Lighting energy management system and method
First Claim
1. A lighting energy management system for controlling the operation of a plurality of lighting fixtures in a building in order to minimize the energy required by said lighting fixtures, said building having a plurality of physical zones, said energy management system comprising:
- (a) at least one photo sensor for measuring a brightness level in the vicinity of the photo sensor and at least one occupancy sensor for determining whether a physical zone is occupied;
(b) a communication bus coupled to each of the lighting fixtures, photo sensors and occupancy sensors to provide data communication therebetween;
(c) a personal controller module coupled to the communication bus for generating personal lighting commands;
(d) an energy control unit coupled to the communication bus for receiving information from the photo sensors and occupancy sensors and said personal controller, determining an optimal brightness command for each lighting fixture, and providing each optimal brightness command to each lighting fixture over the communication bus, said energy control unit being adapted to store and maintain a plurality of zone objects and a plurality of fixture objects, wherein each zone object is associated with a physical or logical zone of the building and wherein each fixture object is associated with a lighting fixture and where;
(i) each said zone object has an occupancy controller module for receiving data from said at least one occupancy sensor, said occupancy controller module being adapted to selectively provide an adjustment command to associated lighting fixtures which are within the physical zone of the building associated with said zone object, so that the optimal brightness command generated by the energy control unit takes into account whether a physical zone is determined to be unoccupied;
(ii) each fixture object being associated with a zone object according to whether said associated lighting fixture is within the physical or logical zone of the building associated with the zone object, and having a switching control and preset module for obtaining data from said associated zone object, a personal controller module, to determine a desired brightness level, a load shedding module for using the desired brightness level and a load shedding factor to determine a target brightness level, and a daylight compensation module for using the target brightness level along with data from said photo sensors to determine the optimal brightness command which takes into account daylight illumination; and
(e) said energy control unit distributing the optimal brightness command received from each said fixture objects to each said associated lighting fixture, such that the energy required by the light fixtures is minimized according to various energy management strategies and personal lighting preferences.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An lighting energy management system and method for controlling lighting fixtures in a building, uses lighting fixtures, photo and occupancy sensors, personal lighting commands and an energy control unit. The energy control unit receives information from the photo and occupancy sensors and the personal controller and determines an optimal brightness command for each lighting fixture using a coordinated system of zone and fixture objects. Each zone object is associated with a building zone and each fixture object is associated with a light fixture. Each zone object ensures that lighting fixture lighting level is adjusted when a physical zone is unoccupied. Each fixture object uses sensors and personal inputs to determine a desired brightness level and uses a load shedding and daylight compensation to determine a daylight adjusted brightness level. The energy control unit determines an optimal brightness command based on these levels to minimize the energy required by the lighting fixtures.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A lighting energy management system for controlling the operation of a plurality of lighting fixtures in a building in order to minimize the energy required by said lighting fixtures, said building having a plurality of physical zones, said energy management system comprising:
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(a) at least one photo sensor for measuring a brightness level in the vicinity of the photo sensor and at least one occupancy sensor for determining whether a physical zone is occupied;
(b) a communication bus coupled to each of the lighting fixtures, photo sensors and occupancy sensors to provide data communication therebetween;
(c) a personal controller module coupled to the communication bus for generating personal lighting commands;
(d) an energy control unit coupled to the communication bus for receiving information from the photo sensors and occupancy sensors and said personal controller, determining an optimal brightness command for each lighting fixture, and providing each optimal brightness command to each lighting fixture over the communication bus, said energy control unit being adapted to store and maintain a plurality of zone objects and a plurality of fixture objects, wherein each zone object is associated with a physical or logical zone of the building and wherein each fixture object is associated with a lighting fixture and where;
(i) each said zone object has an occupancy controller module for receiving data from said at least one occupancy sensor, said occupancy controller module being adapted to selectively provide an adjustment command to associated lighting fixtures which are within the physical zone of the building associated with said zone object, so that the optimal brightness command generated by the energy control unit takes into account whether a physical zone is determined to be unoccupied;
(ii) each fixture object being associated with a zone object according to whether said associated lighting fixture is within the physical or logical zone of the building associated with the zone object, and having a switching control and preset module for obtaining data from said associated zone object, a personal controller module, to determine a desired brightness level, a load shedding module for using the desired brightness level and a load shedding factor to determine a target brightness level, and a daylight compensation module for using the target brightness level along with data from said photo sensors to determine the optimal brightness command which takes into account daylight illumination; and
(e) said energy control unit distributing the optimal brightness command received from each said fixture objects to each said associated lighting fixture, such that the energy required by the light fixtures is minimized according to various energy management strategies and personal lighting preferences. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of controlling the operation of a plurality of lighting fixtures in a building in order to minimize the energy required by said lighting fixtures, said building having a plurality of physical zones, said energy management method comprising:
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(a) determining photo sensor data using at least one photo sensor, determining occupancy data within at least one of the physical zones using at least one occupancy sensor, and providing said photo sensor data and occupancy data over a communication bus;
(b) providing signals to and from each of said lighting fixtures over the communication bus;
(c) obtaining at least one personal lighting command and providing said at least one personal lighting command over the communication bus;
(d) receiving photo sensor data, occupancy data and said at least one personal lighting commands over said communication bus, and storing and maintaining a plurality of zone objects and a plurality of fixture objects, wherein each zone object is associated with a zone of the building, each fixture object is associated with a lighting fixture and each fixture object is associated with a zone object according to whether said associated lighting fixture is within the zone of the building associated with the zone object such that;
(i) each said zone object receives occupancy sensor data and selectively provides an adjustment command to at least one associated lighting fixture, so that the optimal brightness command reduces at least one associated lighting fixture in brightness when the zone is determined to be unoccupied;
