Wiring boards for array-based electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8947001-B2
Application number	US-201313799807-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2013
Priority date	Sep 6, 2012
Publication date	Feb 3, 2015
Grant date	Feb 3, 2015

Abstract

In accordance with certain embodiments, lighting systems include one or more lightsheets each including a plurality of strings of light-emitting elements, control elements, and power conductors for supplying power to the light-emitting elements and control elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting system comprising:
a substantially planar lightsheet;
disposed on the lightsheet, first and second spaced-apart power conductors each extending in a first direction;
a plurality of light-emitting strings, each light-emitting string (i) comprising a plurality of interconnected light-emitting elements spaced along the light-emitting string, (ii) having a first end electrically coupled to the first power conductor, (iii) having a second end electrically coupled to the second power conductor, and (iv) being oriented in a second direction not parallel to the first direction, wherein the power conductors supply power to each of the light-emitting strings; and
a plurality of control elements each (i) electrically connected to at least one light-emitting string and (ii) configured to utilize power supplied from the power conductors to control the current to the at least one light-emitting string to which it is electrically connected,
wherein, for each light-emitting string, a pitch at which the light-emitting elements are spaced is (i) substantially constant and (ii) independent of a position of the control element electrically connected to the light-emitting string.

2. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the lightsheet is separable, via a cut spanning the first and second power conductors and not crossing a light-emitting string, into two partial lightsheets each comprising (i) one or more light-emitting strings, (ii) one or more control elements, and (iii) portions of the first and second power conductors configured to supply power to and thereby illuminate the one or more light-emitting strings of the partial lightsheet.

3. The lighting system of claim 1 , further comprising, electrically connected to the power conductors, a power supply configured to provide a substantially constant voltage to the power conductors.

4. The lighting system of claim 3 , further comprising a second lightsheet (i) coupled to the lightsheet and (ii) comprising third and fourth spaced-apart power conductors disposed thereon, wherein the power supply is configured to supply the substantially constant voltage to the third and fourth power conductors.

5. The lighting system of claim 4 , wherein the substantially constant voltage provided to the first, second, third, and fourth power conductors does not exceed approximately 60 volts.

6. The lighting system of claim 3 , wherein the power supply is configured to adjust a light output of the lightsheet by pulse-width-modulating the substantially constant voltage.

7. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein each light-emitting string comprises only 12, 16, 18, or 20 light-emitting elements.

8. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting strings are spaced apart on the lightsheet at a substantially constant string pitch.

9. The lighting system of claim 8 , wherein the string pitch is an integer multiple of the light-emitting-element pitch, wherein the integer is greater than 1.

10. The lighting system of claim 8 , wherein the string pitch is approximately equal to the light-emitting-element pitch.

11. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein, over the lightsheet, light-emitting elements are spaced apart at a substantially constant light-emitting-element pitch maintained between light-emitting elements of different light-emitting strings.

12. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein each control element is electrically connected to a different light-emitting string.

13. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein light-emitting elements of each light-emitting string are connected in series.

14. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein at least one control element is configured to provide a substantially constant current to the at least one light-emitting string to which the control element is connected.

15. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein at least one light-emitting element emits substantially white light.

16. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein at least one light-emitting element comprises a bare-die light-emitting diode.

17. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein at least one light-emitting element comprises a packaged light-emitting diode.

18. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein at least one light-emitting string is a folded string having a straight-line length longer than a dimension of the lightsheet spanned by the power conductors.

19. The lighting system of claim 18 , wherein (i) the light-emitting elements of the folded string have a positive terminal and a negative terminal, and (ii) all of the positive terminals are oriented toward a single edge of the lightsheet notwithstanding folds in the folded string.

20. The lighting system of claim 1 , further comprising a second control element (i) different from the plurality of control elements, (ii) electrically connected to at least one light-emitting string, and (iii) configured to control the at least one light-emitting string to produce an optical characteristic of light emitted thereby.

21. The lighting system of claim 20 , wherein the optical characteristic comprises at least one of chromaticity, color temperature, intensity, color rendering index, spectral power distribution, or spatial light distribution pattern.

22. The lighting system of claim 20 , wherein the second control element is configured to adjust a light output of the lightsheet by pulse-width-modulating power supplied to the lightsheet.

23. The lighting system of claim 20 , wherein the second control element is configured to produce the optical characteristic by selectively de-energizing various ones of the light-emitting strings, thereby dimming a light output from the lightsheet, without altering a drive current supplied to the remaining light-emitting strings.

24. The lighting system of claim 20 , further comprising a second lightsheet electrically connected to the second control element.

25. The lighting system of claim 20 , wherein the second control element is disposed on the lightsheet.

26. The lighting system of claim 20 , wherein the second control element is not disposed on the lightsheet.

27. The lighting system of claim 20 , wherein the plurality of light-emitting strings comprises (i) a first group of one or more light-emitting strings, and (ii) a second group of one or more light-emitting strings different from the first group, and
the second control element is configured to produce the optical characteristic by:
activating the first group and deactivating the second group to produce light having a first chromaticity, color temperature, intensity, efficiency, color rendering index, spectral power distribution, or spatial light distribution, and
activating the second group and deactivating the first group to produce light having a second chromaticity, color temperature, intensity, efficiency, color rendering index, spectral power distribution, or spatial light distribution different from the first chromaticity, color temperature, intensity, efficiency, color rendering index, spectral power distribution, or spatial light distribution.

28. The lighting system of claim 20 , wherein:
the plurality of light-emitting strings comprises a first group of one or more light-emitting strings and, associated with at least one of the light-emitting elements of the first group, a first optical element of a first type,
the plurality of light-emitting

Assignees

• Tischler Michael A
• Jungwirth Paul
• Cooledge Lighting Inc

Inventors

• Tischler Michael A
• Jungwirth Paul

Classifications

• H10W74/15

  on active surfaces of flip-chip devices, e.g. underfills · CPC title

• H05B45/46

  having LEDs disposed in parallel lines · CPC title

• H05B45/48

  having LEDs organised in strings and incorporating parallel shunting devices · CPC title

• H05B33/0821 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05B33/0827

  Electricity · mapped topic