Light-emitting module, and illumination light source and illumination device using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9506632-B2
Application number	US-201214359406-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2012
Priority date	Dec 16, 2011
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

A light-emitting module includes a substrate, and elongated light-emitting units arranged in rows on the substrate. Each light-emitting unit includes an element array of light-emitting elements arranged on the substrate and a sealing member sealing the element array. The sealing member contains a wavelength converting material. When the light-emitting units are viewed from a direction that is parallel to a surface on which the plurality of light-emitting units are arranged and coincides with a row direction being a direction along which the light-emitting units are arranged in rows, two of the light-emitting units are arranged such that portions of one of the two light-emitting units nearer to the center in the row direction are visible without being obstructed by the other light-emitting unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A light-emitting module, comprising:
a substrate; and
a plurality of elongated light-emitters that are arranged in rows on the substrate, wherein
each light-emitter includes an element array of a plurality of light-emitting diodes arranged on the substrate and a seal that seals the element array, the seal containing a wavelength converting material,
one light-emitter of the light-emitters that is nearer to the center of the substrate in a row direction is longer in a longitudinal direction of the one light-emitter than another light-emitter of the light-emitters that is nearer to an edge of the substrate in the row direction, the row direction being a direction along which the plurality of light-emitters are arranged in rows,
when the light-emitters are viewed from a direction that is parallel to a surface on which the plurality of light-emitters are arranged and that coincides with the row direction, two of the light-emitters are arranged such that both ends of one of the two light-emitters that is nearer to the center in the row direction are visible without being obstructed by the other light-emitter,
each of the visible ends contains at least one of the light-emitting diodes in the corresponding element array,
the plurality of light-emitting diodes are connected, by a wiring pattern formed on the substrate, to power feeding terminals mounted in a peripheral region of the substrate, and
a portion of the wiring pattern extends in one direction from a side of a light-emitter of the light-emitters, and extends between the light emitters in a second direction to the peripheral region of the substrate along the longitudinal direction of the light-emitters, the portion of the wiring pattern not making any other connections throughout its length,
the plurality of light-emitting diodes are divided into K groups, each group including N light-emitting diodes, where N and K are each an integer not less than 1,
the wiring pattern formed on the substrate connects the K groups in parallel and connects the N light-emitting diodes included in each group in series, such that all of the groups are connected in parallel to each other and none of the groups are connected serially to each other, and
for any two adjacent light-emitters of the light-emitters, the number of light-emitting diodes included in the element array longer in the longitudinal direction thereof is larger than the number of light-emitting diodes included in the element array shorter in the longitudinal direction thereof.

2. The light-emitting module of claim 1 , wherein
an imaginary envelope line through edges of the plurality of light-emitters in a longitudinal direction thereof defines an arc.

3. The light-emitting module of claim 1 , wherein
at least two pairs of adjacent light-emitters among the light-emitters are each arranged such that one of the adjacent light-emitters in the pair which is nearer to the center of the substrate has the visible ends which are visible without being obstructed by the other light-emitter in the pair, and
the visible ends of the light-emitter in the one of the two pairs which is nearer to the center of the substrate are shorter in length than the visible ends of the light-emitter in the other of the two pairs which is nearer to the edge of the substrate.

4. The light-emitting module of claim 1 , wherein
in a plan view of the substrate, a center axis of the seal of each light-emitter in the longitudinal direction thereof matches an axis passing through centers of the light-emitting diodes included in the light-emitter.

5. The light-emitting module of claim 1 , wherein
centers of the light-emitters in the longitudinal direction thereof are all aligned in the row direction.

6. The light-emitting module of claim 1 , wherein
at least two adjacent light-emitters of the light-emitters are arranged such that, in the row direction, each light-emitting diode included in one of the two adjacent light-emitters is out of alignment with any light-emitting diode included in the other of the two adjacent light-emitters.

7. The light-emitting module of claim 1 , wherein
both ends of the seal of each light-emitter in an array direction, along which the light-emitting diodes included therein are arranged, are in a rounded shape.

8. The light-emitting module of claim 1 , wherein
the seal of each light-emitter contains a light-transmitting resin material.

9. A lighting source comprising:
a power supply; and
the light-emitting module of claim 1 .

10. A lighting device comprising the lighting source of claim 9 , wherein the power supply includes a circuit substrate.

11. A light-emitting module, comprising:
a substrate; and
a plurality of elongated light-emitters that are arranged in rows on the substrate, wherein
each light-emitter includes an element array of a plurality of light-emitting diodes arranged on the substrate and a seal that seals the element array, the seal containing a wavelength converting material,
one light-emitter of the light-emitters that is nearer to the center of the substrate in a row direction is longer in a longitudinal direction of the one light-emitter than another light-emitter of the light-emitters that is nearer to an edge of the substrate in the row direction, the row direction being a direction along which the plurality of light-emitters are arranged in rows,
when the light-emitters are viewed from a direction that is parallel to a surface on which the plurality of light-emitters are arranged and that coincides with the row direction, two of the light-emitters are arranged such that both ends of one of the two light-emitters that is nearer to the center in the row direction are visible without being obstructed by the other light-emitter,
each of the visible ends contains at least one of the light-emitting diodes in the corresponding element array, and
the light-emitters are divided into groups according to color of light emitted, each of the groups emitting a different color,
the plurality of light-emitting diodes are connected, by a wiring pattern formed on the substrate, to power feeding terminals mounted in a peripheral region of the substrate, and
a portion of the wiring pattern extends in one direction from a side of a light-emitter of the light-emitters, and extends between the light emitters in a second direction to the peripheral region of the substrate along the longitudinal direction of the light-emitters, the portion of the wiring pattern not making any other connections throughout its length,
the plurality of light-emitting diodes are divided into K groups, each group including N light-emitting diodes, where N and K are each an integer not less than 1,
the wiring pattern formed on the substrate connects the K groups in parallel and connects the N light-emitting diodes included in each group in series, such that all of the groups are connected in parallel to each other and none of the groups are connected serially to each other, and
for any two adjacent light-emitters of the light-emitters, the number of light-emitting diodes included in the element array longer in the longitudinal direction thereof is larger than the number of light-emitting diodes included in the element array shorter in the longitudinal direction thereof.

12. The light-emitting module of claim 11 , wherein the N light-emitting diodes included in each of the K groups are each spread across a plurality of the element arrays, and
light-emitting diodes in the same one of the K groups and included in an element array of one light-emitter of the light-emitters all emit the same color of light as each other.

13.

Assignees

• Panasonic Corp
• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ogata Toshifumi
• Ishimori Atsuyoshi
• Abe Masumi

Classifications

• H10W90/753

  between laterally-adjacent chips · CPC title

• H10W74/00

  Encapsulations, e.g. protective coatings · CPC title

• H10W72/5522

  comprising gold [Au] · CPC title

• H10W90/00 Primary

  Package configurations · CPC title

• H10H20/8514

  characterised by their shape, e.g. plate or foil · CPC title