WO2008065507A1

WO2008065507A1 - Electric and/or electronic device

Info

Publication number: WO2008065507A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/003637
Authority: WO
Inventors: Filippo Scattola; Silvano Scattola
Original assignee: Filippo Scattola; Silvano Scattola
Priority date: 2006-11-30
Filing date: 2007-11-27
Publication date: 2008-06-05
Also published as: ITVI20060345A1

Abstract

An electric and/or electronic device (1,100,200,300,400,500) comprising one electric and/or electronic element (2,202,302,402,502) housed in a container (3,203,303,403,503) of the type comprising a box-like body and a hermetically sealing cover. The container has valve means (4,104,204,304,404,504)' suitable for conditioning of gases contained in said container (3,203,303,403,503).

Description

ELECTRIC AND/OR ELECTRONIC DEVICE

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an electric and/or electronic device comprising at least one electric and/or electronic element, such as an appliance, placed in a container and particularly adapted to be used in harsh environments such as outdoor or particular indoor environments.

The present invention also relates to an electric and/or electronic apparatus comprising at least one electric and/or electronic element, designed to be placed in conditioned environments such as environments saturated with inert gas or environments with pressures different from the outside pressure.

Background of the invention

Appliances or electric and/or electronic elements are known to be very often used in outdoor applications.

Examples of such applications include lamps or LEDs, with associated control apparatus, for street lighting or road sign lighting, dissuasive bollards, traffic light systems, electronic solar or wind energy conversion equipment for power supply to the above appliances, headlights or similar devices.

In all these situations, the appliances are enclosed in containers, such as outdoor cases, hollow supporting posts, transparent enclosures of street light lamps or the like.

In any case, such containers are conceive to be both weather-resistant and provide weather protection for the appliances held therein.

While prior art containers fulfill the above purpose, they still have the recognized drawback of liquid condensation occurring internally thereof.

Air is known to contain a certain amount of moisture, which condensates in response to temperature changes according in outdoor environments.

The condensate can have various detrimental effects on the above electric and/or electronic appliances.

A first effect consists in that condensate formed on the appliances causes gradual degradation and makes it necessary replacement of these latter.

For this reason, appliance designers are compelled to use special parts and materials and generally have to satisfy restrictive specifications, which involve higher costs than the specifications of appliances for less aggressive environments.

In light emitting elements, condensation generally also occurs on the walls of the transparent container, thereby reducing the amount of light emitted thereby.

Particularly, in street lights or dissuasive bollards or valuable light-emitting elements, condensation on the walls of the container is even more disadvantageous, as it spoils its overall aesthetic appearance.

Another important consequence is that even the internal parts of certain containers have to be appropriately treated to protect them from any damages caused by condensation.

An example of the above are vehicle headlights or hollow iron posts.

It is often desirable, or even necessary, to place the electric and/or electronic elements in conditioned environments, i.e. having predetermined pressures or saturated with inert or similar gases. These environments shall be created in hermetically sealed containers. An example of the above are neon lamps or halogen lamps internally thereof a gas saturated environment is created to generate light in response to appropriate electric stimulation.

In prior art, complex and particularly expensive equipment is required to introduce electric and/or electronic elements or appliances in hermetically sealed containers with conditioned environment.

Furthermore, the prior art has the additional drawback of preventing any maintenance of the appliances without losing control of the environmental conditions with the container.

Summary of the invention

The object of this invention is to overcome the above prior art drawbacks.

Particularly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an electric and/or electronic device comprising a container for electric and/or electronic elements, in which condensation is prevented.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a container that is hermetically sealable.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electric and/or electronic device in which the electric and/or electronic elements are protected against weather.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electric and/or electronic device in which the electric and/or electronic elements are placed in an environment susceptible of being conditioned, e.g. by saturating it with insert gases, or by generating therein an ambient pressure different from the outside pressure.

