Rotatable Solar Light Housing for Pole-Mounted Illumination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solar light assemblies for street and park lighting pose challenges in servicing high-mounted solar panels, achieving versatile illumination directions, and balancing aesthetics with solar panel orientation, particularly when multiple lights are mounted on a single pole.
Innovation Solution
A solar powered light system with a hingedly attached shroud that allows tilting for vertical and horizontal illumination, enabling easy access to internal components without removing the solar panel, and a frame that supports different housing orientations to efficiently face the southern sky, preventing light obstruction by the pole.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the solar panel is mounted high above the ground on a pole, then the light assembly can provide street or park lighting coverage, but it becomes difficult and unsafe to service the solar panel and access electronics
Solution Approach 1:
The light housing is made rotatable relative to the solar panel, allowing the light to be positioned at various angles and directions. This dynamic adjustment capability enables the light to be oriented away from the pole for better illumination coverage while maintaining safe servicing conditions when the light is in any position except fully rotated away.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the solar panel is positioned to face the southern sky for optimal energy conversion, then power generation efficiency is improved, but the light direction and pole positioning become constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The light housing can be rotated to various positions relative to the fixed solar panel. This allows the solar panel to maintain its optimal southern orientation for energy conversion while the light can be directed toward any compass direction to illuminate different areas as needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into two independently adjustable components: the solar panel assembly and the light housing. The solar panel can be fixed in its optimal southern position, while the light housing is separately rotatable, allowing each component to fulfill its function independently without compromising the other.
3Productivity
If multiple lights are mounted on a single pole, then illumination coverage is improved, but the pole may block lights from pointing in desired directions
Solution Approach 1:
Each light housing can be independently rotated to different positions and angles. This dynamic positioning capability allows multiple lights on the same pole to be oriented in different directions, enabling comprehensive area coverage without the pole blocking any light's beam path.
4Ease of manufacture
If the light assembly is designed for a fixed orientation, then manufacturing and installation are simplified, but the system lacks versatility for different installation scenarios
Solution Approach 1:
The light housing is designed with rotational capability relative to the solar panel mounting structure. This dynamic feature allows a single standardized assembly to be installed in various orientations and configurations to suit different installation scenarios, eliminating the need for multiple specialized designs.
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 low-maintenance, versatile, and efficient solar light system that offers broad illumination range, easy servicing, and aesthetic flexibility by allowing the solar panel to function as a protective cover, reducing installation complexities and vandalism risks.
Implementation Method 1
Solar panels are frequently used to recharge batteries during the day that then subsequently are able to power lights at night
Implementation Method 2
A light having a shroud is hingedly attached to a housing. The shroud allows the light to be tilted such that it can provide vertical illumination of the ground, and by tilting the light, horizontal illumination
Data Source
AI summary
A solar light assembly includes a plurality of housings each having a light, a frame receiving the plurality of housings, and a solar panel substantially positioned over the frame. Each housing including a face, sides and a lip, such that the face and lip lie in intersecting planes. Each housing is removable from the frame to be rotated and repositioned within the frame. A pole could be used to support the frame.