Characteristics and development of LED flexible neon lights

1, the background

Because neon lamps have the characteristics of uniform and continuous light, they have been widely used in the decorative lighting market for many years. In the commercial field of facades, signs, subtitles, hotel bars, building outlines and other decorative lighting places have neon flashing figures. However, the traditional neon lamp uses a glass tube, which is defective in packaging and transportation, and is difficult to manufacture and install.

A long time ago, people were expecting to install small bulbs in wires for decoration and lighting. Nowadays, this kind of lamp has spread all over Europe, America and Asia, and has entered the streets and walked into people's lives. We refer to this soft, tubular, long strip of lamps as "hose lights."

2. Development of hose light technology

Hose lamps are also known as "plastic neon lights" or "flexible neon lights" in the lighting decoration market. The hose lamp has the following characteristics: automatic machine extrusion molding during production, low production cost, free bending when used, safe and reliable, and can be randomly patterned by consumers according to needs. It overcomes the defects that the glass neon lamp is easy to be broken, difficult to transport, high in production cost, can not be bent at will, has poor safety performance, and needs special person to install and maintain. At the same time, the hose light also has the characteristics of distinguishing other analog neon products, and gradually replaced the glass neon in the ordinary decorative lighting market.

However, the early hose lamps did not really replace the glass neon after 20-30 years of application, especially in the decorative lighting market where the light effect is relatively high, and the glass neon is used in large quantities. The reason is that the light source coated in the hose lamp tube is a single point illuminant, such as a micro bulb or an LED , which is arranged longitudinally in the light box at intervals, and the granular point light source emits Light can't reach the beauty of uniform continuous light in neon. Therefore, the decorative lighting market has been expecting a hose lamp that can truly have a uniform continuous light effect.

U.S. Patent No. 4,607,317 issued to Aug. This patented hose lamp has superior safety, packaging, installation, use and maintenance performance over glass neon. However, the light emitted by such a granular point source still does not achieve the same uniform light as a neon.

The patent name of US Pat. No. 6,186,645 B1, issued on February 13, 2001, is "flexible lighting system and installation method". The product can diverge the light from the hose light source to achieve a uniform light output from the hose light. The invention basically achieves a uniform continuous light effect of the simulated neon light, but its light effect still needs further improvement.

U.S. Patent No. 6,656,251 B2, issued May 20, 2003, has improved the structure of the hose lamp, but has not yet achieved a uniform continuous light effect of the neon lamp.

In order to develop the world-leading advanced technology in the field of neon lights and solve the technical bottleneck of neon lights, some lighting companies began to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in the 1990s, and introduced multi-party resources to focus on the development of hose lamps. In August 2003, Hong Kong Zhenmingli Group applied for a utility model patent entitled “A Hose Improvement Structure for Hose Lamps”, Patent No. ZL200420042364.8. In addition, during the period 2003-2004, the group applied for eight utility model patents for the improved structure and lighting device of the hose lamp. In order to provide a modified structure of a hose lamp that has a true neon uniform continuous light effect, after a long period of research and experiment, in 2005 Hong Kong Zhen Mingli Group invented a hose lamp called "LED flexible neon", and the cost Applying the invention patent 200410032066.5, the problem of uneven and continuous hose light line is better solved.

3, LED flexible neon features

LED flexible neon is a professional linear lighting decoration product. Although it looks like it is no different from ordinary neon lights, it can be bent at will. It has shatterproof and waterproof functions and can be used indoors and outdoors. Compared with traditional neon lights, the characteristics of LED flexible neon are as follows:
(1) Traditional neon lamps have large investment and complicated production processes. There are many inconveniences when using off-duty pipes, high-voltage electricity and inert gases. The flexible neon lamp adopts a new structure and LED technology . The special LED casing is covered with a bright LED bulb. The unique optical technology and special shell design not only increase the intensity and uniformity of the light, but also deliver the process. Increased production efficiency.
(2) The traditional neon lamp can only work at normal temperature. The voltage must be increased during use, the power consumption is also large, the cost is high, the service life is short, and the maintenance is inconvenient. The flexible neon lights at each point are cold light, emitting only low heat. The same brightness LED is only equivalent to one-seventh of the traditional light bulb. The traditional neon consumes 28.7W/m, while the flexible neon only It is 4.7W/m or 6.6W/m, and the LED has a longer life than the traditional bulb, and the LED flexible neon also has shockproof and heat-resistant functions.
(3) The traditional neon lamp uses a transformer to raise the voltage of 220V to the inert gas in the 15000V excitation glass tube, and emits a single color of light along the contour of the font pattern. Two sets of glass tubes are required for the two colors. The font is too large, the middle of the stroke is not bright; too small, too complicated, can not be processed. The flexible neon working voltage only needs 24V, only emits low heat. It can also be cut into any length during installation. It can be bent into different shapes (can be bent to a circle with a radius of only 4cm). It is convenient to use special track and different materials. The surfaces are mounted together, such as wood, plastic, steel or walls, and can be decorated to different patterns according to the designer's needs.

4 Conclusion

For Chinese lighting companies, lighting production and scale have been large, but when competing with foreign companies, the biggest pressure comes from technology. However, the current status of vicious competition in the industry is not conducive to technological transformation and upgrading of enterprises. Under the tide of economic globalization, Chinese lighting companies must go out and master their own technology is the most urgent. LED flexible neon lights have been applied to the Hohhot Islamic Pedestrian Street. The simple line lights outline the quaint beauty of the building, based on the light-assisted scenery, to avoid the damage caused by the light. The elegant, unified and pure light effect blends with the scenery, expresses the exotic atmosphere of the building, and renders the local cultural characteristics, becoming the iconic lighting project of Hohhot.

(Editor: Wen Jing)