Light-Shaping Module for Event-Triggered Traffic Warnings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current lighting systems fail to simultaneously illuminate traffic surfaces and warn users of potential dangers, leading to increased accident risks in well-lit environments due to reduced visibility and user attention.
Innovation Solution
A lighting system with luminaires equipped with optical units that form a strip light pattern perpendicular to the travel direction of the traffic surface upon detecting events, using sensors and controllers to adapt light output based on sensed data, enhancing visibility and warning users of potential dangers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a lighting system illuminates the traffic surface, then visibility is improved, but user attention to danger is not sufficiently increased
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system employs periodic flashing of specific light patterns (such as strip patterns or sequences of lights) to create attention-grabbing warning signals. This periodic action distinguishes danger warnings from continuous ambient lighting, ensuring users notice potential hazards even in well-lit environments where they might otherwise become desensitized.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different light qualities to different locations on the traffic surface. While general ambient lighting provides overall illumination, localized warning patterns (such as strip patterns at dangerous locations, flashing lights at pedestrian crossings, or sequences indicating specific hazards) are superimposed to draw attention to specific danger zones, maintaining both visibility and safety awareness.
2Illumination intensity
If a lighting system provides constant illumination, then visibility is maintained, but user alertness to danger decreases due to habituation
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains constant ambient illumination for visibility while superimposing periodic warning signals (flashing patterns, alternating sequences) at dangerous locations. This combination prevents habituation by introducing variable, attention-grabbing elements that stand out against the steady background lighting, keeping users alert to potential dangers.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting system dynamically adjusts between static ambient illumination and dynamic warning patterns. The warning patterns may include flashing, pulsing, or moving light sequences that change over time, creating visual contrast that captures user attention and prevents habituation while maintaining overall visibility through the static component.
3Reliability
If a lighting system uses additional warning patterns, then user safety is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic warning patterns only when and where needed, rather than continuous illumination. By activating flashing or sequences selectively at dangerous locations and times, the system maintains safety effectiveness while significantly reducing overall energy consumption compared to constant high-intensity lighting across the entire traffic surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system concentrates energy usage locally at specific dangerous locations rather than uniformly across the entire traffic surface. Warning patterns are applied selectively to high-risk areas (pedestrian crossings, intersections, blind corners) while other areas receive only minimal ambient lighting, optimizing the safety-energy trade-off by focusing resources where they provide maximum benefit.
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
The system effectively increases user safety by forming a well-identifiable strip light pattern that warns of potential dangers, improving visibility and prompting appropriate user behavior, such as reducing speed, thereby reducing accident risks.
Implementation Method 1
each luminaire comprises at least one optical unit (110) and a controller (120). The controller (120) is configured for controlling the light output of the at least one optical unit (110) according to a first light configuration (C1) to form at least one strip light pattern (S1) on the traffic surface (R). In the first light configuration (C1), at least one strip light pattern (S1) is formed on the traffic surface (R). Because the light pattern formed upon occurrence of an event has the shape of a strip and because a large portion of the light is contained in a relatively narrow band
Data Source
AI summary
Lighting system and method for lighting a traffic surface comprising at least one luminaire with an optical unit, and a controller for controlling said optical unit; at least one sensor for sensing data related to an event in the vicinity of the traffic surface and/or a receiver for receiving data related to said event. The lighting system is configured for determining the occurrence of an event in the vicinity of and/or on the traffic surface based on the sensed data and/or the received data. When the occurrence of an event has been determined, the light output of the optical unit is controlled according to a first light configuration to form at least one strip light pattern on the traffic surface extending in a width direction substantially perpendicular to a predetermined direction of the traffic surface. An optical unit configured for outputting a strip light pattern is also provided.