Patent Description:
The present invention relates to a luminescent body.

In particular, the present invention relates to a luminescent body, for example, a sign, a lamp or an ornamental object, of the type comprising an outer casing at least partially permeable to light and a light source housed in the outer casing.

Currently, various modes for manufacturing the outer casing are known. One of such modes provides for the use of two plates or sheets, of which at least one is permeable to light, and an outer peripheral frame that surrounds and joins the outer peripheral portions of the plates to each other.

Currently, there is an ever greater need to be able to customise and configure the luminescent bodies both in the commercial and illumination sectors, and for personal or decorative needs and thus purely aesthetic needs.

The abovementioned need, however, is hindered, on the one hand, by the traditional industrial production processes normally used, which tend to simplify the shapes in order to facilitate their manufacture and contain production costs.

Sporadic attempts to manufacture bodies with shapes different from the traditional ones have come up against high production costs, with the impossibility of ensuring large quantities of products in relatively short periods of time and, above all, with the impossibility of ensuring a high and unvarying aesthetic quality.

<CIT> discloses an electrical lighting unit with a housing cover that transmits light through the front and sides. The cover is flexible sideways and is stiff vertically. The cover fits over a mounting plate that carries the light sources and any electrical elements.

<CIT> discloses a lighting device (<NUM>) comprising a first lighting unit (<NUM>) for emitting a first illuminating light, a cover (<NUM>), and cleaning means (<NUM>) for cleaning the cover (<NUM>), characterized in that the lighting device (<NUM>) further comprises a control device (<NUM>) which controls the cleaning means (<NUM>) to enter an operating state on the basis of whether a situation of ambient environment reaches a first preset condition, and/or which controls the cleaning means (<NUM>) to enter a non-operating state on the basis of whether the situation of the ambient environment reaches a second preset condition. Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a cleaning control method of a lighting device. The cleaning means (<NUM>) are embodied as a photocatalytic coating of titanium oxide on the cover. The control means (<NUM>) are embodied as a photo detector (<NUM>) and an ultraviolet lamp (<NUM>) which is activated when the ambient light intensity decreases below a first threshold value for a first time duration.

The object of the present invention is to manufacture a luminescent body, which allows solving the problems set out above in a simple and cost-effective manner.

A particular aim of the present invention is to manufacture luminescent bodies with peripheral edges of any geometry or curvature and having a high and unvarying qualitative and aesthetic level and a reasonable price.

According to the present invention, a luminescent body is manufactured, according to claim <NUM>.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures, which illustrate a non-limiting example embodiment thereof, wherein:.

In <FIG>, reference numeral <NUM> indicates, as a whole, a luminescent body.

Here and in the following, the term "luminescent body" means a body having any shape, geometry and outer profile and intended to carry out any function such as, for example, a function of a sign, of an indication or displaying of information, of illumination, etc..

With reference to <FIG> and, in particular, to <FIG>, the body <NUM> comprises a casing 1A, which in turn comprises a front or frontal wall <NUM>, a rear or bottom wall <NUM> and a peripheral wall <NUM>.

The peripheral wall <NUM> is a structural wall, which surrounds the walls <NUM> and <NUM> and is firmly connected to respective outer peripheral portions 2A and 3A of said walls <NUM> and <NUM>.

The body <NUM> further comprises a light source <NUM>, for example an LED, arranged inside the casing 1A. Preferably, the light source <NUM> is connected to or carried by the rear wall <NUM>. Alternatively, the light source is carried by the side wall <NUM>. In the described example, the walls <NUM> and <NUM> both consist of flat sheets, whose outer peripheral portions 2A and 3A are delimited along their outer periphery by respective peripheral surfaces 2B and 3B.

In the described example, the front wall <NUM> is a wall completely permeable to light. According to a variant not illustrated, the wall <NUM> is only partially permeable to light so as to define, in use, a set of lights and shadows or shades of colours.

Conveniently, the front wall <NUM> is made of an opaline material.

Conveniently, moreover, both walls <NUM> and <NUM> are made of Plexiglass. Conveniently, moreover, the wall <NUM> is an opaque wall made, for example, of PVC foam or other materials permeable to light. According to a variant not illustrated, at least one of the walls comprises at least one concave or convex portion and/or bulges or recesses or supports an engraved or printed or silk-screen printed text and/or an image or a figure.

According to the invention, one or both walls <NUM>,<NUM> support, laid or glued in a releasable manner, a relative foil displaying one or more images and/or texts and at least partially permeable to light.

According to a variant not illustrated, both walls <NUM> and <NUM> are at least partially permeable to light.

In the described example, the walls <NUM> and <NUM> are dimensionally and geometrically identical to each other, i.e. they are perfectly superimposable.

In the described example, moreover, both walls <NUM> and <NUM> are walls with a shaped outer profile and thus the peripheral surfaces 2B and 3B comprise a plurality of concave portions <NUM> joined to each other to form a plurality of cusps <NUM> (<FIG>).

According to a variant not illustrated, at least part of the concave portions <NUM> are replaced by convex portions and, in general, by portions with concavities different from those indicated by way of example and/or different from each other.

