Solid-State Lighting With Multiple Control Voltages

Abstract

An LED luminaire comprises a power switching driver, an electric current controller, LED array(s) powered by the electric current controller, and a detection and control circuit. The detection and control circuit comprises comparator(s), a voltage regulator circuit, and a pair of low-voltage input / output ports receiving an external voltage. The detection and control circuit is configured to extract a controllable feedback signal voltage from an output voltage coupled from the power switching driver, an output current driving the LED array(s), and the external voltage and to couple to the electric current controller to change the output current driving the LED array(s). The external voltage comprises a voltage sent from a wireless luminaire controller, which comprises a wireless module and a meter and control unit. The wireless luminaire controller is configured to receive commands from the wireless module, to control the LED luminaire, and to measure in response to the commands.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present disclosure is part of a continuation-in-part (CIP) application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16 / 247,456, filed 14 Jan. 2019, which is part of CIP application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16 / 208,510, filed 3 Dec. 2018, which is part of CIP application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16 / 154,707, filed 8 Oct. 2018, which is part of a CIP application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 947,631, filed 6 Apr. 2018 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,123,388 on 6 Nov. 2018, which is part of a CIP application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 911,086, filed 3 Mar. 2018 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,136,483 on 20 Nov. 2018, which is part of a CIP application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 897,106, filed 14 Feb. 2018 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,161,616 on 25 Dec. 2018, which is a CIP application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 874,752, filed 18 Jan. 2018 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,036,515 on 31...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The solution provides a cost-effective, energy-efficient LED luminaire that reduces maintenance costs, enhances energy savings, and simplifies installation with wireless control, ensuring compatibility with AC mains and optimizing lighting levels based on ambient light conditions.

Problems solved by technology

But the fact is that total cost of ownership for this approach is high regardless of very low initial cost.

If the existing ballast is not compatible with the ballast-compatible LED lamp, the consumer will have to replace the ballast.

Some facilities built long time ago incorporate different types of fixtures, which requires extensive labor for both identifying ballasts and replacing incompatible ones.

Maintenance will be complicated, sometimes for the lamps and sometimes for the ballasts.

The labor costs and long-term maintenance costs will be unacceptable to end users.

In this sense, any energy saved while using the ballast-compatible LED lamps becomes meaningless with the constant energy use by the ballast.

In the long run, the ballast-compatible LED lamps are more expensive and less efficient than self-sustaining AC mains-operable LED lamps.

Even with such a potential energy saving, some of daylight harvesting systems still cannot be widely accepted.

In fact, impressive energy savings estimates may not be realized in practice due to a poor system design, a time-consuming calibration, or a complicated commissioning.

High costs and imperfect performance of the technologies also inhibit the adoption of daylight harvesting technologies.

Traditional luminaire controls have drawbacks such as no scheduling possible for manual switch control, susceptibility of the interference by the strong magnetic field from a power line for power carrier control, and failing to meet the requirements of centralized monitoring, recording, and energy management.

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