Electrical wiring device having a bidirectional light pipe for use in an ambient environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9746167-B2
Application number	US-201514757847-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2015
Priority date	Dec 23, 2015
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

A light pipe device having a first light pipe branch including a first light flux interface at a first-first end thereof and a second light flux interface disposed at a first-second end thereof; a second light pipe branch including a third light flux interface at a second-first end thereof and a fourth light flux interface disposed at a second-second end thereof a bidirectional lens disposed at one of the ends; and an interface region coupled between the first and second light pipe branch, the interface region being further coupled to the bidirectional lens, the interface region being configured to direct light propagating in the first light pipe branch out of the bidirectional lens and into an ambient environment, the bidirectional element being configured to direct ambient light from the ambient environment into the interface region, the interface region being configured to further direct the ambient light into the second light pipe branch.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A light pipe device comprising:
a first light pipe branch including a first light flux interface portion at a first-first end thereof and a second light flux interface portion disposed at a first-second end thereof;
a second light pipe branch including a third light flux interface portion at a second-first end thereof and a fourth light flux interface portion disposed at a second-second end thereof;
a bidirectional lens element disposed at one of the first-first end, the first-second end, the second-first end, or the second-second end; and
an interface region coupled between the first light pipe branch the second light pipe branch, the interface region being further coupled to the bidirectional lens element, the interface region being configured to direct light propagating in the first light pipe branch out of the bidirectional lens element and into an ambient environment, the bidirectional lens element being configured to direct ambient light from the ambient environment into the interface region, the interface region being configured to further direct the ambient light into the second light pipe branch.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the interface region is configured to direct light propagating in the second light pipe branch out of the bidirectional lens element and into an ambient environment, the bidirectional lens element being configured to direct ambient light from the ambient environment into the interface region, the interface region being configured to direct the ambient light into the first light pipe branch so that the ambient light propagates in the first light pipe branch.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first light flux interface portion or the second light flux interface portion is configured to be positioned within a support structure to capture light flux emitted from a light source.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the third light flux interface portion or the fourth light flux interface portion is configured to distribute light flux propagating in the second light pipe branch onto a sensor element.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the bidirectional lens element has a substantially concave shape.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the bidirectional lens element is configured to diffuse light.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the light pipe device is formed using a material selected from a group of materials including acrylic resin, polycarbonate, epoxy materials, or glass.

8. An electrical wiring device for use in an ambient environment, the device comprising:
a plurality of line terminals and a plurality of load terminals configured to be coupled to an AC electrical distribution system;
an electro-optical assembly coupled to the plurality of line terminals or the plurality of load terminals, the electro-optical assembly including at least one circuit coupled to an ambient light sensor, a light emitting assembly and a visual indicator element, the visual indicator element being configured to provide a visual indicator signal, the ambient light sensor being configured to provide a sensor signal corresponding to ambient light in the ambient environment, the at least one circuit being configured to provide a light control signal to the light emitting assembly in response to at least the sensor signal, the light emitting assembly being configured to emit a first light in response to the light control signal, the at least one circuit being configured to read the sensor signal during a time period when the first light or the visual indicator signal are not being emitted; and
a bidirectional light pipe including a first light pipe branch coupled to the visual indicator element and a second light pipe branch coupled to the ambient light sensor, the bidirectional light pipe further including an interface region coupled between the first light pipe branch and the second light pipe branch, the interface region being further coupled to a bidirectional lens element configured to direct the ambient light into the second light pipe branch and direct the visual indicator signal into the ambient environment via the first light pipe branch.

9. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the first light pipe branch includes a first light flux interface portion at a first-first end thereof and a second light flux interface portion disposed at a first-second end thereof, and wherein the second light pipe branch includes a third light flux interface portion at a second-first end thereof and a fourth light flux interface portion disposed at a second-second end thereof.

10. The electrical wiring device of claim 9 , wherein the interface region is further coupled to the bidirectional lens element disposed at one of the first-first end, the first-second end, the second-first end, or the second-second end.

11. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the bidirectional lens element has a substantially concave shape.

12. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the bidirectional lens element is configured to diffuse light.

13. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the bidirectional light pipe is formed using a material selected from a group of materials including acrylic resin, polycarbonate, epoxy materials, or glass.

14. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the at least one circuit is selected from a group of circuits that includes a night light circuit, a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI), an embedded processor control circuit, a light dimmer, a motor control, or a fan speed control.

15. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the at least one circuit includes a lighting control circuit selected from a group of lighting control circuits including an analog lighting control circuit, a digital lighting control circuit, or a processor controlled lighting control circuit.

16. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the light control signal is characterized by a light control signal adjustment range between at least a first ambient light threshold position and a second ambient light threshold position, the light emitting assembly being configured to emit the first light when the light control signal is substantially at or below the first ambient light threshold position on the light control signal adjustment range and not emit the first light when the light control signal is at or substantially above the second ambient light threshold position, and wherein the light emitting assembly is further configured to drive the first light from an OFF light setting to a maximum light setting when the light control signal is increased by a light control signal amount, the light control signal amount substantially comprising about 5-10% of the light control signal adjustment range.

17. The electrical wiring device of claim 8 , wherein the light control signal is configured to provide a current signal having a stepwise slope.

18. A protective circuit assembly comprising:
a plurality of line terminals and a plurality of load terminals configured to be coupled to an AC electrical distribution system;
a protective assembly including a sensor portion, a fault detection portion and a switch portion, the sensor portion being configured to provide at least one sensor signal corresponding to electrical signals propagating on the plurality of line terminals or the plurality of load terminals, the fault detection portion being configured to provide a detector output signal when the at least one sensor signal exhibits signal characteristics corresp

Assignees

• Pass & Seymour Inc

Inventors

• Weeks Richard
• Haines Joshua

Classifications

• H05B47/11

  by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light · CPC title

• G01J1/0407 Primary

  Optical elements not provided otherwise, e.g. manifolds, windows, holograms, gratings · CPC title

• H05B45/395

  Linear regulators · CPC title

• G01J1/32

  adapted for automatic variation of the measured or reference value (regulation of light intensity G05D25/00) · CPC title

• G02B6/0006

  Coupling light into the fibre (in general G02B6/4298) · CPC title