The subject matter herein relates generally to solid state lighting assemblies, and more particularly, to LED socket assemblies.
Solid-state light lighting systems use solid state light sources, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), and are being used to replace other lighting systems that use other types of light sources, such as incandescent or fluorescent lamps. The solid-state light sources offer advantages over the lamps, such as rapid turn-on, rapid cycling (on-off-on) times, long useful life span, low power consumption, narrow emitted light bandwidths that eliminate the need for color filters to provide desired colors, and/or so on.
LED lighting systems typically include one or more LED packages that include one or more LEDs on a printed circuit board (PCB), which is referred to herein as an “LED PCB”. The LED packages 12 may be what is commonly referred to as a “chip-on-board” (COB) LED, or may be any other type of LED package, such as, but not limited to, an LED package that includes an LED PCB and one or more LEDs soldered to the LED PCB. In at least some known LED lighting systems, the LED PCB is held within a recess of a socket housing that is mounted to a support structure of the lighting fixture, for example a base, a heat sink, and/or the like. The socket housing may hold electrical contacts that engage power pads on the LED PCB to electrically connect the LED(s) to an electrical power source. But, known socket housings are not without disadvantages. For example, LED PCBs are available in a variety of sizes. The size of the LED PCB may depend on the size of the LED(s) mounted thereon, the number of LEDs mounted thereon, the shape of the LED(s) mounted thereon, and/or the like. Known socket housings only accommodate a single size of LED PCBs. In other words, the recess of a particular socket housing is sized to receive only one particular size of LED PCBs. Accordingly, a different socket housing must be fabricated for each differently sized LED PCB, which may increase the cost of LED lighting systems and/or may increase the difficulty and/or time required to fabricate LED lighting systems.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds