Luminaire with switch-mode converter power monitoring

• US 9,301,365 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2013
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Express Imaging Systems, LLC
• Original Assignee: Express Imaging Systems, LLC
• Inventors: Reed, William G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Donovan, Lincoln
• Assistant Examiner(s): Skibinski, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US14/074,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20140159585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 315/130, 315/291, 315/294, 315/297, 315/210, 315/152
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/375 using buck topology
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/385 using flyback topology
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/50 responsive to malfunctions or undesirable behaviour of LEDs; responsive to LED life; Protective circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/20 Responsive to malfunctions or to light source life; for protection
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

The power consumption of a switch-mode power converter can be determined based upon at least one of a converter drive signal pulse width or a converter drive signal frequency. Such power consumption can be determined using an algorithm providing a functional relationship between switch-mode power converter power consumption and at least converter drive signal pulse width or frequency. Such algorithms can be either calculated using known component values or empirically determined. Such power consumption may also be determined using store power consumption data in a data store that is indexed by at least one of the converter drive signal pulse width or frequency.

Claims

1. A power monitoring system, comprising:

a power subsystem including;

at least one switch-mode power converter including at least one power converter drive circuit, the switch-mode power converter electrically conductively coupled to provide an adjustable level power output to at least one solid state lighting subsystem and the power converter drive circuit to adjust the power output level of the switch-mode power supply to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based on at least one of;

a converter drive signal frequency or a converter drive signal pulse width; and

a control subsystem communicably coupled to the power converter drive circuit, the control subsystem including;

at least one controller that determines at least an approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on at least one of;

information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency or information indicative of the converter drive signal pulse width.

2. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller further generates and communicates to the power converter drive circuit a signal including the information indicative of at least one of:

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width, and the determination by the at least one controller of at least an approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem is based at least in part on the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width communicated by the at least one controller to the at least one switch-mode power converter.

3. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the at least one switch-mode power converter further comprises at least one output communicably coupled to the at least one controller, the at least one output to communicate from the switch-mode power converter to the at least one controller an output signal including information indicative of at least one of:

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width, and the determination by the at least one controller of at least an approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem is based at least in part on the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width communicated by the at least one switch-mode power converter to the at least one controller.

4. The power monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

a housing disposed at least partially about the power subsystem and the control subsystem, wherein at least a portion of the at least one solid state lighting subsystem is disposed within the housing.

5. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the control subsystem further comprises at least one nontransitory storage media communicably coupled to the at least one controller.

6. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the control subsystem further comprises at least one environmental sensor communicably coupled to the at least one controller, and that provides sensor information indicative of at least one ambient environmental condition to the at least one controller.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller determines at least the approximation the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem via one or more analytical relationships, the one or more analytical relationships based at least in part on the information indicative of at least one of:

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width.

8. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the power subsystem includes an LLC resonant constant current converter, and the at least one controller determines at least the approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency.

9. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the power subsystem includes a constant frequency flyback converter, and the at least one controller determines at least the approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the information indicative of the converter drive signal pulse width.

10. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the power subsystem includes a variable frequency flyback converter, and the at least one controller determines at least the approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the information indicative the converter drive signal frequency and the converter drive signal pulse width.

11. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the control subsystem further includes at least one communications interface communicably coupled to the at least one controller, and the at least one controller further communicates to the at least one communications interface at least one output signal including information indicative of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem.

12. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller further:

compares information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width with at least one defined alert threshold stored in a nontransitory storage media communicably coupled to the at least one controller; and

communicates to the at least one communications interface a signal including information indicative of an alert condition when at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width falls outside the at least one defined alert threshold.

13. The power monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the at least one controller further:

detects a power converter drive circuit fault condition based at least in part on at least one of;

information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency or information indicative of the converter drive signal pulse width; and

responsive to detecting the power converter drive circuit fault condition, generates at least one of;

a visual fault condition indicator or a fault condition signal, and stores data indicative of the detected fault condition in a communicably coupled nontransitory storage media.

