GB2619558A

GB2619558A - Luminaire

Info

Publication number: GB2619558A
Application number: GB2208521.1A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lourdes Lourdesammy Steven; Michael Edward Cridland Jonathan
Original assignee: Outside In Cambridge Ltd
Current assignee: Outside In Cambridge Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-10
Filing date: 2022-06-10
Publication date: 2023-12-13
Anticipated expiration: 2042-06-10
Also published as: GB2619558B; GB202208521D0

Abstract

A luminaire 100 having a light source 102, a housing 104, and an illuminated touch-sensitive control 105. The control is disposed on the housing and controls the operation of the luminaire. The touch-sensitive control has a pattern of electrically conductive material 106 which detects touch position on the control, and a PCB 108 positioned within the housing. There are several LEDs 110 mounted on the PCB, one or more LEDs which indicate touch position by illuminating each of the touch-sensitive regions on the control. There is further a solid and transparent light guide 112 for each of the touch-sensitive regions which guide light from the LEDs to the respective touch-sensitive region. The light guide has a back surface, an illumining surface situated opposite, one or more additional surfaces, and one or more recesses located in the back surface. The light guide sits on the back surface of the PCB having one or more LEDs in each recess. The illuminating surface and recesses are unpainted, while the additional surfaces are treated with reflective paint. Either the back surface of the guide receives the same paint or rather the PCB may have a layer of white solder mask for light reflection. The control may have a slider or buttons to alter brightness of the light source or the volume of an alarm. The luminaire is intended to be used for light therapy, notably seasonal affective disorder.

Description

LUMINAIRE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to a luminaire, especially (but not exclusively) a luminaire for use in light therapy.

BACKGROUND

Light therapy is a procedure wherein sufferers of certain conditions, notably seasonal affective disorder (SAD), are exposed to artificial light sources (luminaires) that mimic daylight. This can help to mitigate the negative health impact of shorter daylight hours during the winter, which may for example include low moods and a lack of energy and motivation, especially at particular times of day.

When providing luminaires for light therapy, it is desirable to allow a degree of user control over the light being provided. This allows the user to adjust the light to account for the changing seasons, as well as their own personal needs.

The applicant's existing product, the Halo (https://www.lurnie.com/products/halo), has touch controls to allow the user to adjust a brightness of the luminaire. The touch controls are illuminated to provide the user with visual feedback regarding the current setting.

SUMMARY

The inventors have developed an improved luminaire, suitable for use in light therapy, that offers touch controls and visual feedback while being cheaper and simpler to manufacture.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a luminaire comprising: a light source; a housing; and an illuminated touch-sensitive control on the housing to control operation of the luminaire; wherein the touch-sensitive control comprises: a pattern of electrically conductive material operable to detect a position of a touch on the illuminated touch-sensitive control; a printed circuit board (PCB) positioned within the housing; a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted on the PCB to indicate the position of the touch, one or more LEDs for illuminating each of one or more touch-sensitive regions on the touch-sensitive control; a solid, transparent light guide for each of the touch-sensitive regions, for guiding light from the LEDs to the respective touch-sensitive region, wherein the light guide has a back surface, a touch sensitive region illuminating surface opposite the back surface, one or more recesses in the back surface to accommodate the LEDs, and one or more additional surfaces; wherein each light guide is mounted with the back surface on the PCB and with one or more of the LEDs in each recess to accept light from the LEDs and guide the light to a respective illuminated part of the touch-sensitive control; wherein, for each of the light guides, the touch sensitive region illuminating surface is unpainted, the recesses are unpainted, and either: i) the back surface and the one or more additional surfaces are all painted with the same reflective paint; or ii) the one or more additional surfaces are painted with the same reflective paint, and the back surface is unpainted, and the PCB has a layer of white solder mask on the PCB beneath the back surface to reflect light back into the light guide.

These and other aspects will be apparent from the embodiments described in the following. The scope of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited by this summary nor to implementations that necessarily solve any or all of the disadvantages noted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present disclosure and to show how embodiments may be put into effect, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of an example luminaire; Fig. 2 shows an example housing, a printed circuit board (PCB) with LEDs mounted thereon, a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) with a pattern of electrically conductive material, and a plurality of light guides; Fig. 3 shows the PCB, LEDs, ITO layer, and light guides from Fig. 2; Fig. 4 shows an example PCB with LEDs and a pattern of electrically conductive material mounted thereon, and a plurality of light guides; and Fig. 5 shows the PCB from Fig. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments will be described by way of example only.

Figure 1 shows a luminaire 100 comprising a light source 102 and a housing 104. An illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 is provided on the housing 104 to allow for control of one or more aspects of the luminaire. A printed circuit board (PCB) 108 is positioned within the housing. The housing may be made of plastic, for example polycarbonate.

The illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may, by way of example, control a brightness of the light source 102. Alternatively, the luminaire 100 may comprise an alarm, in which case the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may control a volume of the alarm.

Figure 2 shows an exploded view of an embodiment of the invention, including the housing 104, the PCB 108, and components of the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105.

In the embodiment of Figure 2, a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) is provided beneath an outer surface of the housing 104. Electrically conductive material 106 is arranged on the surface of the ITO layer in a pattern. The pattern of electrically conductive material 106 is operable as a touch sensor, and is able to sense the position through the surface of the housing 104. For example, the pattern of electrically conductive material 106 may be a tessellated pattern of triangular touch sensor pads operable to detect the capacitance of a finger through a thin overlay.

The PCB 108 is positioned beneath the ITO layer within the housing 104. A plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 110 are mounted on the PCB 108. One or more solid, transparent light guides 112 are further mounted on the PCB above the LEDs, with each light guide 112 corresponding to a touch-sensitive region on the outer surface of the housing 104. The light guides 112 may be mounted on the PCB using an adhesive such as double-sided tape. The light guides may be made of plastic, for example PMMA.

Each light guide 112 comprises a back surface that is mounted onto the PCB, a touch sensitive region illuminating surface for illuminating the illuminated touch sensitive control using light from the LEDs, and one or more additional surfaces such as side surfaces. The back surface of each light guide 112 further comprises one or more recesses or pockets.

When assembled, the LEDs 110 fit into the recesses in the back surfaces of the light guides 112. In one embodiment, each light guide has a single recess sized to fit a single LED 110. However, other embodiments are possible. As an example, each light guide 112 may have two recesses, each holding a single LED 110, such that two LEDs 110 are associated with each light guide 112. As a further example, there may be only a single light guide 112 with a plurality of recesses, such that each LED is accommodated in a respective recess of the single light guide 112. As a further example, there may be only a single light guide 112 with one or more slot-shaped recesses, each slot-shaped recess holding a number of LEDs 110, such that all the LEDs 110 are associated with the single light guide 112.

When the LEDs 110 are emitting light, each light guide 112 guides the light of the one or more LEDs 110 in the recess or recesses of the light guide 112 to the touch sensitive region illuminating surface of the light guide 112. The light passes through the touch sensitive region illuminating surface to illuminate the touch-sensitive region corresponding to the light guide 112 through the ITO layer, which is substantially transparent.

Adjacent light guides 112 may be separated by slots 114, such that adjacent light guides 112 are not in contact over the entirety of their adjacent side surfaces. The slots 114 mitigate the bleeding of light from each light guide 112 into touch-sensitive regions other than the touch-sensitive region corresponding to the light guide 112.

As previously indicated, the light guide may be a single solid transparent light guide configured to guide light to multiple, e.g. all the, touch-sensitive regions. That is the light guides 112 of Figure 3 above may be regions of a single light guide. Then the slots 114, where present, may extend only partially through the light guide, extending into the light guide from its front surface or from its back surface. Surprisingly it has been found that good results, in particular selective illumination of each letter or symbol (see below), can be obtained even without slots. This can simplify manufacture. Alternatively the light guides 112 of Figure 3 may each comprise a separate respective solid transparent light guide for one of the respective touch-sensitive regions.

The illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 comprises regions of the housing 104 through which the illumination from the LEDs 110 is visible to the user. In particular, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may include a mask that is configured to display a series of letters or symbols, and the touch sensitive region illuminating surfaces of the light guides 112 may have different widths, each corresponding to a respective width of one of the letters or symbols of the series. In this embodiment, each letter or symbol then corresponds to one touch-sensitive region. The different widths are shown more clearly in Figure 4, where the widths are for displaying the letters "I", "u", "m", "i", and "e".

As an example, the mask may display a word, such as a logo, to the user, such that each LED illuminates part of the word. As mentioned above, adjacent light guides 112 may be separated by slots 114 to reduce the illumination of other (e.g. adjacent) parts of the word by the LED.

The touch sensitive region illuminating surface of each light guide 112 is unpainted, and may be frosted. The frosting may be achieved using laser etching. Frosting the touch sensitive region illuminating surfaces has the advantage of allowing a more diffuse illumination of the touch-sensitive region. However, provided that the material of the housing 104 is not entirely transparent, the housing 104 may provide sufficient diffusion without the need for frosting of the touch sensitive region illuminating surfaces.

The one or more recesses of each light guide 112 are unpainted to admit light from the one or more LEDs 110 within each recess to the transparent material of the light guide 112 The additional surfaces of each light guide are painted with reflective paint so that light cannot leave the light guide through the additional surfaces. As an example, the reflective paint may be a silver-based paint.

