Pcb contact arrangement

Abstract

A printed circuit board (PCB) for mounting electrical components such as LEDs has either contact traces leading to an edge of the PCB, or outward edge protrusions on which an electrically conductive material is deposited, such that the board itself can be used to make electrical contact in a pre-existing, commercially available fitting, such as a wedge or screw-in or bayonet-base fitting designed to receive incandescent light bulbs.

1 . A lighting arrangement comprising:
 a source of electrical power;   a printed circuit board (PCB) base having front and rear surfaces;   a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) driven by the power source and mounted on the PCB base;   at least two electrically conductive traces on a planar surface of the PCB base leading electrical current between the source of electrical power and the LEDs;   electrical trace contacts formed on the PCB base in electrical contact with respective ones of the traces and extending to a contact edge of the PCB base such that when the PCB base is inserted into a standard, pre-existing, commercially available wedge-based light fitting designed to receive an incandescent light bulb, each electrical trace contact is pressed into electrical contact with a mating contact element in the wedge-based light fitting, the LEDs thereby replacing the incandescent light bulb.   
   
   
       2 . A contact surface arrangement for a printed circuit board (PCB) for mounting at least one electrical component comprising:
 a base cut from a PCB substrate;   at least one lateral base protrusion mating with at least a first internal, at least partially electrically conductive, surface of a pre-existing, commercially available fitting;   an electrically conductive material deposited on an outer edge of the lateral base protrusion;   at least one electrically conductive trace on a planar surface of the base, the trace being in electrical contact with the electrically conductive material deposited on the lateral base protrusion so as to create a first electrical path to at least one of the electrical components; and   at least one slot in the base extending in an axial direction of the fitting, each slot comprising a physical opening in the PCB board itself;   in which the base is wider than an internal diameter of the fitting, but by no more than a total width of the slot(s), such that the base, upon installation in the fitting, biases the lateral base protrusions outward and into contact with the first internal surface of the fitting.   
   
   
       3 . An arrangement as in  claim 2 , in which the electrical component is a light-emitting diode and the fitting is a standard fitting designed to receive an incandescent light bulb by insertion of the bulb in an axial direction. 
   
   
       4 . An arrangement as in  claim 2 , in which:
 the fitting is a standard bayonet fitting and the internal surface has indexed indentations; and   the lateral base protrusions have the same indexing as the indentations.   
   
   
       5 . An arrangement as in  claim 2 , in which:
 the standard fitting is a screw-in fitting and the internal surface has threading with a pitch; and   on either side of the base portion, the lateral base protrusions have the same pitch as the pitch of the threading.