Patent ID: 8434891

Claim:
A tri-pin LED tube, intended for replacing standard fluorescent tube lights, comprising: an LED lamp tube including a heat sink portion along a length of the tube which partially covers the circumference of the tube; a translucent portion along a length of the tube which covers the remaining circumference of the tube; an array of LEDs electrically connected inside the tube to a circuit board; the circuit board being thermally connected, but electrically isolated, from the heat sink, and an end cap at each end of the lamp tube; both end caps of the LED tube being providing with a pair of outermost pins, at least one of the outmost pins being a current carrying pin for providing power to the LED array; and both end caps of the LED tube being provided with a middle pin which is connected to the lamp heat sink; and wherein in the event a failure condition occurs causing electrical current traveling through the LED array to contact the heat sink, such current is safely transferred to ground by at least one of the middle ground pins.