Integrated LED Strip Illuminating Safety Net
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lighting systems in underground mine excavations are complex and inefficient, with uneven lighting patterns due to suspended bulbs and power lines, which can lead to inadequate illumination in working areas.
Innovation Solution
An illuminating safety net with a quadrilateral perimeter of tensile members and elongate flexible lighting strips integrated along its edges, providing a flexible and evenly lit solution by using a string of electrically interlinked LEDs within flexible plastic tubing, attached via loops or ties to the net body.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If traditional suspended bulbs and power lines are used for lighting, then lighting can be provided in mine excavations, but the lighting system becomes complex with uneven lighting patterns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the safety net structure with integrated LED lighting strips along the perimeter edges. This merging of functions eliminates the need for separate suspended bulb systems and power line installations, providing both safety containment and illumination through a single unified structure that is deployed together as one system
Solution Approach 2:
The safety net serves dual purposes: its primary function as rock fall protection and its secondary function as a lighting support structure. The perimeter edges of the net body are specifically designed to carry LED lighting strips, making the same structure universal for both safety and illumination needs in mine excavations
2Area of stationary object
If bulbs are interspersed on power cables at intervals, then lighting coverage is achieved, but uneven lighting patterns are created
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses flexible LED lighting strips that can be continuously attached along the perimeter edges of the safety net. These flexible strips provide continuous linear illumination rather than discrete point sources, ensuring uniform lighting coverage across the protected area without the gaps and hot spots created by intermittently spaced bulbs
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting is arranged in continuous linear strips along the perimeter edges of the net, creating a dimensional transition from point-source illumination (bulbs) to line-source illumination. This dimensional change in light distribution geometry naturally produces more uniform lighting patterns across the two-dimensional protected area
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 solution provides a flexible, evenly lit, and easily deployable lighting system that enhances safety and visibility in mine work areas, improving illumination and reducing installation complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a string of electrically interlinked LEDs in the tubing
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is an illuminating safety net which includes a net body which has a quadrilateral perimeter of elongate tensile members, and a plurality of elongate tensile elements attached to the perimeter and extending within the perimeter in at least two transverse directions; and an elongate flexible lighting strip engaged to the net body along at least part of a perimeter edge of the perimeter.