Modular Lighting Systems

• US 20090267540A1
• Filed: 04/14/2009
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OSRAM Sylvania Inc. (Ams-Osram AG)
• Original Assignee: Digital Lumens, Inc. (Ams-Osram AG)
• Inventors: Chemel, Brian J., Kondo, Steve T., Johnston, Scott D., Piepgras, Colin
• Granted Patent: US 8,232,745 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/297
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 2/005 of modular construction
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 8/04 intended only for mounting on a ceiling or the like overhead structures F21S8/02 takes precedence; details of ceiling bases F21V21/03
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 8/086 with lighting device attached sideways of the standard, e.g. for roads and highways
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 9/024 using a supplementary light source for emergency lighting
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 9/043 driven by wind power, e.g. by wind turbines
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 19/0015 Fastening arrangements intended to retain light sources
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/30 Pivoted housings or frames
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/0442 activated by means of a sensor, e.g. motion or photodetectors
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/51 using condensation or evaporation of a fluid, e.g. heat pipes
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 29/763 the planes containing the fins or blades having the direction of the light emitting axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/101 of tunnels or the like, e.g. under bridges
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/103 of streets or roads
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/105 of arenas or the like
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/40 Lighting for industrial, commercial, recreational or military use
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/407 for indoor arenas
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/15 Organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/105 in response to determined parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 : Coordinated control of two or more light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/18 : via data-bus transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 : via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 : Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

In embodiments of the present invention, a method and system is provided for designing improved intelligent, LED-based lighting systems. The LED based lighting systems may include fixtures with one or more of rotatable LED light bars, integrated sensors, onboard intelligence to receive signals from the LED light bars and control the LED light bars, and a mesh network connectivity to other fixtures.

Claims

1. A lighting fixture, comprising:

an LED lighting system mounted within a housing; and

a power management module comprising multiple sources of power input and a processor in electrical communication with the LED lighting system;

wherein the processor is arranged to receive information about the impact of consuming power from each of the sources of input power, combine the impact information via an arbitration algorithm, and select which power input to utilize based on the output of the algorithm in accordance with at least one rule stored in a memory of the processor.

2. The fixture of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sources of input power is an energy storage device connected directly to one or more lighting fixtures.

3. The fixture of claim 2, wherein the energy storage device is a battery.

4. The fixture of claim 2, wherein the energy storage device is an ultracapacitor.

5. The fixture of claim 1, wherein the information is at least one of price per kWh, amount of kWh remaining in a storage device, and instantaneous power available from a renewable energy source.

6. The fixture of claim 1, wherein at least one of a plurality of LED light bars of the LED lighting system is arranged to rotate along at least one rotational axis independent of the orientation of the housing.

7. The fixture of claim 6, wherein the rotatable LED light bar is arranged in the lighting fixture such that it is used to change the aggregate beam angle of light emitted from the lighting fixture when its angle of rotation is substantially changed.

8. The fixture of claim 1, further comprising, an enclosure within the housing for disposing at least one sensor module, wherein the sensor module is in electrical communication with at least one of a plurality of LED light bars of the LED lighting system, wherein the surface of a sensor module lens is arranged to be close to a bottom plane of the fixture to achieve a maximum of sensor input angles.

9. The fixture of claim 6, further comprising, an angle indicator disposed on at least one of the LED light bar and the housing for indicating an angular adjustment of the LED light bar.

10. The fixture of claim 1, wherein at least one of a plurality of LED light bars of the LED lighting system is a variable light intensity LED light bar.

11. The fixture of claim 10, further comprising, electrically connecting a driver circuit to the variable light intensity LED light bar for controlling a variable load applied to the at least one LED light bar, wherein the luminous output of the at least one LED light bar is varied in response to a change in the load.

12. The fixture of claim 1, wherein the processor is further arranged to receive and process multiple sources of input data and adjust an LED lighting system parameter in response to the data in accordance with at least one rule stored in a memory of the processor.

13. The fixture of claim 12, wherein the rule determines a weight to apply to each of the input signals, combines those weighted signals via an arbitration algorithm, and determines the adjustment to the LED lighting system parameter according to the output of the algorithm.

14. The fixture of claim 1, wherein the power management module provides DC power and bidirectional data communication to a plurality of sensors of one or more lighting fixtures along at least two data conductors.

15. The fixture of claim 1, wherein the processor is arranged to communicate with at least one of a plurality of LED light bars of the lighting system to obtain identifying information about the LED light bar and store the identifying information in a memory of the processor in a form accessible by a user of the lighting fixture.

16. The fixture of claim 1, further comprising, a heatsink disposed on the housing, wherein the fins of the heatsink are oriented perpendicular to an axis of rotation of an LED light bar of the lighting system.

17. The fixture of claim 1, further comprising, a thermal interface pad disposed along an upper surface of the housing in contact with a mounting surface, wherein the thermal interface pad enables transfer of heat energy from the LED lighting system to the mounting surface.

18. The fixture of claim 1, further comprising, a heat pipe system integrated with the fixture, wherein the heat pipe system comprises a radiator attached to a pole for mounting the fixture and a thermal transfer material flowing between the radiator and the heat pipe system within the fixture.

19. The fixture of claim 1, further comprising, a waste heat recovery facility disposed within the housing for converting waste heat from the LED lighting system to electrical power, and a circuit for directing the electrical power generated from the waste heat to a power input for the lighting fixture.

20. The fixture of claim 1, further comprising, an electrostatic element disposed on a surface of the housing, wherein the element is charged by drawing power from the lighting fixture, wherein the electrostatic element attracts charged air particles, causing an airflow of charged air particles through the lighting fixture.