Patent Application
20160014868
1. Field of the Disclosure
The subject disclosure relates to electrical lighting systems and more particularly to a lighting system employing LED light fixtures to illuminate an auditorium or similar venue.
2. Related Art
Incandescent lighting systems for illuminating theatres, auditoriums and the like have been used in the past.
An illustrative auditorium lighting system embodiment comprises a plurality of LED light fixtures mounted in a ceiling of an auditorium, each fixture including a plurality of LED modules. In one embodiment, a power control system for supplying power to the LED modules is positioned in an area separate from the seating area of the auditorium.
In one embodiment, each LED light fixture includes an extrusion which carries a plurality of LED modules including one or more ambience light LED modules for providing ambient light and one or more high intensity LED modules for providing full level lighting. In one embodiment, the high intensity light provided by the high intensity LED modules is achieved by employing high output LED's (>100 Lumens each) in combination with optics producing a light beam having a full width half maximum angle of 12 degrees or 35 degrees.
In one embodiment, the power control system is configured to collectively switch the one or more ambience light LED modules “on” and “off” to separately and to collectively switch the one or more high intensity LED modules “on” and “off” to thereby selectively provide either low level ambient light or high intensity full level lighting to the auditorium. The power control system may further provide dimming of all or selected ones of the modules by means of phase or low voltage dimming.
In one embodiment, the low level lighting is used during intermission periods and the high intensity lighting is used during cleaning periods.
An auditorium lighting system 11 according to an illustrative embodiment is shown in
The lighting system 11 employs a plurality of light fixtures 13 installed in or attached to a ceiling 15. These light fixtures 13 can be installed at regular or irregular spacing intervals so as to achieve uniform illumination in the floor 21. The light fixtures 13 are located above a floor 21, which typically slopes downwardly in a multi-level, “stadium style” arrangement and on which a number of seats are positioned, typically separated by one or more aisles. In other applications, the floor 21 may be flat.
A junction box 16 containing a plurality of LED drivers, for example, three drivers is shown attached to the front interior wall 17 of a projection booth 18. The junction box 16 may be positioned elsewhere in the projection booth 18 in various embodiments or in another easy-to-access location, such as, for example, above a T-bar grid at the cross aisles. The junction box 16 may include controls, dimmers, surge protection, emergency back-up equipment and supplies electrical power to the light fixtures 13, as well as dimming capability.
An illustrative light fixture 13 is shown in
In an illustrative embodiment, the pairs of LED modules 31, 33; 39, 41 at opposite ends of the extrusion 13 are high intensity modules, which provide light for periods of cleaning or other maintenance. As illustrated in
Additionally, in the illustrative embodiment, the center LED modules 35, 37 are ambient lighting modules configured to provide ambient light to illuminate the theater or auditorium, for example, during intermission periods. Other componentry shown in
In one embodiment, each LED module 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, may comprise a circuit board with one or more LED emitters mounted thereon. In one embodiment, the high intensity modules 31, 33; 39, 41 employ 3 emitters e.g. 40, while the ambience modules 35, 37 employ 11 emitters. In one embodiment, each emitter of the ambience modules may have an output of 40 lumens at a full width half maximum angle of 120°.
In one embodiment, the LED modules 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41 are configured in pairs and each may be six inches in length positioned in an extrusion 29 which is 42 inches in length, together with two splice boxes 69, resulting in a total fixture length of 47¾″. Another embodiment may employ an eighteen inch long extrusion having three LED modules, together with two splice boxes 69, resulting in a total fixture length of 23¾″. For example, such an embodiment may employ one central ambience LED module, flanked on either side by a high intensity LED module where the high intensity LED modules are angled at 20 degrees to the horizontal and oppositely directed. In one embodiment, the relatively dim ambient intermission lighting may provide 2-4 foot candles of total light, while the full level, high intensity “cleaning” light modules may provide 6-9 foot candles of total light. In various embodiments, the light delivered by the modules may be adjusted based upon the ceiling height at the location where a particular fixture 13 is positioned.
In one embodiment, the ambience modules 35, 37 may be collectively switched “on” or “off” at the same time, and the high intensity modules 31, 33; 39, 41 may also be collectively switched “on” or “off” at the same time. When the high intensity modules are collectively switched “on”, each module 31, 33, 39, 41 is powered “on” and provides high intensity illumination. Similarly, when the ambience modules 35, 37 are collectively switched “on”, each ambience modules 35, 37 is powered “on” and provides ambient illumination. In one embodiment, the ambience module 35, 37 are collectively switched or turned “on”, while the high intensity modules 31, 33; 39, 41 are held or switched “off” and vice versa. In a dark state of the auditorium, all of the modules 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41 are in the “off” state.
Thus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just described preferred embodiment can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.
