Digital lighting technologies, i.e. illumination based on semiconductor light sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), offer a viable alternative to traditional fluorescent, HID, and incandescent lamps. Functional advantages and benefits of LEDs include high energy conversion and optical efficiency, durability, lower operating costs, and many others. Recent advances in LED technology have provided efficient and robust full-spectrum lighting sources that enable a variety of lighting effects in many applications. Some of the fixtures embodying these LED lighting sources feature a power supply that may be sensitive to electrical stresses. For example, the power supply may be sensitive to power surges caused by lightning activity, unclean power, large electrical loads switching on/off, etc.
It has been proposed to implement stand alone surge protection devices in some LED-based lighting fixtures to protect the power supply. However, such stand alone surge protection devices suffer from one or more drawbacks. For example, such stand alone surge protection devices must be separately electrically connected to the lighting fixture, thereby requiring separate installation time and presenting the possibility of a bad or easily damageable connection. Also, for example, such stand alone surge protection devices may take up more space than desired in a lighting fixture and/or may cost more than desired.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide a connector with integrated surge protection structure that may be implemented in a lighting fixture and that may optionally overcome one or more drawbacks associated with stand alone surge protection devices.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds