Methods and apparatus for generating and modulating illumination conditions

• US 20050030744A1
• Filed: 08/31/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify North America Corporation (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Color Kinetics Incorporated (Signify N.V.)
• Inventors: Lys, Ihor A., Mueller, George G., Dowling, Kevin J., Morgan, Frederick M., Ducharme, Alfred D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,255,457 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/231
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/20 Light sources comprising attachment means
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/045 the sensor receiving a signal from a remote controller
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/0457 the sensor sensing the operating status of the lighting device, e.g. to detect failure of a light source or to provide feedback to the device
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 3/04 characterised by materials, surface treatments or coatings
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/406 for theatres, stages or film studios
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2103/10 comprising a linear array of point-like light-generating elements
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/22 using optical feedback
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 362/80 Light emitting diode

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for generating essentially white light. In one example, a white light generating apparatus comprises at least one first white LED characterized by a first spectrum, and at least one second white LED characterized by a second spectrum, wherein the first spectrum is substantially different than the second spectrum.

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating essentially white light, comprising:

at least one first white LED characterized by a first spectrum; and

at least one second white LED characterized by a second spectrum, the first spectrum being substantially different than the second spectrum.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one optical filter configured to selectively transmit a portion of light emitted from at least one of the first and second white LEDs.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one optical filter is a high pass filter.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one optical filter comprises a plurality of optical filters, each of the plurality of optical filters being configured to selectively transmit a portion of the light emitted from at least one of the first and second white LEDs.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the selectively transmitted portion of the light emitted from the at least one of the first and second LEDs includes at least a portion of the Planckian locus.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein at least one of the plurality of filters is a yellow filter.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first white LED has a color temperature of approximately 20,000 Kelvin, and the second white LED has a color temperature of approximately 5,750 Kelvin.

8. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

the at least one optical filter comprises a plurality of optical filters;

wherein at least a first one of the plurality of optical filters is adapted to transmit a portion of the light corresponding to a color temperature of approximately 2,300 Kelvin; and

wherein at least a second one of the plurality of optical filters is adapted to transmit a portion of the light corresponding to a color temperature of approximately 4,500 Kelvin.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first white LED has a color temperature of approximately 2,300 Kelvin, and the second white LED has a color temperature of approximately 4,500 Kelvin.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a mounting configured to approximate an appearance of a fluorescent tube.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one first white LED and the at least one second white LED are configured in a substantially linear arrangement.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one controller adapted to pulse width modulate at least one of the plurality of first and second white LEDs.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one third LED having a third spectrum different that the first spectrum and the second spectrum.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one third LED includes at least one third white LED.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one third LED includes at least one amber LED.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

at least one fourth LED having a fourth spectrum; and

at least one fifth LED having a fifth spectrum,

wherein the first, second, third, fourth and fifth spectra are respectively different.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

at least one sixth LED having a sixth spectrum; and

at least one seventh LED having a seventh spectrum, wherein the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh spectra are respectively different.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first quantity of the at least one first white LED is different than a second quantity of the at least one second white LED.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one controller adapted to independently control a first intensity of first radiation emitted from the at least one first white LED and a second intensity of second radiation emitted from the at least one is second white LED.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one first white LED comprises a plurality of first white LEDs and the at least one second white LED comprises a plurality of second white LEDs, and wherein the at least one controller is configured to generate a first control signal to control all of the first white LEDs substantially identically to one another, and a second control signal to control all of the second white LEDs substantially identically to one another.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising at least one power connection coupled to the at least one controller, the at least one power connection configured to engage mechanically and electrically with a conventional light socket.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one power connection includes an Edison screw-type power connection.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one power connection includes a fluorescent-type power connection.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one power connection includes a halogen MR-16-type power connection.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising at least one of a housing and a mounting for the at least one first white LED and the at least one second white LED, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble at least one type of conventional light bulb.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble an Edison-mount light bulb housing.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble a fluorescent light bulb housing.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble a halogen MR-16-type light bulb housing.

29. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control the at least one first white LED and the at least one second white LED so as to controllably vary a color temperature of the essentially white light generated by the apparatus.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising at least one user interface coupled to the at least one controller and configured to facilitate an adjustment of the color temperature of the essentially white light generated by the apparatus.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising at least one sensor coupled to the at least one controller and configured to generate at least one control signal in response to at least one detectable condition, wherein the at least one controller is configured to control the color temperature of the essentially white light generated by the apparatus in response to the at least one control signal.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising at least one of a receiver and a transmitter coupled to the at least one controller and configured to communicate at least one control signal to or from the apparatus.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control the at least one first white LED and the at least one second white LED using a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique.

34. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one controller is configured as an addressable controller capable of receiving at least one network signal including at least first lighting information relating to the color temperature of the essentially white light generated by the apparatus.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one network signal includes address information and lighting information for a plurality of apparatus, and wherein the at least one controller is configured to process the at least one network signal based on at least the address information in the at least one network signal to recover the first lighting information.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one network signal is formatted using a DMX protocol, and wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control the first intensity of the first radiation emitted from the at least one first LED and the second intensity of the second radiation emitted from the at least one second white LED based at least in part on the DMX protocol.

37. An apparatus for generating essentially white light, comprising:

at least one first white LED characterized by a first spectrum;

at least one second white LED characterized by a second spectrum, the first spectrum being substantially different than the second spectrum;

at least one non-white LED; and

at least one controller adapted to independently control at least a first intensity of first radiation emitted from the at least one first white LED, a second intensity of second radiation emitted from the at least one second white LED, and a third intensity of third radiation emitted from the at least one non-white LED.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the at least one non-white LED comprises at least one amber LED.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising at least one optical filter configured to selectively transmit a portion of light emitted from at least one of the first and second white LEDs.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising a mounting for the at least one first white LED, the at least one second white LED and the at least one non-white LED, wherein the mounting is configured to approximate an appearance of a fluorescent tube.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the at least one first white LED, the at least one second white LED and the at least one non-white LED are configured in a substantially linear arrangement.

42. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising at least one power connection coupled to the at least one controller and configured to engage mechanically and electrically with a conventional light socket.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the at least one power connection includes an Edison screw-type power connection.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the at least one power connection includes a fluorescent-type power connection.

45. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the at least one power connection includes a halogen MR-16-type power connection.

46. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising at least one of a housing and a mounting for the at least one first white LED, the at least one second white LED, the at least one non-white LED and the at least one controller, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble at least one type of conventional light bulb.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble an Edison-mount light bulb housing.

48. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble a fluorescent light bulb housing.

49. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the at least one of the housing and the mounting is configured to resemble a halogen MR-16-type light bulb housing.

50. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising at least one user interface coupled to the at least one controller and configured to facilitate an adjustment of an overall perceivable color of the essentially white light.

51. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising at least one sensor coupled to the at least one controller and configured to generate at least one control signal in response to at least one detectable condition, wherein the at least one controller is configured to control an overall perceivable color of the essentially white light generated by the illumination apparatus in response to the at least one control signal.

52. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising at least one of a receiver and a transmitter coupled to the at least one controller and configured to communicate at least one control signal to or from the apparatus.

53. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control the at least one first white LED, the at least one second white LED and the at least one non-white LED using a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique.

54. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the at least one controller is configured as an addressable controller capable of receiving at least one network signal including at least first lighting information relating to the overall perceivable color of the essentially white light generated by the apparatus.

55. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the at least one network signal is formatted using a DMX protocol, and wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control the first intensity of the first radiation emitted from the at least one first LED, the second intensity of the second radiation emitted from the at least one second white LED, and the third intensity of the third radiation emitted from the at least one non-white LED based at least in part on the DMX protocol.

56. A lighting fixture for generating white light, comprising:

at least one first white LED characterized by a first spectrum;

at least one second white LED characterized by a second spectrum, the first spectrum being substantially different than the second spectrum; and

at least one third LED characterized by a first chromaticity to the right of the 2300 Kelvin point of a Planckian locus on a conventional chromaticity chart.

57. The fixture of claim 56, wherein the at least one third LED comprises at least one amber LED.

58. The fixture of claim 56, wherein the at least one third LED has a dominant wavelength of approximately 592 nm.

59. The fixture of claim 56, wherein the lighting fixture is adapted to allow variability of a light output of at least one of the first white LED, the second white LED and the third LED.

60. The fixture of claim 59, wherein the fixture is adapted such that the at least one first white LED, the at least one second white LED, and the at least one third LED produce a combined output, and such that the variability of the light output permits a spectrum of the combined output to achieve a combined chromaticity on the Planckian locus.

61. The fixture of claim 60, wherein the fixture is adapted such that the spectrum of the combined output includes at least a portion of the Planckian locus ranging from approximately 2300 Kelvin to approximately 4500 Kelvin.

62. The fixture of claim 61, wherein the fixture is adapted such that the spectrum of the combined output is substantially variable over the portion of the Planckian locus from approximately 2300 Kelvin to approximately 4500 Kelvin.

63. The fixture of claim 60, wherein the lighting fixture is adapted such that the spectrum of the combined output does not have any substantial valleys at wavelengths below a wavelength corresponding to a maximum peak of the spectrum.

64. The fixture of claim 60, wherein the fixture is adapted such that the combined output at a color temperature of 2300 Kelvin has a CRI value of greater than 50, and the combined output at a color temperature of 4500 Kelvin has a CRI value of greater than 80.

65. The fixture of claim 56, further comprising a housing or mounting configured to resemble at least one type of conventional light bulb.

66. The fixture of claim 65, wherein the lighting fixture is configured as a fluorescent tube.

67. The fixture of claim 66, wherein the at least one first white LED, the at least one second white LED and the at least one third LED are configured in a substantially linear arrangement.

