Non-powered luminous panels and devices and method of manufacture
A non-powered luminous device comprises an elongate member that is at least one of transparent and/or translucent and that defines a cavity. A luminous material is located in the cavity and in contact with inner walls of the cavity and includes a light transmissive resinous material containing a suspension of luminescent particles.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/810,353 filed on Mar. 16, 2001. The disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to luminous panels and devices, and more particularly to non-powered luminous devices containing luminescent particles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONLuminous panels and devices are often used for signs, decorations and markings. The luminous panels typically require electricity to operate. These luminous-panels usually include a powered light source such electroluminescent elements, light emitting diodes (LEDs), neon light bulbs, incandescent light bulbs and/or fluorescent light bulbs.
When the normal power source is unavailable, the luminous panels are unable to provide illumination unless backup systems are used. In other words, in emergency situations when the normal power source is not available, these luminous panels must be connected to a backup power source such as batteries. Alternately, a backup generator may be used. As can be appreciated, the batteries will require maintenance personnel to perform periodic testing and/or replacement, which can be costly. Backup generators are also costly and may be damaged during emergency situations.
Some building codes require stairwells and halls to be illuminated by non-powered light sources to a prescribed level when power is lost. When an emergency occurs, the non-powered sources provide light that help building occupants safely exit the building. In one approach, paint containing luminescent particles has been used. Light that is absorbed by the luminescent particles is released with the light source is removed. However, paint containing luminous particles has typically been unable to meet the specifications relating to the duration that the light must be provided. This approach may also fail to provide a sufficient amount of light or intensity. Durability may also be problematic.
Non-powered luminous panels and devices have a variety of other applications. Law enforcement personnel often need respond to dangerous situations. For example, when law enforcement personnel respond to a robbery in progress, there may be an armed robber in the vicinity. In the heat of the ensuing action, it may be difficult for one law enforcement person to differentiate between other law enforcement personnel and the armed robbers.
Some law enforcement personnel attach a non-powered luminous device to identify themselves as law enforcement personnel and to prevent accidental misidentification. These non-powered luminous devices typically include a brittle inner tube such as glass, breakable plastic or other material within a semi-flexible outer tube such as plastic. When the device is bent, the inner tube breaks. Chemicals in the inner tube mix with chemicals in the outer tube. The chemical reaction creates a luminous mixture. When these luminous devices are initially activated, they typically provide too much light, which can be a distraction and/or can draw attention to the law enforcement personnel. These luminous devices tend to last for a short period and are typically single use devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA non-powered luminous device comprises an elongate member that is at least one of transparent and/or translucent and that defines a cavity. A luminous material is located in the cavity and in contact with inner walls of the cavity and includes a light transmissive resinous material containing a suspension of luminescent particles.
In other features, the luminous material contains about 4 to 40 grams of the luminescent particles per 100 cc of the light transmissive resinous material. The luminous material contains about 11 to 20 grams of the luminescent particles per 100 cc of the light transmissive resinous material. The luminous material contains tackiness promoter. The elongate member is flexible. The luminous material contains a catalyst.
In still other features, the light transmissive resinous material remains flexible after curing. The resinous material comprises a clear polyester or styrene resin. The elongate member has one of circular, elliptical, polygonal, square, or rectangular cross section.
A system comprising the non-powered luminous device of claim 1 and further comprises an object, a first fastener attached to the object, and a second fastener attached to the flexible member. The first and second fasteners are mating fasteners.
In still other features, the first and second fasteners comprise Velcro. The first and second fasteners are male and female connectors.
A system comprises the non-powered luminous device and further comprises a handrail including a slot for removably receiving the elongate member.
A system comprises the non-powered luminous device and further comprises a handrail having a surface and an attachment device for attaching the elongate member to the surface. The attachment device includes double-sided tape.
In other features, the luminescent particles include low light green (LLG) luminescent particles. The luminescent particles include high light (HL) luminescent particles.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses. For purposes of clarity, the same reference numbers will be used in the drawings to identify similar elements.
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The plates 2 and 4 are made from a transparent or translucent material such as glass or plastic. At least the top surface of plate 2 and the bottom surface of plate 4 are substantially flat. An interlayer 6 of a luminescent resinous material is provided between the plates 2 and 4. The layer of luminescent resinous material 6 can be coated onto the plate 2 by any known method. Subsequently, the plate 4 is placed on top of the layer 6. The luminous panel may be of any thickness depending on the use. In some embodiments, the thickness of the luminous panel is in the range of 3/16″ to 1-¼″.
