COMPOSITE LIGHT SOURCE SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20150289344A1
• Filed: 04/02/2015
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gould, Carl T., Sorensen, Christopher J., Slaughter, Christopher D., Nelson, Peter K., LEADFORD, KEVIN F.
• Granted Patent: US 10,194,503 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/16 by timing means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

A composite light source includes a plurality of illumination panels, that emit light of a fixed color and a variable luminous intensity. Over time, the luminous intensities of at least two of the illumination panels vary, while a combined luminous intensity of the illumination panels remains about constant. Another composite light source includes a plurality of illumination panels that emit light. Each illumination panel of at least a first subset of the plurality of illumination panels emits the light with a first luminous intensity, and each illumination panel of at least a second subset of the plurality of illumination panels emits the light with a second luminous intensity that is different from the first luminous intensity.

Claims

1. A composite light source, comprising:

a plurality of illumination panels that emit white light characterized by a luminous intensity;

wherein;

the light emitted by the plurality of illumination panels combines to form a far field photometric distribution characterized by a luminous intensity at each given angle from the composite light source; and

the luminous intensities of the light emitted by the plurality of illumination panels are controlled such that;

the luminous intensities of the light emitted by at least some of the plurality of illumination panels change over time, and

the luminous intensity changes of the light emitted by the at least some of the plurality of illumination panels are complementary, such that the far field photometric distribution at each given angle is characterized by the luminous intensity at the given angle from the composite light source remaining about constant over time.

2. The composite light source of claim 1, wherein white is a chromaticity that is within 0.05 Duv from a portion of the Planckian locus representing color temperatures between 2700K and 6500K.

3. The composite light source of claim 1, wherein the luminous intensity at the given angle from the composite light source remaining about constant over time comprises the luminous intensity varying by less than 10% at the given angle, as the light emitted by at least some of the plurality of illumination panels changes over time.

4. The composite light source of claim 1, wherein the luminous intensities of the light emitted by at least some of the plurality of illumination panels change over time in response to sound detected in the vicinity of the composite light source.

5. A luminaire, comprising:

at least nine illumination panels arranged in an array, each of the at least nine illumination panels emitting white light that is characterized by a luminous intensity, wherein;

each of the illumination panels emits light at one of at least first, second and third discrete levels of luminous intensity;

at least one of the illumination panels emits light at the first level of luminous intensity;

at least one of the illumination panels emits light at the second level of luminous intensity;

at least one of the illumination panels emits light at the third level of luminous intensity; and

the predefined levels of luminous intensity are arranged in the array so as to avoid presentation of a repetitive pattern.

6. The composite light source of claim 5, wherein each of the illumination panels is rectilinear and the array is a rectilinear array of at least three rows and at least three columns.

7. The composite light source of claim 5, wherein each of the illumination panels is square.

8. The composite light source of claim 5, wherein at least one of the illumination panels emits light at a fourth level of luminous intensity.

9. A composite light source, comprising:

a first set of one or more illumination panels, each illumination panel of the first set emitting light of a first color; and

one or more additional sets of illumination panels, each illumination panel of each additional set emitting light of a color that is emitted by others of the illumination panels of the same additional set;

wherein;

the first color and the colors of the one or more additional sets are complementary to one another, such that a far field photometric distribution produced by the composite light source is characterized by a white chromaticity at each given angle from the light source.

10. The composite light source of claim 9, wherein:

the one or more additional sets of illumination panels consist of a second set of illumination panels;

the color that is emitted by illumination panels of the second set is a second color; and

the first color and the second color are complementary to each another, such that a far field photometric distribution produced by the composite light source is white.

11. A composite light source, comprising:

a plurality of luminaires, each luminaire comprising a plurality of illumination panels wherein;

a number of illumination panels, and a layout of the illumination panels, are the same for each luminaire of the plurality of luminaires;

in operation, each illumination panel emits light of a color characterized by a chromaticity and a luminous intensity,

each luminaire includes at least two illumination panels that emit light of colors that differ from one another;

patterns formed by the colors that differ from one another are different for at least two of the luminaires of the plurality of luminaires; and

the colors emitted by illumination panels of a given luminaire are arranged such that a net lumen output and a net chromaticity produced by the given luminaire are the same as the net lumen output and net chromaticity produced by each of the others of the plurality of luminaires.

12. The composite light source of claim 11, wherein:

each illumination panel emits light of a color characterized by a white chromaticity, and

the at least two illumination panels that emit light of colors that differ from one another are characterized by differing luminous intensities.

13. The composite light source of claim 11, wherein:

the net chromaticity produced by each of the plurality of luminaires is white.

14. The composite light source of claim 13, wherein white is a chromaticity that is within 0.05 Duv from a portion of the Planckian locus representing color temperatures between 2700K and 6500K.

15. A composite light source, comprising:

a plurality of illumination panels; and

a controller;

wherein the controller;

receives a user input that defines one or more user-preferred colors,

calculates one or more colors that are complementary to the one or more user-preferred colors, such that a sum of the user-preferred colors and the one or more colors that are complementary to the user-preferred colors, provides a net lumen output and a net chromaticity;

controls one or more of the illumination panels to emit the user-preferred colors, and

controls one or more others of the illumination panels to emit the one or more colors that are complementary to the user-preferred colors,

such that a far field photometric distribution of the composite light source provides the net lumen output and the net chromaticity.

16. The composite light source of claim 15, wherein:

the one or more colors required for the far field photometric distribution of the composite light source to achieve the net lumen output and the net chromaticity consist of a single color.

17. The composite light source of claim 15, wherein:

the one or more colors required for the far field photometric distribution of the composite light source to achieve the net lumen output and the net chromaticity comprise a plurality of colors.

18. The composite light source of claim 15, wherein:

the controller receives a user input that defines the net lumen output.

19. The composite light source of claim 15, wherein:

the controller receives a user input that defines the net chromaticity.

20. The composite light source of claim 15, wherein:

the net chromaticity is white, wherein white is a chromaticity that is within 0.05 Duv from a portion of the Planckian locus representing color temperatures between 2700K and 6500K.