Lunar resonant lighting
First Claim
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1. A lunar resonant lighting system, including:
- illumination means for casting a variable intensity illumination;
power supply means for supplying operating power to said illumination means;
sensor means for detecting moonlight in the night sky and generating a moonlight signal that varies with the intensity of moonlight;
said power supply means receiving said moonlight signal and varying said operating power in an inverse relationship to said intensity of moonlight;
said sensor means including at least one photosensor directed upwardly toward the sky generally at an elevation angle that is the complement of the latitude angle of the geographical location of said system;
further including a pair of secondary photosensors directed generally toward the horizon and in diametrically opposed directions, said microprocessor being programmed to process signals from all of said photosensors to determine average background sky illumination and compare said average sky illumination to the strongest signal from any one of said photosensors to determine said intensity of moonlight.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus to control a lighting source such as a streetlight and modulate the output of the lighting source so that artificial illumination is reduced when moonlight is available to illuminate the area. The apparatus includes a sensor assembly for detecting moonlight in the night sky, an electronic circuit for processing the sensor signals in combination with moonrise and moonset data, and modulating the power applied to the lighting source in response to the intensity of the incident moonlight.
117 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A lunar resonant lighting system, including:
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illumination means for casting a variable intensity illumination; power supply means for supplying operating power to said illumination means; sensor means for detecting moonlight in the night sky and generating a moonlight signal that varies with the intensity of moonlight; said power supply means receiving said moonlight signal and varying said operating power in an inverse relationship to said intensity of moonlight; said sensor means including at least one photosensor directed upwardly toward the sky generally at an elevation angle that is the complement of the latitude angle of the geographical location of said system; further including a pair of secondary photosensors directed generally toward the horizon and in diametrically opposed directions, said microprocessor being programmed to process signals from all of said photosensors to determine average background sky illumination and compare said average sky illumination to the strongest signal from any one of said photosensors to determine said intensity of moonlight. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for lunar resonant lighting, including the steps of:
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providing a variable light source for illumination; providing operating power to said variable light source; detecting moonlight in the night sky; and
,varying said operating power to said variable light source in an inverse relationship to the intensity of the moonlight; further including the step of providing a trio of photodetectors aimed at the sky and diverging angularly from each other, calculating an average of the signals from all of said photodetectors, and comparing the strongest individual signal from any of said photodetectors to said average to determine the location of the moon in the night sky. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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Specification