EP1074788B1 - Fastening element for holding components used in the technique of lighting in a luminaire - Google Patents

Abstract

The attachment element has a device (19) for attaching the attachment element to a housing wall, an anchoring device (32) for anchoring one or more lamp holders to the attachment element and a shape-locking and/or force-locking connector (26a, 26b) for connecting the attachment element to a light matrix and/or reflector. An Independent claim is also included for a light.

Description

The invention relates generally to luminaires having a plurality of lighting components, such as lamps, lighting grids, reflectors and the like, which are installed in a luminaire housing and must be precisely aligned with each other to achieve a desired Lichtabstrahlcharakteristik, and means for inserting these lighting components in a luminaire housing ,

So far, the various lighting components, in particular lamps and reflectors or grid, individually installed on the lamp housing, which was prepared for this purpose in the assembly of such lights. In part, various lighting components, such. As a light grid and the lamp reflector, first connected to each other and then installed together in the lamp housing. Thus, DE 38 26 676 C2 describes z. As a light grid, which is hung with a hook in an outer reflector and is supported by a spring on an inner reflector. It is also known to form a reflector and a lighting grid in one piece. From EP 0 324 462 A2 it is known to fasten a luminaire grid via a closure on the front side of a luminaire housing.

The lights according to the prior art have in common that the various lighting components are each fixed separately to the lamp housing. Accordingly, the luminaire housing must be specially prepared by providing perforations, attachment points or the like for the individual luminaire. This complicates the use of a standard housing for different types of luminaires, which would be desirable from an economic point of view in many cases. The same applies to the refurbishment of old lights, since new fixing points must be created for all newly used lighting components.

Another problem with the lights of the prior art is that the exact positioning of the individual parts is relatively expensive.

US Patent 5,615,943 relates to the refurbishment of old lights. By means of a holding element, which is riveted in a housing of an old lamp, a new reflector and sockets for new fluorescent tubes are mounted.

It is the object of the invention to find an economical way of securing lighting components in a luminaire housing.

According to the invention this object is achieved by a fastener according to claim 1 for holding a plurality of lighting components in a luminaire housing with a means for attaching the fastener to a housing wall, anchoring means for anchoring one or more lamp sockets to the fastener and a positive and / or non-positively acting Connecting device for connecting the fastening element with a light grid and / or a reflector.

The anchoring means and the connecting means are mutually in a fixed or determinable by the fastener relationship, so that the spatial relationship between the lamp socket and the light grid and / or the reflector is determined by the fastener when they are attached to the fastener, with smaller dimensional tolerances can be absorbed by the elastic deformation of parts of the fastener. According to one embodiment it can be provided that the anchoring device and / or the connecting device or parts thereof are displaceable between different positions and can be fixed in these positions, for example to allow different positions of the lamp relative to the reflector and / or the grid.

Preferably, the fastening element is integrally formed. The predetermined spatial relationship between the attachment points of the fastener for connection to the lamp sockets and the luminaire grid and / or the reflector is achieved that in a luminaire, in which the fastening elements according to the invention are used, the grid and / or the reflector when they the fastening element are installed, lie in a fixed position by the fastener relative to a lamp, which is fixed on the anchoring device to the fastener. In other words, the different parts, so z. As the lamp, the light grid and / or the reflector, when installed in the light automatically aligned with each other and in their spatial relationship to each other accurately determined when they are installed on the one or more fasteners of the invention.

The invention provides that the anchoring device is arranged on a resilient portion, such that a force in the longitudinal direction of a rod-shaped lamp, which is installed via the anchoring device and a corresponding socket, causes a displacement of the anchoring device against an elastic force.

The invention may provide that the fastening element comprises a wall, in particular a rear wall, which has a partially cut-out, at an angle projecting elastically deformable portion for receiving the lamp sockets. The anchoring device may in particular consist of a free projecting from the fastener, not limited to three sides wall portion.

According to a particular embodiment, it is provided that the fastening element has a latching surface for engaging a detent spring of the grid and / or the reflector and / or a detent spring for engaging a detent surface of the grid and / or the reflector.

The locking surface can, for. B. be formed by the edge of an opening or a projection of the fastener.