Yet another object of the present invention is to allow the environment in which the electric and/or electronic elements are placed to be conditioned using simple and inexpensive equipment.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an electric and/or electronic device that allows maintenance of the elements contained therein and, after maintenance, restoration of the environmental conditions in which such elements are to be placed.

These objects are fulfilled by an electric and/or electronic device as defined in the attached claim, to which reference is made.

The remaining claims relate to particular element of the device according to the invention.

Advantageously, the valve means present in the hermetically sealed container allow extraction of air, and hence moisture, from the container, using appropriate means, thus removing moisture at the same time.

Advantageously, the use of multiple one-way valves or at least one two-way valve further advantageously allows the container to be supplied with gases having different effects, such as a better preservation of appliances, a better diffusion of light in case of light-emitters or the generation of an environment having pressures different from outside pressures.

This can be advantageously achieved using suction pumps or compressors, i.e. simple and inexpensive means.

Particularly, this simplifies the fabrication of devices such as neon lamps as compared with the prior art. Furthermore, the same means may be advantageously used, after maintenance, to restore the original internal environment.

Also, the use of a watertight cable sleeve or quick connectors and couplings affords advantageously electric connections of the appliances in the container while preventing any accidental introduction of gases or other foreign matters therein.

Brief description of drawings

Further features and advantages disclosed hereinafter will be more apparent from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention, which are given by way of illustration and without limitation with reference to the annexed drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of the device according to the invention;

Figs. 2 to 6 show alternative embodiments of the device according to the invention;

Fig. 7 shows the embodiment of Fig. 6 in ne operating phase.

Detailed description of a preferred embodiment

The electric and/or electronic device of the invention schematically shown in Fig. 1 is overall designated with numeral 1 and comprises at least one electric and/or electronic element 2 housed in a container 3, which is generally of the type comprising a box-like body and a hermetically sealing cover.

According to the invention, the container 3 has valve means 4 to allow conditioning of gases in the container 3.

According to the preferred embodiment described hereininafter, the valve means 4 include a two-way valve that allows both extraction of gas, particularly moisture- containing air, from the container 3, and introduction of further gas, such as inert gas.

As mentioned above, this not only prevents condensate from forming in the container 1 , due to the extraction of all moisture therefrom, but also allows introduction of particularly useful gases to reach other effects, such as better preservation of the electric and/or electronic elements contained therein.

A particular embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 2, where it is designated with numeral 100, and consists of a neon lamp.

As is known, these lamps are fabricated employing particularly complex and expensive equipment which are used, during fabrication and hermetic sealing of the bulb, to introduce therein gas, which will generate light when electrically stimulated.

According to the invention, the use of this equipment is no longer required as the neon lamp 100 may be fabricated by sealing the container 103 and then operating on the valve means 104 by means of conventional suction to remove air and introduce the desired gas.

Another alternative embodiment is shown in Fig. 3, and is generally designated with numeral 200, wherein the electric and/or electronic element 202 contained in the device is a simple incandescent filament.

As to the valve means, the embodiment in which they consist of a two-way valve shall be intended without limitation, different embodiments being provided with valve means consisting of one or more one-way valves.

Furthermore, in this case, at least one first one-way valve may be used for extraction of gas from the container, and at least one second one-way valve may be used for introduction of gas. In a different embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4 and designated with numeral 300, the container 303 further comprises at least one watertight cable sleeve 305 for the cables C for electric connection of the electric and/or electronic element 302.

In this case, the latter element consists of an electric and/or electronic circuit.

In different embodiments, such as in the above described lamps, quick connectors or couplings may be provided in combination or as an alternative to the above to allow electric connection of the electric and/or electronic element with the outside.

According to further different embodiments of the invention, the electric and/or electronic element can further comprise light-emitters.

An example of the above is shown in Fig. 5, where the device of the invention is designated with numeral 400 and the electric and/or electronic element 402 consists of lamps belonging to a headlight F of a vehicle V.

