base  14 . The slot  26  extends completely through each wall  16  and  20  to form a passage completely through body member  12  from side wall  16  to end wall  20 . The passage is bounded by surfaces shaped to conform to a twisted portion of lighting unit  1  and to the twist itself. The passage thus permits a lighting unit  1  to be inserted into the clamp  10  and held in place in the intended orientation at the twisted portion of the lighting unit. 
     Body member  12  is made of a shape retaining material to provide proper support for holding the lighting unit twisted in its intended orientation. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2  the surface located inwardly of end wall  20  includes a planar portion  28  that extends partially across a portion of the passage width and would be juxtaposed with a vertical wall, such as in portion  4  of the lighting unit. Similarly, a planar portion  30  is on the lower portion of the surface inwardly of side wall  16 . Upwardly from the planar portion  30  is an indent formed by an inclined surface  32  which merges with an inclined surface  34 . This indent facilitates insertion of the lighting unit and reduces the strain that would be experienced along the edge of the lighting unit. The top wall  24  has an undulated curved configuration  36  which merges with surface  32 . 
     The surface inwardly of end wall  20  also includes downwardly sloping inwardly directed portions  38  and  40 . The top  37  of portions  38  and  40  form an undulated curve spaced from and generally of the same shape and generally parallel to curvature  36 . The curvy shape resulting from the various slopes and curvatures of passage or slot  26  resembles a fusilli shape similar to fusilli pasta, and accommodates and stabilizes the twist and an adjacent portion of the lighting unit. In that regard, the parallel surfaces  28  and  30  are dimensioned and spaced from each other to hold a portion of the lighting unit twisted in its intended orientation such as the vertical orientation  4  of  FIG. 1 . The remainder of passage  26  receives the twist itself. 
       FIG. 2  also shows an extension  42  provided outwardly of one of the end walls, such as end wall  22 . Extension  42  includes an aperture  44  extending completely therethrough to accommodate a fastening member, such as a screw or bolt to mount the clamp  10  in its intended position and thereby also fix the location of the lighting unit  1 . 
     While the drawings illustrate the lighting unit to be twisted where its adjacent portions are 90 degrees offset from each other, it is to be understood that different angular twistings are possible. With different angular twistings, the clamp would have parallel surfaces disposed at those different angular orientations. 
     Although  FIG. 2  illustrates body member  12  to be of generally rectangular cross-section, other embodiments in which the various side and end walls are not completely distinct from each other are possible. For example, the walls could smoothly merge into each other with a curve at their corners or with no corners at all. 
     It should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described herein should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each embodiment should typically be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other embodiments. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from their spirit and scope.