1) TITLE OF THE INVENTION:

IT Enabled intelligent lighting solution for large building complexes

2) OWNER OF PRODUCT AND ADDRESS:
Owner:

MIC Electronics Limited A Public Limited Company
Address:

A - 4/ll, Electronic Complex, Kushaiguda, Hyderabad - 500 062 INDIA.
Email: info@mic.co.in

Tel:+91 40 27122222 Fax:+91 40 27133333
Field of research:

Intelligent Lighting solutions for Sustainable energy

3) OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
The objective of this invention is to realize substantial savings through optimized power consumption in various utility lighting applications by intelligent control of energy efficient light sources through close monitoring of their light levels and levels of utilization.

4) PRIOR ART:
Conventional light sources deployed in building lighting are essentially incandescent, fluorescent or compact fluorescent lights. These operate with grid power and are not amenable for dimming (controlling or fine tuning the light intensity or illumination levels) as desired, excepting that they can be switched on or off. Due to this inherent limitation it has not been possible to attempt any centralised control mechanism for effecting energy savings in large building complexes.

5) SHORTCOMINGS IN THE PRIOR ART:
Conventional lighting schemes lack features for dimming and remote control. As such energy optimisation can be attempted only to a limited extent.

6) SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

Energy conservation is being advocated in several forums. Reduction in consumption implies less demand for additional power generation, consequent lesser green house gas emissions and a greener environment. The proposed invention outlines an intelligent lighting control scheme for optimizing power consumption through various measures like the choice of LED technology for light sources, intelligent control of the light sources through a common dimming mechanism, use of DC power with a centralised supply and use of a common cable for power and Ethernet LAN for effecting lighting controls as well as for driving the light sources (Power on Ether or Power line communication).

Energy savings are maximized through deployment of energy efficient light sources like LEDs which are amenable for digital control through intelligent and interactive operational facilities.

LED light sources are essentially DC operated and consume less than half of the power consumed by other lighting systems. Further, LEDs offer several other advantages also like long life, highly directional/no light pollution, quality illumination, desired colour of light - cool or warm white etc to suit to an application, less maintenance, no mercury and consequent health hazard. They are also eco-friendly -contribute to reducing the green house gas emissions and hence containing the environmental pollution.

Intelligent controls require close monitoring of the light levels at various light points for modulating the light levels through programmable means according to a set of predefined values.

Monitoring of light at different points of use is achieved by means of sensors, which gather ambient conditions of light level, temperature at the light source; occupancy and utilization of the light down below the fixture at predefined regular intervals. This enables the executive software to control the light accordingly. The communication and control signals travel on the same cable (Ethernet LAN or power cable); remote operations make use of the internet protocol. The control actions are essentially switching off or dimming - reducing the light intensities from 100% to 5% - few or all the lights as the case may be - when the temperature inside the luminaire is more (this saves or extends the life of the light source) or when the utilization is below a threshold (power save mode).

DC Power is used in this scheme; AC-DC power conversion is centrally located and distributed by means of 64 power lines. Loads are connected on one or more of these lines. The individual luminaire need not have the power supply and the drive electronics for the light sources within; this saving per unit multiplied with the number of luminaires in an application is significant. Further, the intelligence to control the light intensity / dimming is also centralized with associated cost benefit. The luminaire designs are hence made simpler and cheaper. This also facilitates third party luminaires to be easily adopted.

The power and communications, both, travel on the same digital Ethernet LAN cable or the 2 conductor DC power wiring and sizable economies can be realized in infrastructure and operational costs. The low voltage / low wattage DC operations and the interactive communications are both effectively handled with little or no power loss or voltage drop along the cable.

The executive software is an embedded software which regularly acquires the sensor data pertaining to all lighting fixtures for data logging and control. Periodic reports are also generated on the energy consumption pattern of all the lights individually and the building in total.

The number of luminaires, of different types, that can be intelligently controlled, can be as large as 64 per system and such systems can be configured one per each floor of a multi storied building, or more if the requirement is large.

8) TARGETED APPLICATIONS:

This lighting scheme finds extensive applications for indoor lighting in multi storied commercial / office complexes, data centres, retail showrooms, malls and multi level parking lots etc. The luminaires like Tube lights, Down lights, Area lights and low bay parking lights are typically the loads that can be connected for monitoring and control. In the large corporate hotels, the lighting color and intensity of the specified Guest Room can be controlled from central place as per the interests or choices of the Guest. This is one of the methods of increasing the Customer Satisfaction for the Corporate Guests in the Hospitality industry.

9) CLAIMS:

I/We Claim:

1. An IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme for large building complexes for maximising power savings by optimising the power consumption.

2. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein Energy savings are maximized through deployment of energy efficient light sources like LEDs which are amenable for digital control through intelligent and interactive operational facilities.

3. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein LED light sources are essentially DC operated and consume less than half of the power consumed by other lighting systems; they are also eco-friendly - contribute to reducing the green house gas emissions and hence containing the environmental pollution.

4. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein DC Power is used in this scheme; AC-DC power conversion is centrally located and distributed by means of 64 power lines.

5. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein the power and communications, both, travel on the same digital Ethernet LAN cable or the 2 conductor DC power wiring and sizable economies can be realized in infrastructure and operational costs.

6. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein monitoring of light at different points of use is achieved by means of sensors, which gather ambient conditions of light level, temperature at the light source; occupancy and utilization of the light down below the fixture at predefined regular intervals; this enables the executive software to control the light accordingly.

7. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein the executive software is an embedded software which regularly acquires the sensor data pertaining to all lighting fixtures for data logging and control.

8. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein intelligent controls perform close monitoring of the light levels at various light points and modulate the light levels through programmable means according to a set of predefined values.

9. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein the number of luminaires, of different types, that can be intelligently controlled, can be as large as 64 per system and such systems can be configured one per each floor of a multi storied building, or more if the requirement is large.

10. The IT enabled intelligent lighting scheme of claim 1 wherein this lighting scheme finds extensive applications for indoor lighting in multi storied commercial / office complexes, data centres, retail showrooms, malls and multi level parking lots etc.