JP4451711B2 - Underwater lighting equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an underwater illumination device used as an illumination lamp for an underwater photographing camera or an underwater observation device, a headlamp for a submersible, or a fish collection lamp.

  When photographing or observing the water or bottom of oceans, lakes or rivers with a camera, it is necessary to illuminate with a lighting device because sufficient sunlight does not reach.

  As such an illumination device for a camera, one having a filament bulb such as a bright halogen lamp that requires a large amount of electric power is widely used. To immerse this lighting device deeply in water, in an expensive and large pressure-resistant container such as a sturdy and relatively lightweight titanium alloy with the front of the bulb sealed with a transparent plate so as not to rupture the bulb with water pressure, Must be sealed and stored. In addition, this lighting device is troublesome because the filament of the bulb often breaks, and the bulb must be replaced frequently. It is inconvenient.

  As a lighting fixture that does not use a light bulb, Patent Document 1 discloses a fish collecting lamp in which a light emitting diode (LED) with low power consumption and excellent durability is enclosed in a pressure-resistant sealed container. When this fish collection lamp is submerged deeply, it is necessary to store it in a large and sturdy pressure-resistant container.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, a light emitting diode whose outer periphery is integrally formed by projecting a lead frame from the non-light emitting side is used as a light source, and the resin body that encloses the lead frame and accommodates the power supply unit is blocked on the non-light emitting side surface. An underwater lighting device is disclosed. This underwater lighting device is uneconomical because once it is integrally formed, the failed light emitting diode cannot be repaired or replaced. In addition, in order to produce a lighting device that uses a large number of light emitting diodes in order to obtain a sufficient amount of illumination light because the light amount of a single light emitting diode is too small, it is necessary to use a large mold with different shapes depending on the desired shape. It must be formed integrally, and it is difficult to form a single piece uniformly.

JP 59-118355 A JP 2002-100203 A

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a light, simple and underwater lighting device that can be used for a long time without being damaged even in deep water, is light, consumes less power, and is light. .

In order to achieve the above object, the underwater lighting device according to claim 1 is characterized in that a plurality of light emitting diodes are connected to a circuit board facing forward to be illuminated, The container is immersed in an electrically insulating oil filled in, and the container is sealed by being sealed by the transparent plate on the front side while leading the electric wire connected to the power source from the circuit board ,
A flexible tube with one end leading to the container is filled with the electric insulating oil and the electric wire is inserted, and the other end of the tube is closed with an underwater connector for connecting the electric wire to the power source. It is hermetically sealed . The electric insulating oil changes in volume slightly depending on the temperature and pressure, but the flexible tube buffers the change and does not damage the container.

  In this underwater lighting device, the light emitting diode does not have an inner sky, and does not burst with water pressure like a light bulb, and can withstand any water pressure. Therefore, it can be used at any depth. Furthermore, the lighting device has a simple structure and is lightweight.

  Light emitting diodes are more energy efficient and consume less power than filament light bulbs, and have excellent durability. Therefore, this lighting device does not require frequent maintenance and can be used continuously for a long time. When used in the deep sea or the like, a small power source with a small capacity is sufficient, so that the lighting device can be further reduced in weight. In this lighting device, a large number of light emitting diodes can be connected vertically and horizontally on a single circuit board, or a plurality of circuit boards can be arranged to easily illuminate brightly in a desired large shape.

  As the light emitting diode, for example, a white or light bulb color is used. The light emitting diode may leave the light emitter element exposed to electrically insulating oil. The light emitting diode may be a high luminance one in which the light emitting element is covered with a lens made of a transparent resin such as an epoxy resin. If this high-intensity light-emitting diode is immersed in electrically insulating oil, the difference in refractive index between this lens and this oil is small, so that the light emitted from the light-emitting diode hardly refracts at the interface. , Become omnidirectional.

  Therefore, regardless of the presence or absence of the lens of the light emitting diode, the underwater illumination device directs the light emitted from the light emitting diode to the transparent plate on the front side of the container 13 without condensing it, and scatters it omnidirectionally. Such an underwater lighting device 1 is used to uniformly illuminate the front.

  It is preferable that the transparent plate is made of resin or glass and is flat. If it is flat, it is easy to manufacture, and light emission of the light emitting diodes is emitted uniformly from the entire transparent plate, so that uniform illumination without light and darkness can be performed. The transparent plate may be a container lid or a bottom plate.

  The underwater illumination device described in claim 2 is characterized in that a reflector is disposed around the light emitting diode. This underwater illumination device increases the illuminance in front of the light emitting diode without scattering the light emitted from the light emitting diode or condenses it to increase the illuminance only in a desired range.

  The reflector is formed of, for example, a resin with a silver gloss coating on the surface, a metal subjected to a plating process, or a polished metal, and has a high light reflection efficiency on the reflection surface.

  The reflector may have an inverted conical shape and surround each of the light emitting diodes. In addition, the reflector comprehensively includes all the light-emitting diodes by making the side surface of the inner wall of the container a reflective surface, or by forming a reflector that surrounds the outer periphery of the transparent plate and projects forward. It may be something that surrounds you.

