Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Description '
Flush-marker light
The invention relates to a flush-marker light in
the colour of white or in signalling colours such as red,
green, blue or yellow.
Known flush-marker lights of this type, for
airports, for example, which are used, in particular, for
marking runways and taxiways, have conventional incan-
descent lamps or tungsten-arc lamps as light sources.
Such light sources must be used in combination
with optical radiation filters when lighting or sig-
nalling devices are to emit light of a specific colour,
and this is of the highest significance, in particular,
in controlling the traffic occurring at airports. Since
there is a need to filter sometimes substantial compo-
nents, intended for colour production, of the light
emitted from incandescent lamps or tungsten-arc lamps,
such lighting devices must be configured such that they
can dissipate comparatively large quantities of heat
which arise from the production of light which is not
actually required. Moreover, such lighting devices have
a comparatively low energy efficiency, since only a
comparatively small component of the light generated
overall in the lighting device is required for emission
in the respectively required colour.
It is the object of the invention to provide a
flush-marker light of the type outlined at the beginning,
which has a higher energy efficiency,
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and which can have a more compact configuration and has
a longer lifetime.
The object is achieved according to the invention
by virtue of the fact that semiconductor elements, in
particular LEDs, which are arranged in at least one
cluster and in front of which a cover plate is arranged
which influences the emission optically, are used as the
light source of the flush-marker light. Bright and super-
bright LEDs currently available can be used as such
semiconductor elements capable of use as a light source.
Such flush-marker lights are intended, in particular, to
be installed at airports. Using the flush-marker lights
according to the invention opens up the possibility that
the light sources of the lighting device generate the
required colour signal without additional optical
radiation filtering. Such semiconductor elements can be
electrically controlled between very low potentials and
a very high potential, the range of wavelengths in which
the respective semiconductor element emits light
remaining constant throughout with respect both to its
position and to its width. The result of this, inter
alia, is that the semiconductor elements used according
to the invention as light source generate only optical
energy in the colour which corresponds to the required
colour signal. Outside the visible range, the
semiconductor elements which are used according to the
invention as light sources generate scarcely any energy;
this holds, in particular, for infrared radiation or
ultraviolet radiation, which are generated only in
imperceptible quantities. Thus, a higher efficiency in
converting into light energy the energy operating the
flush-marker light is achieved in the flush-marker light
according to the invention. This effect is increased by
the renunciation of colour filters, which is rendered
possible by the invention, since the use of colour
filters would necessarily be accompanied by an
attenuation of energy.
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Because of their configuration as semiconductor
elements, the light sources of the flush-marker light
according to the invention can be controlled within
microseconds, by comparison with seconds in the case of
incandescent lamps or tungsten-arc lamps; this property
is of particular significance in the case of airport
signalling and marking installations which are formed by
flush-marker lights. Light sources designed as semi-
conductor elements have a life expectation which is in
the region of an order of magnitude above that of
tungsten-arc lamps and incandescent lamps . The outlay for
maintenance and replacement of flush-marker lights
according to the invention can thus be substantially
reduced by comparison with the prior art.
A further simplification of the servicing occurs
in the case of an advantageous embodiment of the flush-
marker light according to the invention in which in each
case a cluster represents an exchangeable unit which can
be designed, in particular, in the form of a cartridge.
The replacement or exchange of a defective cluster can
then be carried out with the minimum of outlay.
The individual clusters or cartridges are advan-
tageously constructed by being cast or injected, it being
possible to use as the material, in particular, a
recyclable plastic. Such a non-metallic material can be
used to fill up and, if appropriate, also to configure
the basic body or the housing of the flush-marker lights
according to the invention, since owing to the semi-
conductor elements provided according to the invention as
light source only average temperatures occur, which can
be withstood by such materials even in the long term
without functional impairment. Thus, according to the
invention, corrosion-resistant flush-marker lights can be
produced whose production is far less expensive than that
of flush-marker lights in accordance with the prior art,
the use
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of the abovementioned materials for the last mentioned
flush-marker lights not being practicable, since the
tungsten-arc lamps and incandescent lamps used there as
light sources generate excessively high temperatures.
Owing to the advantageous use of nonmetallic materials to
fill up and, if appropriate, also to produce the flush-
marker lights according to the invention, electrical
corrosion is virtually completely excluded, since the
materials used are electrically insulating. Because of
the advantageous properties of formability of the
materials which can be used, there is a substantial
reduction in the costs to be incurred. The materials used
can advantageously serve as thermal conductor, as a
result of which the heat emitted from the light sources
can be dissipated to the outer housing wall of the flush-
marker lights and to the roadway. Since, as already
mentioned, the entire body or, if appropriate, the entire
housing of the flush-marker lights according to the
invention is an insulator, there is no need for a
separate insulator, which is of costly configuration.
