T&S Lighting Solutions, LLC Granted Patent for Employing LEDs in Sports Lighting

T&S Lighting Solutions, LLC principals, Thomas Lemons, FIES and Steven Rosen, FIALD, announce their US Patent No. US 8,998,449 B1 and US Patent No. 9,206,950 B1 granted for their invention involving the application of LED lighting technology in sports lighting venues.

Lemons, a lighting professional with over 60 years of experience and 23 USA lighting patents, is president of TLA-Lighting Consultants. Rosen, an award-winning designer, is president and creative director of Available Light, an architectural lighting design firm with over 30 years and hundreds of lighting industry credits. The two came together to develop an LED-centric application intended to vastly improve the quality and efficiency of sports facility lighting systems from professional stadia to municipal parks which especially addresses the increased brightness of the LED source.

The patent describes a method for lighting sports venues using LED luminaires with 8- to 30-degree beam patterns, energy efficient lighting installation design, and a method or style of lighting known as modeling. Narrow beam LED luminaires illuminate the playing area with reduced spill or scatter outside the area's boundary. This significantly increases system efficiency to a higher utilance value (a value of system efficiency) than can be achieved with conventional metal halide (MH) sources which produce beams of 28- to 45-degrees. This increased efficiency translates into greatly reduced energy use. As LED technology also provides substantially longer life and increased color stability over MH lamps; maintenance costs are also greatly reduced. Unlike MH sources, LEDs are instant on/off and can be dimmed, meaning the diversity of the installed system can accommodate many types of field usage from various levels of sports activity to performance to public assembly.

Modeling is a style of lighting that allows for a much greater perception (by players on the field, spectators in the stands, and fans watching via broadcast) of three-dimensional objects. This increased perception not only makes human vision more robust it also allows for better athletic performance as players gain much better spatial sense of both people and objects in motion on the field. Using modeling for the majority of a playing area makes the task of, for instance, seeing the spin of a baseball making it easier to hit or following the flight of a football easier to track and catch. The patent also describes thoughtful lighting fixture layout specific to various types of play for the express purpose minimizing glare -- for both athletes and spectators.

For more information contact Steven Rosen, FIALD, steven@tslightingsolutions.com.