  The underwater lighting device according to claim 3 is characterized in that the electrically insulating oil is a colorless and transparent silicone oil having a viscosity of 100 to 1000 CST. Silicone oil is particularly excellent in electrical insulation, and if it is colorless and transparent, there is little loss of light emission. If the viscosity is higher than this range, the fluidity is too low, and the work efficiency of assembling the underwater lighting device is deteriorated. On the other hand, those having a low viscosity below this range have too large a volume change due to temperature and pressure.

The underwater illumination device described in claim 4 is characterized in that the tube is made of vinyl resin.

  Since the underwater lighting device of the present invention has a structure that does not cause any pressure difference between the inside and outside of the container, it can be used regardless of the depth of the water. This device uses a large number of light emitting diodes and illuminates brightly, so it consumes little power and is evenly pressurized, so it has excellent durability and can be used continuously for a long time without complicated inspections. Even if some of the light emitting diodes fail, it can be replaced individually, which is economical. This device is simple and lightweight, and can be enlarged, so it can illuminate not only camera lighting and fish collection lights used for underwater photography, but also deep-sea submarines that are required to be as light as possible. Used as a light. This device can be used to illuminate a wide range with omnidirectional light emission, and can also be used to illuminate a specific area by collecting the light emission.

  Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to these examples.

  FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of an underwater lighting device 1 to which the present invention is applied.

  The underwater lighting device 1 illuminates a container 13 formed of a hard vinyl chloride resin casing 12 having an outer shape of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped and a flat transparent plate 11 made of acrylic resin covering the casing. A plurality of light emitting diodes 16 facing forward are accommodated.

  The light-emitting diode 16 is composed of six light-bulb colored high-intensity LEDs (manufactured by Nichia Corporation) connected in series, with 80 columns arranged in parallel, and connected to the circuit board 17. . A reflector 15 made of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, which is cut conically so as to spread toward the front of the light emitting diodes 16 and is coated with glossy silver, surrounds each light emitting diode 16. Arranged. The electric wire 19 extending from the circuit board 17 is led out of the container 13 with a resistor (not shown) connected so that the light emitting diode is turned on at a DC voltage of 24V.

  The container 13 is filled with about 1.4 liters of silicone oil 14 (manufactured by Toray Dow Corning) having a viscosity of 350 CST, which is an electrically insulating oil. A reflector 15, a light emitting diode 16, and a circuit board 17 are immersed in the silicone oil 14. One end of a flexible tube 20 made of vinyl resin leads to the container 13. The tube 20 is filled with the silicone oil 14 while inserting an electric wire 19 connected from the circuit board 17 to a DC power source (not shown). In the container 13, the transparent plate 11 and the housing 12 are screwed through a packing, and the other end of the tube 20 is closed with an underwater connector (not shown) connected to a power source. It is hermetically sealed with no charge. Each light emitting diode 16 and the transparent plate 11 are evenly spaced apart by a few millimeters.

  This underwater lighting device 1 is used as follows.

  The underwater lighting device 1 is submerged in water. Although the volume of the silicone oil is slightly reduced due to the water pressure, it is buffered by the contraction of the flexible tube 20, and no excessive stress is applied to the lighting device 1. When the desired lighting location is reached, electricity is supplied from the power source. Then, the light emitting diode emits light, is irradiated in the direction of a two-dot broken line, and illuminates the vicinity. The illuminance at the position 1 m ahead from the center of the transparent plate 11 of the underwater lighting device 1 was 300 lux. When the illuminance at the position where the illuminance at the position deviating from the front of the front to the side at the same distance is exactly half, the directional characteristic is 90 degrees.

  As described above, the embodiment using the reflector 15 has been described. However, when the underwater illumination device similar to the above embodiment is used except that the reflector 15 is not provided, the illuminance on the front surface measured in the same manner as described above is 216. In lux, the directivity was 130 degrees. The reflector may be a glossy silver coating on the side surface 18 of the inner wall of the container.

  The underwater illumination device of the present invention is useful as an illumination light for an underwater photographing camera, an illumination light for an underwater observation device, a headlight for a submersible, and a fish collection light used in water, particularly in deep water.

It is sectional drawing which shows an example of implementation of the underwater illumination apparatus to which this invention is applied.

It is a perspective view which shows an example in the middle of implementation of the underwater illumination apparatus to which this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

  1 is an underwater lighting device, 11 is a transparent plate, 12 is a housing, 13 is a container, 14 is an electrically insulating oil, 15 is a reflector, 16 is a light emitting diode, 17 is a circuit board, 18 is a side surface, 19 is an electric wire, 20 is a flexible tube.

Claims (4)

A plurality of light emitting diodes are connected to the circuit board facing forward to be illuminated, and are immersed in an electrically insulating oil filled in the container, and the container leads out an electric wire connected to the power source from the circuit board. While being sealed and sealed by the transparent plate on the front side ,
A flexible tube with one end leading to the container is filled with the electric insulating oil and the electric wire is inserted, and the other end of the tube is closed with an underwater connector for connecting the electric wire to the power source. An underwater lighting device that is hermetically sealed .   The underwater illumination device according to claim 1, wherein a reflector is disposed around the light emitting diode.   The underwater illumination device according to claim 1, wherein the electrically insulating oil is a colorless and transparent silicone oil having a viscosity of 100 to 1000 CST. The underwater lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the tube is made of vinyl resin.

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