Light incident upon the back surface of the light guide 112 must be reflected so that the light does not exit the light guide 112 to be absorbed by the opaque surface of the PCB 108. In one embodiment, this may be achieved by painting the back surface of the light guide 112 with the same reflective paint used for the additional surfaces. In another embodiment, the back surface may be unpainted, with reflection achieved instead using a layer of white solder mask on the PCB beneath the back surface to reflect light back into the light guide 112.

Both of these methods have the advantage of allowing cheaper and simpler manufacture of the light guide 112. For example, painting the back surface of the light guide 112 with the same reflective paint that is used for the additional surfaces, rather than an alternative reflective paint, saves a manufacturing step of masking the additional surfaces while the back surface is painted with the alternative paint. As another example, using a layer of white solder mask on the PCB 108 avoids the need to paint the back surface of the light guide 112 at all.

The illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may comprise a touch-sensitive slider: a region of the outer surface of the housing 104 along which a user may slide a finger to operate the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105. In this embodiment, the touch-sensitive regions may be arranged along the touch-sensitive slider.

Instead of or as well as a touch-sensitive slider, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may comprise a plurality of touch-sensitive buttons, with each touch-sensitive button being a region of the outer surface of the housing 104 upon which a touch operates the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105. In this embodiment, there may be one touch-sensitive region (and therefore one light guide) associated with each button.

The illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may be coupled to the plurality of LEDs 110. In particular, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may include a controller to control the illumination of the LEDs 110 to indicate the position of a touch on the housing, particularly a touch in one of the touch-sensitive regions. The controller may be coupled to the electrically conductive material 106 to detect the position of the touch and may be coupled to the LEDs 110 to control the illumination of the LEDs 110 to indicate the position of the touch.

As an example, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may control the illumination of the LEDs 110 to indicate where along the length of a touch-sensitive slider a user most recently touched. As another example, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may control the illumination of the LEDs 110 to indicate which of a plurality of touch-sensitive buttons was touched most recently.

In particular, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may control the illumination of the LEDs 110 to illuminate the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 from one end of the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 up to the position of a touch. As an example, each LED from one end up to the position of the touch may be illuminated, while each LED beyond that position may be dark. As another example, the LEDs closest to the position of the touch may have intermediate illumination to provide a smooth transition from light to dark around the position of the touch. As a further example, if at least one light guide 112 has more than one associated LED 110, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may be configured to vary a relative brightness of the more than one LED to indicate a position of the touch within the touch-sensitive region. As a further example, the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may be configured to vary a relative brightness of the illumination of LEDs 110 in two adjacent touch-sensitive regions to indicate a location of an intermediate position of the touch between the two adjacent touch-sensitive regions.

If the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 includes a mask that spells a word, as described above, part or all of the word may be illuminated in order to indicate the position of the touch.

This has the advantage of indicating to the user the present setting of the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105. For example, if the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 controls a brightness of the light source 102, the proportion of the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 that is illuminated may indicate the brightness of the light source 102 as a fraction of a maximum brightness. As another example, if the luminaire 100 comprises an alarm and the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 controls the volume of the alarm, the proportion of the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 that is illuminated may indicate the volume of the alarm as a fraction of a maximum volume.

Figure 3 shows a magnified exploded view of the PCB 108, plurality of LEDs 110, one or more light guides 112, and ITO layer supporting a pattern of electrically conductive material 106 discussed with reference to Figure 2 above.

Figure 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105.

The PCB 108, plurality of LEDs 110, and one or more light guides 112 shown in Figure 4 are the same as the corresponding features shown in Figure 2.

However, in the embodiment of Figure 4 the pattern of electrically conductive material 106 is not included in an ITO layer positioned above the light guides 112, but is instead part of the PCB 108 and is positioned beside the LEDs 110 and beneath the light guides 112. Touches on one of the touch-sensitive regions are therefore sensed by the pattern of electrically conductive material through the surface of the housing 104 and through the light guides 112.

In this embodiment of Figure 4, the light guides 112 offer the advantage that the pattern of electrically conductive material 106 can be mounted on the PCB 108 directly beneath the touch-sensitive regions of the housing 104. In particular, the light guides 112 allow the LEDs 110 to be mounted to one side of the touch-sensitive regions to make room for the pattern of electrically conductive material 106. This embodiment further advantageously avoids the need for the ITO layer shown in Figures 2 and 3, resulting in a lower cost of manufacture.

However, the embodiment of Figure 4 also has the disadvantage that the pattern of electrically conductive material 106 is further from the surface of the housing 104. The sensitivity of the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 is therefore reduced.

It will be appreciated that the embodiment of Figure 4, with the pattern of electrically conductive material 106 mounted on the PCB 108, can be combined with any of the embodiments discussed with reference to Figure 2 above. For example, the back surfaces of the light guides 112 in Figure 4 may be painted or unpainted as discussed above with reference to Figure 2.