If the clusters or cartridges of the flush-marker
lights according to the invention are designed as compo-
nents of a redundantly operating system, a configuration
of the flush-marker lights according to the invention is
achieved which is assembled from arrangements of elec-
tronically controlled individual devices, it being
possible, because of the redundant operation of these
electronically controlled devices reliably to exclude a
total failure of the flush-marker lights according to the
invention. With the redundant design, at least a con-
siderable number of clusters always remain operable.
When the flush-marker lights according to the
invention generate white light by mixing different
colours and coloured light with the aid of appropriately
emitting special semiconductor elements, it is possible,
given appropriate control, for the light emitted from the
flush-marker light to be set arbitrarily with regard to
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its colour and/or its intensity.
In this case, the flush-marker lights according to
the invention advantageously have a controllable power
supply by means of which it is possible to dim and/or
quickly switch the flush-marker lights.
A flush-marker light according to the invention
can be realized with a low outlay when the individual
semiconductor elements are used without mountings.
The individual semiconductor elements should
expediently be constructed such that they can be manipulated
in a fully or partly automatic fashion.
When the semiconductor elements of the flush-
marker lights according to the invention are arranged
embedded in a filler member, which exposes a light-emitting
opening, the result is a substantially improved transmission
of the load between an aircraft and the roadway, since no
hollow convection space is required, which was the case for
flush-marker lights in accordance with the prior art, which
generally had metallic housings.
If cover plate, which is in front of the
semiconductor elements forming the flush-marker lights the
and is, in particular easy to clean, is suitable for
focussing and determining the direction of emission, beam
refraction and total reflection can be used in order
optimally to form the light beam leaving the flush-marker
light. It is possible in this way to meet the most varied
requirements. If the outer surfaces of the optical elements
are of a smooth and hard configuration, the flush-marker
light according to the invention can be cleaned with a low
outlay.
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In accordance with this invention, there is
provided an airport flush-marker light in the colour white
or in signal colours such as red, green, blue or yellow,
characterized in that present as light source are
semiconductor elements which are arranged in at least one
cluster and arranged in front of which is a cover plate
optically influencing the emission and suitable for focusing
and determining the direction of emission.
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In accordance with an advantageous embodiment of
the flush-marker light according to the invention, the
semiconductor elements combined to form clusters, in
particular in the form of a cartridge, the said semi-
s conductor elements being, for example, LEDs, are designed
as a compact unit with the housing of the flush-marker
light.
The LEDs can advantageously also be produced from
an organic material, for example from plastic.
The invention is explained in more detail below
with the aid of an embodiment and with reference to the
drawing, in Which:
Figure 1 shows a representation of the principle
of a flush-marker light according to the invention;
Figure 2 shows a representation of the principle
of a front view of a cluster of the flush-marker light
according to the invention;
Figure 3 shows a representation of the principle
of a side view of the cluster shown in Figure 2, and
Figure 4 shows a representation of the principle
of a top view of the cluster represented in Figures 2 and
3.
A flush-marker light according to the invention
and represented in principle in Figure 1 has a semi-
conductor light source 2 which is held inside an instal-
lation body or an installation housing 1. A beam-forming
optical device 3 is arranged in front of the semi-
conductor light source 2. The light generated by the
semiconductor light source 2 is totally reflected at a
total reflection surface 4 before it emerges from the
flush-marker light through a smooth outer surface 5.
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The semiconductor light source 2 is assembled from
clusters 6 of which one is represented in principle with
the aid of Figures 2 to 4. Belonging to a cluster 6 are
semiconductor elements 7 which, in the exemplary embodi-
went represented, are arranged in two rows, arranged one
above another, of semiconductor elements 7 arranged next
to one another. The semiconductor elements 7 of a cluster
6 are seated on a common element holder 8, whose surface
on the semiconductor element side is constructed as a
reflection surface 9, in order to deflect the small
radiation component, which is emitted in the backward
direction from the semiconductor elements 7, in the
direction of a front opening surface of the cluster 6.
The front opening surface is closed by means of a glass
plate 10.
The space holding the semiconductor elements 7
arranged as described above is filled up as far as
possible by a transparent plastic material 11, there
being provided in front of the ends, on the output side
and directed onto the glass plate 10, of the semicon-
ductor elements 7 a cavity 12 which is small by compari-
son with the space occupied by the cluster 6 outlined
above.
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