US-20260126158-A1 - ENERGY MANAGEMENT OF A PORTABLE SOLAR LIGHTING TOWER

US20260126158A1US 20260126158 A1US20260126158 A1US 20260126158A1US-20260126158-A1

Abstract

A method and apparatus for the energy management of a portable solar lighting tower is disclosed. The portable solar lighting tower may have multiple modes and functions to adjust the power of the light and adapt the demanded energy of the lighting tower to overlap with the supply of solar energy during the days. Such modes and functions may easily be set and modified using a control panel on the portable solar lighting tower or on an external computer, such as a computer tablet. Additionally, an energy management graph may be displayed on the control panel accessed via the computer tablet that further allows a user to determine whether there exists enough solar energy for the desired power output of the portable solar lighting tower.

Inventors

Guadalupe Martinez

Assignees

NATIONAL SIGNAL LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251230

Claims (17)

1 . A portable solar lighting tower for use at a construction site, comprising: a frame; a plurality of LED lights attached to the frame; a rechargeable battery mounted to the frame and in electrical communication to the LED lights for powering the lights; a solar panel attached to the frame and in electrical communication with the rechargeable battery for charging the rechargeable battery; a control panel in electrical communication with the LED lights, rechargeable battery, and solar panel for controlling operation thereof: a first set of buttons in electrical communication with the LED lights for choosing which of the plurality of LED lights should be turned on or off; a second set of buttons in electrical communication with the LED lights for adjusting a brightness of the plurality of LED lights; a third set of buttons in electrical communication with the LED lights for timing when the lights turn on and off; an eco-mode button for setting the brightness of the plurality of LED lights to a fraction of a set brightness of the plurality of LED lights; and a motion mode button for dimming the plurality of LED lights based on absence of motion near the frame.
2 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 1 , wherein the third set of buttons are time increment buttons for configuring how long after sunset the plurality of LED lights should turn off.
3 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 2 , wherein the control panel further comprises an all-night button to turn on the LED lights between sunrise and sunset.
4 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 3 , wherein the control panel further comprises a battery status indicator for displaying remaining voltage of the rechargeable battery.
5 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless antenna for receiving and sending data to and from an external computer, the external computer configured to activate and deactivate the functions of the portable solar lighting tower represented by the buttons on the control panel.
6 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 5 , wherein the external computer is configured to produce an energy management graph, the energy management graph having a power supply line and a demand line, the demand line based on a function of a brightness setting, a lamp setting, and a time increment setting.
7 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 6 , wherein the wireless antenna is a Bluetooth antenna.
8 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 1 , wherein the motion mode button reduces the brightness of the plurality of LED lights an additional fraction in addition to the fraction of the initial brightness when both the eco-mode button and the motion mode button are active.
9 . The portable solar lighting tower of claim 3 , wherein the control panel further comprises a fourth set of buttons for selecting which days of the week the plurality of LED lights should automatically turn on after sunset.
10 . A method for managing a power output of a portable solar lighting tower used at a construction site, comprising: connecting the computer to a control panel of the portable solar lighting tower, the computer receiving data relating to power demand settings of the portable solar lighting tower from the control panel; generating a demand curve based on the power demand settings of the portable solar lighting tower; downloading a solar pattern based on a location of the portable solar lighting tower; generating a supply curve based on the downloaded solar pattern; turning off functions of the portable solar lighting tower when the supply curve is lower than the demand curve to bring the demand curve lower than the supply curve.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the supply and demand curves are plotted on a graph having a measurement of energy on a vertical axis and measurement of time on a horizontal axis.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the measurement of time spans a period of one year.
13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the demand curve depends on a brightness level setting of a plurality of LED lights, a number of the plurality of LED lights are turned on, and duration of time that the LED are turned on of the portable solar lighting tower.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the downloaded solar pattern is a multi-year average based on the location of the construction site.
15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the data of the current brightness configuration is dependent on an eco-mode feature of the portable solar lighting tower that set the brightness of the plurality of LED lights to a fraction of an initial brightness of said plurality of LED lights after a first interval of time has passed.
16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the data of the current brightness configuration is dependent on a motion mode feature of the portable solar lighting tower that dim the plurality of LED lights based on absence of motion near the lighting fixture after a second interval of time has passed.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the demand curve or the supply curve may update and change shape based on altering the amount of brightness or which of the plurality of LED lights is turned on or changing the first processed weather pattern data to a second processed weather pattern data.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/923,128, filed on 2024Oct. 22, which is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/451,117, filed on 2023Aug. 17, now U.S. Pat. No. 12,152,758, which is continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/808,980, filed on 2022Jun. 24, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,767,955, which is a continuation in part application of U.S. Design Ser. No. 29/731,517 , filed on 2020Jun. 1, now U.S. Design Patent No. D1003254, the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT Not Applicable. BACKGROUND The various embodiments and aspects described herein relate to a portable solar lighting tower and methods, modes, and features for managing the energy/power usage of said lighting tower. A portable solar lighting tower may be used to illuminate a project site, such as a construction zone, during the evenings when the sun has set and when the site is dark. The benefit of using a solar lighting tower is that the power of the lighting comes from an environmentally friendly source, which is mainly solar energy. The drawback of using a solar lighting tower is that the power output of the device is limited to the amount of energy that the device can harvest and store from the sun during daylight. And the solar energy varies depending on the time of year and the type of weather of where the portable solar lighting tower is located. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved device, methods, modes, and features for managing the power usage of a portable solar lighting tower to ensure that the device has enough power to light the project site during the evenings. BRIEF SUMMARY The various embodiments and aspects disclosed herein address the needs discussed above, discussed below and those that are known in the art. A method and apparatus for the energy management of a portable solar lighting tower operated at a project site, such as a construction zone, is disclosed. A portable solar lighting tower may not be able to emit light at a high brightness in the evenings because of the scarcity of solar energy at where the lighting tower is located. As a result, the portable solar lighting tower may need multiple modes and functions to adjust the power of the light produced and adapt the demanded energy of the lighting tower to overlap with the supply of the solar energy provided during the day. Such modes and functions may include, but not limited to, choosing the level of brightness and when and which of the lamps of the lighting tower should turn on and off. Such modes and functions may be easily activated and modified using a control panel on the portable solar lighting tower or on an external computer, such as a computer tablet. Additionally, an energy management graph may be displayed on the control panel shown on the computer tablet that further allows a user to determine whether enough supply of solar energy exists for the desired power output. The energy management graph may have one or more curves representing the energy/power demanded by the lighting tower at different configurations and a curve representing the solar energy/power available at the location of the lighting tower. The user may then use such graph to plan the energy output of the portable solar lighting tower accordingly. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable solar lighting tower; FIG. 2 is a front view of a control panel that controls the energy management of the solar lighting tower; FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the relations between the different components of the solar lighting tower; FIG. 4A is a diagram of the buttons and functions of the control panel displayed on a computer tablet screen; FIG. 4B is a diagram of another embodiment of a control panel displayed on a computer; FIG. 5A is a diagram of an energy management graph displayed on the computer at a first configuration; FIG. 5B is a diagram of an energy management graph displayed on the computer at a second configuration; and FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the devices that are used in running the portable solar lighting tower using a computer and also for displaying the energy management graph. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings, an apparatus and method for the energy management of a portable solar lighting tower 100 operated at a project site, such as a construction zone, is shown in FIG. 1. The portable solar lighting tower 100 may have components such as solar panels 108a-d, rechargeable batteries 106, and a lighting fixture 102 to produce lighting during the night using envir