Daylighting Digital Dimmer

Daylighting lighting control reduces lighting energy consumption by 25% to 60%. Pairing daylighting to dimmable, solid-state lighting (SSL) is the future of lighting energy savings. The adoption of traditional daylighting enabled lighting controls require incorporation of one or more ceiling-mounted photosensors into the lighting hardware architecture and commissioning, a series of setup operations to activate the daylighting control. The costs associated with acquiring new lighting hardware, installing the lighting hardware, and commissioning the system operation have thus contributed significantly to the slow adoption of daylighting enabled lighting controls, especially in the consumer market for homes and small businesses. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The proposed solid-state lighting control architecture developed in this Phase I proposal is targeted to replace a traditional light switch or analog dimmer with a smart SSL wall dimmer equipped with a photosensor, a state-of-the-art Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) RF communication, and a novel task-to-wall (TTW) sensing and control technology that enables energy savings via daylighting. The TTW architecture is set up and managed by any personal device running iOS, Android, or Windows 8 by taking advantage of the ambient light sensor, wireless communication, and application-based programmability already available within these personal devices. Using smart personal devices not only eliminates the cost to design, manufacture, and support custom commissioning hardware, but also will lower the barrier to adopting this energy saving technology by employing simple UIs that are downloaded at no cost from an app store and help consumers install the product. The novel TTW sensing and control technology also lowers the barrier to adoption by being able to employ a single photosensor embedded directly into wall-dimmer light switch instead of mounting one or more separate daylighting units on the ceiling. The proposed TTW sensing and control technology will enable products to simultaneously maintain a very low hardware product cost, incorporate an easy-to-use software interface, and result in a consumer friendly energy savings platform. Most significantly, however, this strategy also leverages the ambient light sensing capability of smart devices (phones and tablets) to enable a nearly 33% lower product cost than would otherwise be possible. Ultimately, products built using an energy-savings lighting control technology that leverages the capabilities of personal devices and daylighting realizes six significant benefits: 25-60% energy savings via daylighting, 10-20% energy savings via personal dimming control, 10-20% energy savings via scheduling, 10-20% energy savings via high-end trim (savings are not additive), intuitive setup and control, and maintaining a consumer price point by eliminating hardware and installation costs previously required to enable daylighting. Pairing daylighting to dimmable, solid-state lighting is the future of lighting energy savings.