WO2004032578A1

WO2004032578A1 - Improved lighting means capable of being mounted to a fan

Info

Publication number: WO2004032578A1
Application number: PCT/SG2003/000236
Authority: WO
Inventors: Khuong On Yown
Original assignee: QEP MANUFACTURING (M) Sdn Bhd
Current assignee: QEP MANUFACTURING (M) Sdn Bhd
Priority date: 2002-10-04
Filing date: 2003-10-02
Publication date: 2004-04-15
Anticipated expiration: 2005-04-04
Also published as: MY137016A; AU2003273204A1; AU2003273204A8

Abstract

The present invention relates to lighting means mounted on a fan more particularly a night light and/or emergency light that is capable of being mounted to a fan. The combination of a night light and/or an emergency light and a fan comprising; a fan installed with at least one lighting means; said lighting means lights up when in darkness and/or lighting means activates when there is power failure to said fan; wherein the lighting means de-activates once there is light and/or the power supply resumes.

Description

IMPROVED LIGHTING MEANS CAPABLE OF BEING MOUNTED TO A FAN

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to lighting means mounted on a fan more particularly a night light and/or emergency light that is capable of being mounted to a fan.

Background of the Invention

Numerous devices for providing night lighting or emergency lighting have been provided in the prior art. For example, U.S Pat. Nos. Des. 366,127; 3,968,355; 4,546,419 and 5,443,343 all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.

U.S. Pat. No. Des. 366,127 Inventor: Se Kit Yuen Issued: Jan. 9,1996

An ornamental design for an emergency power failure light including a night light is disclosed by this reference. The light is plugged into a conventional wall outlet and includes a light on its face, opposite the plug for connecting with the wall socket. A power switch appears to be on one side thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,355 Inventor: John Smallegan Issued: Jul . 6,1976

An automatic night light which will change its illumination in response to changes in the ambient light level. The circuit comprises an AC input with the lamp and a solid-state switch connected in series, a resistive voltage divider being connected across the solid-state switch and having series- connected fixed and light-sensitive resistors. The switch gate is connected to the voltage divider tap by a bi-directional conductor. The structure comprises a housing having circuit and lamp portions. The circuit portion has outlet prongs with bent-back ends, a circuit board being supported by notches in the housing and the prong ends. The housing also supports spring contacts which connect the circuit board to the lamp socket in a simple manner, with the light-sensitive device being easily mountable and firmly supported by the housing.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,419

Inventor: Kelli J. Johnson

Issued: Oct. 8,1985

A wall recessed receptacle box contained night light with a photocell light intensity dusk-dawn (or room illumination) on/off switch control equipped with manual dimming control for a darker/brighter night light atmosphere. The night light box is insertable in a recessed box in the wall otherwise used for a normal receptacle outlet and includes at least one plug in receptacle with the light translucent or transparent cover close to flush with the wall in the recessed night light box.

The night light has an internal light bulb that may be easily replaced by removing a retaining screw at the top of the cover so that the bottom hinge mounted cover may be pivoted out an down to not only expose the bulb to be replaced but also automatically simultaneously disconnect the electric supply from the bulb socket and eliminate power from the bottom of the bulb in the socket for safety.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,343 Inventor: Burt Shulman Issued: Aug. 29, 1995

A capacitive element is introduced in series with the gate of a switching element in an automatic turn on/off circuit which automatically provides artificial light depending on the ambient light incident on a photo sensitive element of the circuit wherein the capacitive element holds an offset voltage which aids in turning on the switching element and provides a hysteresis in the system which counteracts a slickering effect common to automatic turn on/off circuits controlling an artificial light which employ a photo sensitive device. Summary of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to night and emergency lighting devices and, more specifically, to said devices connected to an emergency power supply for detecting a power failure and providing emergency lighting upon detection of such power failure, the emergency power supply being recharged upon restoration of power or providing night light automatically whenever the vicinity surrounding the light means darkens.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing emergency and night lighting that will overcome the shortcomings of prior art devices.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing emergency and night lighting which is able to detect the occurrence of a power failure.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing emergency and night lighting which is able to provide emergency lighting upon detection of a power failure or during nighttime hours. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing emergency and night lighting that is simple and easy to use.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for providing emergency and night lighting that is economical in cost to manufacture.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus having additional feature of an ionizer for neutralizing electrostatic charges in the air.

