Color-Correcting Lighting System with Feedback Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Lighting systems often fail to maintain a specific color hue due to changes in voltage, wear, or failure of constituent elements, causing them to fall outside of color specifications.
Innovation Solution
A color-correcting lighting system that includes a primary light-emitting device and a single color-correcting light-emitting device, where the color-detection module and control system adjust the amplitude of the color-correcting device to maintain the combined light emission within a predetermined color specification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a traditional lighting system uses multiple light-emitting elements to achieve color specifications, then color accuracy can be maintained initially, but the system complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the lighting system into two functional segments: a primary light source that provides the bulk of illumination and a single color-correcting element that fine-tunes the color output. This segmentation allows the majority of the system to remain simple while a small, targeted component handles color precision, thereby maintaining color specification compliance without increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by introducing a specialized color-correcting element at a specific location in the optical path where it can precisely adjust the color output. Rather than requiring all light-emitting elements to be perfectly matched, only the local correcting element needs high precision, which simplifies manufacturing while maintaining overall color accuracy.
2Reliability
If a lighting system uses multiple constituent elements, then color can be controlled initially, but reliability decreases when elements wear or fail
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a color-correcting element that acts as a cushion against color drift caused by aging or failure of the primary light source. This correcting element compensates for color changes that occur during the service life of the primary source, thereby maintaining color specification compliance even as other elements wear or fail, extending the reliable operational period of the system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where a sensor detects the actual color output and feeds this information back to a controller, which adjusts the color-correcting element to maintain compliance. This closed-loop control continuously compensates for drift and failure, significantly improving reliability and extending the duration the system remains within specifications.
3Device complexity
If color correction is not implemented, then system complexity remains low, but color drift occurs outside specifications over time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a color-correcting element as an intermediary between the primary light source and the output. This mediator component has the specific function of adjusting the color spectrum to ensure compliance, allowing the rest of the system to remain simple while a dedicated intermediate component handles the precision color correction function.
4Use of energy by moving object
If voltage or current varies to primary light sources, then power consumption is flexible, but color changes occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a feedback control system that detects color output and adjusts the color-correcting element to compensate for color changes caused by voltage or current variations in the primary light source. This allows the primary source to operate with flexible power consumption while the feedback loop maintains consistent color output within specifications.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution improves product performance, reduces system complexity, and ensures the lighting system operates within color specifications for a longer period, while also reducing costs and manufacturing complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a color-detecting device that detects a color of the combined emissions
Implementation Method 2
a single color-correcting light-emitting device configured to emit light of a second color, the light emission of the color-correcting light-emitting device combining with the light emission of the primary light-emitting device
Data Source
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AI summary
In a lighting system (300) that emits light of a color within a color specification, the color is controlled by adding light from a single color-correcting light emitting device (308) to a primary light-emitting device (306). In an illustrative embodiment, a color-detecting module (314) can sense the color of the combined light emitted from both the primary and the color-correcting light-emitting devices (306, 308). The color-control system (304) can generate an amplitude control signal based on a signal indicative of the color sensed by the color-detecting module (314). A color range of the combined light of the primary and the color-correcting light-emitting devices (306, 308) can intersect a domain of the predetermined color specification, as the generated amplitude control signal spans the domain. Using a single color-correcting light-emitting device (308) to maintain a lighting system's (300) emitted color within a predetermined color specification can advantageously reduce system complexity.