Partially lighted T-bar

#The following invention relates to T-bars for suspended ceilings, and particularly T-bars which include lighting therein. More particularly, this invention relates to T-bars and systems of T-bars where individual T-bar elements include a lit portion and an unlit portion, such as to achieve a large variety of lighting patterns in a suspended ceiling featuring lighted T-bars.

#Ceilings come in a variety of different configurations with one form of ceiling that is quite common, especially in office environments, being a dropped ceiling with ceiling tiles held in place by T-bars. The dropped ceiling is oriented in a plane parallel with the floor and suspended beneath a utility space within which HVAC, electrical, telephone and other utilities can be conveniently located.

#The T-bars, in a simplest form, have a planar lower leg and a planar upper leg perpendicular to the lower leg and intersecting with the lower leg at a midpoint thereof. The lower surface of the lower leg faces downward. Portions of the lower leg on either side of the upper leg present shelves upon which ceiling tile edges can rest. The T-bars are arranged, typically in a grid pattern. This grid pattern can be made up of squares or rectangles (or other shapes). In a uniform grid ceiling, the ceiling tiles are in the form of squares with each edge of the ceiling tile supported upon an adjacent T-bar lower leg.

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a T-bar according to a standard fully lit embodiment of this invention configured to include lighting mounted to a lower portion thereof and with heat dissipating structures above the light source.

#FIG. 2 is a detail of that which is shown in FIG. 1 and with central portions of the T-bar cut away.

#FIG. 3 is a full sectional view of the T-bar of FIGS. 1 and 2.

#Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals represent like parts throughout the various drawing figures, reference numeral 10 is directed to a basic fully lit T-bar (FIG. 1) forming a portion of a dropped ceiling system (FIG. 5) with the T-bar including a lighting module 70 (FIGS. 4, 5, 8 and 9) coupled to a lower end of the T-bar 10 for providing lighting in a space below the dropped ceiling system. The T-bar 10 includes heat dissipating structures including an upper heat sink 40 and lower heat sink 60 in this preferred embodiment for dissipating heat from the lighting module 70 or other heat sources adjacent the T-bar 10. A dropped ceiling system 100 (FIG. 15) can include partially lit T-bars 110 as well as fully lit T-bars 10 (FIG. 5) as well as long unlit (or lit) T-bars 410, short fully lit T-bars 210 (FIG. 14), short unlit T-bars 310 or non-lit T-bars 510, as examples, to facilitate a wide variety of suspended ceiling patterns.

#In essence, and with particular reference to FIGS. 1-3, basic details of the T-bar 10 and associated features thereof are described according to one embodiment. The T-bar 10 is an elongate rigid structure extending between terminal ends and preferably having a substantially constant contour between the two terminal ends of the T-bar 10. A fixed anchor 20 is located at one of the terminal ends of the T-bar 10. An adjustable anchor 30 is provided at the opposite terminal end of the T-bar 10. The adjustable anchor 30 can be adjusted in length slightly (arrow A of FIGS. 1 and 2). The anchors allow the T-bar 10 to be connected to adjacent T-bars or other suspension structures, with the adjustable anchor 30 facilitating the process of attaching and detaching the T-bar 10 to adjacent structures, typically standard conventional prior art T-bars within a conventional dropped ceiling system.

#The T-bar 10 includes an upper heat sink 40 on an upper portion of the T-bar 10. This upper heat sink 40 is adapted to efficiently transfer heat away from the T-bar 10 to air surrounding upper portions of the T-bar 10. A lower portion of the T-bar 10 preferably supports a light housing 50. This light housing 50 is configured to be located below a dropped ceiling of which the T-bar 10 is a part, with the light housing 50 adapted to hold a lighting module 70 therein, such as a light emitting diode (LED) lighting module 70. Preferably, a lower heat sink 60 is also provided on the T-bar 10. This lower heat sink 60 is preferably built into a rest shelf 62 of the T-bar 10 which also functions to hold edges of ceiling tiles C (FIGS. 4 and 5) adjacent the T-bar 10. A power supply 80 is provided (FIGS. 6 and 7) which can be attached to the T-bar 10, such as by removable attachment in a manner gripping the upper heat sink 40. The T-bar 10 thus supports the ceiling tiles C and also is configured to include lighting therein and adapted to transfer heat away from lighting or other structures adjacent lower portions of the T-bar 10 and to also support a power supply 80 for the lighting.