Patent Application
20220285832
Embodiments of the present technology relate to systems for imparting wireless communication capabilities to, and/or improving the wireless communication capabilities of, light fixtures.
Connected lighting can include light fixtures and controls that communicate through wireless technologies in order to provide an increased level of control of the light fixture. The connected lighting may be controlled with smartphone applications, web portals, voice-activated devices, other control mechanisms, or any combination thereof. The implementation of connected lighting using one or more wireless communication schemes relies on the addition to a light fixture of one or more antennas capable of receiving and transmitting wireless signals.
In some instances, the arrangement of the antenna on or within a light fixture can detrimentally impact the ability of the antenna to receive and transmit wireless signals. For example, ensuring adequate connectivity of a dual-band antenna for integration of WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities into a light fixture that is installed within a metallic ceiling can be challenging.
The present technology relates to connected light fixtures including a housing containing a light engine, a baffle, and a wireless module including at least one of a portion of the housing or a baffle coupled to a wireless printed circuit board assembly. For example, the wireless module may include a baffle coupled to a wireless printed circuit board assembly, or the wireless module may comprise an upper compartment of the housing coupled to a wireless printed circuit board assembly. The wireless module may be modularly coupled to the other portions of the light fixture in order to provide wireless connectively to the light fixture. A plurality of different wireless modules with different wireless protocols may be produced to be modularly coupled to a plurality of different light fixture sub-assembly products allowing for a multitude of combinations exceeding the total number of different wireless modules and light fixture sub-assembly products.
This summary is a high-level overview of various aspects of the invention and introduces some of the concepts that are further described in the Detailed Description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to the entire specification of this patent, all drawings and each claim.
The disclosure will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like structural elements, and in which:
Throughout this description for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the many aspects and embodiments disclosed herein. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the many aspects and embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, known structures and devices are shown in diagram or schematic form to avoid obscuring the underlying principles of the described aspects and embodiments.
The terms “invention,” “the invention,” “this invention” and “the present invention” used in this patent are intended to refer broadly to all of the subject matter of this patent and the patent claims below. Statements containing these terms should be understood not to limit the subject matter described herein or to limit the meaning or scope of the patent claims below.
The housing 101 generally houses a light engine which includes light source(s) (e.g., LEDs, not shown), the electronics for powering and controlling the light engine (e.g., driver, circuitry, etc., not shown), and any optical components (reflectors 108, baffles 105, lenses, etc.) for controlling the appearance and/or directionality of the light emitted from the light fixture 100. In some embodiments, these components are provided in different compartments within the housing 101. For example, as shown in
The upper compartment 102 and lower compartment 103 of the housing 101 may be formed integrally or as separate components that are coupled together (either permanently or removably). The upper compartment 102 and the lower compartment 103 may be formed of the same material or different materials. The upper compartment 102 and lower compartment 103 may be formed, for example, of plastic or metal. In some embodiments, the upper compartment 102 may be formed of plastic and the lower compartment 103 may be formed of metal or vice versa. In some embodiments, both the upper compartment 102 and the lower compartment 103 may be formed of metal.
The housing 101 may be received directly within the structure of a building, for example a ceiling or wall, or may be received within another housing provided on or within a ceiling or wall. Regardless, the housing 101 may include a flange 104 extending radially from a bottom of the housing 101. When the light fixture 100 is installed, for example in a ceiling, the flange 104 contacts the ceiling surface and remains visible to an observer so as impart a polished appearance to the installed light fixture 100. In some embodiments, for example as shown in
The baffle 105 may be positioned and coupled within the interior cavity of the lower compartment 103 of the housing 101. In some embodiments, the baffle 105 is removably coupled to the lower compartment 103 of the housing 101, for example with clips or threading. The baffle 105 can be any shape that is compatible with the housing 101 and achieves the desired light output from the light fixture 100 (e.g., bowl or truncated cone shaped, square, etc.). The baffle 105 includes an interior surface 106 facing into the interior cavity of the lower compartment 103 of the housing 101, and an outer surface 107 facing away from the housing 101 and toward the area to be illuminated. The outer surface 107 may include a generally concave portion which may be used to focus light emitted from the light fixture 100 through an opening at a top side of the concave portion. Further, the outer surface 107 may also be used for esthetic purposes. The concave portion may be for example in the shape of, but not limited to, a dome, spherical section, truncated cone, or truncated pyramid. The baffle 105 may be shaped and sized to correspond to the interior cavity of the lower compartment 103 of the housing. The baffle 105 may be formed from plastic or metal.
The light fixture 100 may optionally further include a reflector 108 positioned and coupled within the interior cavity of the lower compartment 103 of the housing 101 between the light sources and the baffle 105. The reflector 108 may spread light generated by the light sources, for example a light engine 202 as will be discussed below.
