Light fixture, reflector housing, and facility that includes a plurality of light fixtures

#The invention relates to a light fixture, a reflector housing for use as part of a light fixture, and a facility that includes a plurality of light fixtures. The reflector housing, when mounted about a lamp or bulb, provides direct and indirect lighting and reduces glare.

#Lighting is often provided in facilities, such as factories and warehouses, in a manner that minimizes energy output and minimizes the number of light fixtures needed to provide the desired level of illumination. As a result, facilities are often designed to include a minimum number of light fixtures that spread the light or provide a wide throw of the light to create an even distribution of light. Light fixtures that are commonly used in industrial settings are available from, for example, Day-Brite Lighting.

#Several light fixtures are designed to hang from a ceiling and provide both down lighting and up lighting. In the context of ceiling mounted fixtures, down lighting is referred to as direct lighting, and up lighting is referred to as indirect lighting. Patents that describe exemplary lighting fixtures include U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,767 to Wenman; U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,175 to Osteen et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,165 to Osteen et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,946,465 to Arras.

#FIG. 1 is a side view of a light fixture according to the principles of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a top view of the reflector housing of the lighting fixture of FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the reflector housing of FIG. 2 taken along line 3—3.

#Light fixtures according to the invention provide both direct lighting and indirect lighting. In general, direct lighting refers to the light that flows directly from a light source onto a work surface. Indirect lighting refers to the light reflected from another surface, such as a wall or a ceiling. By providing direct lighting and indirect lighting, it is believed that visual comfort can be enhanced. As a result, there is an increased level of visibility of a task area in an environment that has both direct lighting and indirect lighting.

#In order to provide lighting to relatively large facilities, it is often necessary to have several light fixtures provided throughout the facility. For example, there may be a row of light fixtures suspended from a ceiling. In a facility having a large number of light fixtures, it is expected that many of the light fixtures, in particular those that are far away, do not contribute much lighting that illuminates the task area for an individual worker. Those lights, however, can decrease the visibility of a task area for an individual worker if those lights are within the worker's field-of-view and provide a source of light that greatly contrasts with the task area. That is, light fixtures that may be quite far away from a worker and that are not being relied upon by that worker to illuminate his task area may, in fact, decrease the visibility of the task area by creating glare.

#At least two types of glare are often encountered in a facility. One kind of glare is disability glare. Disability glare is caused by a light source being in the field-of-view of an individual. Disability glare can often be referred to as discomfort glare. The second kind of glare is veiling glare. In general, veiling glare results from reflections that are superimposed upon a visual task.