Flexible LED Lighting Systems, Fixtures and Method of Installation

• US 20130141893A1
• Filed: 06/07/2012
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IDEAL Industries Lighting, LLC (Ideal Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Ruud Lighting Incorporated (Wolfspeed, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruud, Alan J., Guillien, Wayne P., Jansson, David G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,632,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/85
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 2/005 of modular construction
• CPC Class Codes: F21S 8/02 of recess-mounted type, e.g. downlighters specially adapted for vehicle exteriors F21S41/00-F21S45/00
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/03 Ceiling bases, e.g. ceiling roses F21V21/04 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/001 the elements being electrical wires or cables
• 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: F21V 23/04 the elements being switches safety devices F21V25/00
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/7175 Light emitting diodes (LEDs)
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 29/00 Coupling parts for selective co-operation with a counterpart in different ways to establish different circuits, e.g. for voltage selection, for series-parallel selection, programmable connectors

Abstract

A low-voltage LED lighting system, LED lighting fixtures, and a method for installation thereof in which the system includes: (a) at least one LED lighting fixture each having one or more LEDs; (b) at least one remotely-located power driver; and (c) interconnections between the at least one LED fixture and the at least one driver using communication network cabling and standard 8P8C network connectors. Preferred lighting fixtures are recessed lighting fixtures adapted for ceiling mounting.

Claims

1. A low-voltage LED lighting fixture comprising:

at least one LED;

a standard network input connector having plural contact pairs;

at least one standard output connector having the same number of contact pairs as the input connector; and

an interconnection network configured to flexibly change the interconnections between the input connector and the at least one output connector.

2. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the interconnection network is configured to (a) provide low-voltage power to the at least one LED and (b) connect each contact pair of the input connector to its corresponding contact pair of one output connector.

3. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the interconnection network is configured to (a) provide low-voltage power to the at least one LED and (b) short the conductors powering the LED.

4. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 3 wherein:

the fixture includes one fewer output connectors than the number of contact pairs of the input connector;

the input connector and each of the output connectors each have a primary contact pair, the primary contact pair of the input connector providing the power to the at least one LED; and

the interconnection network is configured to (a) connect one non-primary pair of input connector contacts to the primary pair of output connector contacts on one output connector and (b) connect each remaining input connector contact pair only to a respective one of the remaining output connector contact pairs.

5. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 3 wherein:

the fixture includes one fewer output connectors than the number of contact pairs of the input connector;

the input connector and each of the output connectors each have a primary contact pair, the primary contact pair of the input connector providing the power to the at least one LED; and

the interconnection network is configured to connect each non-primary input connector contact pair to a respective one of the primary pairs of an output connector.

6. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the LED lighting fixture is a recessed fixture adapted for ceiling mounting.

7. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the interconnection network is an array of switches.

8. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 7 wherein the switches of the array are DIP switches.

9. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein one of the input connector contact pairs is connected to conductors which carry data to control the fixture and the interconnection network includes a unique address associated with the fixture.

10. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 1 wherein the at least one LED includes at least two LED subsets, each subset including at least one LED and being connected to a separate contact pair of the input connector.

11. The low-voltage LED lighting fixture of claim 10 wherein each LED subset includes a plurality of LEDs in series with one another.

12. The low-voltage LED fixture of claim 11 wherein the lighting fixture is a recessed fixture adapted for ceiling mounting.

13. A low-voltage LED lighting system including a plurality of power drivers and a plurality of LED lighting fixtures remote therefrom, at least one of the LED lighting fixtures comprising:

at least two subsets of LEDs, each subset having at least one LED;

a standard network input connector having plural contact pairs, each LED subset being connected to a separate one of the input-connector contact pairs;

at least one standard output connector having the same number of contact pairs as the input connector; and

an interconnection network configured to flexibly change the interconnections between the input connector and the at least one output connector.

14. The low-voltage LED lighting system of claim 13 wherein each LED subset includes a plurality of LEDs in series with one another.

15. The low-voltage LED fixture of claim 14 wherein the lighting fixtured are recessed fixtures adapted for ceiling mounting.

16. A method of installing a low-voltage LED lighting system comprising:

providing at least one LED lighting fixture, each fixture having;

at least one LED;

a standard network input connector having plural contact pairs;

at least one standard output connector having the same number of contact pairs as the input connector; and

an interconnection network configured to flexibly change the interconnections between the input connector and the at least one output connector;

providing at least one power driver;

installing the driver(s) at positions remote from the fixture(s); and

interconnecting the fixture(s) and the driver(s) using communication network cabling and standard network connectors,

thereby facilitating efficient lighting system installation with low man-hour requirements and low installer skill levels.

17. The installation method of claim 16 wherein the providing of fixture(s) is providing recessed fixture(s) adapted for ceiling mounting.