LED apparatus and method for accurate lens alignment

• Main Author: WILCOX KURT S
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 12.05.2015
• Subjects: BLASTING; FUNCTIONAL FEATURES OR DETAILS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMSTHEREOF; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; HEATING; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21Sand F21V, RELATING TO THEFORM OR THE KIND OF THE LIGHT SOURCES OR OF THE COLOUR OF THELIGHT EMITTED; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES F21K, F21L, F21Sand F21V, RELATING TO USESOR APPLICATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES OR SYSTEMS; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; NON-PORTABLE LIGHTING DEVICES; STRUCTURAL COMBINATIONS OF LIGHTING DEVICES WITH OTHERARTICLES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; SYSTEMS THEREOF; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; VEHICLE LIGHTING DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR VEHICLEEXTERIORS; WEAPONS

An LED apparatus of the type including (a) a mounting board having an LED-supporting surface with an LED device thereon and (b) a lens member over the LED device establishing a light path therebetween. The inventive LED apparatus includes a lens-aligning member having front and back surfaces. The lens member includes a lens portion and a flange thereabout, the flange being attached to the front surface of the lens-aligning member such that the lens portion substantially surrounds the protruding LED device. The lens-aligning member has a first mating feature which is positioned and arranged for mating engagement with a second mating feature of the mounting board, thereby accurately aligning the lens member over the LED device by accurately aligning the lens-alignment member with the mounting board. Other aspects of the invention is a method for assembly of an LED apparatus and a method for manufacturing custom high-efficiency LED lensing for LED-array modules.