Self-diagnostic fault identification system for emergency lighting unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11223219-B2
Application number	US-202017021225-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2020
Priority date	Jul 29, 2016
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

An emergency lighting device includes a housing, a light emitter positioned in the housing, a control circuit positioned in the housing and operatively connected to the light emitter, an indicator light positioned in the housing, and a fault indicator circuit positioned in the housing and operatively connected to the indicator light. The fault indicator circuit is configured to monitor the light emitter, analyze activation of the light emitter, and activate the indicator light based on the analysis of the activation of the light emitter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An emergency lighting device comprising:
a housing;
a light emitter positioned in the housing;
a control circuit positioned in the housing and operatively connected to the light emitter;
an indicator light positioned in the housing;
a fault indicator circuit positioned in the housing and operatively connected to the indicator light, the fault indicator circuit configured to
monitor the light emitter,
analyze activation of the light emitter, and
activate the indicator light based on the analysis of the activation of the light emitter.

2. The emergency lighting device of claim 1 , wherein activation of the light emitter includes a flash rate.

3. The emergency lighting device of claim 2 , wherein the flash rate includes one or more flashes per predetermined time period.

4. The emergency lighting device of claim 1 , wherein the light emitter is activated based on a characteristic monitored by the control circuit.

5. The emergency lighting device of claim 4 , wherein the control circuit determines a fault based on the characteristic monitored by the control circuit.

6. The emergency lighting device of claim 5 , wherein the fault is a battery fault.

7. The emergency lighting device of claim 5 , wherein the fault is a unit fault.

8. The emergency lighting device of claim 1 further comprising a second fault indicator light and a third fault indicator light,
wherein the fault indicator circuit is configured to activate the light emitter to indicate a plurality of faults, to activate the second indicator light to indicate a first fault, and to activate the third indicator light to indicate a second fault, and
wherein the first fault is different from the second fault, and at least one of the plurality of faults is different from the first fault and the second fault.

9. An emergency lighting device comprising:
a control circuit connected to an emergency lighting device including a light emitter, the control circuit configured to monitor one or more operational electrical characteristics of one or more electrical components of the emergency lighting device and to produce a generated fault based on the one or more operational electrical characteristics;
a fault indicator circuit communicatively connected to the control circuit, as well as to a first indicator light of the emergency lighting device, a second indicator light of the emergency lighting device, and a third indicator light of the emergency lighting device,
wherein the control circuit is configured to communicate the generated fault to the fault indicator circuit, and
wherein the fault indicator circuit is configured to activate one of the first indicator light, the second indicator light, or the third indicator light in response to receiving the generated fault from the control circuit.

10. The emergency lighting device of claim 9 further comprising an antenna of the emergency lighting device connected to the control circuit.

11. The emergency lighting device of claim 9 further comprising a battery of the emergency lighting device connected to the control circuit and a charger indicator light of the emergency lighting device connected to the control circuit.

12. The emergency lighting device of claim 9 further comprising a self-diagnostic input connected to the first indicator light and to the fault indicator circuit.

13. The emergency lighting device of claim 9 , wherein the first indicator light is a bi-color LED.

14. The emergency lighting device of claim 9 , wherein the fault indicator circuit is configured to activate the first indicator light in a flashing pattern.

15. A method of controlling an emergency lighting device, the method comprising:
monitoring, via a controller, one or more characteristics of the emergency lighting device;
activating a first indicator based on the one or more characteristics;
monitoring activation of the first indicator;
analyzing the activation of the first indicator; and
activating, based on the analysis of the activation of the first indicator, a second indicator.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein activation of the first indicator includes a flash rate.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the flash rate includes one or more flashes per predetermined time period.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining a fault based on the one or more monitored characteristics.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the fault is a battery fault.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the fault is a unit fault.

Assignees

• Hubbell Inc

Inventors

• Cyr Allen George
• Bowers Jonathan Erik
• Fernandes Steven Dominic
• Papstein Robert

Classifications

• H02J7/84

  Control of state of health [SOH] · CPC title

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H05B45/30

  Driver circuits · CPC title

• H05B45/50

  responsive to malfunctions or undesirable behaviour of LEDs; responsive to LED life; Protective circuits · CPC title

• H02J9/02 Primary

  in which an auxiliary distribution system and its associated lamps are brought into service · CPC title