Multi-powering solar lamps

• US 10,612,738 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2019
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Luminaid Lab, LLC
• Original Assignee: Luminaid Lab, LLC
• Inventors: Sreshta, Andrea M., Stork, Anna Ruth
• Primary Examiner(s): Sufleta, II, Gerald J
• Application Number:
  US16/710,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20200116320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 118 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F21L 4/027 the light sources being a LED
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 2/00 Systems of lighting devices, not provided for in main groups F21S4/00 - F21S10/00 or F21S19/00, e.g. of modular construction
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 9/037 the solar unit and the lighting unit being located within or on the same housing
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 15/012 Housings with variable shape or dimensions, e.g. by means of elastically deformable materials or by movement of parts forming telescopic extensions of the housing body
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 17/007 with provision for shipment or storage
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 31/005 Sealing arrangements therefor
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/35 with light sensitive cells
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/50 Photovoltaic [PV] energy
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 70/30 Systems combining energy storage with energy generation of non-fossil origin

Abstract

A portable device for generating and providing electricity is disclosed. The device includes one or more flat solar panels; one or more batteries arranged to be changed with electric power from the one or more flat solar panels; one or more lights arranged to be powered from the one or more batteries; one or more electric connectors arranged to receive electric power form the one or more batteries and to connect to combined power/data connections on portable electronic devices; and an expandable and collapsible housing holding the solar panels, batteries, and lights, and arranged to form a hollow inner volume when expanded and a flat panel when contracted.

Claims

1. A solar-powered lamp, comprising:

a flat bottom panel;

a side wall connected at a first end of the lamp to the flat bottom panel, wherein the lamp is expandable and contractable by collapsing and expanding the side wall;

a flat top panel connected to the sidewall at a second end of the lamp that is opposite the first end of the lamp;

an electronics assembly contained in a watertight enclosure of the flat top panel and having a solar panel, a rechargeable battery, a printed circuit board, and one or more LEDs attached to the printed circuit board;

a data/power connector comprising a port attached to the circuit board, positioned adjacent to the solar panel, and arranged to provide power from the battery to a device that is external to the lamp, provide power from a device that is external to the lamp to the battery, or both; and

an enclosure for the data/power connector that can be opened and closed by a user to access the data/power connector, wherein the enclosure is sealed watertight between a removable cap and a main body of the lamp when it is closed by the user,

wherein the flat top panel comprises a top sheet and a bottom sheet that form a pocket for the electronics assembly, wherein the port is arranged parallel with the circuit board.

2. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, wherein the removable cap is connected to the flat top panel by a plastic hinge.

3. The solar-powered lamp of claim 2, wherein the removable cap makes a circumferential seal about its periphery with a corresponding matching surface mounted to the flat top panel.

4. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, further comprising a handle having a first portion attached to a first part of the lamp and a second portion attached to a second part of the lamp on a side of the lamp opposed to where the first portion is attached, and wherein the first and second portions of the handle include snap connectors for connecting to each other.

5. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, wherein the lamp defines a sealed inner volume and is inflatable and deflatable.

6. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, wherein the lamp includes a plurality of charge indicator lights that, in response to a user input, light up a number of lights that is indicative of a present level of charge of the rechargeable battery.

7. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, wherein the flat bottom panel and the flat top panel are sealed at their edges to the side wall.

8. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, wherein the data/power connector is a USB connector.

9. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, wherein the data connector is arranged to pass only electrical power, and not data.

10. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, wherein the outer peripheries of the flat bottom panel and the flat top panel match a shape of the side wall, and are sealed to the side wall around the peripheries.

11. The solar-powered lamp of claim 1, where the data/power connector is a two-way connector that is arranged to permit charging of the rechargeable battery from a source external to the lamp and also charging of a source external to the lamp from the rechargeable battery.

12. A solar-powered lamp, the lamp comprising:

one or more flat solar panels;

one or more batteries arranged to be charged with electric power from the one or more flat solar panels;

one or more lights arranged to be powered from the one or more batteries;

one or more electric connectors arranged to receive electric power from the one or more batteries and to connect to combined power/data connections on portable electronic devices; and

an expandable and collapsible housing holding the solar panels, batteries, and lights, and arranged to form a hollow inner volume when expanded and a flat panel when contracted,

wherein the one or more power/data connections extend in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the housing and are sealable by a cap arranged to cover the one or more power/data connectors and to seal at a peripheral edge with a matched surface on the housing,

wherein the housing includes a flat top panel that comprises a top sheet and a bottom sheet that form a pocket for at least the one or more flat solar panels, the one or more batteries, the one or more lights, and the one or more electrical connectors.

13. The lamp of claim 12, wherein the expandable and collapsible housing is in the form of a rectangular box when expanded and includes side panels that have diagonal separations in them that open up as the housing is moved from an expanded state toward a collapsed state.

14. The lamp of claim 13, further comprising an elastic cord inside the hollow inner volume and having opposed ends that are each connected to the housing, and wherein the elastic cord is directed substantially in parallel with the diagonal side panel separations.

15. The lamp of claim 13, wherein the one or more flat solar panels include a pair of solar panels that are located at a right angle with respect to each other on adjacent sides of the rectangular box when the housing is expanded, and on a single side of the flat panel and co-planar with each other when the housing is contracted.

16. The lamp of claim 13, wherein the housing has a folded state in which the flat panel is folded over, and wherein the solar panels face in opposed directions from each other on the outside of the housing in the folded state, so that both solar panels are exposed to ambient light in the folded state.

17. The lamp of claim 13, wherein surfaces of the side panels are pre-creased to guide folding of the side panels as the device is changed from the expanded state to the collapsed state.

18. The lamp of claim 12, wherein

the expandable and collapsible housing is in a form of a multi-pointed star;

the solar panels extend longitudinally away from a center of the star outward down multiple points of the star; and

each point of the star collapses into a flat panel when the device is collapsed.

19. The lamp of claim 12, wherein

the expandable and collapsible housing is in a form of a truncated cone when expanded;

and

a truncated end of the cone is at an opposed end of the device from a base end of the cone, and moves toward the base end when the device is collapsed.

20. The lamp of claim 19, wherein the solar panels are located in a flat truncated end of the cone, a flat base end of the cone, or both.

21. The lamp of claim 19, wherein the housing has multiple flat walls as walls that make up a periphery of the cone.

22. The lamp of claim 12, wherein

the expandable and collapsible housing is in a form of a plurality of flat rectangular panels arranged to expand by being rolled into a multi-sided tube and to collapse by being unfolded into a flat sheet;

and

multiple ones of the flat rectangular panels incorporate a solar panel.

23. The lamp of claim 12, wherein the one or more batteries include a pair of batteries that are each positioned behind a respective one of the solar panels, and wherein the system is arranged so that either solar panel can charge either battery, and either battery can power the one or more lights and the one or more connectors.

24. The lamp of claim 12, further comprising a sealable and un-sealable pocket in the housing, wherein the pocket is arranged to protect an electronic device from water outside the housing, and wherein the one or more electric connectors are located inside the pocket.

25. The lamp of claim 12, wherein the solar panels, batteries, and lights are sealed in one or more pockets having one or more transparent sides to allow sunlight to reach the solar panels and to allow light from the lights to reach an interior of the housing.

26. The lamp of claim 12, further comprising a controller arranged to communicate through the one or more connectors to supply data about operation of the device to an application running on an electronic device, and to allow the data to be displayed to a user of the device.

27. The lamp of claim 12, where the one or more electrical connectors are two-way connector that are arranged to permit charging of the rechargeable battery from a source external to the lamp and also charging of a source external to the lamp from the rechargeable battery.