Patent Application
20210289609
The disclosure generally relates to the field of power control for lighting applications. Particular embodiments relate to a smart accessory microcontroller for controlling, from a variety of control standards, light output in one or more LED lighting devices and/or lighting systems.
The typical outdoor street or area light fixture does not have wireless connectivity to other lights or to the Internet. A variety of control standards exist for the control of the Driver (Power Supply) that provides power to the LED light of the light fixture. Typically a different controller is required for each control standard and each dimming standard. The inventors and the applicant are unaware of any device that in the art today that dynamically switches between these standards and between different driver models.
The purpose of the Summary is to enable the public, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection, the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Summary is neither intended to define the inventive concept(s) of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the inventive concept(s) in any way.
What is disclosed is a Programmable Smart Module with microcontroller capable of receiving wireless communication in a mesh network and switching between industry standard control lines of the Driver (Power Supply). Different Drivers use different control standards and the Programmable Smart Module is capable of switching between these standards to support a wide range of Drivers. The disclosed Programmable Smart module can switch between control and dimming standards, including 0-10V, pulse width modulation (PWM), digital device interface (DDI) and DALI/DALI2/D4i industry standards.
The Programmable Smart Module is a Microcontroller design that makes use of its wireless connectivity capabilities to allow control interface programmability at the time of construction in the factory or at a customer site. This novel idea allows the use of a wireless connection (THREAD, BLE, WIFI, Cellular or other wireless network standards) to communicate control and monitoring data with multiple wired interface standards (DALI, DALI2, DDI, PWM, 0-10V) for lighting fixture Drivers. The Programmable Smart Module may have a GPS chip installed to allow location identification at installation and commissioning of the light fixture. The Programmable Smart Module supports several Digital and Analog control methods and interfaces seamlessly to a Driver and provides a wireless connection for mesh networking light fixtures together or connecting through a gateway to the Internet. For example, a traditional analog 0-10V dimming interface can be converted to a wireless signal and communicate to other lights in the mesh for dimming control. The wireless connectivity and mesh networking capability of the Programmable Smart Module makes it possible for other Programmable Smart Modules to communicate to each other for control of light fixture output and monitoring of light fixture status.
The Programmable Smart Module design makes use of its wireless connectivity capabilities to allow control interface programmability at the time of construction in the factory or at a customer site. This novel idea allows multiple interfaces to use the same physical connections on the Programmable Smart Module in order to support several Digital and Analog control methods which by definition are nonexistent in traditional connections. For example, the Analog Dimming function requires a control device to present an Analog Voltage level between the DIM+/DIM− terminals to the Driver, which when sampled by the Driver interface circuitry provides an indication of the Diming level needed to control the Voltage/Current delivery to the LED load. In this mode the full range of Light output is comprised of a voltage level in the range of 0-10V which using visual logarithmic levels determine how much light output to generate out of the light fixture being powered by a Driver.
An additional feature of the programmability, monitoring and change of Driver interface functionality proposed by this patent disclosure is that the Programmable Smart Module will be made virtually immune from installation error by assuring that the proper control communication method is selected based on the Driver installed in the fixture.
The disclosed microcontroller can be utilized in the manufacture of a variety of luminaires, reducing the number of different controllers necessary to fabricate different luminaires by allowing the programmability of a single controller across an array of different control and dimming standards.
Still other features and advantages of the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description describing preferred embodiments of the inventive concept(s), simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carrying out the inventive concept(s). As will be realized, the inventive concept(s) is capable of modification in various obvious respects all without departing from the inventive concept(s). Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature
While the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the inventive concept(s) to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the inventive concept(s) as defined in the claims.
The Programmable Smart Module is further configured for wireless communication 7 with other Programmable Smart Modules and/or other smart devices. This allows, for example, a single dimming or controller to interface with a single Programmable Smart Module, and for the single Programmable Smart Module to wirelessly provide a signal to other Programmable Smart Modules on the same network to control operation of additional lights.
While certain preferred embodiments are shown in the figures and described in this disclosure, it is to be distinctly understood that the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of the following claims. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/988,705, filed Mar. 12, 2020, and U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 17/189,189, filed Mar. 1, 2021, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62988705 | Mar 2020 | US |
