Tuneable lighting systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11304277-B2
Application number	US-201716096695-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2017
Priority date	Apr 25, 2016
Publication date	Apr 12, 2022
Grant date	Apr 12, 2022

Abstract

Color tunable lighting systems and methods are disclosed. The color tunable lighting systems and methods include user interfaces that allow for the control of color temperature and luminous intensity by a user. The systems and methods provide for flexibility and scalability, where a control module for controlling one or more solid state light source arrays can be programmed during installation for use with specific solid state light source arrays.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting system, comprising:
a plurality of solid state light source arrays configured to emit correlated color temperature (CCT)-tunable light, each of the plurality of solid state light source arrays including a plurality of solid state light source modules;
a user interface configured to provide a CCT signal for setting a CCT of the light emitted by the plurality of solid state light source arrays; and
a control module operably connected to the plurality of solid state light source arrays and the user interface, the control module configured to receive the CCT signal, to receive a DC voltage from a driver, and to generate a plurality of drive current signals, wherein each drive current signal controls a linear regulator, and each linear regulator provides a constant current to a respective subset of the solid state light source modules in each of the plurality of solid state light source arrays to cause the plurality of solid state light source arrays to emit light with a CCT according to the CCT signal.

2. The lighting system of claim 1 , further comprising a programming interface to program the control module with solid state light source module parameters during installation of the lighting system.

3. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is configured to provide a dimmer signal to set a luminous intensity of light emitted by the plurality of solid state light source arrays, wherein the control module is configured to receive the dimmer signal and to provide the constant current to the plurality of solid state light source arrays to cause the plurality of solid state light source arrays to emit light with a CCT and luminous intensity according to the CCT signal and the dimmer signal.

4. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of solid state light source arrays further comprises a housing, the plurality of solid state light source arrays being located in a spaced relationship within an interior space of a structure, the control module configured to provide the constant current to each of the plurality of solid state light source arrays to drive the solid state light source arrays.

5. The lighting system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of solid state light source modules includes a first solid state light source module configured to emit a white light with a first substantially constant CCT and a second solid state light source module configured to emit a white light with a second substantially constant CCT, wherein the second substantially constant CCT is different than the first substantially constant CCT.

6. The lighting system of claim 5 , wherein the lighting system is configured to emit a CCT-tunable white light over a CCT range, wherein the CCT range extends between the first substantially constant CCT and the second substantially constant CCT.

7. The lighting system of claim 6 , wherein the control module is configured to control the CCT of light emitted by the plurality of solid state light source arrays over a substantially linear control curve in a chromaticity color space.

8. The lighting system of claim 6 , wherein the control module is configured to control the CCT of light emitted by the plurality of solid state light source arrays over a substantially linear control curve that approximates a color temperature emitted by a black body radiator.

9. The lighting system of claim 5 , wherein the control module includes a microcontroller configured to apply the CCT signal to a color control algorithm and to determine the drive current signals using the color control algorithm.

10. A control module, comprising:
a microcontroller configured to:
receive a correlated color temperature (CCT) signal, a dimmer signal, and a DC voltage from a driver; and
execute a color control algorithm to determine a first linear regulator control signal and a second linear regulator control signal, wherein the first linear regulator control signal and the second linear regulator control signal are each based on the CCT signal and the dimmer signal; and

first and second linear regulators configured to:
receive the first linear regulator control signal and the second linear regulator control signal respectively;
generate corresponding respective first and second solid state light source drive currents according to the first and second linear regulator control signals; and
provide the first solid state light source drive current to a first subset of a plurality of solid state light source arrays and to provide the second solid state light source drive current to a second subset of the solid state light source arrays.

11. The control module of claim 10 , wherein the microcontroller is field programmable to receive solid state light source parameters, and wherein the microcontroller is configured to apply the solid state light source parameters to the color control algorithm to determine the first and second linear regulator control signals.

12. The control module of claim 11 , further comprising a wireless transceiver to wirelessly receive the CCT signal and the dimmer signal.

13. The control module of claim 12 , further comprising a multifunctional port, wherein the wireless transceiver is operatively coupled to the microcontroller via the multifunctional port, and wherein the control module is configured to be coupled to a programming interface via the multifunctional port to receive the solid state light source parameters.

14. A method of providing color-tunable white light, comprising:
receiving, at a processor, a correlated color temperature (CCT) signal that is proportional to a desired CCT of light emitted by each of a plurality of solid state light source arrays, wherein each of the solid state light source arrays in the plurality of solid state light source arrays includes a first solid state light source module and a second solid state light source module; and
determining, with the processor, a first drive current signal to control a first linear regulator which provides constant current to each first solid state light source module in the plurality of solid state light source arrays to emit light having a first CCT and a second drive current signal to control a second linear regulator which provides constant current to each second solid state light source module in the plurality of solid state light source arrays to emit light having a second CCT, wherein the second CCT is different than the first CCT, and wherein the combination of the light emitted by the first solid state light source modules and the second solid state light source modules results in a mixed light output having a CCT that is substantially the same as the desired CCT.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
generating the first drive current and the second drive current with a control module; and
driving each of the plurality of solid state light source arrays with the control module.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
programming the processor with parameters associated with the first solid state light source modules and the second solid state light source modules during installation of the plurality of solid state light source arrays.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving, at the processor, a dimmer signal that is proportional to a desired luminous intensity of light emitted by each of the plurality of solid state light source arrays; and
determining, with the processor, the first drive current and the second drive current to generate the light emitted by the first solid state light s

Assignees

• Osram Sylvania Inc
• Osram Gmbh
• Arl Ip Holding Llc

Inventors

• Antony Biju
• Ziegler Markus
• Baba Driss
• Chu Daniel

Classifications

• H05B47/196

  characterised by user interface arrangements · CPC title

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• H05B45/20 Primary

  Controlling the colour of the light · CPC title

• H05B45/345

  Current stabilisation; Maintaining constant current · CPC title

• H05B45/395

  Linear regulators · CPC title