Additional objects of the present invention will appear as the description proceeds.

The object of the invention is achieved by providing a combination of an emergency light and a fan comprising; a fan installed with at least one lighting means; said lighting means used as an emergency lamp which activates upon a failure of power supply to said fan; wherein the light source deactivates once the power supply resumes.

It is also preferred that the combination as mentioned above doubles as a night lamp where a manual switch means for selectively, electrically energizing said lighting means with said power supply to fan and having an ionizer to promote intermixing of positive and negative ions. Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the present invention where the night light and/or emergency light is mounted to a conventional fan.

Figure 2 illustrates the cross section of the night light and/or emergency light to the fan.

Figures 3a-3c illustrates the cover for the fan hub.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Turning now to the drawings, in which similar reference numerals denote similar elements throughout the several views. The figures illustrate the apparatus for providing emergency and night lighting of the present invention (10).

According to figure 1, the block diagram of the invention (10) is shown. The invention can be incorporated with a fan (15) during manufacture. However, it should be noted that any conventional ceiling, stand, wall or table fan may be used together with the present invention (10) . The night light and/or emergency lamp is attached to the fan (15) without the need of a skilled person to do the same. The installation may be done by a person with limited electrical or wiring knowledge .

According to the preferred embodiment shown in figure 1, the night light and/or emergency light is connected to a ceiling fan (15) . The fan (15) may be incorporated with the night light and/or the emergency light circuit during manufacture. Otherwise, the invention may be sold separately and connected to any conventional type ceiling fan (15) . However, the hub

(18) of the fan (15) needs to be replaced with a transparent cover (19) in order to allow light to pass through it. The hub

(18) is shown in figures 3a-3c.

Figure 2 illustrates a cross section of the invention where inner parts of a typical ceiling fan (15) which includes stator, laminated iron plates, a coil and a rotor. There is an upper cover (33) at the top of the hub (18). The upper cover (33) is provided at the centre thereof with an integrally molded cylindrical portion. The cylindrical portion is rotatably supported by means of bearings (32) e.g. ball bearings at the upper portion of a cylindrically shaped vertical fixed shaft (31) press fitted through the center of the stator so as to extend above the middle of the stator. Through the fixed shaft (31) passes a lead wire comprising electrical conductive material and the like. The method of installing the invention to conventional fans will now be explained. Basically it is divided into three steps. First step is to connect the life wire extending into a remote controller circuit board (16) for a remote controller controlled fan (15) or into a regulator (not shown) for a switch and regulator controlled fan. Step 2 is to connect the lighting means (30) within the hub (18) of the fan (15). The lighting means (30) is connected to the wires the fan (15) is connected to. The final step is to connect the control circuit concealed within the upper cover to the wiring joined to the lighting means (30) .

The control circuit has two functions where one is to light the lighting means (30) when the surrounding of the photo sensor (28) is dark, in other words it functions as a night light and as an emergency light to light the lighting means (30) in case of power failure. In the event of power failure, the emergency light will only light up if the surrounding of the photo sensor (28) is dark.

The lighting means (30) mentioned may be a tungsten bulb. However, LEDs, fluorescent lamp or other conventional lighting devices may be used. The light bulb is connected to a circuit which comprises several modules. For night light function the modules include a controller (27), voltage detector (22) and a photo sensor (28). There is also optionally provided means for reducing the supply voltage of around 240v to about 12v or suitable to light the bulb. The said voltage reducing means may preferably be a step down transformer. For the preferred embodiment the night light and/or emergency light is installed at a remote controller controlled fan (15) . The fan (15) speed is controlled by a speed selector of the remote controller (16) .