Other positive and / or non-positive connections, in particular those that allow a tool-free attachment, z. B. elements of tongue and groove joints, may also be used.

Preferably, the fastening element according to the invention has a projection for latching or hooking a spring for holding a grid and / or reflector.

The fastening element according to the invention can in particular have a stop for contacting a grid and / or a reflector.

If the fastener has a detent spring, this is preferably designed so that when they are connected to a complementary locking surface, for. B. a projection, a grid or a reflector attacks, pulls the grid or the reflector to the stop and press against it. If the fastening element has a latching surface for engaging a detent spring, this is preferably arranged so that a detent spring of the grid and / or the reflector, which acts on the latching surface, the grid or the reflector can pull against said stop.

In particular, the invention can provide projecting transverse walls, which form a contact surface for a grid and / or a reflector. These transverse walls can protrude in particular from a wall, which carries the resilient section with the anchoring device, parallel to the longitudinal direction of a lamp to be used, in particular perpendicular to this wall. An alignment of the transverse walls parallel to the lamp axis is particularly advantageous if the grid lamellae are to extend perpendicular to the lamp axis. In general, one will choose the location of the transverse walls so that they lie on both sides of the lamp and form a stop for the end plate of the luminaire grid.

The fastener according to the invention may also have a protruding portion for supporting on a housing wall, in particular on a housing end wall, and for maintaining a distance between a wall of the fastener and the housing wall.

The invention may also provide that a wall, for. For example, the side wall, which carries the elastic element with the anchoring device, and / or one or more of the transverse walls an opening for the line feedthrough, possibly also for routing.

Furthermore, it can be provided that the fastening element has one or more positive locking elements for fastening the fastening element to a wall of the lamp housing by means provided there complementary positive locking elements.

The invention may in particular provide that the fastening element has a bottom wall with positive locking elements for fastening to the housing bottom of a lamp housing.

The fastening element according to the invention can at least in sections in the electrical path from the device for fastening to a housing wall to the anchoring device made of an insulating material, preferably plastic, wherein the plastic should be elastic and not too brittle.

Preferably, the fastener is made entirely of plastic, with suitable materials, for. PC, PP or SAN.

The invention also provides a luminaire having a luminaire housing, one or more lamps and one or more luminaire grids and / or one or more reflectors, which is characterized in that it has two mutually opposite fastening elements connected to the luminaire housing as described above, between which a rod-shaped lamp is secured via anchored in the respective anchoring devices sockets and with which at least one luminaire grid and / or a reflector is connected via a latching connection. Preferably, the fastening elements are each attached to the front side of the housing.

In this luminaire it can be provided that the fastening elements have a positioning device for fixing their position relative to the luminaire housing, at least one anchoring device is arranged in a section of the associated fastening element, which is elastically deformable in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the lamp. Preferably, it is provided that by the positioning of the distance of this elastic portion of the corresponding portion of the opposite fastener is set up or can be set so that this when inserting a lamp of appropriate length in the attached to this section lamp holder against an elastic force from its rest position can be deflected so that he presses the lamp in use against the opposite section. The length of the lamp may vary due to the type or production due to a minimum amount provided for the lamp. According to the invention, these deviations are compensated by the elastic sections. When using lamps with the specified minimum length, the sections can also remain unloaded.

Preferably, the two opposing fastening elements are each provided with such an elastic portion.

The positioning in the simplest case by the connection between the fastener and housing, z. B. by a stop in a groove, the edge of an opening for receiving locking heads or the like., To be realized. According to a preferred embodiment, the positioning device comprises a stop for supporting the fastening element on a housing wall.

It may be provided in particular that the fastening elements are each mounted on an end face of the housing, said stop is adapted to be supported on the respective Gehäusestimwand and upon insertion of the lamp, the elastic portion or the respective elastic portion in the direction of the housing end wall is biased towards and the respective stop is thereby pressed against the corresponding Gehäusestimwand.