Similarly the container 403 has valve means 404 for conditioning the environment in which the lamps are placed.

A further example is shown in Figs. 6 and 7, where the device of the invention is designated with numeral 500 and is shown to be part of an outdoor bollard H in which the electric and/or electronic element 502 is an incandescent lamp, with no limits to different embodiments in which such element consists, for example, of one or more LEDs.

Also in this embodiment, the container 503 is formed of transparent or translucent material and comprises valve means 504 and the watertight cable sleeve 505 for electric connection of the lamp.

It shall be further noted that the electric and/or electronic element contained in the inventive device can generally be any electric and/or electronic appliance. In operation, the electric and/or electronic element 2 is introduced in the container 3 through the opening of the hermetically sealing cover.

Once the cover has been closed, the container 3 is hermetically sealed, and a conventional suction pump can be simply applied to the valve means 4 to extract air from the container 3.

After this step, the device 1 of the invention can be operatively used.

As mentioned above, it will be appreciated that the same valve element 4 can be advantageously used to introduce gas.

It will be further appreciated that the watertight container 3 advantageously preserves the environment surrounding the device 1 of the invention from any pollutants released from the electric and/or electronic element 2 in case of failure.

For any maintenance requirement on the element 2, it is indispensable to open the cover of the container 3.

In this case, the presence of the valve means 4 allows advantageous restoration of the original environmental conditions inside the container 3 of the device 1.

As the pressure of vacuum or inert gas loaded in the container 3 can be low, a small and low-cost pump may be advantageously used.

In view of the foregoing, the electric and/or electronic device of the invention fulfils the intended objects.

Particularly, the invention fulfills the object of providing an electric and/or electronic device which comprises a container for electric and/or electronic elements, in which condensation is prevented. Also, the invention fulfills the object of providing an electric and/or electronic device whose electric and/or electronic elements are disposed in a hermetically sealable container.

The invention further fulfills the object of providing an electric and/or electronic device in which the electric and/or electronic elements are protected against weather.

The invention also fulfils the object of providing an electric and/or electronic device in which the electric and/or electronic elements are enclosed in a space susceptible of being conditioned, e.g. by saturating it with insert gases, or by generating therein a pressure different from the external one.

It is further fulfilled the object of allowing the environment in which the electric and/or electronic elements are placed to be conditioned using simple and inexpensive equipment.

The invention fulfils the object of providing an electric and/or electronic device that allows maintenance of the elements contained therein and that, after maintenance, can be restored to the environmental conditions in which such elements are required to be.

The device of the invention are susceptible to a number of changes and variants, within the inventive concept disclosed in the annexed claims.

All the details thereof may be replaced by other technically equivalent parts, and the materials may vary depending on different needs, without departure from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An electric and/or electronic device comprising at least one electric and/or electronic element housed in a container of the type comprising a box-like body and a hermetically sealing cover, characterized in that said container has valve means suitable for conditioning of gases contained in said container.

2. Device as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that said valve means include at least one first one-way valve for allowing extraction of gases from said container.

3. Device as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said valve means include at least one second one-way valve for allowing introduction of gases into said container.

4. Device as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that said valve means include at least one two-way valve for allowing extraction and introduction of gases from and into said container.

5. Device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said container has at least one watertight cable sleeve.

6. Device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said container has at least one electric connector for connection of said electric and/or electronic element with the outside of the container.

7. Device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said container has at least one quick coupling for electric connection of said electric and/or electronic element with the outside of the container.

8. Device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said electric and/or electronic element is an electric and/or electronic appliance.

9. Device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said electric and/or electronic element is a light emitter.

10. Device as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that said light emitter comprises one or more LEDs.

11. Device as claimed in claim 9 or 10, characterized in that said light emitter comprises one or more lamps.

12. Device as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that said light emitter comprises one or more filaments.

13. Device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said electric and/or electronic element comprises an electric circuit.

14. Device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said electric and/or electronic element comprises an electronic circuit