14. A method to determine the power consumed by a power subsystem including a switch-mode power converter and a power converter drive circuit, the switch-mode power converter electrically conductively coupled to a solid-state lighting subsystem to provide an adjustable level power output to the solid state lighting subsystem based on at least one of:

a pulse width modulated signal frequency or a pulse width modulated signal pulse width, the method comprising;

determining by at least one controller communicably coupled to at least the power converter drive circuit at least an approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based on information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

acquiring by the at least one controller the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width based at least in part on one or more signals communicated by the at least one controller to the power converter drive circuit.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

acquiring by the at least one controller the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width based at least in part on one or more output signals communicated by the power converter drive circuit to the at least one controller.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

comparing by the at least one controller the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width with at least one defined alert threshold stored in a nontransitory storage media communicably coupled to the at least one controller.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

communicating via at least one communications interface communicably coupled to the controller at least one alert signal including the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width when at least one of;

the respective converter drive signal frequency or the respective converter drive signal pulse width falls outside the at least one defined alert threshold.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

communicating via at least one communications interface communicably coupled to the controller, a power consumption signal including information indicative of at least the approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the approximation of the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem, includes:

calculating using one or more analytical relationships at least the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein calculating using one or more analytical relationships at least the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width, includes:

determining by the at least one controller one or more coefficients based at least on a number of intrinsic properties of at least one component in the power converter drive circuit; and

determining at least the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem using the one or more analytical relationships, the one or more determined coefficients, and the information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein calculating using one or more analytical relationships at least the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width, includes:

retrieving by the at least one controller one or more coefficients from a communicably coupled nontransitory storage medium; and

determining at least the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem using one or more analytical relationships, the one or more retrieved coefficients, and at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein calculating using one or more analytical relationships at least the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width, includes:

searching by the at least one controller a data store in a communicably coupled nontransitory storage medium, the data store including data values indicative of the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem, the data store indexed by at least one of a plurality of converter drive signal frequencies or a plurality of converter drive signal pulse widths; and

retrieving by the at least one controller from the nontransitory storage medium a data value indicative of the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem, wherein the retrieved value is selected by the at least one controller based on at least one of;

the information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency approximates an indexed converter drive signal frequency value in the data store or the information indicative of the converter drive signal pulse width approximates an indexed converter drive signal pulse width value in the data store.

24. A solid state lighting power monitoring system, comprising:

a solid state lighting subsystem including at least one solid state light source;

a power subsystem including;

a switch-mode power converter electrically conductively coupled to provide a power output to the solid state lighting subsystem; and

a pulse width modulated power converter drive circuit to adjust the power output of the switch-mode power supply to the solid state lighting subsystem, the power converter drive circuit includes at least one output to communicate information indicative of at least one of;

a converter drive signal frequency or a converter drive signal pulse width; and

a control subsystem communicably coupled to the power converter drive circuit output, at least one nontransitory storage medium, and a communications interface, the control subsystem including at least one controller that;

receives from the power converter drive circuit output information indicative of at least one of the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width; and

determines an approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem based at least in part on the received information indicative of at least one of;

the converter drive signal frequency or the converter drive signal pulse width.

25. The solid state lighting power monitoring system of claim 24 wherein the control subsystem further comprises at least one environmental sensor communicably coupled to the at least one controller, and that provides sensor data indicative of at least one ambient environmental condition to the at least one controller.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the at least one controller determines the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem via one or more analytical relationships and based at least in part on the received information indicative of at least one of:

the converter drive signal frequency or the received information indicative of the converter drive signal pulse width.

27. The system of claim 24 wherein the power subsystem includes an LLC resonant constant current power converter, the power converter drive circuit generates an output signal that includes information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency, and the at least one controller determines the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output signal based at least in part on the received information indicative of the converter drive signal frequency.

28. The system of claim 24 wherein the power subsystem includes a constant frequency flyback converter, the power converter drive circuit generates an output signal that includes information indicative of the converter drive signal pulse width, and the at least one controller determines the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output signal based at least in part on the received information indicative of the converter drive signal pulse width.

29. The system of claim 24 wherein the power subsystem includes a variable frequency flyback converter, the power converter drive circuit generates an output signal that includes information indicative of converter drive signal frequency and the converter drive signal pulse width, and the at least one controller determines the power consumed by the power subsystem to generate the power output signal based at least in part on the received information indicative of the converter drive frequency and the converter drive signal pulse width.

30. The system of claim 24 wherein the at least one controller further:

communicates to the communications interface at least signal including information indicative of the approximation of the power consumed to generate the power output to the at least one solid state lighting subsystem.