The connection of the fastener with a housing wall is preferably via positive-locking elements, for. B. locking heads, which project through openings in the housing wall and which have a groove, in which engages the edge of the opening of the housing wall. Other compounds, e.g. B. detent or groove / spring connections are also possible within the scope of the invention. It is preferably provided that the means for connecting the fastening element with the housing wall permits a displacement of the fastening element in the longitudinal direction of the lamp. According to one embodiment, the displacement is freely possible, so that when inserting the lamp in the manner described above, in which the or the elastic elements which carry the sockets, are deflected from its rest position, a dimensional inaccuracy of the spacer, the housing and / or the lamp can be compensated and / or for different lights different fasteners with the same housing (or different housing with the same fasteners) can be used. It can also be provided that the fastening element in different, with respect to the longitudinal direction of the lamp displaced positions, by a suitable device, for. As a clamp, a clamping screw or the like., Can be fixed. In this way it is possible to compensate for larger dimensional differences between the fastener and the housing.

The connection between the housing and the fastening element is preferably provided between the housing bottom and a bottom surface of the fastening element. She can, however z. B. also be provided between the side walls of the housing and a side wall of the fastener.

The lamp according to the invention may in particular comprise a latching connection for connecting a lighting grid and / or a reflector with the fastening element, which comprises a latching surface, in particular a latching projection on one of the two parts and a detent spring on the other of the two parts, wherein the detent spring in the assembled State of the lamp acts on the latching surface and is positively and / or non-positively secured against displacement from the detent position.

In particular, the head of the detent spring can engage in an opening which prevents movement perpendicular to the detent surface so that the spring is secured in two opposite directions.

It can also be provided that on the fastening element acting in the opposite direction as the locking surface stop for abutment of one side of the grid and / or the reflector, in particular a top of the grid or the reflector, is provided, wherein the detent spring in the Direction from this stop to the locking surface is elastically deformable and the distance between the stop and the locking surface when the grid and / or the reflector on the stop is dimensioned so that the detent spring is deflected in the locked state from the rest position and the grid or Press the reflector against the stop.

The fact that a single component is used for fastening both lamps and reflectors and / or lamp grids, which in turn is attached to the lamp housing, it is on the one hand possible to arrange by simply plugging the respective components exactly in the intended spatial relationship to each other. The attachment of corresponding attachment points to the fastener according to the invention is much simpler and cheaper to provide as appropriate attachment points on a housing, since the fasteners of the invention can be produced inexpensively in large numbers by molding, pressing or the like. In addition, the position of the individual lighting components can be determined independently of the geometry of the lamp housing, as they only by the shape of the fastener and the location of the various attachment points for the lighting Components is determined. To attach these lighting components in the correct assignment and location in the housing, only a connection between the fastener and the housing is required, which can be standardized. This allows the use of the same luminaire housing with different lighting components as well as the simple renovation of old lights. If the old light has no suitable attachment points for the fastener, these can be subsequently provided in a relatively simple manner, since only for the fastener, but not for the individual photometric components, new attachment points must be formed. The invention makes it possible to drastically reduce both the number of attachment points on the luminaire housing and the number of elements required for mounting the various luminaire components over the conventional technique, which has considerable manufacturing advantages.

Fig. 1

zeigt eine schematische perspektivische Ansicht einer Rasterleuchte,

Fig. 2

zeigt einen Schnitt entlang der Linie A-A bei einem Ausführungsbeispiel einer erfindungsgemäßen Rasterleuchte,

Fig. 3

zeigt einen Schnitt entlang der Linie B-B in Fig. 2,

Fig. 4

zeigt eine perspektivische Ansicht eines Ausführungsbeispiels eines erfindungsgemäßen Befestigungselements,

Fig. 5

zeigt eine perspektivische Ansicht eines erfindungsgemäßen Befestigungselements unter einem anderen Winkel.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1

shows a schematic perspective view of a grid lamp,

Fig. 2

shows a section along the line AA in an embodiment of a grid lamp according to the invention,

Fig. 3

shows a section along the line BB in Fig. 2,

Fig. 4

shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a fastener according to the invention,

Fig. 5

shows a perspective view of a fastener according to the invention at a different angle.

