Luminaire as an intrinsically safe power source

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11553571-B2
Application number	US-202016793121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2020
Priority date	Jan 24, 2020
Publication date	Jan 10, 2023
Grant date	Jan 10, 2023

Abstract

An intrinsically safe (IS) luminaire disposed in a hazardous environment provides visible light and serves as a primary, auxiliary, back-up, and/or charging source of IS DC power for external devices disposed in the hazardous environment, such as process control devices and equipment. The luminaire includes a power converter that converts received power into DC power, an IS barrier that converts the DC power into IS DC power native to or utilized by a recipient external device, and a power distribution port via which IS DC power is delivered to the external device. In some configurations, the luminaire monitors communicates statuses, alerts, and/or other information corresponding to delivering IS DC power to one or more external devices to a host and/or portable communication device. The luminaire may include multiple IS barriers of same and/or different IS ratings, and may dynamically control activation/deactivation of the IS barriers and/or usages thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A luminaire disposed in a hazardous environment in which an industrial process is being controlled, the luminaire comprising:
a power-reception port via which power is received;
one or more drivers coupled to one or more illumination sources, the one or more drivers powered by at least a first portion of the power received via the power-reception port to operate the one or more illumination sources to provide illumination in the hazardous environment in which the industrial process is being controlled;
one or more memories storing a respective intrinsically-safe (IS) power configuration for each of one or more external IS devices utilized to control the industrial process, each of the one or more external IS devices being a respective process controller, solenoid driver, safety controller, another type of process control driver, safety logic solver, I/O device, actuator, pump, or valve;
one or more power converters that convert, based on the one or more IS power configurations, at least a second portion of the power received via the power-receiving port into DC power of different DC voltages utilized by the one or more external IS devices;
one or more intrinsically-safe (IS) barriers that convert the DC power of the different DC voltages generated by the one or more power converters into IS DC power of the different DC voltages;
one or more power distribution ports via which the IS DC power of the different DC voltages is delivered to power the one or more external IS devices disposed in the hazardous environment; and
a hazardous location enclosure in which the one or more drivers, the one or more illumination sources, the one or more power converters, and the one or more IS barriers are disposed.

2. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein one of:
the power received at the luminaire via the power-reception port is AC power having a voltage included in a range of voltages from 100 V AC to 480 V AC, and the one or more power converters include an AC-to-DC power converter; or
the power received at the luminaire via the power-reception port is DC power having a voltage included in a range of voltages from 24 V DC to 300 V DC, and the one or more power converters include a DC-to-DC power converter or a pass-through component.

3. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the different DC voltages of the IS DC power produced by the one or more IS barriers include at least two of: 5.5 V DC, 12 V DC, 24 V DC, 300 V DC, or another DC voltage that is utilized by the one or more external IS devices.

4. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the IS DC power delivered to a particular external IS device included in the one or more external IS devices includes:
a primary source of DC power or emergency or back-up power for the particular external IS device, the at least one of the primary source of DC power or the emergency or back-up power for the particular external IS device corresponding to a first DC voltage; and
power to charge a battery of the particular external IS device, the power to charge the battery of the particular external IS device corresponding to a second DC voltage different than the first DC voltage.

5. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the luminaire includes a plurality of power distribution ports that correspond to at least one of different power transmission media or the different DC voltages.

6. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the one or more IS barriers include a plurality of IS barriers of different types that vary in at least one of: hazardous location classification, hazardous location zone, hazardous material division, hazardous material group, temperature rating, flameproof rating, dust ignition rating, non-incendive rating, or protection level.

7. The luminaire of claim 6 , wherein the luminaire includes at least two IS barriers of a same IS barrier type.

8. The luminaire of claim 6 , wherein the luminaire includes at least two IS barriers having different IS barrier types.

9. The luminaire of claim 1 , further comprising an on-board battery that is at least one of a back-up, supplemental, and/or emergency power source for the luminaire, and wherein the on-board battery is a recipient of at least some of the IS DC power produced by the one or more power converters.

10. The luminaire of claim 1 ,
further comprising one or more communication interfaces and one or more processors configured to cause one or more signals that are indicative of at least one of a status or an alert condition related to the IS DC power to be transmitted from the luminaire via the one or more communication interfaces to at least one of: a portable communication device disposed within the hazardous environment, or a back-end server or computing device; and
wherein the status or the alert condition related to the IS DC power corresponds to at least one of:
IS DC power utilized by the luminaire,
IS DC power corresponding to the one or more external IS devices and monitored by the one or more processors of the luminaire, or
respective batteries of the one or more external IS devices.

11. The luminaire of claim 10 , wherein the one or more signals that are to be transmitted from the luminaire via the one or more communication interfaces include a command to modify a power usage of a particular external IS device of the one or more external IS devices.

12. The luminaire of claim 10 , wherein the one or more IS barriers include a plurality of IS barriers, and the one or more processors are further configured to at least one of: disable and enable at least one of the IS barriers of the plurality of IS barriers, switch between different IS barriers of the plurality of IS barriers, select a particular IS barrier of the plurality of IS barriers, or control respective usages of the plurality of IS barriers.

13. The luminaire of claim 10 , wherein:
the one or more power distribution ports include a plurality of power distribution ports that correspond to at least one of different power transmission media or the different DC voltages; and
the one or more processors are further configured to control a distribution of the IS DC power among the plurality of power distribution ports.

14. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the one or more drivers are directly coupled to the power-reception port, and the one or more power converters are directly coupled to the power-reception port.

15. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the one or more power converters are included in the one or more drivers or in a switch mode power supply.

16. The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the one or more power converters are programmable to modify at least one of the different DC voltages of the DC power produced by the one or more power converters.

17. A method at a luminaire disposed in a hazardous environment in which an industrial process is being controlled, the luminaire including a hazardous location enclosure in which one or more drivers coupled to one or more illumination sources are disposed, and the method comprising:
receiving power via a power-reception port of the luminaire;
powering the one or more drivers to operate the one or more illumination sources using at least a first portion of the received power to provide illumination in the hazardous environment in which the industrial process is being controlled;
converting, via one or more power converters disposed within the hazardous location enclosure of the luminaire and based on one or more IS configurations stored in the one or more memories of the luminaire, at least a second portion of the received power into DC power of different DC

Assignees

• Appleton Grp Llc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04L12/1895

  for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates · CPC title

• H05B45/3725 Primary

  Switched mode power supply [SMPS] · CPC title

• H02J1/082

  DC supplies with two or more different DC voltage levels · CPC title

• H02J50/20

  using microwaves or radio frequency waves · CPC title

• H02J9/061

  for DC powered loads · CPC title