Dome Light

• US 20070103099A1
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Published: 05/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: George Sotiriou
• Original Assignee: George Sotiriou
• Inventors: Sotiriou, George
• Granted Patent: US 7,462,993 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/314
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 35/00 Electric light sources using a combination of different types of light generation
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/325 Pulse-width modulation [PWM]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/395 Linear regulators
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

A dome light is disclosed which utilizes a rotating knob with ‘on’ and ‘off’ positions to toggle between having either a halogen bulb on or a plurality of red LEDs on, or both off. Dual D-type flip-flops toggle the dome light between states in response the changes of the knob between the ‘on’ and ‘off’ positions. The plurality of red LEDs utilize at least one current regulator to maintain a constant level of illumination. When the halogen bulb is on, further rotation of the knob varies a potentiometer which controls the duty cycle created by a pulse width modulator. The pulse width modulator causes the halogen bulb to be on for portions of each cycle; the longer the ‘on’ time during each cycle, the greater the apparent intensity of illumination by the halogen bulb.

Claims

1. An electrical circuit comprising:

a plurality of light-emitting diodes;

a bulb; and

a switch with only two modes, said modes consisting of on and off;

wherein the circuit is configured to cycle through three states in response a change in the switch'"'"'s mode, in the following order;

the plurality of light-emitting diodes off and the bulb off, the plurality of light-emitting diodes on and the bulb off, the plurality of light-emitting diodes off and the bulb off, the plurality of light-emitting diodes off and the bulb on, and the plurality of light-emitting diodes off and the bulb off.

2. The electrical circuit of claim 1 wherein the plurality of light-emitting diodes are red light-emitting diodes and the bulb is a halogen bulb.

3. The electrical circuit of claim 2 wherein the circuit further comprises at least two flip-flops which are configured to cause the circuit to cycle through the three states in response to a change in the mode of the switch.

4. The electrical circuit of claim 2 wherein the circuit further comprises at least two flip-flops and at least two transistors which are configured to cause the circuit to cycle through the three states in response to a change in the mode of the switch.

5. An electrical circuit comprising:

a halogen bulb; and

a pulse width modulation regulator;

wherein an apparent illumination intensity of the halogen bulb is controlled by a width of pulses generated by the pulse width modulation regulator.

6. The electrical circuit of claim 5 wherein the pulse width modulation regulator comprises a plurality of operational amplifiers and a capacitor.

7. The electrical circuit of claim 6 further comprising a first transistor which is configured to allow or prevent current from flowing through the halogen bulb, wherein the first transistor is controlled by an output of one of said plurality of operational amplifiers.

8. The electrical circuit of claim 7 wherein the pulse width modulation regulator is configured to generate a square wave from a DC input, convert said square wave into a triangular waveform, and convert said triangular wave form into a variable pulse width waveform.

9. The electrical circuit of claim 8 further comprising:

a switch with only two modes, said modes consisting of on and off; and

a plurality of light-emitting diodes;

wherein the circuit is configured to cycle through three states in response to input from the switch in the following order;

halogen bulb off and light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb on and light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb off and light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb off and light-emitting diodes on, halogen bulb off and light-emitting diodes off.

10. The electrical circuit of claim 9 wherein the plurality of light-emitting diodes are a plurality of red light-emitting diodes.

11. The electrical circuit of claim 10 further comprising:

a second transistor which is configured to allow or prevent current from flowing through the plurality of red light-emitting diodes;

a first flip-flop; and

a second flip-flop;

wherein the first flip-flop and second flip-flop are configured to control a gate of the second transistor.

12. The electrical circuit of claim 11 further comprising:

a potentiometer;

wherein the potentiometer is configured to dim the output of the halogen lamp by changing the width of the pulses generated by the pulse width modulation regulator.

13. A circuit comprising:

a halogen bulb; and

a pulse width modulator;

wherein the pulse width modulator is configured to convert a DC input into an AC output with a frequency greater than sixteen hertz;

wherein the pulse width modulator is further configured to control the duration that the halogen bulb is on within each cycle.

14. The circuit of claim 13 wherein the pulse width modulator comprises operational amplifiers.

15. The circuit of claim 14 wherein the pulse width modulator controls a transistor which determines whether current may flow through the halogen bulb.

16. The circuit of claim 15 further comprising:

a switch which is configured to determine whether the halogen bulb receives the DC input; and

a potentiometer which controls the duration that the halogen bulb is on within each cycle.

17. The circuit of claim 16 further comprising:

a plurality of light-emitting diodes;

wherein the circuit is configured to allow either the light-emitting diodes or the halogen bulb to illuminate, and is further configured to not allow the light-emitting diodes and the halogen bulb to illuminate at the same time.

18. The circuit of claim 17 wherein the plurality of light-emitting diodes are a plurality of red light-emitting diodes.

19. The circuit of claim 16 further comprising:

a plurality of red light-emitting diodes;

wherein the circuit is configured to use CMOS logic to cycle through the following states in the following order in response to changes in the status of the switch;

halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb on and red light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes on, halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes off.

20. The circuit of claim 16 further comprising:

a plurality of red light-emitting diodes;

wherein the circuit further comprises two flip-flops which cause the circuit to cycle through the following states in the following order in response to changes in the status of the switch;

halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb on and red light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes off, halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes on, halogen bulb off and red light-emitting diodes off.

21. The circuit of claim 20 wherein the circuit is installed on a boat.