The grid lamp shown in Fig. 1 has a lamp housing 1, a light grid 3 with end plates 3 ₁ at each end and further, lying between the end plates 3 ₁ slats 3 _j , which are interconnected, and side reflector walls 5 on both sides of a lamp ( not shown) extending between two lamp sockets 7 at the two End faces of the housing 1 extends. The luminaire grid 3 and the reflector walls 5 form a unit and are fastened to the housing 1 on the two end faces of the housing 1 via the respective end plate 3 ₁ and a fastening element 11 in a manner which will be explained below.

The fastening element 11 is shown in Fig. 4 and 5 in detail. It forms a one-piece component with various connection means for connection to the lamp sockets 7 and the light grid 3. These connections are provided at various points of the fastener in a fixed predetermined spatial relationship, so that in an assembly by itself the correct orientation of the various components to each other results.

The fastener 11 is made according to a preferred embodiment of plastic, in particular of a thermoplastic material, such. PC, PP or SAN. UV resistant and heat resistant materials are preferred to prevent the fastener 11 from prematurely becoming brittle. The fastening element 11 has a bottom wall 13, a rear wall 15 which adjoins this substantially perpendicularly, and transverse walls 16 which extend perpendicularly to the rear wall 15 and the bottom wall 13, so that a space region is defined which is in use (see FIG and 3) is open in the downward direction and in the direction toward the opposite end side of the housing 1. The transverse walls 16 have holes 17 for line bushing.

The bottom wall 13 is in use on the housing bottom 18 at. On the side facing away from the transverse walls 16 and the rear wall 15 locking lugs 19 are provided for connection to the housing bottom 18. The locking lugs 19 have locking heads in a known manner, below which a groove is formed, in which engage the edges of an opening of the housing bottom 18. This opening is conveniently formed with a widened portion through which the locking heads can pass, and a tapered portion through which the locking heads can not pass, the locking lugs 19 are inserted into the widened portion and then moved to the tapered portion, so that the latching heads hold the fastening element 11 on the housing bottom 18. The locking heads can also be designed to be resilient and are pressed during the attachment of the fastener 11 through holes in the housing with a slightly smaller diameter. According to yet another embodiment, the latching noses can also from a relative hard plastic material and having a head whose diameter corresponds approximately to the diameter of corresponding holes in the housing, and having a arranged below the head stem with rectangular cross section, wherein the greater length of this rectangular cross section correspond to the diameter of the head and the smaller length this cross section may be smaller than this diameter, so that below the head a bearing edge is formed. The locking lugs are mounted on the fastening element 11 at a distance which is smaller than the distance of the corresponding openings in the housing bottom 18. When inserting the locking lugs in these holes is a deformation of these locking lugs and / or the housing sheet in which the holes are formed instead of and the housing plate snaps below the head in the region of a long side of the stem. Due to the deformation when pressing the locking lugs these are securely held in the latched state.

On the rear wall 15 close on the side facing away from the bottom wall 13 side two with respect to the rear wall 15 forward, ie angled towards the free end of the transverse walls 16 out, spaced-apart wall portions 20a, 20b, each lying at a lateral end of the fastener , At these wall sections, a spacer 21 connects, which is angled towards the rear, ie away from the free end of the transverse walls 16. The spacer 21 extends rearwardly beyond the rear wall 15 and, at its end facing away from the wall sections 20a, 20b, transitions into a stop 23 which, as can be seen in FIG. 2, abuts in use against an end wall 25 of the housing. In the transition region between the wall sections 20a and 20b and the spacer 21 is, as best seen in Fig. 5 can be seen, in each case a more forward angled locking projection 26a and 26b, which, as will be described in more detail below, as an attack surface for a detent spring for securing the light grid 3 is used.

From the rear wall 15 is in the middle between the wall portions 20a and 20b a socket support 30 in the form of a cut out on three sides wall portion vertically upwards or possibly obliquely forward, which has two insertion holes 32 for insertion of a lamp holder 7. The insertion holes 32 may be provided with detents, bayonet devices or the like for securing the lampholders in a known manner. The socket carrier 30 is elastically resilient, so that it can be displaced from its rest position shown in Figure 4 and 5, backwards, ie away from the free end of the transverse walls 16, against an elastic force.