According to a further variant not illustrated, at least part of the concave portions <NUM> are replaced by flat portions.

Regardless of the shape of the peripheral surfaces 2B,3B, in the illustrated example, the side wall <NUM> straddles the walls <NUM> and <NUM> and comprises an inner annular reinforcement portion <NUM> and an outer annular coating and finishing portion <NUM>.

The annular portion <NUM> extends between the portions 2A and 3A and is delimited outwards by a shaped surface <NUM> which forms the extension of the outer peripheral surfaces 2B and 3B, as shown in <FIG>.

Conveniently, the annular portion <NUM> is made of extruded EPS or of polystyrene foam cut by hot wire or by milling or by laser along the outer peripheral edges of the walls <NUM> and <NUM> or is made of other equivalent material designed to withstand the pressures that can be exerted on the wall <NUM> from the outside, for example, by the fingers of a person's hands during the handling of the body <NUM> and directed towards the inside of the casing 1A.

Preferably, the annular portion <NUM> is firmly connected to the walls <NUM> and <NUM> by gluing.

Conveniently, the walls <NUM> and <NUM> are connected to the portion <NUM> by the interposition of a double-sided adhesive tape <NUM> (<FIG>).

Still with reference to <FIG>, the coating portion <NUM> is C-shaped and comprises an intermediate portion 11A and two side portions 11B turned down over the peripheral portions 2A,3A.

The coating portion <NUM> is firmly connected to the surfaces 2B, 3B and to the reinforcement portion <NUM> by gluing or, conveniently, by the interposition of a double-sided adhesive tape <NUM>. The portions 11B, instead, are not glued to the walls <NUM> and <NUM> but simply arranged in abutment against the outer surfaces of said walls <NUM> and <NUM>.

According to a variant, the surfaces 2B and 3B are not glued to the portion <NUM> either.

In the variant illustrated in <FIG>, the outer surface <NUM> of the reinforcement portion <NUM> is set back with respect to the surfaces 2B and 3B and the coating portion <NUM> is provided with circumferential grooves <NUM> engaged by the peripheral portions 2A and 3A. Also in such embodiment, the coating portion <NUM> is glued to the surfaces 2B,3B and to the reinforcement portion <NUM> by the interposition of double-sided adhesive tapes <NUM> or glue. According to a variant not illustrated, the reinforcement portion <NUM> may lack. In such case, the part of the coating portion <NUM> arranged between the portions 2A and 3A carries out the reinforcement function on its own.

According to a further variant, the coating portion <NUM> comprises a single groove <NUM>, for example the one engaged by the portion 2A. In such case, the portion 3B is arranged in abutment against the portion <NUM>, to which it is glued with glue or by double-sided adhesive tape. Still in such case, the portion 11B relative to the wall <NUM> may lack and the coating portion <NUM> ends flush with said wall <NUM> or slightly protrudes cantilevered beyond the outer surface of the wall <NUM>.

In the variant illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, the reinforcement portion <NUM> is replaced by a corrugated portion <NUM>, this too stabilising, connected to the coating portion <NUM> by gluing or double-sided adhesive tapes as indicated in the foregoing.

Preferably, the corrugated portion <NUM> is defined by a ribbed strip of paper-based material or other material that can be manually and plastically moulded, for example comprising aluminium or plastic materials and, in general, a material that allows faithfully following and maintaining the curvature of the outer peripheral edges of the plates <NUM> and <NUM> whatever the profile, even in the presence of cusps or significant variations in curvature. Whatever reinforcement material is used, it must be able to withstand the manual pushes directed towards the inside of the casing 1A so as to make peripheral walls having restrained and at most null deflections.

Still in the described example, the corrugated portion <NUM> has an ordered and periodic succession of rectilinear projections <NUM> protruding towards the inside of the casing 1A and delimiting between each other a plurality of rectilinear grooves <NUM> or cavities which extend orthogonally to the walls <NUM> and <NUM> and have a concavity facing towards the inside of the casing 1A (<FIG>). In this manner, the projections <NUM> are connected to each other by weakened portions which facilitate the rotation or the displacement of the projections <NUM> with respect to each other in the concave <NUM> or convex sections, if present, and at the cusps <NUM>. The substantially plastic deformation of such weakened portions further allows counteracting any residual elastic tensions of the coating and finishing portion <NUM>.

Conveniently, the projections <NUM> taper towards the inside of the casing 1A and the grooves <NUM> are flared still towards the inside of said casing 1A.

Regardless of how the corrugated portion <NUM> is manufactured, it is firmly connected to the coating portion <NUM> by gluing or other equivalent mode of firm connection. Preferably, the portions <NUM> and <NUM> are connected to each other by double-sided adhesive tapes <NUM>.

In the variant illustrated in <FIG>, the coating portion <NUM> and the reinforcement portion <NUM>, regardless of their shape or how they are manufactured, form part of a body <NUM> made in a single piece and with the same material with which the coating portion <NUM> is made. Preferably, also in this solution, the reinforcement portion has the projections <NUM> and the grooves <NUM>.

