Light Sensor Signal Filtering for Daylight Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lighting systems struggle to accurately manage light levels in areas with both artificial and natural light sources, leading to instability and inability to balance or reduce glare, as they cannot distinguish between light from fixtures and sunlight without a filter to isolate these signals.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a filter and an adapter circuit that isolates sunlight from light fixture signals, allowing a light management module to adjust power to fixtures or shading devices to achieve a target light level, using a sensor to detect light and generate filtered signals indicating sunlight presence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a sensor detects total light amount in a lighting area, then the sensor provides information about overall illumination, but it cannot distinguish between sunlight and artificial light from fixtures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the total light signal into distinct components by using a filter to separate sunlight signals from artificial light fixture signals. The sensor receives the combined light signal, and the filter processes it to generate a filtered signal that contains only sunlight information, enabling differentiation without adding complex hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter acts as an intermediary between the sensor and the light management module. It processes the raw sensor signal by blocking artificial light components and passing sunlight components, thereby enabling the system to distinguish light sources without requiring the sensor itself to be more complex.
2Illumination intensity
If the lighting system adjusts light fixtures to maintain target light levels, then illumination control is achieved, but glare and unstable light conditions occur when sunlight varies
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from the filtered sunlight signal to dynamically adjust the artificial light fixtures. The light management module continuously monitors the filtered signal indicating sunlight levels and adjusts fixture power accordingly, maintaining stable total illumination while preventing glare conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting system dynamically adjusts the output of artificial light fixtures based on real-time sunlight conditions. When sunlight increases, the system reduces artificial light output, and when sunlight decreases, it increases artificial light output, maintaining stable overall illumination levels and preventing glare.
3Measurement precision
If the system uses a filter to separate sunlight from artificial light, then accurate sunlight measurement is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The filter applies selective processing to specific frequency components of the sensor signal. It blocks frequency ranges corresponding to artificial light fixtures while passing frequency ranges corresponding to sunlight, achieving precise sunlight measurement through localized signal processing rather than overall system complexity.
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
Enables stable and responsive light management by accurately distinguishing between artificial and natural light sources, allowing for effective balancing and glare mitigation, ensuring consistent and aesthetically pleasing lighting.
Implementation Method 1
The filter may generate a filtered signal from the sensor signal such that the filter blocks any component of the sensor signal representing light from a light fixture and passes any component of the sensor signal representing sunlight
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for daylight harvesting and/or light management is provided in which a signal from a light sensor is filtered in order to determine the amount of light received from a light fixture in a lighting system and/or from an external light source, such as sunlight even if light is received from multiple light sources. By filtering the signals from the light sensor, an amount of light received from each light source may be determined, and correspondingly controlled to reach a target light level and/or a target balance of light from the multiple light sources.