In the spacer 21, a more recessed portion 34 is formed in the middle in the region of the socket carrier 30, which merges via inclined surfaces 36 in the adjoining the wall sections 20a, 20b lateral portions 38a and 38b of the spacer 21, so that an additional space is created , which facilitates the handling of the lamp when inserted into the sockets.

For mounting the lamp grid 3 on the fastening element 11, a detent spring 40 is attached to the end plate 3 _{1 of} the light grid 3 at each end (see FIG. 2). This detent spring 40 has a zigzag shape and has an angled portion 42, which serves as a latching head, and a subsequent thereto angled portion 42 sliding surface 44th

For mounting the lamp is in the housing 1 on the two end faces in each case a fastener 11 thereby secured that the locking lugs 19 through corresponding openings of the housing bottom 18 (not shown), which may be configured, for example, pear-shaped, and then locked in the longitudinal direction of the lamp be, wherein in the latched position, the stop 23 rests against the respective housing end wall 25 so that the spacer 21, the rear wall 15 at a predetermined distance from the Gehäusestimwand 25 holds. The space thus obtained between the fastening element 11 and the end wall 25 can be used in a corresponding embodiment for attaching electrical components, such as ballasts, and for line feedthrough.

For further mounting of the lamp, a lamp holder 7 is inserted into each of the two insertion holes 32 of the fastening element 11 at each of the two end sides of the housing 1. The sockets 7 are connected by leads, which are guided through the Leitungsdurchfiihrungen 17 in the transverse walls 16. By performing through the cable bushings 17 eliminates the need for a separate line holder, or the setting of the lines in this area. Subsequently, a lamp is inserted into the sockets on the two end faces of the housing.

The rest position of the socket carrier 30 at the two end faces of the housing 1 is set so that the distance between the lamp sockets for all expected housing tolerances is less than or equal to a minimum length of the lamp, which is expected in view of the type-related or production-related variations in the length of the lamp. For lamps whose length typ- or production-related greater than this minimum length or in the case that the said distance, z. B. due to the housing, is smaller than this minimum length, the socket carrier 30 are deflected from its rest position and pressed towards the respective end wall 25 toward the insertion of the lamp in the sockets 7, so that dimensional tolerances are compensated and the lamp safely in the luminaire housing is held.

After insertion of the lamp, the luminaire grid 3 with the louvres 3 ₁ , 3 _j and the reflector walls connected to them 5 is inserted from below via the housing opening in the housing 1. As can be seen in Fig. 2 and 3, the two reflector walls 5 are not connected to each other at its upper end, so that an opening between them remains free. The reflector walls 5 can therefore be slid over the lamp so that it comes to rest in the area between the reflector walls 5 and above the grid 3.

For insertion into the housing 1, the light grid 3 is inserted from below over the housing opening until the upper edge of the end plate 3 ₁ rests against the lower edge 45 of the transverse walls 16. In this case, the locking springs 40 slide over the respective projections 26a and 26b at the two lateral end of the fastening element 11, wherein the distance of the attached to the two end faces of the housing fasteners 11 of the respective housing end wall 25 which is defined by the spacer 21 so is set up that the spring 40 is thereby deflected from its rest position, with the angled portion 42 engages over the projection 26a and 26b and thereby holds the grid 3 to the fastener. The spring 40 is also designed so that it pulls the grid 3 upwards, so that the upper edge of the end plate 3 _{1 is held} largely free of play on the lower edges 45 of the transverse walls 16 and rests against the lower edges 45 as a rule.

The lamp is ready mounted. From the foregoing description it is apparent that this assembly can be done without tools. Since the fastener 11 is made of an insulating plastic, a voltage carryover between the socket and the housing bottom is prevented. For example, the insulating bottom wall 13 prevents electrical contact of a lead wire that has detached from the socket, with the housing bottom 18th

