System and Method for Advanced Horticultural Lighting

Abstract

A lighting device to generate light in a horticultural environment includes one or more groups of emitters, each of the one or more groups of emitters exhibiting a respective characteristic spectral power distribution; one or more power conversion circuitry units, each of the one or more power conversion circuitry units configured to modulate power to its respective one of the one or more groups of emitters; at least one processor configured to generate and transmit control signals to the one or more power conversion circuitry units; at least one temperature sensor coupled to the at least one processor and positioned near at least one of the one or more groups of emitters; and a memory unit coupled to the at least one processor and configured to store data relating to the one or more groups of emitters and the control signals.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A lighting device to generate light in a horticultural environment, the lighting device comprising:
 one or more groups of emitters, each of the one or more groups of emitters exhibiting a respective characteristic spectral power distribution;   one or more power conversion circuitry units, each of the one or more power conversion circuitry units associated with a respective one of the one or more groups of emitters and configured to modulate power to its respective one of the one or more groups of emitters;   at least one processor configured to generate and transmit control signals to the one or more power conversion circuitry units, wherein each of the one or more power conversion circuitry units modulates power to its respective one of the one or more groups of emitters in accordance with the control signals;   at least one temperature sensor coupled to the at least one processor and positioned near at least one of the one or more groups of emitters, the at least one temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature of the at least one of the one or more groups of emitters and transmit the sensed temperature to the at least one processor; and   a memory unit coupled to the at least one processor and configured to store data relating to the one or more groups of emitters and the control signals.   
     
     
         2 . The lighting device of  claim 1 , further comprising a communication interface coupled to the at least one processor and configured to transmit communication signals relating to the one or more groups of emitters. 
     
     
         3 . The lighting device of  claim 1 , wherein a globally unique device identifier associated with the one or more groups of emitters is stored in the memory unit. 
     
     
         4 . The lighting device of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor implements an algorithm to generate the control signals in response to the sensed temperature to maintain an operating temperature of each of the one or more groups of emitters below a threshold temperature or above the threshold temperature. 
     
     
         5 . The lighting device of  claim 4 , wherein the algorithm is unique to each of the one or more groups of emitters and is related to the respective characteristics spectral power distribution of each of the one or more groups of emitters. 
     
     
         6 . The lighting device of  claim 5 , wherein the sensed temperature, the control signals, and an average current delivered to each of the one or more groups of emitters is stored in the memory unit for use by the at least one processor for generating the control signals. 
     
     
         7 . The lighting device of  claim 1 , wherein the respective characteristics spectral power distribution of the one or more groups of emitters are selected to achieve desired affects for plants contained within the horticultural environment.