Connected controls infrastructure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11219112-B2
Application number	US-202016790041-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2020
Priority date	Sep 9, 2019
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

A luminaire network improves energy efficiency, reduces light pollution, improves the robustness of luminaire control, and reduces maintenance time and costs by implementing intelligent and selective lighting control. For example, the luminaire network may automatically control dimming, light activation, light deactivation, static or dynamic luminaire grouping, and luminaire group control by implementing a hybrid control scheme that accounts for (i) local or global fixed schedules (e.g., based on time of day, worker schedules, etc.), (ii) detected daylight, (iii) detected motion of workers, and (iv) feedback from luminaires in the luminaire network. Further, one or more electronic devices (e.g., mobile devices) may couple to the luminaire network and may facilitate easy monitoring, configuration, and manual control of luminaires in the luminaire network, even when remotely connected to the luminaire network (e.g., via the cloud).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for managing hybrid local and non-local control of luminaires in a process control environment, the system comprising:
a luminaire configured to implement a first control scheme to generate a first one or more commands to control a light source of the luminaire based on one or more of: (a) a schedule; (b) a first parameter representing a level of ambient light; and (c) a second parameter representing a level of detected motion;
a supervisory controller configured to implement a second control scheme for controlling one or more luminaires;
a gateway configured to enable communication between the luminaire and the supervisory controller, wherein the gateway is configured to: (i) couple to the luminaire via a first link conforming to a process control protocol configured to enable field devices in a process control environment to wirelessly communicate by way of command-response communications utilizing a preconfigured set of protocol parameters for the process control protocol; and (ii) couple to the supervisory controller without utilizing the process control protocol;
wherein the luminaire is further configured to:
(i) receive, via the first link, a wireless signal carrying a protocol parameter from the preconfigured set of protocol parameters;
(ii) analyze a value of the protocol parameter to identify a second command to control the light source of the luminaire, wherein the second command is generated by way of the supervisory controller implementing the second control scheme; and
(iii) prioritize the second control scheme over the first control scheme by implementing the second command to control the light source, such that the light source is controlled in accordance with the second command regardless of whether a conflict exists between the second command and the first one or more commands generated by way of the luminaire implementing the first control scheme.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the luminaire is a first luminaire, and wherein the one or more luminaires includes: (i) the first luminaire and (ii) a second luminaire coupled to one or more of the first luminaire and the supervisory controller.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the process control protocol is a first process control protocol; and wherein the second luminaire is coupled to the first luminaire via a wired link utilizing a second process control protocol distinct from the first process control protocol.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein second luminaire is configured to receive, via the first luminaire, a hybrid signal including an analog 4-20 mA signal and a digital signal superimposed on the analog 4-20 mA signal.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the first process control protocol is WirelessHART; wherein the second process control protocol is HART; and wherein the supervisory controller is coupled to the gateway via a second link conforming to a protocol from the Internet protocol suite.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second link also conforms to the message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first parameter indicates the level of ambient light within an area that the luminaire is configured to illuminate via the light source.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first parameter indicates the level of ambient light within a first area outside a second area that the luminaire is configured to light.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first parameter is set according to a light sensor external to the housing.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the luminaire is a first luminaire, and wherein the light sensor is included in a second luminaire coupled to one or more of the supervisory controller and the first luminaire.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second parameter is a binary parameter configured to hold a first value representing a first level of detected motion or a second value representing a second level of detected motion.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second parameter is configured to hold three or more values representing three or more levels of detected motion.

13. The system of claim 1 , further including a process controller coupled to the luminaire and a field device coupled to the luminaire, wherein the process controller is configured to transmit to the field device or receive from the field device, via the luminaire, parameters representing: (i) commands to control the field device or (ii) measurements obtained by the field device.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the supervisory controller is coupled to the gateway via a second link conforming to the HART-IP protocol.

15. The system of claim 1 , further including a mobile control device configured to retrieve one or more parameters regarding the luminaire from one or more of: the luminaire, the gateway, and the supervisory controller.

16. A luminaire comprising:
(A) a housing;
(B) a light source disposed within the housing such that light is projectable from the light source to an area external to the housing;
(C) a communication interface disposed in the housing and configured to communicate according to a process control protocol configured to enable field devices in a process control environment to wirelessly communicate by way of command-response communications utilizing a preconfigured set of protocol parameters for the process control protocol;
(D) a luminaire controller configured to:
(i) implement a first control scheme to generate a first one or more commands to control the light source based on one or more of: (a) a schedule; (b) a first parameter representing a level of ambient light; and (c) a second parameter representing a level of detected motion;
(ii) receive, via the communication interface, a wireless signal carrying a protocol parameter from the preconfigured set of protocol parameters;
(iii) analyze a value of the protocol parameter to identify a second command to control the light source, wherein the second command is generated by way of the supervisory controller implementing the second control scheme; and
(iii) prioritize the second control scheme over the first control scheme by implementing the second command to control the light source, such that the light source is controlled in accordance with the second command regardless of whether a conflict exists between the second command and the first one or more commands generated by way of the first control scheme.

17. The luminaire of claim 16 wherein the luminaire controller is further configured to utilize timestamps, received via wireless signals conforming to the process control protocol, to identify a current time; wherein the first control scheme includes an analysis comparing the schedule to the current time.

18. The luminaire of claim 16 , wherein the luminaire controller is further configured to:
receive, via the communication interface, a second wireless signal carrying a second value of the protocol parameter;
analyze the second value of the protocol parameter to identify a third command to control the light source, wherein the third command is generated by way of a second luminaire implementing a third control scheme;
implement the third command when it does not conflict with the second command; and
ignore the third command when it conflicts with the second command.

19. The luminaire of claim 16 , further including one or more sensors for detecting one or more of ambient light and motion; wherein one or more of the first and second parameters are set according to the one or

Assignees

• Appleton Grp Llc

Inventors

• Graff Timothy E
• Gurjar Ravindra Viraj
• Pan Yicheng Peter

Classifications

• H05B47/175 Primary

  by remote control · CPC title

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• H05B47/165 Primary

  following a pre-assigned programmed sequence; Logic control [LC] · CPC title

• H05B47/115

  by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings · CPC title

• H05B47/11

  by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light · CPC title