Lighting system

• US 7,909,483 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2007
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Bragard, Michael, Hente, Dirk, Waffenschmidt, Eberhard, Budde, Wolfgang Otto, Jacobs, Joseph Hendrik Anna Maria
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong; Bao Q
• Application Number:
  US12/373,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20090290332A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• Field of Search: 362/276, 362/183, 362/394, 362/411, 362/295, 362/802, 362/398, 362/151, 362/152, 362/153, 362/800, 315276-278, 315283-286, 315/504, 307/104
• US Class Current: 362/276
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/02 the elements being transformers, impedances or power supply units, e.g. a transformer with a rectifier
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2105/00 Planar light sources
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/15 Organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 19/04 Transformers or mutual inductances suitable for handling frequencies considerably beyond the audio range resonant circuits H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/2804 Printed windings
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/14 Inductive couplings for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/005 Mechanical details of housing or structure aiming to accommodate the power transfer means, e.g. mechanical integration of coils, antennas or transducers into emitting or receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/402 the two or more transmitting or the two or more receiving devices being integrated in the same unit, e.g. power mats with several coils or antennas with several sub-antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/37 Converter circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/60 Circuit arrangements for operating LEDs comprising organic material, e.g. for operating organic light-emitting diodes [OLED] or polymer light-emitting diodes [PLED]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

The present invention relates to a lighting system comprising a base part (12) with at least one primary coil (18), and at least one light module (13, 14) with a secondary coil (26) adapted to inductively interact with the primary coil (18). The lighting system is characterized in that said base part (12) comprises a substrate (50) carrying said primary coil (18), the winding of which lying in one plane and forming a flat coupling area (16); the winding of the second coil (26) lies in one plane; and said light module (13, 14) comprises at least one light element (20) and a flat bottom surface, so that the light module (13, 14) is placeable with its flat surface on the flat coupling area (16).

Claims

1. Lighting system comprising:

a base part comprising a substrate carrying at least one primary coil having a winding lying in a first plane and forming a substantially flat coupling area, and

at least one light module comprising a secondary coil adapted to inductively interact with the primary coil and having a winding lying in a second plane, said light module comprising at least one light element and having a flat bottom surface for placing said light module in the flat coupling area,

wherein said base part comprises a (i) detector unit for detecting a light module placed in said coupling area and (ii) a switch adapted to power the primary coil coupled too said coupling area in response to the detection of the light module.

2. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said light module comprises a converter unit coupled to the secondary coil and to the light element.

3. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said base part and/or said light module comprise a soft-magnetic plate.

4. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said base part comprises an AC power supply having a fundamental frequency greater than 100 KHz.

5. The lighting system of claim 4, wherein said AC power supply comprises a DC source and a DC-to-AC converter to generate the AC voltage.

6. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said base part comprises a plurality of mechanical positioning elements for positioning said at least one light module in the coupling area.

7. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said light module comprises an energy storage element.

8. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said base part and said light module each comprise a controller unit adapted to wirelessly transmit and receive control signals via said primary and secondary coils.

9. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said winding of said base part and/or said light module comprise at least two winding parts, wherein each winding part has winding turns lying on a layer of a multi-layer circuit board.

10. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light element comprises at least one OLED.

11. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light module is arranged in a post.

12. The lighting system according to claim 11, wherein the post is part of an arrangement of several posts connected via post belts to be placed on a ground floor comprising an arrangement of base parts.

13. The lighting system according to claim 12, wherein the posts are connected electrically via the post belts.

14. The lighting system according to claim 11, wherein the light module further comprises a rechargeable battery to be charged by the base part.

15. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein said converter unit comprises a rectifier circuit.

16. The lighting system of claim 2, wherein said converter unit is adapted to provide a controlled current and/or voltage to the at least one light element, and comprises (i) an AC-to-DC converter and (ii) an DC-to-DC dual stage converter circuit or an AC-to-DC single stage converter circuit.

17. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein said windings of said primary coil and/or said secondary coil comprise indium tin oxide.