The present invention relates to a wide area LED lighting fixture as would be used in a storage warehouse, manufacturing floor or the like.
Lighting systems traditionally used in wide area applications such as storage warehouses or manufacturing floors are wasteful in their distribution of light because much of their illumination falls on the tops of pallet racks, palletized goods or manufacturing equipment. Common lighting systems of this type include a variety of high intensity discharge lamps such as metal halide, mercury vapor, lead-gallium, high pressure sodium, etcetera. Another common solution for lighting such an area is florescent lamps. These standard methods of general illumination of wide areas are limiting as their light output is wasteful by not being very well controlled and therefore the conventional remedy for inadequate lighting in areas covered by this sort of blanket lighting solution is to add additional light fixtures and therefore increase cost in capital, maintenance and energy usage.
If the area for illumination is a generally flat area, such as an athletic field, dance floor or open stage, the blanket method of distribution of light from these type of lamps may be adequate in generally illuminating the area, but in a warehouse or manufacturing floor type situation, general illumination from a distributed pattern of high intensity lights creates shadows, outlines and dim areas due to the large amounts of the lamp's output falling on the tops of storage racks, stored product and/or manufacturing machines.
High intensity discharge lamps have many drawbacks in a warehouse and manufacturing area application. Typically a warehouse or manufacturing structure is built with a pattern of equidistantly spaced lamps to illuminate a flat floor area to a certain brightness. It is uncommon to consider equipment or storage rack layout prior to installation of a standard grid of lights. Even if such considerations are made initially, the lighting scheme becomes impractical once the warehouse or manufacturing floor layout is changed. Changing the location of high intensity discharge lamps is difficult as the fixtures are heavy and require the replacement of metal conduit for their high voltage AC power supplies, and the lamps require connection to a suitable roof truss or robust support element due to the weight of the fixtures.
Due to the nature of high intensity discharge lamps it is extremely difficult to direct the light output in a manner precise enough for the purposes of creating defined illumination areas for warehouse or manufacturing operations. The complexity of the optics, heat issues and the uncontrollability of vast quantities of light makes the concept of customizable light pattern outputs unrealistic.
Florescent lamps overcome some of the problems experienced with high intensity discharge lamps as they have somewhat less complicated and demanding fixtures and can be reconfigured to new warehouse or manufacturing floor lay-outs with less effort. Due to the necessity of forklifts and other equipment in such areas, florescent light fixtures still have to be located above the uppermost levels of most storage racks or manufacturing equipment and due to the wide radiant light output pattern of florescent lights a substantial amount of the light is left illuminating the tops of storage racks or the upper surfaces of manufacturing equipment which results in a great deal of wasted or misspent light. Even in the best of florescent light strategies, where the lighting fixture is located directly above an aisle, a great deal of light is still directed at the tops of pallet racks, product on the racks or the tops of manufacturing equipment, the second most illuminated area is the unobstructed floor and the lowest percentage of light is left to dimly illuminate the product labels on the sides of palletized products or the warehouse addresses on the pallet racks where the light is most needed.
Therefore what is needed is an efficient lighting fixture that is sufficiently light of weight and easy to relocate to allow for ease of reconfiguration of the lighting fixture, that includes an easily reconfigurable means of directing portions of the light it produces into designated patterns that can be configured to conform to the areas of desired illumination within a warehouse or onto the manufacturing floor or similar area.
To meet these needs, the present invention provides a lighting fixture that utilizes high intensity light emitting diodes (LEDs) for efficiency of weight, size and energy consumption and that can be easily re-hung or rearranged to meet the changing needs of a warehouse or manufacturing area lay-out. Each individual LED light source includes one of several lenses to direct the light in a particular direction resulting in a lighting pattern. The use of different lenses will create a specific and precise illumination area or footprint that can be designed particular to the lighting needs that exist below the placement of the fixture. The fixture itself is easily reconfigurable to produce different light output patterns to conform to the changing environment. When the warehouse or manufacturing floor is so illuminated, the amount of waste light falling on unwanted areas will be reduced resulting in a surgically efficient use of light conforming to the topographic irregularities of the illuminated area and therefore resulting in a lowered cost in energy, a lower number of fixtures and less maintenance, while maintaining satisfactory lighting where the light it is required for efficient operation.
One aspect of the present invention is that the illumination footprint of any fixture can be changed easily, even while the fixture is suspended from the ceiling as new lenses for each individual or set of LEDs can be easily replaced.
Another beneficial aspect of the present invention is that the LED lighting fixture does not require ballast and has longer operational duration than fluorescent types of lighting. The lighter weight of the fixture also increases the ease of relocating the light fixture when there are changes to the floor plan.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is that it is powered by a low voltage DC power source that does not require metal conduit or AC type heavy cabling when installing or reconfiguring. DC power systems also lend themselves to easy and efficient remote or interactive control.
A yet additional aspect of the present invention is that LEDs do not suffer the long turn-on times experienced with high intensity lamps or florescence lamps especially when operating in a refrigerated warehouse or manufacturing area. Additionally, LED lighting produces little heat to confound environmental equipment in temperature controlled areas.
Further advantages of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.
