Patent Application
20120039063
The present invention relates generally to the field of lighting, and in particular to new and useful power blackout bulb that has an Edison screw to be screwed into a conventional Edison light socket, for example the standard socket in high-hat lighting fixtures.
The designation Exx is used to identify various Edison screws in common use today and refers to the diameter of the screw in millimeters. For example, an E12 Edison screw has a diameter of 12 mm. There are four common sizes of screw-in sockets used for line-voltage lamps: candelabra—E12 in North America and E11 in Europe; intermediate—E17 in North America and E14 (SmallES) in Europe; medium or standard—E26 (MES) in North America and E27 (ES) in Europe; and mogul—E39 in North America and E40 (GoliathES) in Europe.
Standard incandescent filament light bulbs that us the standard Edison screws are slowly being replaced by Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs that use the same screws so that they can fit in the same sockets, but use much less energy and are longer lasting as well.
Go to: http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm for a comprehensive explanation of the advantages of CFL and LED bulbs.
Light responsive light fixtures are known that use photo cells that sense the ambient light to active the fixture when the ambient light is low in order to illuminate an area at such times. Emergency lights are also know that sense a blackout or power failure condition illuminate are area at such time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an emergency or blackout light that replaces one of the standard screw-in bulbs in an Edison screw socket in an area, the emergency light operating during normal periods when power is being suppled to the socket to charge a battery or other electric power storage element in the bulb, and when a sensor in the bulb senses that there is little or no ambient light and that there is also no power, e.g. because of a black-out condition, powers one or more LEDs in the bulb to illuminate the area. During low light conditions with power on, the blackout light's circuit continues to charge the battery or other power storage element like a capacitor (collectively called a battery herein for simplicity) and at the same time supplies a lower current to the LEDs for low illumination of the area.
Another object of the invention is to provide a blackout light bulb having a housing with an Edson screw at one end for screwing into a light fixture socket and a plurality of spaced apart LEDs mounted to its opposite end, with a flexible stalk connected to the housing between the Edison screw and the LEDs that can be bent into a selected shape for positioning a free end of the stalk as desired. A circuit board in the housing has an electronic circuit connected to the Edison screw, to the LEDs and to a photo cell at the free end of the stalk. A rechargeable battery in the housing is connected to the circuit board so that it is charged under certain normal conditions, and so that it lights up the LEDs under blackout conditions.
According to another object of the invention the circuit includes components for executing a first mode of operation during a high ambient light condition when the photo cell sends a first signal and AC power is being supplied by the Edison screw for charging the battery; a second mode of operation during an intermediate ambient light condition, when power is supplied to the socket, the photo cell sending a second signal to partly light the LED and charge the battery; a third mode of operation during a high ambient light condition with no power supplied to the socket, the photo cell sending the first signal and not lighting the LEDs and not charging the battery; and a fourth mode of operation during a low ambient light condition and no power supplied to the socket, the photo cell sending a third signal for fully lighting the LEDs until the battery is exhausted.
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 specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.
In the drawings:
Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements,
The invention includes a flexible stalk 18 having a first end connected to the housing 12 at a location about half way between the illumination end 12a and the base end 12b of the housing 12. The flexible stalk 18 has an opposite free end that carries a photo cell 34 thereat, and the stalk itself is bendable into and holds any selected shape so that the free end of the stalk and therefore its photo cell can be positioning at any selected location with respect to the illumination end of the housing 12. The inventor has found that by placing this free and its attached photo cell 34 near an outer rim 132 of the high hat fixture 110 as shown in
As also shown in
Returning to
With reference to
As will be explained in greater detail below, the circuit 30 includes conventional electronic components for executing: a first mode of operation during the first high ambient light condition when the photo cell sends the first signal and AC power is being supplied by the Edison screw 14 for charging the battery; a second mode of operation during the second intermediate ambient light condition when power is being supplied to the socket, the photo cell sending the second signal to partly light the LED and charge the battery 32; a third mode of operation during a first high ambient light condition with no power supplied to the socket when the photo cell sends the first signal for not lighting the LEDs and not charging the battery; and a fourth mode of operation during the third low ambient light condition and no power supplied to the socket when the photo cell sends the third signal for fully lighting the LEDs to act as a blackout light of area until the battery is exhausted.
High hat fixtures 110 that are also called hi-hat fixtures, are most often used in groups as shown, for example, in
As discuses generally above, the circuit 30 is designed to accommodate four situations by containing conventional electrical components that are connect to operate as follows.
A. During day time hours with the power on, the photo cell 34 senses the higher ambient light level and its resistance will become lower so the current is block by transistor Q3 and therefore the LEDs LED1 to LED6 will not light. The battery 32 is charged up to, e.g. 3.7 volts maximum during this time.
B. At night with the power on since the photo cell 34 senses no light or minimum light, the resistance will become higher and current will go through Q1, R3, R4 and Q3 at a low rate and make the LEDs partially light up. The battery will discharge power but maintain at 3.7 volts.
C. During the day (i.e. a high ambient light condition) but with a power blackout condition (i.e. no power to the light fixture socket), since the photo cell 34 senses light, it blocks Q3 and the LEDs will not lite. The battery 32 will also not be charged or discharged.
D. At night time (i.e. low or not light condition) with a power blackout, due to the photo cell 34 sensing no light or minimum light, the resistance will become higher, block transistor Q1 and current will go through R3, R4, Q2 and Q3 so that the LEDs LED1 to LED6 will light up at their maximum until the battery 32 is exhausted, which the inventor has found to be several hours on an initially fully charged battery 32.
In the circuitry, Q1 plays a major role to control the light intensity during power on/off. The photo cell 32 identifies day and night. Using a 3.2 volt lithium battery 32 can prolong the life time of the product up to 5 years.
Although 6 LEDs are shown in the circuit 30 and 14 in
Circuit 30 also has a master switch 56 for completely deactivating all battery charging and LED functions. Switch 56 is open primarily for periods of transport and storage. Before the blackout bulb 10 is to be screwed into its high hat fixture 110 for use, the switch 56 is closed and left closed for the duration of the bulbs use.
Returning to
While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.