The embodiment described above can be modified in various respects. For example, the grid lamellae on the one hand and the reflective side walls on the other hand form separate components, which can each be connected separately with the fastening element according to the invention via snap-in connections, similar to those which have been described above for the attachment of the luminaire grid. The fastening elements according to the invention need not necessarily be attached to the housing bottom or supported on the front side, but can, for. B. also attached to a side wall of the housing and / or be supported. While a single-lamp has been described above, also a multi-lamp lamp according to the invention can be realized, wherein for the individual lamps each separate fastening elements may be provided or a single fastener may be provided for the attachment of multiple lamps. Conveniently, one will provide for each lamp its own resilient socket holder. Likewise, of course, even with wider lights a plurality of juxtaposed grid can be mounted with correspondingly modified inventive Shen fastening elements in a luminaire housing.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

luminaire housing

3

louver

3 ₁

end disk

3 _y

lamella

5

reflector wall

7

lamp socket

11

fastener

13

bottom wall

15

rear wall

16

partition

17

hole

18

caseback

19

locking lug

20a, 20b

angled wall section

21

spacer

23

attack

25

End wall of the housing

26a, 26b

catch projection

30

fitting carrier

32

insertion

34

reset section

36

sloping surface

38a, 38b

lateral sections of the spacer

40

detent spring

42

angled section

44

sliding surface

45

lower edge

Claims (9)

1. Fixing element (11) for holding a plurality of lighting-engineering components (3, 5, 7) in a luminaire housing, having a device (19) for fixing the fixing element (11) to a housing wall (18), an anchoring device (32) for anchoring one or more lampholders (7) on the fixing element (11) and a connecting device (26a, 26b, 40), having an interlocking and/or force-fitting action, for connecting the fixing element (11) to a louvre (3) and/or a reflector (5), characterized in that the anchoring device (32) is arranged on a sprung section (30) such that a force in the longitudinal direction of a tubular lamp, which is attached via the anchoring device (32) and a corresponding lampholder (7), brings about a displacement of the anchoring device (32) counter to an elastic force.
2. Fixing element (11) according to Claim 1, characterized in that it has a latching surface (26a, 26b) on which a latching spring (40) of the louvre and/or the reflector can act and/or a latching spring for acting on a latching surface of the louvre and/or the reflector.
3. Fixing element (11) according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it has a stop (45) against which a louvre and/or a reflector can bear.
4. Fixing element (11) according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized by a protruding section (21, 23) to be supported on a housing wall (25) and for the purpose of maintaining a distance between a wall (15) of the fixing element (11) and the housing wall (25).
5. Fixing element (11) according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it has one or more interlocking elements (19) for the purpose of fixing the fixing element (11) to a wall (18) of the luminaire housing (1) by means of complementary interlocking elements provided there.
6. Fixing element (11) according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, in the electrical path from the device for fixing it to a housing wall (19) to the anchoring device (32), it is made from an insulating material, at least in sections.
7. Luminaire having a luminaire housing (1), one or more lamps and one or more louvres (3) and/or one or more reflectors (5), characterized in that it has two fixing elements (11), which are opposite one another and are connected to the luminaire housing (1), according to one of Claims 1 to 6, lampholders (7) for the purpose of holding a tubular lamp between the fixing elements (11) being anchored in the respective anchoring devices (32) on said fixing elements (11), and at least one louvre (3) and/or a reflector (5) being connected to said fixing elements (11) via a latching connection.
8. Luminaire according to Claim 7, characterized in that the fixing elements have a positioning device (21, 23) for the purpose of fixing their position in relation to the luminaire housing, at least one anchoring device (32) is arranged in a section (30) of the associated fixing element (11), which can be elastically deformed in the direction of the longitudinal axis of a lamp inserted into the lampholder (7), and in that the distance between this elastic section (30) and the corresponding section of the opposite fixing element is fixed or can be fixed by the positioning device, it being possible for the elastic section to be deflected out of its rest position, counter to an elastic force, when a lamp is inserted.
9. Luminaire according to Claim 7 or 8, characterized by a latching connection (26a, 26b, 40) for the purpose of connecting a louvre (3) and/or a reflector (5) to the fixing element (11), which latching connection (26a, 26b, 40) has a latching surface (26a, 26b) on one of the two parts and a latching spring (40) on the other of the two parts, the latching spring (40) acting on the latching surface (26a, 26b) in the assembled state of the luminaire and being secured in an interlocking and/or force-fitting manner against a displacement out of the latching position.

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