ENERGY SAVER FOR AREA LIGHTS

• US 20100264853A1
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Amutham, Velayutham Kadal
• Granted Patent: US 8,587,222 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/313
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A method of saving energy is provided. The method can include providing at least one object sensor coupled to at least one light, and sensing if at least one object is present adjacent to the at least one light. The method can further include determining if the time of day corresponds to a desired start-up time, and illuminating the at least one light if the time of day corresponds to the desired start-up time and the at least one object is adjacent to the at least one light.

Claims

1. A method of saving energy comprising:

providing at least one object sensor coupled to at least one light;

sensing if at least one object is present adjacent to the at least one light;

determining if the time of day corresponds a desired start-up time;

illuminating the at least one light if the time of day corresponds to the desired start-up time and the at least one object is adjacent to the at least one light.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the at least one object includes at least one an active source of illumination; and

illuminating the at least one light if the time of day corresponds to the desired start-up time, the at least one object is adjacent to the at least one light and the at least one object does not include at least one active source of illumination.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

providing at least one object sensor further comprises providing a plurality of street lights that each include at least one object sensor;

sensing if at least one object is present further comprises sensing that at least one object is adjacent to one of the plurality of street lights; and

illuminating the at least one light further comprising illuminating the one of the plurality of street lights based on the sensing of the at least one object and the time of day.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining a velocity of the at least one object;

determining if the at least one object has a velocity that is greater than a threshold; and

illuminating more than the one of the plurality of street lights if the velocity is greater than the threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein illuminating the more than the one of the plurality of street lights further comprises:

sensing the at least one object is in a street adjacent to the one of the plurality of street lights; and

illuminating ones of the plurality of street lights that are along the street.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein illuminating the one of the plurality of street lights further comprises:

determining that a plurality of objects are adjacent to the one of the plurality of street lights; and

illuminating more than the one of the plurality of street lights.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein illuminating more than the one of the plurality of street lights further comprises:

determining that the plurality of objects are in a street adjacent to the one of the plurality of street lights; and

illuminating ones of the plurality of street lights that are along the street.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein illuminating the at least one light further comprises:

illuminating a light source coupled to a street light.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein sensing the at least one object further comprises:

sensing at least one human, animal, motorized vehicle or combinations thereof.

10. A system for saving energy comprising:

at least one object sensor that senses the presence of at least one object; and

at least one control system that determines, based on the presence of the at least one object, whether to illuminate an area around the at least one object sensor.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one object sensor is coupled to at least one street light and the at least one control system illuminates at least one light source associated with the at least one street light.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one object sensor comprises an infrared sensor, an infrared camera, a camera or combinations thereof.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one street light comprises a plurality of street lights, the at least one object sensor comprises a plurality of object sensors and the at least one control system further comprises:

a section control system that transmits a signal to illuminate more than one of the plurality of street lights; and

a plurality of post control systems that each receive the signal, with one of the plurality of post control systems associated with one of the plurality of street lights and one of the plurality of object sensors, and each of the post control systems operable to illuminate the at least one light source based on the signal.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the section control system transmits a signal to activate the plurality of object sensors based on a selected time.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the section control system communicates with the plurality of post control systems over a wireless link.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of the post control systems includes a velocity sensor that senses a velocity of at least one object as it moves relative to the respective one of the plurality of street lights.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of the post control systems includes an optical sensor that senses if the at least one object includes at least one active illumination source.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein if the at least one object includes at least one active illumination source, the at least one of the post control systems does not illuminate the at least one light source.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein if the at least one object includes at least one active illumination source, the at least one of the post control systems illuminates the at least one light source to an illumination less than full illumination.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the section control system transmits a signal to illuminate more than one of the plurality of street lights based on the velocity of the object.