The interlayer 6 includes a clear resinous material such as polyester or styrene resins with a dispersion of luminescent particles therein. The resinous material need only be light transmissive, capable of curing by heat, infrared, x-rays, ultraviolet light, passage of time, etc., act as an adhesive and be compatible with the particles of luminescent material.
The resinous material in the interlayer 6 is typically formed by adding about 50 grams of luminescent particles to 1000 cc of resinous material. To this, small amounts of additives may be mixed into the resinous materials. Such additives may include an adhesion promoter and catalyst to cause the resinous material to harden. The thickness of the interlayer 6 depends upon the application and is preferably in the range equal to 0.010 to 0.150 inches. However, the greater the thickness of the interlayer 6, the greater is the chance of a deflection of the interlayer 6 which may result in a breaking of one or both of the plates 2 and 4.
Suitable luminescent particles are those such as the long decay phosphors of U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,303, the long afterglow phosphor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,483 and the photostorage and emissive material of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/166,199, which was filed on Oct. 5, 1999. The long decay phosphor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,303 is comprised of MO.a(A11-bBb)2O3:cR herein:
-
- 0.5≦a≦10.0,
- 0.0001≦b≦0.5 and
- 0.0001.≦c≦0.2,
MO represents at least one divalent metal oxide selected from the group consisting of MgO, CaO, SrO and ZnO and R represents Eu and at least one additional rare earth element selected from the group consisting of Pt, Nd, Dy and Tm. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,483, the long afterglow phosphor comprises a sinter expressed by a general formula MO.(n-x){a A12O3*(1−a)A12O3γ}B2O3:R wherein M represents an alkaline earth metal, T represents a rare earth element, 0.5<a≦0.99, 0.001≦x≦0.35, 1≦n≦8 and a part of M may be replaced with at least one alkaline earth metal selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ca and Ba.
The photostorage and emissive material of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/166,199 is composed of luminescent material which absorbs light from a light source. The luminescent material re-emits the light energy in a first wavelength spectrum when the light source is removed. A second material is mixed with the luminescent material. The second material is selected from the group consisting of fluorescent colorants and optical brighteners that absorb light at the first wavelength spectrum and re-emit the absorbed light at a second wavelength spectrum.
In use, the non-powered luminous panel absorbs light energy into the luminous particles contained in the interlayer 6. The light energy is thereby stored in the interlayer 6 and continues to be stored so long as the source of light is present. Once the source of light is removed by either the sun going down, the other powered sources of light energy being turned off (for example by power failure or other emergency), the interlayer 6 will emit light energy in the visible spectrum and the non-powered luminous panel will be easily visible.
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Still further, in other applications, the top or bottom surface of the plate 2 that is in contact with the interlayer 6 can be provided with a completely mirrored surface. By providing the completely mirrored surface, the light that is emitted by the interlayer 6 is reflected by the mirror and exits the top surface 14 of the upper plate 4. Still further and in other embodiments, the interlayer 6 further comprises reflective particles to further enhance the emission of light and to provide a more aesthetic appearance.
Using the photostorage and emissive material of U.S. Ser. No. 09/166,199, it is possible to provide an interlayer 6 having different colors. In other words, the interlayer 6 can be any color such as red, green, blue, purple, etc. By utilizing the photostorage and emissive material of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/166,199, the color of the luminous panel and the color of the light emitted from the non-powered luminous panel can be selected based upon esthetics or the use. For example, for emergency signs or uses, it may be desirable to provide the interlayer 6 in red. Finally, in some applications, it may be useful to utilize a colored light transmissive material for the plates 2 and 4, depending on the use and the aesthetics.
It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the uses of the non-powered electroluminescent panel of the present invention is particularly broad. In particular, because of the varying ways in which the luminous panel of the present invention can be manufactured, such non-powered luminous panels can be used for safety, novelty and/or decoration. For commercial uses, it can be used as an interior or exterior glazing and provide navigational light and security in entrances and atriums. In public parking structures, it can be mounted to walls and handrails for navigational and direction and include letters and arrows to further enhance the security and safety of the parking structure. Still further, it can be installed on the vertical risers of steps and stairways to easily mark the steps and thereby increase the safety in both commercial and residential settings.
Other uses of the luminous panel include but are not limited to pavers made entirely of light transmissive material or composites of brick, mortar, and/or cement with a portion made of light transmissive material embedded therein to mark sidewalks and driveways, table tops, shower door glass, doors and door moldings, lens covers for incandescent and fluorescent lights, light shades and commercial signage.
