US 8,427,080 B2 · Autonomous streetlight control

Abstract

Applicant has disclosed a method for controlling on and off times for streetlights by synchronizing these intervals to recent local daylight conditions without any human intervention. The preferred method comprises: sensing, via a photocell, when dusk and dawn occurs; and then, timing or counting the dusk and dawn times per 24-hour cycle, recording that dusk and dawn data, calculating the average dusk-to-dawn interval for a plurality of preceding 24-hour cycles; predicting, the next dusk time; and turning on the streetlight for a preselected percentage of the calculated average dusk-to-dawn interval. Future “on” time periods are repeatedly calculated as a percentage of the dark periods determined on one or several immediately prior nights, and so varies with the seasons. Unlike the prior art, Applicant's streetlight control does not require field programming or field inputs from the installer or time knowledge. It also does not require any external or internal precision clock or calendar.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method for synchronizing the on and off times for a streetlight, the method comprising:

a. sensing, via a photocell, when dusk and dawn occurs adjacent the streetlight;
b. recording digitally when dusk and dawn occurs during successive 24-hour cycles;
c. calculating the average dusk-to-dawn interval of a plurality of immediately preceding 24-hour cycles;
d. predicting when the next dusk will occur during a 24-hour cycle;
e. turning on the streetlight at the predicted next dusk;
f. turning off the streetlight after a preselected percentage of the average dusk-to-dawn interval;
and
g. wherein the on and off times for the streetlight are determined by sensing and analyzing local conditions to update the on and off times without human intervention.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Autonomous streetlight control

Life of this patent

Autonomous streetlight control

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims13