Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130139437 | ILLUMINATION AND GROW LIGHT SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED METHODS - An illumination and grow light system and associated methods are provided to produce an emission spectrum which may be optimized for plant response curve, as well as provide high quality light with respect to the human response curve. Embodiments of the present invention may include highly efficient tunable lamps and associated modulation controls that allow specific radiation wavelength bands to be manipulated, the emission direction and intensity to be varied, and the output power to be coordinated to create high fluxes of photosynthetic active radiation while maintaining a desirable color temperature and high color rendering index. | 06-06-2013 |
20150061510 | SYSTEM FOR OPTIMIZING LIGHT ABSORBANCE AND ASSOCIATED METHODS - A lighting system with adjustable wavelength output that may include a plurality of light sources, a controller positioned in electrical communication with the plurality of light sources, and an optical sensor system positioned in electrical communication with the controller. The controller may be configured to selectively operate each light source of the plurality of light sources to emit one or more source lights. The optical sensor system may be configured to sense a reflected light that is reflected by an object upon which the source lights are incident. The optical sensor system may be configured to sense a wavelength range of the reflected light defined as a measured wavelength range and may further be configured to transmit a signal to the controller responsive to the measured wavelength range. The controller may be configured to operate the plurality of light sources responsive to the signal received from the optical sensor system. | 03-05-2015 |
20150084524 | LIGHTING SYSTEM TO CONTROL THE CIRCADIAN RHYTHM OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND ASSOCIATED METHODS - A lighting system comprising a light source, a controller operably coupled to the light source, and a timekeeping device operably coupled to the controller. The controller is configured to receive a selected action time associated with an agricultural product. The agricultural product includes an associated circadian rhythm defining an optimal action time range. The controller is configured to determine a lighting schedule responsive to the selected action time, the optimal action time range, and a time of day indicated by the timekeeping device, the lighting schedule being configured to impose a circadian rhythm on the agricultural product to shift the optimal action time range such that the selected action time coincides with the optimal action time range. The controller is configured to operate the light source according to the lighting schedule. | 03-26-2015 |
20160007424 | ILLUMINATION AND GROW LIGHT SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED METHODS - A lighting system with selectable emission characteristics may include a housing, a controller, a first plurality of light sources operatively coupled to the controller and carried by the housing, and a second plurality of light sources operatively coupled to and controlled by the controller and carried by the housing. The first and second pluralities of light sources may be operable to emit first and second combined lights, respectively, and to emit a first light having a wavelength within the range of 650 nanometers to 700 nanometers, a second light having a wavelength within the range of 500 nanometers to 570 nanometers, and a third light having a wavelength within the range of 430 nanometers to 470 nanometer. The second light may be characterized by a human photopic response of greater than 0.0 and less than 0.4 throughout the range from 500 nanometers to 570 nanometers. | 01-07-2016 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100207543 | Biphase Laser Diode Driver And Method - A current-driven load such as LEDs or laser diodes is driven by a current driver having a two stages (or phases), the summed outputs of which have ripple which is forced to be out-of-phase with one another. In analog embodiments, an output (ripple or switching) of a master stage hysteresis controller is phase-shifted and scaled, and modulates the input of a slave stage hysteresis controller so that the slave stage pulls into a ripple-canceling phase. In a digital embodiment, a faster of the two phases is designated “master”, maximum and minimum thresholds are set, and the slave phase's on time is based on a previous cycle's slave phase ON time, the master stage OFF time and an offset. The slave controller preferentially “locks” to the anti-phase of the master stage (or phase) and the ripple current at the summed output substantially cancels. | 08-19-2010 |
20110085576 | SMART LINEAR PULSED LASER DIODE DRIVER, AND METHOD - In a pulsed laser diode driver an energy storage capacitor is continuously being charged to a supply voltage Vr. When a pulse is initiated, energy stored in the capacitor is delivered to the laser diode load. The capacitor voltage Vd at the end of a pulse is used to control Vr to ensure that Vd is maintained above a minimum voltage Vm required to ensure operation of a current control device (such as FET) just above saturation. Test pulses (such as with attenuated currents or reduced pulsewidth) may be fired to determine an initial optimum value for Vr. After a test pulse, a slightly high estimate for Vr may be used and may be iterated (incremented) down to an optimum value Vm during a firing burst. A digital processor may be used to calculate and store data to optimize the performance. Various embodiments are disclosed. | 04-14-2011 |
20120194798 | ACCURACY OF A LASER RANGEFINDER RECEIVER - A technique for providing range correction values in a laser rangefinder range processor uses return pulse width (rather than return pulse amplitude) for correcting amplitude (range walk) and speed of light problems. A plurality of range correction values may be generated in a test setup (by simulating return pulse delays) and stored in a lookup table based on return pulse width, nominal range (time of return), and other factors such as temperature and pressure. The technique is also capable of correcting other problems such as receiver delay. The technique allows for the use of a saturating preamplifier with the increased sensitivity that it offers, and is relatively simple to implement, as it may be embedded within a digital processor (DSP) or gate array that is normally present for a basic range counter implementation. | 08-02-2012 |
20120268026 | Biphase Laser Diode Driver And Method - A current-driven load such as LEDs or laser diodes is driven by a current driver having a two stages (or phases), the outputs of which have ripple which is forced to be out-of-phase with one another. In analog embodiments, an output (ripple or switching) of a master stage hysteresis controller is phase-shifted and scaled, and modulates the input of a slave stage hysteresis controller so that the slave stage pulls into a ripple-canceling phase. In digital embodiments, a faster of the two phases is designated “master”, maximum and minimum thresholds are set, and the slave phase's on time is based on a previous cycle's slave phase ON time, the master stage OFF time and an offset. The slave controller may “lock” to the anti-phase of the master stage (or phase). The ripple currents at the summed output of the master and slave stages substantially cancel. | 10-25-2012 |
20130070239 | LASER SPOT TRACKING WITH OFF-AXIS ANGLE DETECTION - A laser spot tracker comprising a quadrant detector. A portion of a spot of laser light reflected from an object being illuminated (OBI) may be defocused to occupy a significant portion such as one-third of the field of view, while another portion remains focused, therefore allowing for quick calculation of the spot centroid. With such a “composite spot”, multiple target (OBI) positions may simultaneously be defined in elevation and azimuth with respect to null by analyzing the energy in each quadrant. The X and Y angle information (off null) for multiple targets (OBIs), and their codes may be displayed. For a large, defocused spot, two segmented multi-element detectors may be used, one in front of and the other behind the focal plane to reduce the effects of hot spots in a spot of laser light collected from an object being illuminated. | 03-21-2013 |