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In some embodiments, the luminescent resinous material remains pliable after curing. Having a pliable non-powered luminous device facilitates bending and improves durability by reducing cracking. In some embodiments, a tackiness enhancing material is added to the resin-based solution to improve the adhesion of the resin-based solution to inner walls of the cavity 108. In some embodiments, a catalyst or hardener can be added to the luminescent resinous material to reduce the curing time. For example, the resin material can be ASTROCURE 5000G available from Zircon Corporation of Collierville, Tenn. and/or low shrinkage resin from Glasslam H. G. I, Inc. of Pompano Beach, Fla. For example, the tackiness enhancing material can be organic silane available from ASTROCURE P-88-2 (Gamma Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane) available from Zircon Corporation. For example, the catalyst or hardener can be organic peroxide such as Organic Peroxide Type D or ASTROCURE C-88 available from Zircon Corporation.
The luminous particles can be the luminescent particles described above and in the concentrations described above (hereinafter high light (HL) luminescent particles). The luminescent particles are called HL due to their ability to be charged by outdoor light—sunlight—with only ordinary degradation of the luminescent particles. In other embodiments, a low light (LL) luminescent particles is used alone or in combination with the HL luminescent particles. The LL luminescent particles have a shorter charge time. The LL luminescent particles charge with indoor sources of light but experience accelerated degradation if changed with outdoor light. The LL luminescent particles are preferably GLL300M available under the trademark Luminova® from United Mineral and Chemical Corp. of Lyndhurst, N.J. and Nemota & Co. LTD. of Tokyo, Japan. The HL luminescent particles are preferably G300, BG300 or V300 available under the trademark Luminova® from United Mineral and Chemical Corp. and Nemota & Co. LTD. of Tokyo, Japan. As can be appreciated, the luminous panels described above can also be implemented using LL, HL and/or LL and HL luminescent particles.
In some embodiments of the non-powered luminous device and luminous panels, approximately 4-40 g of luminescent particles are added to each 100 cc of resin. In other embodiments, approximately 11-20 g of luminescent particles are added to each 100 cc of resin. If the tackiness enhancer is used, preferably 0.5 to 2 cc is added for each 100 cc of resin in some embodiments. If the catalyst or hardener is used, approximately 0.5 to 2 cc is added for each 100 cc of resin in some embodiments.
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Law enforcement personnel sometimes need a non-powered light source for quick identification during emergency and/or dangerous situations. For example, when responding to a crime scene with armed suspects, the law enforcement personnel must quickly decide whether an armed person is friend or foe. Attaching a luminous device such as those described above may help law enforcement personnel quickly decide whether the armed person is a friend or foe.
The non-powered light source can be small luminous panel or luminous device. For example, the luminous panel or device can be made of plastic and include attachment devices such as those described above. The luminous device may be self attaching such as a ring shape that can be worn around the neck, arm, legs, waist, etc. The luminous panel may include one or more light transmissive layers that are made of plexiglass or other bullet resistant material. The luminous panel and/or device may include HL and/or LL luminous particles. Advantages of LL include reduced charge time as compared to HL. The luminous panel may be attached to the uniform of the law enforcement personnel using Velcro or other attachment types. For example, the luminous panels may be attached on the front and/or back of the law enforcement personnel.
Since the law enforcement personnel may be in the field, a convenient source of light is needed. Referring now to
While a generally rectangular shape is shown, the housing 254 may have any suitable shape. The power supply 258 may be an AC source and/or a DC source such as batteries or a vehicle adaptor. The light source 262 can be any suitable source that excites the luminescent particles including but not limited to black light, incandescent light, light emitting diodes, etc. One or more inner surfaces of the housing 254 can be coated with a reflective material or mirrored to increase the charging efficiency of the light source. A door 270 can be used to enclose an end of the charging device 250 that receives the luminous panel or a luminescent resinous material. A control 272 may include an on/off switch 272 that is used to turn the light source on or off. In some embodiments, the control 272 may include a timer that sets the amount of time that the light source is on and/or a delay until the light turns on. The control 272 may be programmable to start and stop.
In use, the luminous panel and/or luminous device is inserted into the slot 264. The control 272 is used to turn on the light source 262. After the luminous panel or a non-powered luminous device has been in the slot 264 for a sufficient amount of time with the light source on, it becomes charged. The luminous panel or luminous device is removed attached to the object or person.
