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US 12,181,123 B2Granted
Flexible directional vehicle warning light
AssigneeElectronic Controls Company
InventorsBrian Lynn Olsen, Chen Chih Chiao
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a directional warning light designed to bend along its longitudinal axis up to about 30° per side so as to conform to curved vehicle surfaces. Flexible components of the disclosed embodiments allow the bending and include a bendable optic, bendable base, and bendable circuit substrate.
Claims24
A flexible directional warning light for mounting onto a curved surface of a vehicle, comprising:
- multiple optical elements, formed in a silicone body, and arranged along a longitudinal axis, the silicone body having a first peripheral surface;
- a flexible backing having a second peripheral surface to which the first peripheral surface is joined so as to form an interior cavity;
- a segmented heatsink, located in the interior cavity, and configured to be in thermal communication with the multiple optical elements;
- and
- electrical circuitry, located in the interior cavity, in which a first side of the electrical circuitry is adjacent to the segmented heatsink for thermal management, and a second side of the electrical circuitry is adjacent to the multiple optical elements for illumination purposes,
- in which the multiple optical elements, the segmented heatsink, and the electrical circuitry collectively define multiple spaced-apart relief sections that are transverse to the longitudinal axis, the multiple spaced-apart relief sections facilitating bending and conforming of the flexible directional warning light to the curved surface of the vehicle with incremental bend angles at each relief section to collectively establish a cumulative bend configured match a curvature of the curved surface.
3 more elements
A flexible silicone optic for a directional vehicle warning light, comprising:
- a unitary body having a longitudinal axis, an outer surface, an inner recessed portion, and six optical elements arranged linearly along the longitudinal axis, the unitary body being flexible to curve about the longitudinal axis, allowing each end of the flexible silicone optic to flex away from a mid-portion of the longitudinal axis to form the curve;
- each optical element having a tapered portion extending inward in the inner recessed portion toward a corresponding LED to direct light outward from the outer surface;
- and
- spaces between tapered portions configured to facilitate bending, allowing neighboring optical element sides to move closer to each other while the outer surface defines the curve.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.