Light fixture emergency power system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11258284-B2
Application number	US-201816150802-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2018
Priority date	Jul 31, 2014
Publication date	Feb 22, 2022
Grant date	Feb 22, 2022

Abstract

Techniques are presented herein to operate a light fixture as in an emergency mode in order to verify that the light emitted by the light fixture when operated in the emergency mode complies with emergency operating policies, as well as to detect failures. The light emitted by the light fixture in emergency mode may be measured and adjusted to optimize the runtime of the light fixture in the emergency mode. The light fixture is connected to a lighting control system via a control network which supplies electrical power to charge an onboard battery of a light fixture and to operate the light fixture. The light fixture may be caused to operate in the emergency lighting mode when a main electrical power supply is interrupted or when performances of the light fixture and of the onboard battery are tested.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a control network, electrical power by a light fixture, wherein the control network is a communication network that provides both electrical power supply and data communication, at least a portion of the electrical power from the control network charging at least one onboard battery of the light fixture;
determining, by a processor included in the light fixture, that a control has been received from the control network to switch the light fixture to an emergency lighting mode;
stopping, in response to operating in the emergency lighting mode, the charging of the at least one onboard battery; and
causing, in response to the determining, the light fixture to operate according to predefined settings associated with the emergency lighting mode,
wherein a port of a Power over Ethernet (PoE) switch is connected to the control network and the light fixture, and the received electrical power from the control network and the control from the control network is provided to the light fixture via the port of the PoE switch.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a lighting control system includes a local light controller in communication with the light fixture via the control network, the method further comprising:
determining, at the local light controller, that a main electrical power supply is interrupted; and
supplying power to the lighting control system from an uninterruptable power system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a lighting control system includes a local light controller in communication with the light fixture via the control network, the method further comprising:
transmitting, by the lighting control system in response to a testing mode, a control to the light fixture to switch the light fixture to the emergency lighting mode.

4. The method of claim 3 , sequentially configuring, by the lighting control system, each of a plurality of light fixtures into the emergency lighting mode.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising verifying light output of each of the plurality of light fixtures when each of the plurality of light fixtures is in the emergency lighting mode.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein verifying the light output of each of the plurality of light fixtures comprises observing, by the lighting control system, a camera feed.

7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising periodically transmitting, by the lighting control system, the control to the light fixture.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising periodically validating, in response to the periodically transmitting, that the light fixture operated correctly in the emergency lighting mode.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein an uninterruptable power system is configured to supply electrical power to the port of the PoE switch and the uninterruptable power system is installed in an equipment rack with the PoE switch, and the uninterruptable power system comprises an uninterruptable power system linecard;
wherein the PoE switch comprises a PoE linecard,
the uninterruptable power system linecard and the PoE linecard are paired in a same modular chassis.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining, by the light fixture, a measure of light level emitted by the light fixture while operating in the emergency lighting mode; and
transmitting, by the light fixture, the measure to a local light controller.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the measure of light level is obtained from a sensor integrated with the light fixture, and the sensor is calibrated to measure the light level.

12. A system comprising:
a lighting control system;
at least one light fixture connected to the lighting control system via a control network, wherein the control network is a communication network that provides both electrical power and data communication from the lighting control system to the at least one light fixture, at least a portion of the electrical power charging at least one onboard battery of the at least one light fixture;
a Power over Ethernet (PoE) switch comprising a port to connect the at least one light fixture to the lighting control system via the control network; and
an uninterruptable power system connected to the PoE switch to supply electrical power to the lighting control system,
wherein the lighting control system comprises a local light controller configured to:
determine that a main electrical power supply is interrupted,
send a control, via the control network, to the at least one light fixture to switch the at least one light fixture to an emergency lighting mode upon the determination that the main electrical power supply is interrupted, and

wherein, upon receipt of the control from the control network, the at least one light fixture is configured to stop charging the at least one onboard battery and operate according to predefined settings associated with the emergency lighting mode,
wherein the electrical power supplied via the control network and the control from the control network is provided to the at least one light fixture via the port of the PoE switch.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the lighting control system is configured to:
supply power to the at least one light fixture using the uninterruptable power system; and
upon depletion of the uninterruptable power system, automatically switch to supplying power to the at least one light fixture using the at least one onboard battery of the at least one light fixture.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the uninterruptable power system is installed in a same equipment rack as the PoE switch and the uninterruptable power system comprises an uninterruptable power system linecard,
wherein the PoE switch comprises a PoE linecard, and
the uninterruptable power system linecard and the PoE linecard are paired in a same modular chassis.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the local light controller is configured to monitor telemetry of the PoE switch and determine, based on the telemetry, whether an outgoing current of the port of the PoE switch changes after sending the control to switch the at least one light fixture to an emergency lighting mode to confirm that the at least one light fixture is operating in the emergency lighting mode.

16. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
determine whether electrical power supplied via a control network is interrupted, wherein the control network is a communication network that provides both electrical power supply and data communication for at least one light fixture, at least a portion of the electrical power supplied via the control network charging at least one onboard battery of the at least one light fixture; and
upon a determination, by the at least one light fixture, that a control has been received from the control network to switch the at least one light fixture to an emergency lighting mode:
cause, by the at least one light fixture, the charging of the at least one onboard battery to stop,
cause, by the at least one light fixture, the at least one light fixture to operate in the emergency lighting mode,
change light settings of the at least one light fixture to predetermined light settings associated with the emergency lighting mode, and
control, by the at least one light fixture, at least one array of light emitting diode (LED) emitters of the at least one light fixture to emit light according to the predetermined light settings,

wherein the electrical pow

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Laherty Matthew A
• Macgowan William
• Byers Charles Calvin

Classifications

• H02J7/865 Primary

  Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05B47/187

  using power over ethernet [PoE] supplies · CPC title

• H02J9/065

  for lighting purposes · CPC title

• H05B47/105

  in response to determined parameters · CPC title

• H05B45/30

  Driver circuits · CPC title