The elongate member 104 can be made in longer sections and cut into shorted sections during manufacture and/or after sale. The shorter sections can be used as “breadcrumbs” to mark a path to provide a marking for the return trip at night or other low light situations.
Those skilled in the art can now appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad teachings of the present invention can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this invention has been described in connection with particular examples thereof, the true scope of the invention should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings, the specification and the following claims.
Claims
1. A non-powered luminous device, comprising:
- an elongate member that is at least one of transparent and/or translucent and that defines a cavity; and
- a luminous material that is located in said cavity and in contact with inner walls of said cavity and that includes a light transmissive resinous material containing a suspension of luminescent particles.
2. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the luminous material contains about 4 to 40 grams of the luminescent particles per 100 cc of the light transmissive resinous material.
3. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the luminous material contains about 11 to 20 grams of the luminescent particles per 100 cc of the light transmissive resinous material.
4. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the luminous material contains tackiness promoter.
5. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein said elongate member is flexible.
6. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the luminous material contains a catalyst.
7. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein said light transmissive resinous material remains flexible after curing.
8. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the resinous material comprises a clear polyester or styrene resin.
9. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein said elongate member has one of circular, elliptical, polygonal, square, or rectangular cross section.
10. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the luminous particles comprise MO.a(Al1-bBb)2O3:cR wherein: 0.5≦a≦10.0, 0.0001≦b≦0.5 and 0.01≦c≦0.2, MO represents at least one divalent metal oxide selected from the group consisting of MgO, CaO, SrO and ZnO and R represents Eu and at least one additional rare earth element selected from the group consisting of Pt, Nd, Dy and Tm.
11. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the luminescent particles are comprised of a sinter expressed by a general formula MO.(n-x){aAl2O3α÷(1−a)Al2O3γ}B2O3:R wherein M represents an alkaline earth metal, R represents a rare earth element, 0.5<a≦0.99, 0.001≦x≦0.35, and 1≦n≦8.
12. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein the luminous particles comprise a luminescent material which absorbs light from a light source and reemits the light energy in a first wavelength spectrum when the light source is removed mixed with a material selected from the group consisting of fluorescent colorants and optical brighteners which are excited by absorbing light at a first wavelength spectrum and reemitting the absorbed light at a second wavelength spectrum.
13. A system comprising the non-powered luminous device of claim 1 and further comprising:
- an object;
- a first fastener attached to said object; and
- a second fastener attached to said flexible member, wherein said first and second fasteners are mating fasteners.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein said first and second fasteners comprise Velcro.
15. The system of claim 13 wherein said first and second fasteners are male and female connectors.
16. A system comprising the non-powered luminous device of claim 1 and further comprising a handrail including a slot for removably receiving said elongate member.
17. A system comprising the non-powered luminous device of claim 1 and further comprising:
- a handrail having a surface; and
- an attachment device for attaching said elongate member to said surface.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein said attachment device includes double-sided tape.
19. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein said luminescent particles include low light green (LLG) luminescent particles.
20. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein said luminescent particles include high light (HL) luminescent particles.
21. A method for making a non-powered luminous device, comprising:
- providing an elongate member having a cavity;
- mixing luminescent particles with a light transmissive resinous material to create a resin-based solution;
- filling the cavity of the elongate member with the resin-based solution; and
- rotating the flexible member until the resin-based solution cures.
22. The method of claim 21 wherein the resin-based solution is drawn into the cavity using vacuum.
23. The method of claim 21 further comprising injecting the resin-based solution into the cavity under pressure.
24. The method of claim 21 further comprising gravity feeding the resin-based solution into the cavity.
25. The method of claim 21 further comprising adding a hardener to the resin-based solution before curing.
26. The method of claim 21 further comprising adding a tackiness promoter to the resin-based solution before curing.
27. The method of claim 21 further comprising applying heat to the flexible member during curing.
28. The method of claim 21 further comprising adding about 4 to 40 grams of the luminescent particles per 100 cc of the light transmissive resinous material.
28. The method of claim 21 further comprising adding about 11 to 20 grams of the luminescent particles per 100 cc of the light transmissive resinous material.
29. The method of claim 21 wherein said luminescent particles are low light luminescent particles.
30. The method of claim 21 wherein said luminescent particles are high light luminescent particles.
31. The non-powered luminous device of claim 1 wherein said elongate member is cut into 3′ to 6″ lengths and wherein said non-powered luminous devices are used to mark a path.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 29, 2004
Publication Date: Oct 27, 2005
Inventor: David Sturley (Royal Oak, MI)
Application Number: 10/977,592