The LED driver 201 may receive power from an external power supply and regulate power delivered to the light engine 202 of the light fixture 100. The LED driver 201 may comprise a PCB populated with components for regulating the power, and include an interface for connecting with and controlling the light engine 202. In some embodiments, the LED driver 201 may include an interface for connecting with the wireless PCB assembly 203, as discussed below.
The light engine 202 may comprise a PCB populated with LEDs for generating and emitting light. The light engine 202 may have a first interface for coupling with the LED driver 201 to receive power and control signals. The light engine 202 may have a second interface for coupling to the wireless PCB assembly 203 in order to receive control signals and provide power to the wireless PCB assembly 203 from the LED driver 201. The light engine 202 may be positioned and coupled within the lower compartment 103 of the housing 101 in order to emit light into the reflector 108 to then be focused and emitted by the baffle 105 out of the light fixture 100.
The wireless PCB assembly 203 may comprise a PCB populated with components for processing and converting wireless signals into control signals sent to the light engine 202 and/or the LED driver 201. The wireless PCB assembly 203 may be configured to process signals of one or more different wireless protocols, for example but not limited to: Wireless LAN, ZigBee, Samsung Smart Things, Bluetooth/BLE, and mesh networking. The wireless PCB assembly 203 connects to the light engine 202 and/or LED driver 201 via pogo pins or gold contacts or via a flex cable. The wireless PCB assembly 203 may further comprise an antenna interface in order to couple to the antenna 204. The antenna 204 may be a separate component from the wireless PCB assembly 203. In such embodiments, the antenna 204 may connect to the wireless PCB assembly 203 via a cable 205. In other embodiments, the antenna 204 may be integrated onto the wireless PCB assembly 203 in which case no separate connection method is needed.
In some embodiments, for example as shown in
A shown in
In some embodiments, a wireless baffle module 300 may include multiple pairs of wireless PCB assemblies 203 and antennas 204. For examples, as shown in
Locating the antenna 204 within the lower compartment 103 may lead to radio link issues, particularly when the lower compartment 103 is made of metal. In some embodiments, the antenna 204 may be positioned outside of the lower compartment 103 of the housing 101. For example, as shown in
The wireless baffle modules 300 discussed above impart the ability to add, change, and/or customize the wireless protocol of a light fixture 100. For example, wireless baffle modules 300 may be used to replace non-wireless baffles in a light fixture 100 so as to impart wireless functionality to the light fixture 100. Furthermore, the wireless baffle modules 300 may be used to replace or add to the wireless capability of a light fixture 100 that already has wireless functionality. For example, a light fixture 100 may include a wireless PCB with wireless LAN protocol, and the baffle of that light fixture may be replaced with a wireless baffle module 300 for example with the zigbee protocol in order to replace the wireless LAN protocol, or add an additional protocol to the light fixture 100.
Further, the wireless baffle modules 300 serve to de-couple the wireless communication from the fixtures to allow for easy customization of light fixture wireless protocols by simply mixing and matching the wireless baffle modules 300 and light fixtures 100. More specifically, any of a plurality of different light fixtures may be modularly coupled with any of a plurality of different wireless baffle modules 300 with different wireless protocols in order to allow for a wide range of combinations without requiring a separate product for each combination. For example, a product line may include five different light fixtures that each may support five different wireless protocol configurations. If each combination were to be assembled and sold as a single product, this would require 25 different products, i.e. SKUs. With the present technology, the five different light fixtures and baffle modules can be produced as sub-assembly products and combined together as desired. This results in a total of ten products that can be used to achieve the 25 possible combinations of light fixtures and wireless protocols.
While the wireless PCB assembly 203 and the antenna 204 can be provided on a baffle 105, in other embodiments, the wireless PCB assembly 203 and antenna 204 may be positioned within the upper compartment 102 and connected to the LED driver 201 positioned within the upper compartment 102. In some embodiments, the upper compartment 102, and components provided therein, may form an upper compartment wireless module 600 that can be modularly coupled to the lower compartment 103. As noted above, modularly coupling a module provided with a wireless PCB assembly 203 and antenna 204 to another module containing other components of the light fixture 100 facilitates adding, changing, and/or customizing the wireless protocol of a light fixture 100.
In some embodiments, for example as shown in
In some embodiments, for example as shown in
In some embodiments, the wireless PCB assembly 203 may be coupled to an LED driver 201 in the upper compartment 102 in a T-configuration (see
In some embodiments, for example as shown in
The foregoing is provided for purposes of illustrating, explaining, and describing embodiments of the present invention. Further modifications and adaptations to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Different arrangements of the components depicted in the drawings or described above, as well as components and steps not shown or described are possible. Similarly, some features and subcombinations are useful and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. Embodiments of the invention have been described for illustrative and not restrictive purposes, and alternative embodiments will become apparent to readers of this patent. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above or depicted in the drawings, and various embodiments and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