68. The fixture of claim 56, wherein the lighting fixture further comprises a controller adapted to pulse width modulate at least one of the first, second and non-white LEDs.

69. The fixture of claim 56, further comprising at least one power connection configured to engage mechanically and electrically with a conventional light socket.

70. The fixture of claim 56, further comprising at least one controller adapted to independently control at least one of a first intensity of first radiation emitted from the at least one first white LED and a second intensity of second radiation emitted from the at least one second white LED.

71. The fixture of claim 70, further comprising at least one user interface coupled to the at least one controller and configured to facilitate an adjustment of an overall perceivable color of the white light generated by the fixture.

72. The fixture of claim 70, further comprising at least one sensor coupled to the at least one controller and configured to generate at least one control signal in response to at least one detectable condition, wherein the at least one controller is configured to control an overall perceivable color of the white light generated by the fixture in response to the at least one control signal.

73. The fixture of claim 70, wherein the at least one controller is configured as an addressable controller capable of receiving at least one network signal including at least first lighting information relating to the overall perceivable color of the white light generated by the fixture.

74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the at least one network signal is formatted using a DMX protocol, and wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control the first intensity of the first radiation emitted from the at least one first LED and the second intensity of the second radiation emitted from the at least one second white LED based at least in part on the DMX protocol.

75. A method for generating essentially white light, comprising:

generating first radiation from at least one first white LED, the first radiation characterized by a first spectrum;

generating second radiation from at least one second white LED, the second radiation characterized by a second spectrum, the first spectrum being substantially different than the second spectrum; and

combining the first radiation and the second radiation to form a light output.

76. The method of claim 75, further comprising optically filtering at least one of the first and second radiation.

77. The method of claim 76, wherein the optical filtering comprises high pass filtering.

78. The method of claim 76, wherein the optical filtering comprises selectively transmitting at least a portion of one of the first radiation and the second radiation corresponding to the Planckian locus.

79. The method of claim 76, wherein the optical filtering comprises projecting at least a portion of one of the first radiation and the second radiation though a yellow filter.

80. The method of claim 76, wherein the first radiation is filtered to have a color temperature of approximately 20,000 Kelvin, and the second radiation LED is filtered to have a color temperature of approximately 5,750 Kelvin.

81. The method of claim 76, wherein the optical filtering comprises:

selectively transmitting at least a portion of the first radiation corresponding to a color temperature of approximately 2,300 Kelvin; and

selectively transmitting at least a portion of the second radiation corresponding to a color temperature of approximately 4,500 Kelvin.

82. The method of claim 75, further comprising pulse width modulating at least one of the first radiation and the second radiation.

83. The method of claim 75, further comprising:

generating third radiation from at least one third LED characterized by a third spectrum different that the first spectrum and the second spectrum; and

combining the first, second and third radiations to form the light output.

84. The method of claim 83, wherein the step of generating third radiation comprises generating essentially white light.

85. The method of claim 83, wherein the step of generating third radiation comprises generating amber light.

86. The method of claim 83, further comprising:

generating fourth radiation characterized by a fourth spectrum; and

generating fifth radiation characterized by a fifth spectrum; and

combining the fourth radiation and the fifth radiation with the first, second and third radiations,

wherein the fourth spectrum and the fifth spectrum are different from each other and are different from the first spectrum, the second spectrum and the third spectrum.

87. The method of claim 86, further comprising:

generating sixth radiation characterized by a sixth spectrum; and

generating seventh radiation characterized by a seventh spectrum; and

combining the sixth radiation and the seventh radiation with the first, second, third, fourth and fifth radiations,

wherein the sixth spectrum and the seventh spectrum are different from each other and are different from the first spectrum, second spectrum, third spectrum, fourth spectrum and the fifth spectrum.

88. The method of claim 75, further comprising controlling a first intensity of the first radiation independently of the second intensity of the second radiation.

89. The method of claim 75, further comprising controlling at least one of the first radiation and the second radiation so as to vary an overall perceivable color of the light output.

90. The method of claim 89, wherein the step of controlling comprises operating a user interface to vary the overall perceivable color of the light output.

91. The method of claim 89, further comprising detecting a condition, wherein the step of controlling comprises varying the perceivable color in response to the condition.

92. The method of claim 89, wherein the step of controlling comprises independently controlling at least one of the first radiation and the second radiation using a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique.

93. The method of claim 89, further comprising a step of receiving at least one network signal including at least lighting information relating to the overall perceivable color of the light output.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein the step of receiving includes processing the at least one network signal based on at least address information in the at least one network signal to recover the lighting information.

95. The method of claim 93, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving at least one network signal formatted using a DMX protocol, and wherein the step of controlling includes independently controlling at least a first intensity of the first radiation and at least a second intensity of the second radiation based on the DMX protocol.