The invention will be better understood and objects of the invention will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in detail sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical and mechanical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
Illustrated in
In the preferred embodiment fixture (20), the fixture base (22) consists of extruded aluminum because the material is light, easily fabricated, economical, and has the added benefit of sinking and evenly distributing heat generated by the light emitting diodes or “LEDs” (42). It is anticipated the fixture base (22) could alternately be fabricated from other materials including but not limited to other metals, alloys, plastics, glass reinforced resins, carbon filaments, or ceramics.
The fixture base (22) is illustrated in the drawings as being six foot in length just for the purpose of example and the invention is not so limited. It is anticipated the fixture base (22) could be of any length appropriate to the industrial lighting application. It is also anticipated that a number of fixture base (22) members could be combined in a single LED lighting fixture (20).
As illustrated in
Attached to the back side (26) of the fixture base (22), are two mounting clips (38). The mounting clip (38) can be placed anywhere along the back side (26) of the fixture base (22) by gripping the opposing mounting flanges (36) which are formed by the sides of the back plate (34) of the fixture base (22). The mounting clip (38) provides a intermediate mounting element between the LED lighting fixture (20) and other mounting apparatus including but not limited to such elements as lines, cables, plates, flanges, rails, stanchions, joists, etcetera, for the purposes of positioning the LED lighting fixture (20). The mounting clip (38) employs a pair of opposed, spring biased, tabs to engage the mounting flange (36) and encompass a section of the back plate (34).
At each end of the LED lighting fixture (20) an end cap (48) is included to retain the LED lighting fixture's (20) component parts. The length of the fixture base (22) and the design of the bezels (54) are calculated to place the LED (42) in relation to the lens (60) so as to produce a light output pattern (70) that could be characterized by a specific illumination footprint (72). The end cap (48) would serve to secure the bezels (54) to the fixture base (22) to achieve the LED (42) lens (60) relationship. As seen in
The end cap (48) is held in place by a fastener (50).
The fasteners (50) engage fastener revivers (32) which are a part of the fixture base (22). In the illustrated embodiment the fastener receivers (32) take the form of crescent shaped cavities of the extrusion into which a self threading screw type fastener (50) could engage its threads. As evident to those skilled in the art reciprocal design elements of the fixture base (22) could be employed for any of the other fastener types formerly anticipated.
Noticeable in the illustrations is the consistency of LEDs (42) with the number lenses (60) but this too, is just and example of an efficient and easily manufactured embodiment as it is anticipated that clusters of LEDs (42) could be mounted in relation to a single lens (60) to produce the same desired effect.
In the illustrated embodiment the PCBs (40) are electrically connected to one another by PCB connector clips (44). The PCB connector clips (44) include a number of electrical conductive conduits to pass electricity from PCB (40) to PCB (40) in a series or parallel scheme. The clips may also provide a mechanical means to hold the PCBs (40) to each other and retain the PCB (40), and therefore the LEDs (42), in the proper orientation with respect to the lens (60).
At the either end of the fixture base (22) the PCB (40) can be connected to either a power source, or to another LED lighting fixture (20) through the agency of electrical conductors (46). Since the electrical conductors (46) are not limited to providing power from the power source, some of the electrical conductors (46) could include control circuitry for direct remote control or control via an interactive system, such as motion sensors, timers, microprocessor input or via networked signals.
It may be desirable in some applications to include a bezel gasket (52) between the end cap (48) and bezel (54) to compress the bezels (54) against one another to prevent open gaps into the interior of the LED lighting fixture (20) where dust, fumes, vapors and debris may enter.
In
The bezel (54) shown in
The PCB (40) fits in a cavity formed within the bezel interior (58) and the fixture base (22). In the illustrated embodiment the part of the fixture base (22) contacting the PCB (40) is the material constituting the fastener receiver (32) but it is anticipated that other design elements of the fixture base (22) could provide a suitable retention means.
It is anticipated that a wide variety of lenses (60) using a plurality of lenticular effects, either singularly or in combination, could produce a profusion of light output patterns (70) producing an almost countless number of illumination footprints (72). The four lenses (60) expressed in this specification merely represent an group of examples used to illustrate the concept of the use of custom light output patterns (70) to light those parts of a building interior that require light for operation while not wasting light on those areas that are not required to be illuminated in the course of their operation.
It should be appreciated from the foregoing description and the many variations and options disclosed that, except when mutually exclusive, the features of the various embodiments described herein may be combined with features of other embodiments as desired while remaining within the intended scope of the disclosure.
It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments and combinations of elements will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the above description and accompanying drawings. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
6149288 | Huang | Nov 2000 | A |
7914162 | Huang | Mar 2011 | B1 |
7976194 | Wilcox et al. | Jul 2011 | B2 |
20070153521 | Konuma | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20080192478 | Chen | Aug 2008 | A1 |
20080219002 | Sommers et al. | Sep 2008 | A1 |
20090103299 | Boyer et al. | Apr 2009 | A1 |
20100073783 | Sun | Mar 2010 | A1 |
20100110684 | Abdelsamed et al. | May 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20120250309 A1 | Oct 2012 | US |