Support rail for holding and supplying power to a plurality of lighting modules, and light strip system with such a support rail

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9829184-B2
Application number	US-201314396792-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2013
Priority date	May 14, 2012
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A support rail for holding and supplying power to a plurality of lighting modules. The support rail has first conductors for forming a first power supply circuit and second conductors for forming a second power supply circuit. The support rail additionally has a converter unit for electrically coupling the second power supply circuit to the first power supply circuit. The second power supply circuit also has a first coupling element for electrically connecting a first lighting module and a second coupling element for electrically connecting a second lighting module. The result of this design of the second power supply circuit is that a single converter unit is sufficient for converting a voltage for supplying power to the two lighting modules. In this way a particularly cost-effective and compact construction of the support rail becomes possible.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An LED lighting strip system, comprising:
an elongate support rail axially extending along a longitudinal axis for holding and supplying power to a plurality of LED lighting modules, first conductors supported on and extending substantially along the length of the elongate support rail forming a first power supply circuit to distribute AC grid voltage,
second conductors supported on and extending along the elongate support rail for forming a second power supply circuit to distribute a DC voltage, and
a converter unit for electrically coupling the second power supply circuit to the first power supply circuit and converting the AC grid voltage to the DC voltage to power the LED lighting modules,
wherein the second power supply circuit has a first DC coupling element for electrically connecting a first LED lighting module and a second DC coupling element for electrically connecting a second LED lighting module mounted in spaced apart orientation to the elongate support rail.

2. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the elongate support rail has a first end region and a second end region and, the first power supply circuit has a first AC coupling element which is arranged in the first end region and a second AC coupling element which is arranged in the second end region.

3. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , in which the first DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit and the second DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit are arranged on the support rail, in a stationary manner with respect to the longitudinal axis.

4. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , in which the converter unit is configured to provide a constant DC voltage for the second power supply circuit.

5. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , in which the first DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit and the second DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit are connected in series.

6. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the elongate support rail has a substantially U-shaped in cross section and has a first limb section of the U, a second limb section of the U and a third section which connects the two limbs of the U to one another, wherein the converter unit is mounted to on the third section.

7. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 6 , in which the first conductors and the second conductors are arranged between the first section and the second limb section.

8. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising at least one third LED lighting module and in which the second power supply circuit additionally has at least one third DC coupling element for electrically connecting the at least one third LED lighting module, wherein all of the DC coupling elements of the second power supply circuit are arranged equidistantly.

9. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising to at least one third LED lighting module and in which the second power supply circuit additionally has at least one third DC coupling element for electrically connecting the at least one third LED lighting module, wherein the distance between the first DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit and the second DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit differs from the distance between the second DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit and the at least one third DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit.

10. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of third DC coupling elements for electrically connecting a plurality of third LED lighting modules, wherein the plurality of third DC coupling elements are arranged equidistantly from one another and in this case each nearer to one another than the first DC coupling element and the second DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit.

11. The LED lighting strip system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a first LED lighting module which is electrically connected to the first DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit, and a second LED lighting module which is electrically connected to the second DC coupling element of the second power supply circuit.

12. The LED light strip system as claimed in claim 11 , in which the first and second LED lighting modules are mechanically held on the elongate support rail and electrically connected to the elongate support rail such that the lighting modules extend over the entire length of the support rail.

13. The LED light strip system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first AC coupling element and the second AC coupling element are configured to cooperate with one another enabling two LED light strip systems to be axially aligned and electrically connected transmitting AC grid voltage therebetween.

Assignees

• Zumtobel Lighting Gmbh

Inventors

• Ladstaetter Gerald

Classifications

• F21S4/20

  with light sources held by or within elongate supports · CPC title

• F21V23/023

  Power supplies in a casing (F21V23/003 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F21V21/025

  Elongated bases having a U-shaped cross section · CPC title

• F21Y2115/10

  Light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• F21V21/35 Primary

  with direct electrical contact between the supporting element and electric conductors running along the guiding element · CPC title