Luminaire for remote monitoring of power usage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023156888-A1
Application number	US-202318093680-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 5, 2023
Priority date	Jan 24, 2020
Publication date	May 18, 2023
Grant date	—

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:
one or more drivers coupled to one or more illumination sources and powered by at least a first portion of power received by the luminaire 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 respective intrinsically-safe (IS) power configurations for one or more external IS devices that are disposed in the hazardous environment and that are 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 distribution ports via which IS DC power is delivered to the one or more external IS devices in accordance with the respective IS power configurations, the IS DC power comprising a conversion, by the luminaire, of at least a second portion of the power received by the luminaire; and computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more memories and executable by one or more processors of the luminaire to cause the luminaire to transmit, via one or more communication interfaces to one or more recipient devices, one or more signals pertaining to the IS DC power.

2 . The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the IS DC power delivered to the one or more external IS devices includes at least one of:
a primary operational source of power for at least a first portion of the one or more external IS devices; at least one of emergency or back-up power for at least a second portion of the one or more external IS devices; or power for charging respective batteries of at least a third portion of the one or more external IS devices.

3 . The luminaire of claim 2 , wherein the one or more signals pertaining to the IS DC power includes one or more signals indicative of at least one of:
an amount of drawn IS DC power, a rate of the drawn IS DC power, a status, a usage, a configuration, and/or an alert condition related to the IS DC power delivered to a specific external IS device of the one or more external IS devices; a command to modify a power usage of the specific external IS device; or a characteristic of a battery of the specific external IS device.

4 . The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to cause the luminaire further to monitor the delivery of the IS DC power to the one or more external IS devices, and a content of at least one of the one or more signals is based on the monitoring.

5 . The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein:
a specific external IS device of the one or more external IS devices self-monitors IS DC power of the specific external IS device; and the computer-executable instructions are executable to cause the luminaire further to obtain information that is generated by the specific external IS device and that corresponds to the self-monitored IS DC power; and a content of at least one of the one or more signals is based on the obtained information.

6 . The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein:
the respective IS power configuration for a specific external IS device includes one or more thresholds corresponding to the IS DC power delivered by the luminaire to the specific external IS device; and the one or more signals include an indication of an alert condition triggered based on at least one of the one or more thresholds.

7 . The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the one or more recipient devices includes one or more of a portable computing device, a back-end server or computing device, another luminaire, or a specific external IS device included in the or more external IS devices; or the one or more communication interfaces includes a wireless communication interface.

8 . The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein the one or more external IS devices is a plurality of external IS devices, and the plurality of external IS devices includes at least one sensor utilized in the control of the industrial process.

9 . The luminaire of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the power received by the luminaire includes AC power having a voltage included in a range of voltages from 100 V AC to 480 V AC; the power received by the luminaire includes DC power having a voltage included in a range of voltages from 24 V DC to 300 V DC; or the IS DC power delivered to the one or more external IS devices includes IS DC power having voltages of one or more of 5.5 V DC, 12 V DC, 24 V DC, 300 V DC, or another DC voltage.

10 . 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:
powering, by utilizing at least a first portion of power received by the luminaire, the one or more drivers to operate the one or more illumination sources to provide illumination in the hazardous environment in which the industrial process is being controlled; delivering, via one or more power distribution ports of the luminaire, IS DC power to one or more external IS devices in accordance with respective intrinsically-safe (IS) power configurations for the one or more external IS devices,
the respective IS power configurations stored on one or more memories of the luminaire,
the IS DC power including a conversion, by the luminaire, of at least a second portion of the power received by the luminaire, and
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 that is disposed in the hazardous environment and utilized to control the industrial process; and
transmitting, by the luminaire to one or more recipient devices and via one or more communication interfaces, one or more signals pertaining to the IS DC power.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein delivering the IS DC power to the one or more external IS devices comprises at least one of:
delivering a primary operational power to at least a first portion of the one or more external IS devices; delivering at least one of emergency or back-up power to at least a second portion of the one or more external IS devices; or delivering power to charge respective batteries of at least a third portion of the one or more external IS devices.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the transmitting the one or more signals pertaining to the IS DC power includes transmitting an indication of at least one of:
an amount of IS DC power being drawn by a particular external IS device of the one or more external IS devices; a rate of the IS DC power being drawn by the particular external IS device; a usage, by the particular external IS device, of the IS DC power delivered to the particular external IS device; a configuration related to the IS DC power delivered to the particular external IS device; a status related to the IS DC power delivered to the particular external IS device; an alert condition related to the IS DC power delivered to the particular external IS device; a command to modify a power usage of the particular external IS device; or a characteristic of a battery of the particular external IS device.

13 . The method of claim 10 ,
further comprising monitoring, by one or

Assignees

• Appleton Grp Llc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H02J7/80

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H05B47/172

  Emergency operational modes · CPC title

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• H04L12/1895

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