System, apparatus and method for a dimmable circuit

• US 9,989,229 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ryan R. Pieper
• Original Assignee: Ryan R. Pieper
• Inventors: Pieper, Ryan R.
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Monica C
• Application Number:
  US15/371,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20170164450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 545 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/28 adjustable in more than one plane
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/003 the elements being electronics drivers or controllers for operating the light source, e.g. for a LED array
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/04 the elements being switches safety devices F21V25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 1/00 Contacts liquid contacts H01H29/04

Abstract

According to an exemplary embodiment, a dimmable circuit for operating a lighting fixture may be provided. The dimmable circuit may be capable of regulating the output intensity of a connected light source via the rotational angular displacement of an arm fixture. The dimmable circuit may include a housing, an arm fixture with at least one light source mounted thereto, a rotatable shaft that provides angular rotational movement of the arm fixture about the housing, an encoder, an electrical control unit, and a slip ring. The rotatable shaft may support multiple complete rotations of the arm fixture, as well as rotations below and beyond 360 degrees. Further, a programmable microprocessor may be used to manipulate various light characteristics of the light source according to predetermined dimming patterns.

Claims

1. A dimmable light circuit, comprising:

a housing;

an arm fixture with at least one light source mounted thereto;

a rotatable shaft coupled to the arm fixture that provides angular rotational movement of the arm fixture about the housing, the angular rotational movement being 360-degrees in either direction from any point along a path of rotation;

an encoder connected to the rotatable shaft to generate and transmit data on the angular rotational movement of the rotatable shaft;

an electrical control unit that receives and processes data from the encoder, and further regulates an electrical current flowing to the at least one light source based on an angular position of the rotatable shaft, thereby controlling an intensity of the at least one light source; and

a slip ring attached to the rotatable shaft that transmits electric power from the electrical control unit to the at least one light source.

2. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, wherein the electrical control unit comprises at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions and a microprocessor adapted to execute the instructions.

3. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, further comprising a control device communicatively coupled to the electrical control unit to control properties of the at least one light source, including at least one of color, temperature, and brightness.

4. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, wherein the electrical control unit is programmed to produce a desired sweep pattern as the rotatable shaft moves the arm fixture along the path of rotation, the sweep pattern defined by activation of predefined light characteristics of the at least one light source at predetermined positions of the rotatable shaft.

5. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, wherein the electrical control unit stores a plurality of different sweep patterns.

6. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, further comprising a push-button disposed on the arm fixture, the push-button configured to control an on/off state of the at least one light source.

7. The dimmable light circuit of claim 5, wherein a push-button is configured to enable a user to select a desired sweep pattern from the plurality of sweep patterns.

8. The dimmable light circuit of claim 7, wherein the selected sweep pattern can be modified according to at least one of:

a time of day, a measured angular speed of the shaft, and an input from an external sensor.

9. The dimmable light circuit of claim 8, wherein the external sensor is one of:

a light sensor, a noise level sensor, and a motion sensor.

10. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, further comprising audio speakers communicatively coupled to the electrical control unit, wherein the electrical control unit adjusts a volume of the audio speakers based on data related to the angular rotational movement of the rotatable shaft.

11. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, further comprising at least one raised bump that provides perceptible tactile notice when the rotatable shaft reaches a predetermined position along the path of rotation.

12. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, further comprising a wireless transmitter communicatively coupled to the electrical control unit and configured to transmit data received from a user-operated computing device.

13. The dimmable light circuit of claim 12, wherein the computing device is one of:

a smartphone, a tablet, and a personal computer.

14. The dimmable light circuit of claim 12, wherein the computing device further comprises a software module for entering commands for selectively controlling the at least one light source.

15. The dimmable light circuit of claim 14, wherein the software module provides functionality to create, edit and save sweep patterns to the electrical control unit.

16. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one linear potentiometer;

a wheel rotationally driven by the rotatable shaft; and

a connecting rod having a first end connected to an outer part of the wheel and a second end connected to the at least one linear potentiometer;

wherein the connecting rod converts the rotational movement of the wheel into a longitudinal movement applied to the at least one linear potentiometer.

17. The dimmable light circuit of claim 16, wherein the at least one linear potentiometer is a plurality of linear potentiometers and the connecting rod is configured to transfer longitudinal movement to the plurality of linear potentiometers.

18. The dimmable light circuit of claim 1, wherein the at least one light source is one of:

an LED, a laser, an incandescent bulb, a halogen bulb, and a fluorescent bulb.