Segmented Shelf Lighting to Highlight Products Nearing Expiration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Retail stores face significant waste issues due to static lighting systems that fail to effectively highlight products nearing expiration or with less appealing features, leading to potential unsold items and increased waste.
Innovation Solution
A lighting device with adjustable segments and a controller that switches between normal and highlighting modes based on a sensed field, using intensity and color modifications to draw attention to specific products, preventing unwanted mode changes through secure sensing technologies like magnetically operable switches or RFID readers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If static lighting systems are used to provide functional background lighting, then all products can be seen uniformly, but individual products cannot be highlighted and waste increases due to unsold items
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting device is divided into multiple independently controllable segments, each corresponding to a specific product location. This allows selective illumination of individual products without affecting others, enabling targeted highlighting of products nearing expiration while maintaining uniform background lighting for other items.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting system transitions from static uniform illumination to dynamic selective highlighting. The controller can adjust illumination intensity and color temperature of individual segments in real-time based on product characteristics, expiration dates, and sales performance, transforming the lighting from a passive background function to an active product promotion tool.
2Illumination intensity
If spot lights are used to highlight individual products, then product visibility improves, but the system becomes expensive and limited in the number of products that can be highlighted
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting device integrates multiple functions into a single system: it provides both uniform background lighting and selective product highlighting, serves as both illumination and product identification tool, and can control multiple product locations from a single controller. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate spotlight systems for each product.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses adjustable illumination parameters including intensity, color temperature, and beam angle to achieve different lighting effects. By varying these parameters across different segments, the system can highlight multiple products simultaneously or create different atmospheric effects without requiring additional physical light sources.
3Stability of the object's composition
If centralized lighting control is used at national headquarters, then standardization is achieved, but individual store flexibility to highlight specific products is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system implements local quality control where each store can independently adjust illumination parameters for specific products based on local needs, while maintaining overall system architecture standardization. The controller allows store managers to select and highlight particular products without requiring centralized approval, enabling local adaptation while preserving system-wide consistency.
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 effectively reduces waste by highlighting products nearing expiration or with less appeal, increasing their visibility and attractiveness, thereby reducing the likelihood of unsold items and enhancing the overall appearance of older or less attractive products.
Implementation Method 1
The sensing device is arranged for sensing a magnetic field and further arranged for generating the signal indicative of the presence of the magnetic field
Implementation Method 2
a light source for lighting display and passage spaces
Data Source
AI summary
A lighting device is presented for highlighting a first product over a second product placed in a first and a second section respectively of a store fixture, display or shelf to draw a shopper's attention to the first product, the lighting device comprising: a first and a segment, adjacent to each other, arranged for providing a first light output for illuminating the first product and a second light output for illuminating the second product respectively, a controller arranged for changing an operational mode of the lighting device from a normal lighting mode to a highlighting mode based on a signal indicating presence of a field; wherein in both the normal lighting mode and the highlighting mode, the first segment and the second segment provide illumination, and wherein in the highlighting mode, the first segment highlights the first product over the second product.