Optics: measuring and testing – Lamp beam direction or pattern
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-01
2004-04-06
Lee, John H. (Department: 2881)
Optics: measuring and testing
Lamp beam direction or pattern
C315S130000, C315S131000, C315S132000, C315S134000, C315S136000, C315S149000, C315S155000, C340S003100, C340S003900, C340S007100, C340S506000, C340S007210, C340S007320, C340S007330, C340S007360
Reexamination Certificate
active
06717660
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for monitoring light sources. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for sensing the condition and efficiency of various light sources, or luminaires, and reporting this information to a monitoring station.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a wide variety of lighting sources or luminaires that are critical to the operation of their associated infrastructure. For example, the proper functioning of traffic lights is absolutely essential to the safety and management of countless people each day. Likewise, street lights and other overhead outdoor luminaires allow for safe and convenient travel during night time conditions. While the reasons for maintaining proper lighting conditions in various indoor and outdoor facilities is important for certain obvious reasons, the nature of those facilities sometimes makes proper maintenance an even more critical aspect. For example, various banks provide ATM machines in a plurality of different types of locations. Since these machines will function to draw traffic dealing in cash transactions, it is desirable to maintain these machines in a safe and well-lit condition. That is, if the lighting should fail in such an area, people obtaining cash from ATMs may be at a higher risk for crime and possibly personal attack.
Thus, there exists a distinction between lighting provided for convenience and lighting provided for safety and necessity. In those systems where lighting becomes more critical, the proper functioning of the luminaire takes on more importance and significance. Thus, there exists a need to provide a system that monitors the performance of these critical luminaire systems and provides a way to indicate potential problems to managing authorities.
In other situations, it is beneficial to monitor lighting performance where lighting is being provided for convenience. For example, in a large office building, it is a continual challenge to keep all luminaires operational. A system that could monitor the performance of these light fixtures would be very helpful in maintaining adequate light for occupants.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system for monitoring the performance of any luminaire and reporting problems or failures to a managing authority so that the proper corrective action can be implemented. For each lighting element or luminaire a sensor or sensors are provided that monitors the operational characteristics (e.g. both the electrical input and the output) of the luminaire. The sensors are capable of monitoring both voltage across the fixture and current travelling therethrough. Further, the sensors can monitor the relative voltage and current levels at both the input and output. In this manner a wide variety of problems can be detected. For example, a failure to detect current or voltage on the output side would indicate a broken or damaged bulb and/or a filament. Detecting unusual current readings could also indicate that the light, while functional, is not necessarily providing a sufficient degree of illumination. By also monitoring the current input into the luminaire, along with the voltage drop across the luminaire, the efficiency of that luminaire can be monitored; Variations in the determined efficiency can indicate that a failure is imminent, allowing for the replacement of the luminaire prior to an actual failure. In addition, the sensor is able to verify that power is being properly delivered to the input of the luminaire. Thus, if a failure should occur, maintenance personnel can immediately be notified of what the actual problem is rather than having to further test the system upon arrival.
For each luminaire, a separate sensor or sensing system is provided. Therefore, the number of luminaires and sensors employed will be dependent upon the particular application. For example, in a given ATM location, a single overhead light may be all that is required to provide sufficient illumination, hence, only one sensor is required. In most common traffic lights, three separate luminaires are provided for each direction of observation and each luminaire may include multiple bulbs. Thus, a separate sensing unit is provided for each bulb of each luminaire. As should be readily apparent, the number of luminaires and sensing units employed in a given system can vary dramatically. Likewise, the system used to monitor the various sensing units can vary from simple to complex.
In one embodiment of the present invention a control system is provided that is electrically coupled to each of the sensing units being utilized. The control serves to operate the sensing unit and to gather information collected by the various sensors. In addition, it may be more practical to periodically sense any given luminaire rather than taking continuous measurements. If this is the case, a control unit will then individually poll the various sensors at the allotted time to take the appropriate measurements. Depending upon the application being used, the control unit can be programmed to cause various remedial actions to occur if the sensors determine a problem. For example, in the context of an automatic teller machine, if it is determined that insufficient illumination is provided to create a safe atmosphere, the control may cause the ATM to become disabled, thus preventing its subsequent use until the luminaire is repaired.
When a problem is detected, the control system in the present invention is caused to alert the appropriate personnel to the problem. In its simplest form, the control unit can simply be hard wired to a control panel within a maintenance room of a building. For various remote systems including traffic lights, street lights and diversely located ATMs, such a hard wiring scenario is not practical. In those cases, a control system is provided with a transmitter that sends the data to a receiver connected to a remote piece of monitoring equipment. The monitoring equipment can receive such signals from a large number of controlling units and hence monitor an even larger number of sensors. Thus, the single piece of monitoring equipment can effectively monitor the operative status of a large number of traffic lights over a large land area and when problems develop, initiate appropriate remedial action.
As yet another aspect of the present invention, the monitoring equipment may be connected to via a remote terminal by accessing a computer network such as the Internet. For example, a store owner using such sensors and a control unit to monitor the luminaires of a security system in a store during off-business hours, could simply access the Internet and obtain instantaneous results from the control unit relating to the operative status of the illumination system.
Once the system is implemented to effectively monitor the various luminaires, other equipment could similarly be monitored. For example, by providing appropriate sensing units in a computer system, signals could be produced indicating whether sufficient power is being supplied. By having this equipment attached to the monitoring network, appropriate use signals could be remotely or locally provided to initiate remedial action when necessary. For example, should main power be interrupted an appropriate signal could be provided to a system administrator's pager indicating that some attention is necessary. Many other examples exist where the monitoring of power supplies and electrical characteristics can provide useful information to various operators or service personnel.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sensor for a luminaire to determine its operative status.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sensing unit connected to both the input and the output of a luminaire.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide the sensing unit coupled to a luminaire that measures both current and voltage at both and input and an output.
It is yet still another object of the pr
Lee John H.
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP
Safe Passage Systems Corporation
Souw Bernard E.
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