Lighting Unit and Luminaire for Road and/or Street Lighting

• US 20120057340A1
• Filed: 03/17/2010
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thorn Europhane SA (Zumtobel Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Thorn Europhane SA (Zumtobel Group AG)
• Inventors: Rami, Jean-Paul, Rocard, Florian
• Granted Patent: US 9,062,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/231
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 8/086 with lighting device attached sideways of the standard, e.g. for roads and highways
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 11/02 using parallel laminae or strips, e.g. of Venetian-blind type F21V11/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 7/0083 Array of reflectors for a cluster of light sources, e.g. arrangement of multiple light sources in one plane combination of two or more reflectors F21V7/0025
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/103 of streets or roads
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/72 in street lighting

Abstract

A lighting unit for use in a luminaire, in particular a luminaire for road and/or street lighting, has an adaptable light distribution wherein he lighting unit comprises at least two light sources or groups of light sources, each of the light sources or groups of light sources having an individual light distribution characteristic, wherein the overall light distribution of the lighting unit is adapted by modifying the ratio of the light outputs of the at least two light sources or groups of light sources

Claims

1. Lighting unit for use in a luminaire, said lighting unit having an adaptable light distribution,

wherein

said lighting unit comprises at least two light sources or groups of light sources, each of said light sources or groups of light sources having an individual light distribution characteristic, and

the overall light distribution of the lighting unit is adapted by modifying the ratio of the light outputs of the at least two light sources or groups of light sources.

2. Lighting unit according to claim 1, wherein the at least two light sources or groups of light sources are arranged on the same plane.

3. Lighting unit according to claim 1, wherein the light sources or groups of light sources comprise LED light sources.

4. Light unit according to claim 3, wherein each light source comprises a plurality of LEDs and wherein the ratio of the light outputs of the light sources is modified by selecting the number of activated LEDs in each group.

5. Lighting unit according to claim 1, wherein each light source or group of light sources is provided with an optical device or element, said optical device or element being adapted to distribute the light of the corresponding light source or group of light sources in accordance with the corresponding light distribution.

6. Lighting unit according to claim 1, said lighting unit comprising a control unit to control the overall light distribution.

7. Lighting unit according to claim 6, wherein said control unit is adapted to control the overall light distribution in accordance with weather and/or road conditions.

8. Lighting unit according to claim 6, wherein said control unit is adapted to control the overall light distribution on the basis of external control signals.

9. Luminaire for road and/or street lighting, said luminaire having a lighting unit according to claim 1.

15. Lighting unit according to claim 2, wherein the at least two light sources or groups of light sources are arranged on the same, flat plane.

10. Method for adapting the light distribution of a luminaire, wherein the luminaire comprises at least two light sources or groups of light sources, each of said light sources or groups of light sources having an individual light distribution characteristic,

the method comprising adapting the overall light distribution of the luminaire by modifying the ratio of the light outputs of the at least two light sources or groups of light sources.

11. Method according to claim 10, wherein the light sources or groups of light sources comprise LED light sources.

12. Method according to claim 11, wherein each light source comprises a plurality of LEDs, the method comprising modifying the ratio of the light outputs of the light sources by selecting the number of activated LEDs in each group.

13. Method according to claim 10, comprising adapting the overall light distribution in accordance with weather conditions and/or road conditions.

14. Method according to claim 10, comprising modifying the ratio of the light outputs of the at least two light sources or groups of light sources in such a way that the total power consumption of the luminaire is constant.