Interior aircraft lighting assembly, aircraft passenger service unit with an interior aircraft lighting assembly, and method of operating an interior aircraft lighting assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12168514-B2
Application number	US-202418607799-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2024
Priority date	Mar 30, 2023
Publication date	Dec 17, 2024
Grant date	Dec 17, 2024

Abstract

An interior aircraft lighting assembly comprises: at least one infrared lighting device for emitting infrared light; at least one further lighting device for emitting visible light; a lighting assembly controller for controlling an operation of the at least one infrared lighting device and of the at least one further lighting device; a supplementary infrared lighting device controller; and a power supply network, which is configured for supplying electric power from the lighting assembly controller to the at least one further lighting device. The supplementary infrared lighting device controller is tapped into the power supply network. The lighting assembly controller is configured to provide an electric trigger pulse on the power supply network for activating the at least one infrared lighting device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An interior aircraft lighting assembly, comprising:
at least one infrared lighting device for emitting infrared light;
at least one further lighting device for emitting visible light;
a lighting assembly controller for controlling an operation of the at least one infrared lighting device and of the at least one further lighting device;
a supplementary infrared lighting device controller; and
a power supply network, which is configured for supplying electric power from the lighting assembly controller to the at least one further lighting device;
wherein the supplementary infrared lighting device controller is tapped into the power supply network;
wherein the lighting assembly controller is configured to provide an electric trigger pulse on the power supply network for activating the at least one infrared lighting device;
wherein the supplementary infrared lighting device controller is coupled to the at least one infrared lighting device and is configured to enable power flow to the at least one infrared lighting device in response to detecting the electric trigger pulse, provided by the lighting assembly controller on the power supply network; and
wherein the supplementary infrared lighting device controller is configured to cause the at least one infrared lighting device to emit infrared light for an infrared lighting duration, which is longer than a duration of the electric trigger pulse.

2. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 ,
wherein the lighting assembly controller is configured to provide the electric trigger pulse by temporarily raising or lowering an electric voltage applied to at least one power supply line of the power supply network;
and/or
wherein the lighting assembly controller is configured to provide the electric trigger pulse by temporarily changing a polarity of an electric voltage applied to at least one power supply line of the power supply network.

3. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the duration of the electric trigger pulse is between 10 ms and 100 ms, in particular between 25 ms and 75 ms, more particularly between 40 ms and 60 ms.

4. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the infrared lighting duration is a predetermined infrared lighting duration and wherein the supplementary infrared lighting device controller is further configured to disable power flow to the at least one infrared lighting device after the predetermined infrared lighting duration.

5. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the electric trigger pulse is a first electric trigger pulse and wherein the supplementary infrared lighting device controller is further configured to disable power flow to the at least one infrared lighting device in response to detecting a second electric trigger pulse on the power supply network.

6. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising an electric damping circuit, wherein the electric damping circuit is coupled to the power supply network for absorbing the electric trigger pulse; wherein the electric damping circuit in particular comprises a capacitor or a combination of a capacitor and a resistor.

7. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 6 , wherein the electric damping circuit is integrated with the supplementary infrared lighting device controller.

8. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one further lighting device comprises one or more passenger reading lights and/or one or more visual sign lighting devices.

9. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one further lighting device includes at least one passenger reading light, and
wherein the power supply network is configured for supplying electric power from the lighting assembly controller to the at least one passenger reading light.

10. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 9 ,
wherein the power supply network comprises a permanent power supply line, a permanent ground line, and at least one switchable ground line, wherein the power supply network in particular comprises a separate switchable ground line for each of the at least one passenger reading light;
wherein the supplementary infrared lighting device controller is electrically coupled between the permanent power supply line and the permanent ground line; and
wherein each of the at least one passenger reading light is electrically coupled between the permanent power supply line and a respective switchable ground line, which is switchable by the lighting assembly controller for selectively activating and deactivating the respective reading light.

11. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 10 , wherein the lighting assembly controller is configured to provide the electric trigger pulse on the permanent power supply line.

12. The interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one further lighting device includes at least one visual sign lighting device,
wherein the power supply network is configured for supplying electric power from the lighting assembly controller to the at least one visual sign lighting device,
wherein the power supply network comprises at least one switchable power supply line and a permanent ground line, wherein the power supply network in particular comprises a separate switchable power supply line for each visual sign lighting device;
wherein each of the at least one visual sign lighting device is electrically coupled between a respective switchable power supply line and the permanent ground line, with the respective switchable power supply line being switchable by the lighting assembly controller for selectively activating and deactivating the respective visual sign lighting device; and
wherein the supplementary infrared lighting device controller is electrically coupled between one or more of the at least one switchable power supply line and the permanent ground line;
wherein the lighting assembly controller is in particular configured to provide the electric trigger pulse on one or more of the at least one switchable power supply line, coupled to the supplementary infrared lighting device controller.

13. An aircraft passenger service unit, comprising at least one interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the aircraft passenger service unit in particular further comprises at least one of a loudspeaker, a gasper and a passenger oxygen supply mask.

14. An aircraft, such as an airplane or a helicopter, wherein the aircraft comprises an interior aircraft lighting assembly according to claim 1 .

15. An aircraft, such as an airplane or a helicopter, wherein the aircraft comprises an aircraft passenger service unit according to claim 13 .

16. A method of operating an interior aircraft lighting assembly, which comprises at least one infrared lighting device for emitting infrared light and at least one further lighting device for emitting visible light, the method comprising:
with a lighting assembly controller, supplying electric power to the at least one further lighting device via a power supply network, coupled between the lighting assembly controller and the at least one further lighting device, for operating the at least one further lighting device;
with the lighting assembly controller, providing an electric trigger pulse on the power supply network for activating the at least one infrared lighting device;
with a suppleme

Assignees

• Goodrich Lighting Systems Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Schön Christian
• Hessling-Von Heimendahl Andre

Classifications

• F21V23/02

  the elements being transformers, impedances {or power supply units, e.g. a transformer with a rectifier} · CPC title

• F21V23/003

  the elements being electronics drivers or controllers for operating the light source, e.g. for a LED array · CPC title

• B64D2011/0053

  Cabin passenger reading lights · CPC title

• F21Y2113/30

  of visible and non-visible spectrum · CPC title

• F21W2106/00

  Interior vehicle lighting devices · CPC title