The night light can be switched on or off by the remote controller (16) . When the night light is switched on, this will set the night light at stand by mode. During day time, the photo sensor (28) senses light and sends appropriate signal to the controller (27) not to light the lighting means (30) . However, when the room gets dark the photo sensor (28) sends an opposite signal to the controller (27) to close the loop supplying voltage to the lighting means (30) , thus, lighting up the lighting means (30) . The lighting means (30) is lit till the photo sensor (28) senses light again, and the process repeats as long as the remote controller (16) is switched on. While for the night light to work with the switch and regulator controlled fan (15) , the regulator is set to point ^Λ 0' and this will set the night light at stand by mode. An ionizer (26) may be provided to the combination apparatus of the present invention (10) . The ionizer (26) is installed to the fan (15) to provide an air stream of electrically balanced with positive and negative ions. The ionizer (26) is connected to the controller (27) as shown in figure 1.

For emergency light function, the relevant modules are a controller (27), voltage detector (22), conventional rechargeable batteries (25) and a charger (24) . Normal batteries may replace rechargeable batteries (25) and the charger (24) but it may be cumbersome for the user to keep changing the batteries (25) frequently. The voltage detector (22) constantly checks the voltage supplied to the lighting means (30) or alternatively the fan (15) . When it detects 0 voltage where there is no supply voltage due to power failure or the like, appropriate signals are sent to the controller (27) to connect the rechargeable battery (25) to supply the voltage to the lighting means (30) instead. The lighting means (30) is lit until the building power supply resumes or the battery (25) of the temporary power supply drains out. Once the main power supply is back, the charger (24) charges the batteries (25) accordingly.

The controller (27) may have a micro processor in it or a PROM, EPROM or EEPROM programmed with source codes to turn on the lighting means (30) once the voltage detector (22) identifies there is no voltage supply to the fan (15) and/or to turn on the lighting means (30) when dark. Voltage protector (20) may also be incorporated to avoid any surge in voltage from destroying the circuit.

Figures 3a- 3c show a hub (18) of the fan (15) that is basically a light permeable cover which is detachably fixed to the fan (15) .

It is to be noted that the drawings and description herein are merely to exemplify the invention and do not represent the only and whole range of embodiments of the invention which is capable of many combinations and of various features described herein. Each of the features described may be varied, modified or adapted by a person skilled in the art without departing from the working principle or spirit of the invention which scope is defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A combination of a night light and/or an emergency light and a fan comprising; a fan installed with at least one lighting means; said lighting means lights up when in darkness and/or lighting means activates when there is power failure to said fan; wherein the lighting means de-activates once there is light and/or the power supply resumes.

2. A combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fan is installed with lighting means during manufacture.

3. A combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lighting means is installed to conventional fans such as a table fan, stand fan or wall fan.

4. A combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fan is preferably a ceiling fan.

5. A combination as claimed in claim 4, wherein said lighting means is installed within the hub of the said fan.

6. A combination as claimed in claims 4 or 5, wherein said hub is transparent to allow light to effectively brighten the vicinity.

7. A combination as claimed in any claims 1 to 6, wherein said combination may be provided with an ionizer which is installed to said fan and connected to the controller for intermixing of positive and negative ions and neutralizing electrostatic charges in the air.

8. A combination as claimed in any claims 1 to 7, wherein said fan can be a remote controller or a switch and regulator controlled fan or the like.

9. A night light for installing to a fan comprising: a lighting means attached to said fan; electronic circuit which includes i) charger module to charge backup rechargable batteries; ii) photo sensor module to detect the presence of light; iv) controller module that turns the lighting means on or off according to the feedback signal from the said photo sensor module.

10. An emergency light for installing to a fan comprising: a lighting means attached to said fan which; electronic circuit which includes i) voltage detector module to detect power failure; ii) controller module that turns the lighting means on or off according to the feedback signal from the said voltage detector.