Figure 5 shows a magnified view of the PCB 108, LEDs 110, and pattern of electrically conductive material 106 shown in Figure 4.

It will be appreciated that the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may be used to control properties other than the brightness of the light source 102 or the volume of an alarm. It will be further appreciated that the illuminated touch-sensitive control 105 may be integrated into devices other than a luminaire.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A luminaire comprising: a light source; a housing; and an illuminated touch-sensitive control on the housing to control operation of the lurninaire; wherein the touch-sensitive control comprises: a pattern of electrically conductive material operable to detect a position of a touch on the illuminated touch-sensitive control; a printed circuit board (PCB) positioned within the housing; a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted on the PCB to indicate the position of the touch, one or more LEDs for illuminating each of one or more touch-sensitive regions on the touch-sensitive control; a solid, transparent light guide for each of the touch-sensitive regions, for guiding light from the LEDs to the respective touch-sensitive region, wherein the light guide has a back surface, a touch sensitive region illuminating surface opposite the back surface, one or more recesses in the back surface to accommodate the LEDs, and one or more additional surfaces; wherein the light guide is on the back surface on the PCB and with one or more of the LEDs in each recess to accept light from the LEDs and guide the light to a respective illuminated part of the touch-sensitive control; wherein the touch sensitive region illuminating surface is unpainted, the recesses are unpainted, and either: i) the back surface and the one or more additional surfaces are all painted with the same reflective paint; or ii) the one or more additional surfaces are painted with the same reflective paint, and the back surface is unpainted, and the PCB has a layer of white solder mask on the PCB beneath the back surface to reflect light back into the light guide.
2. The luminaire of claim 1, wherein the electrically conductive material is part of the PCB and is positioned underneath the light guide.
3. The luminaire of claim 1, wherein the electrically conductive material comprises a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) between an inner surface of the housing and the touch sensitive region illuminating surfaces of the light guide.
4. The luminaire of any preceding claim, wherein the touch-sensitive control comprises a touch-sensitive slider.
5. The luminaire of any preceding claim, wherein the touch-sensitive control comprises a plurality of touch-sensitive buttons.
6. The luminaire of claim 5, wherein each touch-sensitive button corresponds to one of the touch-sensitive regions.
7. The luminaire of any preceding claim, wherein the touch-sensitive control controls a brightness of the light source.
8. The luminaire of any of any preceding claim, further comprising an alarm, wherein the touch-sensitive control controls a volume of the alarm.
9. The luminaire of any preceding claim, wherein the touch-sensitive control is coupled to the plurality of LEDs to control the illumination of the LEDs to indicate the position of the touch on the housing.
10. The luminaire of claim 9, wherein at least one touch-sensitive region is associated with more than one LED, and wherein the touch-sensitive control is configured to vary a relative brightness of the more than one LED to indicate a location of a position of the touch within the touch-sensitive region.
11. The luminaire of claim 9, wherein the touch-sensitive control is configured to vary a relative brightness of the illumination of the LEDs in two adjacent touch-sensitive regions to indicate a location of an intermediate position of the touch between the two adjacent touch-sensitive regions.
12. The luminaire of any one of claims 1-11 wherein the touch-sensitive control has a plurality of the touch-sensitive regions, each touch-sensitive region having one or more of the LEDs for illuminating the touch-sensitive region; and wherein the solid, transparent light guide comprises a single solid transparent light guide configured to guide light for the plurality of touch-sensitive regions.
13. The luminaire of claim 12 wherein the single solid transparent light guide has a slot between adjacent touch-sensitive regions to reduce light bleed between the adjacent touch-sensitive regions
14. The luminaire of any one of claims 1-11 wherein the touch-sensitive control has a plurality of the touch-sensitive regions, each touch-sensitive region having one or more of the LEDs for illuminating the touch-sensitive region; and wherein the solid, transparent light guide for each of the touch-sensitive regions comprises a separate respective solid transparent light guide for each of the plurality of touch-sensitive regions.
15. The luminaire of any one of claims 12-14, wherein the illuminated touch-sensitive control includes a mask that is configured to display a series of letters or symbols, and wherein each touch sensitive region has a width corresponding to a respective width of one of the letters or symbols of the series.
16. The luminaire of any of claims 1-11, wherein at least one touch-sensitive region is associated with more than one LED, and the illuminated touch-sensitive control includes a mask that is configured to display a series of letters or symbols, each letter or symbol in the series having a respective width, wherein the LEDs associated with said touch-sensitive region are spaced according to the widths of the letters or symbols.
17. The luminaire of any preceding claim, wherein the touch sensitive region illuminating surface of the light guide is frosted to diffuse the light from the one or more LEDs passing through the touch sensitive region illuminating surface.