Retainer Ring for Light Fixture Glare Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional interior lighting fixtures often suffer from glare issues due to harsh light angles, which can be distracting and compromise aesthetic design goals, while also failing to provide flexible and adjustable lighting solutions that meet various architectural needs.
Innovation Solution
The development of quiet-ceiling light fixture systems featuring a manifold housing, adjustable light engines, and a baffle system that limits harsh light to low angles, combined with field-reconfigurable components such as adapter plates and retainer rings, allowing for customizable lighting configurations and minimalistic design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If conventional lighting fixtures emit light at high angles to provide broad illumination, then the illumination coverage is improved, but glare is generated that distracts viewers and compromises aesthetic design
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting fixture is segmented into multiple independent light engines that can be individually controlled and positioned. Each light engine emits light in specific directional patterns, allowing the system to provide broad illumination coverage while controlling glare by directing light away from viewer lines of sight through coordinated segmentation of light sources and beams.
2Device complexity
If lighting fixtures use fixed configurations to simplify design and manufacturing, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability to various architectural needs is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting fixture incorporates dynamically adjustable components including rotatable and tiltable light engines that can be repositioned after installation. The system allows field reconfiguration where adapter plates can be removed and replaced to change the arrangement and orientation of light engines, enabling adaptation to various architectural needs without requiring complex fixed designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixture employs universal adapter plates with standardized coupling features that can accommodate different light engine types and configurations. This universal interface allows a single base fixture design to support multiple lighting arrangements and architectural applications, achieving versatility without increasing overall device complexity.
3Shape
If optical surfaces form sharp angles to create visual interest, then aesthetic appeal is improved, but optical performance changes noticeably causing distracting reflections and glare
Solution Approach 1:
The optical surfaces within the light engines utilize curved and rounded geometries rather than sharp angles. This curvature distributes reflections more evenly across viewing angles, eliminating distracting hot spots while maintaining visual interest through smooth, continuous surface forms that preserve aesthetic appeal without causing noticeable optical performance variations.
Data Source
AI summary
A retainer ring for a light fixture includes a cylindrical main body section that defines a cylindrical axis, and an inner retaining flange that extends radially inward from a distal end of the main body section. The inner retaining flange extends substantially about a circumference of the distal end. One or more coupling features extend radially inward from the retainer ring. A customization kit for a light engine that defines an optical axis includes a retainer ring configured to couple with the light engine, and two or more primary optics that are mechanically compatible with the light engine, and retainable to the light engine with the retainer ring. When the retainer ring couples with the light engine, a cylindrical axis of the retainer ring coincides with the optical axis.