SOLID STATE LIGHTING UNIT INCORPORATING OPTICAL SPREADING ELEMENTS

• US 20120162985A1
• Filed: 04/26/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Evolucia Lighting, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kauffman, Rick, Sipes, Donald
• Application Number:
  US13/266,108
• Publication Number:
  US 20120162985A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/244
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 15/01 Housings, e.g. material or assembling of housing parts F21V15/02 takes precedence housings forming signs or letters G09F13/04
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 19/001 the light sources being semiconductors devices, e.g. LEDs
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/007 Array of lenses or refractors for a cluster of light sources, e.g. for arrangement of multiple light sources in one plane combination of two or more refractors F21V5/008
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/008 Combination of two or more successive refractors along an optical axis
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 5/045 the lens having discontinuous faces, e.g. Fresnel lenses
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/103 of streets or roads
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]

Abstract

A desired output from a solid state lighting assembly is generated using a combination of a light assembly and an external protective lens. Provided are aspects in which the spreading and/or steering of aimed beams from individual light elements is achieved by through sections formed into an external protective lens. This may be embodied either in a luminaire originally designed to utilize solid state lighting elements, such as LEDs, or in a retrofit device or mechanism designed to convert an existing luminaire that uses a traditional light source into a luminaire that uses solid state lighting elements.

Claims

1. A solid state lighting assembly, comprising:

a optical assembly that comprises a plurality of discrete mounting surfaces;

a plurality of solid state light elements mounted to respective mounting surfaces; and

a lens comprising a plurality of discrete facets, each of which correspond to a respective discrete mounting surface, at least some of said plurality of discrete facets comprising an optical lens.

2. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said optical assembly further comprises a heat sink.

3. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of solid state light elements comprise light emitting diode (LED) light elements.

4. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of solid state light elements each comprise an LED module that comprises a plurality of LEDs.

5. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least some of said plurality of solid state light elements comprise an LED module and a secondary optic optical lens.

6. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 5, wherein said secondary optic optical lens comprises at least one of a collimating lens, a spreading lens, and a steering lens.

7. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of discrete facets corresponds to an associated discrete mounting surface.

8. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein a subset of said plurality of discrete facets are generally planer and substantially parallel to a plane of an associated mounting surface.

9. The solid state lighting assembly, as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of solid state light elements provides light output along a respective primary axis, and each of said discrete facets has an associated adjacent light element, and wherein a plane of each of said discrete facets is substantially perpendicular to the primary axis of the adjacent light element.

10. An external lens adapted to be mounted to a solid state lighting assembly having a plurality of point light sources mounted to a plurality of discrete mounting surfaces having different physical orientations, the external lens comprising:

a plurality of facets that each correspond to one or more of the mounting surfaces, one or more of said plurality of facets comprising an optical spreading lens.

11. The external lens, as claimed in claim 10, wherein said optical spreading lens comprises a frensel type lens.

12. The external lens, as claimed in claim 10, wherein each of said plurality of discrete facets corresponds to an associated discrete mounting surface.

13. The external lens, as claimed in claim 10, wherein at least one of said plurality of discrete facets are generally planer and substantially parallel to a plane of an associated discrete mounting surface.

14. A method for providing desired illumination to an area to be illuminated, comprising:

determining a desired illumination pattern to the area to be illuminated;

selecting a first light assembly having a first light output pattern generated from a plurality of point light sources that are mounted to a plurality of different mounting surfaces;

providing two or more external lenses, each external lens comprising a plurality of facets that each correspond to one or more of the mounting surfaces, one or more of said plurality of facets comprising an optical spreading lens that is different for each provided external lens;

selecting one of the two or more external lenses that, when coupled to said first light assembly, provides the desired illumination pattern.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

mounting said selected external lens to said first light assembly to provide at least a portion of said desired illumination pattern.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a mounting height of said first light assembly above the area to be illuminated, and determining a distance between adjacent light assemblies in the area to be illuminated.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said selecting one of the two or more external lenses is based on one or more of the mounting height and distance between adjacent light assemblies.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said first light assembly is selected from two or more types of light assemblies, each type of light assembly having a different light output pattern generated from a plurality of point light sources that are mounted to a plurality of different mounting surfaces.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said selecting a first light assembly and said selecting one of the two or more external lenses is based on a resultant output pattern of the combined light assembly and external lens.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the types of light assemblies provides an output that is greater than other types of light assemblies.