Regardless of its geometry, the coating portion <NUM> is made of elastomeric foam material. Preferably, the portion <NUM> is made of closed-cell polymeric foam material.

Conveniently, the coating portion <NUM> is made with a material selected from the group consisting of ethylenevinyl acetate (EVA), Ethylene-Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM), chloroprene, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), natural rubber, nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR), ethylene vinyl monomer (EVM) and mixtures thereof.

According to a preferred embodiment, the coating portion <NUM> is made of EPDM or of EVAFOAM.

Alternatively, the coating portion <NUM> is made of a material sold under the name SE32CE by the company SOGIMI.

The materials listed above are elastically deformable materials, they all have high conformability or malleability and high stability or shape memory. This allows manufacturing bodies having high aesthetic quality with continuous and homogeneous peripheral profiles, i.e. devoid of discontinuities, such as bulges or wrinkles even and especially in the presence of significant variations in curvature.

In other words, the aforementioned coating materials alone allow manufacturing peripheral walls and, therefore, structured luminescent bodies of high shape stability and high aesthetic quality, whatever the outer peripheral profile of the plates <NUM> and <NUM> and regardless of the radii of curvature of the curved portions of said peripheral profiles.

The aesthetic quality is further enhanced by the particular C shape of the coating portion and in any case by the fact that the turned-down side portions 11B of said coating portion <NUM> are arranged in abutment against the outer surfaces of the peripheral portions 2A,3A, as is clearly visible in <FIG>, <FIG>. Such turned-down portions define a finishing shutter, which, due to the chemical-physical characteristics of the material of the portion <NUM>, is devoid of discontinuities and, when superimposed on the walls <NUM>,<NUM>, masks the joint between said side walls <NUM> and <NUM> and the peripheral wall <NUM>.

Moreover, the turned-down side portions 11B, by effect of the elasticity of the material, exert, once assembly has been completed, a pressure over the entire periphery of the relative wall <NUM>,<NUM>. In the case where the aforementioned foils are placed on the side walls <NUM>,<NUM>, as indicated in the foregoing, such pressure is sufficient to maintain the foils in firm positions with respect to the walls <NUM>,<NUM> and to hold their peripheral edges in adherence to said walls <NUM>,<NUM>, further improving the quality of the product and its aesthetic appearance.

In addition, the elasticity of the entire coating portion <NUM> makes the replacement of the foils even easier and faster should also the surfaces 2B and 3B not be glued to said portion <NUM>. In any case, the elasticity of the coating portion <NUM> allows using foils of different thickness.

The shape stability of the peripheral wall <NUM> is further increased by the reinforcement portions <NUM> and <NUM> and, in particular, improved by the presence of the corrugated portion <NUM>, which, in addition to stiffening the side wall <NUM> and counteracting the inevitable elastic returns of the coating portion <NUM>, also carries out a function of guiding the strip during the winding around the walls <NUM> and <NUM>. In particular, in the case of flat side walls <NUM> and <NUM>, the corrugated portion allows making, in an extremely simple and efficient manner, bends that are always orthogonal to said side walls <NUM> and <NUM>.

It is evident in light of the foregoing that the described manufacturing methods allow manufacturing luminescent bodies of any shape and/or geometry and thus able to satisfy any request, need or customisation, in an extremely simple manner, in particularly short periods of time and at a particularly reasonable price.

At the same time, the manufacturing method of the peripheral wall <NUM> and the materials envisaged for its manufacture allows making bodies with a high degree of finishing and an unquestionable aesthetic quality that remains unaltered during the use of the luminescent body.

Said used materials, whatever their initial colouring, can in any case be easily painted in a light colour, preferably white, so that the chamber that houses the light source <NUM> is delimited by a light-coloured surface which makes uniform and increases the light emission of the body <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A luminescent body (<NUM>) comprising a casing (1A) and a light source (<NUM>) housed in said casing; the casing (1A) comprising a front wall (<NUM>), a rear wall (<NUM>), a peripheral wall (<NUM>) surrounding the front (<NUM>) and rear (<NUM>) walls and firmly connected to the front and rear walls; at least one (<NUM>) of the front and rear walls comprising at least one portion permeable to light; wherein said peripheral wall (<NUM>) comprises an outer coating portion (<NUM>), and the luminescent body further comprises fixing means (<NUM>,<NUM>) for fixing said outer coating portion (<NUM>) to said front (<NUM>) and rear (<NUM>) walls; characterised in that:
- said outer coating portion (<NUM>) is made of elastomeric foam material;
- said at least one (<NUM>) of the front and rear walls (<NUM>,<NUM>) supports a foil, which is laid or glued in a releasable manner, displays one or more images and/or texts, and is at least partially permeable to light;
- said outer coating portion (<NUM>) comprises a turned-down side portion (11B) which exerts, by effect of the elasticity of the elastomeric foam material, a pressure over the entire periphery of said foil, to maintain said foil in firm position with respect to said at least one (<NUM>) of the front and rear walls (<NUM>,<NUM>) and to hold a peripheral edge of said foil in adherence to said at least one (<NUM>) of the front and rear walls (<NUM>,<NUM>).