(ii) each said fixture object receives at least one of a personal lighting command and data from said associated zone object, determines a desired brightness level, uses the desired brightness level and a load shedding factor to determine a target brightness level, uses the target brightness level along with photo sensor data to determine an optimal brightness command which takes into account daylight illumination; and
(e) distributing the optimal brightness command received from each of said fixture objects to each said associated lighting fixtures, such that the energy required by the light fixtures is minimized according to several individual energy management strategies and personal lighting preferences. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of determining the relative physical location of a plurality of device nodes interconnected with cabling within an electrical system and representing said relative physical location using a branch mapping that represents cable lengths between pairs of nodes, said method comprising:
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(a) measuring the power supply voltage at each node;
(b) selectively and alternately increasing the current consumption for each node by a predetermined amount;
(c) determining the corresponding decrease in the power supply voltage within said node and said other nodes that results due to resistive losses within the cabling; and
(d) determining the physical cable length between each pair of said nodes and the relative physical location of each of said nodes. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of determining the relative physical location of a plurality of device nodes interconnected with cabling within an electrical system and representing said relative physical location, said method comprising:
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(a) measuring the power supply voltage at each device node, (b) sorting said power supply measurements and determining a sequence of physical installation locations based on the sorted power supply measurements;
(c) comparing said sequence with a likely sequence of installation based on the physical construction of said electrical system;
(d) determining the relative physical location of each of said nodes. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A system for interconnecting a plurality of devices, said system including a communication bus and a plurality of input/output modules coupled to the communication bus and to each device, each said input/output module being adapted to provide an adaptive interface between the communication bus and each device, each of said input/output modules comprising:
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(i) a device identifier module for detecting an electrical characteristic associated with the device and determining the identity of the device based on said detected electrical characteristic; and
(ii) a universal interface module coupled to the device identifier module, said universal interface module being adapted to communicate data between said communication bus and said device, according to the identity of the device as determined by the device identifier module. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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33. A method of interconnecting a plurality of electrical devices, said system including a communication bus and a plurality of input/output modules coupled to the communication bus and to each device, each said input/output module being adapted to provide an adaptive interface between the communication bus and each device, said method comprising:
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(i) detecting an electrical characteristic associated with the device and determining the identity of the device based on said detected electrical characteristic; and
(ii) communicating data between said communication bus and said device, according to the identity of the device as determined by the device identifier module. - View Dependent Claims (34)
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35. An energy management system for controlling the operation of a plurality of energy consuming units in a building in order to minimize the energy required by said energy consuming units, said building having a plurality of physical zones, said energy management system comprising:
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(a) a sensor located in a physical zone of the building, said sensor being selected from the group consisting of a computer program, a wall-mounted controller device, a fire alarm, a security alarm, a security sensor, an access-control device, and a telephone, each of which provides an operational signal; and
(b) an occupancy controller module associated with the physical zone of the building coupled to the sensor for receiving data concerning the occupancy of a physical zone, said occupancy controller module being adapted to detect said operational signal associated with said sensor and to determine whether a physical zone is occupied based on said operational signal. - View Dependent Claims (36)
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37. A method of performing daylight compensation within a lighting energy management system wherein the daylight contribution to a particular lighting level as read by a photo sensor associated with at least one lighting fixture is determined by:
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(i) operating each of the lighting fixtures at a range of brightness levels when there is no adverse change in available daylight;
(ii) compiling the readings of said photo sensor for each brightness level of each lighting fixture into a reading profile for the photo sensor; and
(iii) for the particular lighting level, using said reading profile to remove the photo sensor readings associated with the brightness level for each lighting fixture from said lighting level, such that for the particular lighting level, the daylight contribution can be determined;
(iv) adjusting the light provided by each lighting fixture to compensate for the daylight contribution as determined in step (iii).
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38. A method of controlling the operation of a plurality of energy consuming units in a building using a plurality of local switching devices that reduces switching stress due to excessive inrush currents normally associated with said energy consuming units and reduces energy consumption, each energy consuming unit having an associated power supply and an inrush current limiting impedance, said method comprising:
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(a) distributing the centralized switching control by electrically coupling each of said local switching devices between an associated energy consuming unit and an associated power supply;
(b) locating each of said switching devices in close proximity to each of said energy consuming units so as to increase inrush current limiting impedance associated with said energy consuming unit;
(c) communicating a connectivity command to said switching devices over a communication bus; and
(d) selectively switching each energy consuming unit using said switching device based on the connectivity command. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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40. A method of installing a lighting control device and associated data communication wiring and power wiring within a lighting fixture cover having knock-out aperture formed within, said method comprising:
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(a) installing said data communication wiring outside said lighting fixture cover above the position of said knock-out aperture;
(b) installing said power wiring within said fixture cover below the position of said knock-out aperture; and
(c) positioning and removeably securing said lighting control device within said knock-out aperture such that said lighting control device represents an electrical barrier between the inside of said light fixture cover and the outside of said light fixture cover.
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Specification