Aircraft LED Washlight System and Method for Controlling Same

Abstract

A modular area washlight illumination system and method for operating are provided that comprise an intelligent light module group that has: one or more light modules, each of which comprises a plurality of discrete illumination sources; a power supply; and an intelligent module group controller comprising: a) circuitry that controls the illumination levels of the illumination sources; and b) an interface for receiving and sending information. The system further comprises a system controller that comprises: a) an attendant control panel serving as a user interface; and b) a system controller interface that is connected to the module group controller interface.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A modular area illumination system, comprising:
 an intelligent light module group, comprising:
 one or more light modules, each of which comprises a plurality of discrete illumination sources; 
 a power supply; 
 an intelligent module group controller comprising: a) circuitry that controls the illumination levels of the illumination sources; and b) an interface for receiving information; 
 a single housing, 
 one or more PCBs mounted within the housing; 
 module circuitry mounted on the one or more PCBs, including the power supply, within the housing; and 
 a connector portion of the module directly connected to the module separating the module circuitry within the housing from circuitry external to the housing. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the discrete illumination sources are light-emitting diodes (LEDs). 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein some or all of the discrete illumination sources are arranged into illumination source groups. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 3 , wherein the illumination sources are grouped according to at least one of: area zones, color, and illumination source characteristics. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the single housing comprises a rectangular cross-sectional shape and is sized to generally correspond to a maximum dimension of the module circuitry. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the power supply is a switching power supply. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the discrete illumination sources and the module circuitry are mounted on opposite sides of a planar member within the housing. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the group controller interface is an RS-485 interface. 
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the one or more light modules are a plurality of light modules. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the single housing comprises a rectangular cross-sectional shape and is sized to generally correspond to a maximum dimension of the module circuitry; and   the discrete illumination sources and the module circuitry are mounted on opposite sides of a planar member within the housing.   
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 9 , wherein the power supply and module group control are distributed across more than one module. 
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the light module comprises a housing, a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted within the housing, and module circuitry affixed to the PCB. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the illumination sources are at least one of individually addressable and addressable in groups. 
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the module groups and modules are individually addressable by an external system controller. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of module groups is organized into addressable lighting regions. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the lighting regions comprise at least: sidewall lighting, ceiling lighting, and direct lighting. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the light modules are arranged in a series configuration. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the light modules are arranged in a U-shaped arrangement. 
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a system controller that comprises:
 a) an attendant control panel serving as a user interface; and 
 b) a system controller interface that is connected to the module group controller interface. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system according to  claim 19 , wherein at least one of the system controller and the module group controller comprises corrective algorithms and associated memory for storing precise predetermined correction values to compensate for aging illumination sources, color shifts, or intensity shifts. 
     
     
         21 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the group controller interface comprises an interface for sending information. 
     
     
         22 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the intelligent module group controller circuitry further controls illumination color. 
     
     
         23 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the power supply comprises a pulse width modulator that controls the power delivered to the illumination source to vary its intensity. 
     
     
         24 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the power supply is a vertically mounted power supply located at a predefined position on the one or more PCBs. 
     
     
         25 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the module group comprises:
 first and second modules;   the first module comprising a front-end connector that carries power and communications signals, and a rear-end connector that carries power and communication signals;   the second module comprising a front-end connector that mates with the rear-end connector of the first module to receive at least one of power and communication signals via the first module.   
     
     
         26 . The system according to  claim 25 , wherein at least one of the front-end and rear-end connectors is a jumper board that connects two PCB boards together. 
     
     
         27 . A modular area illumination system, comprising an intelligent light module group, comprising:
 one or more light modules, each of which comprises a plurality of discrete illumination sources;   a power supply;   an intelligent module group controller comprising: a) circuitry that controls the illumination levels of the illumination sources; and b) an interface for receiving information;   wherein the module group controller comprises corrective algorithms and associated memory for storing precise predetermined correction values associated with known variance characteristics over time to compensate for aging illumination sources, color shifts, or intensity shifts.   
     
     
         28 . The system according to  claim 27 , wherein the memory further stores calibration data associated with the one or more light modules. 
     
     
         29 . The system according to  claim 28 , wherein the calibration data is related to an exact color wavelength or x, y coordinates on a color chromaticity diagram. 
     
     
         30 . A modular area illumination system, comprising:
 an intelligent light module group, comprising:
 one or more light modules, each of which comprises a plurality of discrete illumination sources; 
 a power supply; 
   an intelligent module group controller comprising: a) circuitry that controls the illumination levels of the illumination sources; and b) an interface for receiving information; and   an algorithm for assigning a group identifier to the module group, wherein the module group comprises a data store to hold the group identifier.   
     
     
         31 . A modular area illumination system, comprising:
 an intelligent light module group, comprising:
 one or more light modules, each of which comprises a plurality of discrete illumination sources; 
 a power supply; 
   an intelligent module group controller comprising: a) circuitry that controls the illumination levels of the illumination sources; and b) an interface for receiving information; and   a scene database having a plurality of scenes that comprises data associated with level settings of illumination sources to create a coherent illumination theme among a plurality of the light modules or groups so that a single scene setting can be used for the plurality of light modules or groups;   wherein a scene has a total used power calculation associated with it to ensure the scene, when executed on a light module or light module group does not exceed a predefined total power threshold.   
     
     
         32 . The system according to  claim 31 , wherein the scenes include:
 an entry or exit theme in which a maximum brightness is provided;   a daylight flight theme in which a medium level brightness is provided; and   a nighttime flight them in which a low level brightness is provided.   
     
     
         33 . The system according to  claim 31 , wherein the system comprises algorithms that generate smooth transitions between scenes. 
     
     
         34 . The system according to  claim 33 , wherein the transitions are non-linear. 
     
     
         35 . The system according to  claim 33 , wherein the transitions are implemented utilizing look-up tables (LUTs) containing transition brightness values. 
     
     
         36 . The system according to  claim 31 , wherein the scene database comprises factory set scenes and user defined scenes using a scene creation tool. 
     
     
         37 . The system according to  claim 36 , wherein the scene creation tool is integrated with a power management tool to ensure that power load limits are not exceeded. 
     
     
         38 . The system according to  claim 31 , further comprising electrically erasable memory into which scene data is loaded. 
     
     
         39 . The system according to  claim 31 , wherein a group module has an algorithm for receiving and processing a scene change notification message. 
     
     
         40 . The system according to  claim 29 , wherein the calibration data is separately related to color matching and white color temperature matching. 
     
     
         41 . The system according to  claim 27 , wherein the memory further stores calibration data associated with each discrete illumination source.