DATA ACQUISITION METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR A NETWORK CONNECTED LED DRIVER

1 . A light emitting diode (LED) driver comprising:

a set of sensing circuits, the set of sensing circuits including a set of primary side sensing circuits and a set of secondary side sensing circuits; and

a data acquisition apparatus including:

a primary side monitoring circuit for receiving and processing primary side data from the set of primary side sensing circuits;

a secondary side monitoring circuit for receiving and processing secondary side data from the set of secondary side sensing circuits;

a lighting status apparatus and

a communication interface;

wherein the lighting status apparatus and primary side monitoring circuit determine if a power anomaly or fault has occurred based on the primary side data and lighting status apparatus and the secondary side monitoring circuit determine if a power anomaly or fault has occurred based on the secondary side data;

wherein if occurrence of a power anomaly or fault is determined, the communication interface transmits a signal to an external controller.

2 . The LED driver of claim 1 further comprising an isolation barrier for dividing the LED driver into a primary side and a secondary side.

3 . The LED driver of claim 2 wherein the isolation barrier is located within a DC/DC power converter.

4 . The LED driver of claim 3 wherein the primary side comprises a power factor conversion apparatus.

5 . The LED driver of claim 2 wherein the secondary side comprises:

a DC output bus connected to the DC/DC power converter;

a power monitor connected to the DC output bus; and

a set of output power channels connected to an output of the power monitor, the set of output power channels associated with a set of light loads.

6 . The LED driver of claim 5 wherein the set of output power channels and the set of light loads are associated in a one-to-one relationship.

7 . The LED driver of claim 1 wherein the set of sensing circuits comprise voltage sensing circuits and current sensing circuits.

8 . The LED driver of claim 1 wherein the data acquisition apparatus further comprises a data isolator for isolating the primary side monitoring circuit from the secondary side monitoring circuit.

9 . The LED driver of claim 1 wherein the data acquisition apparatus further comprises an auxiliary power source.

10 . The LED driver of claim 1 wherein the data acquisition apparatus further comprises:

a visual display for displaying an LED driver status.

11 . The LED driver of claim 10 wherein the data acquisition apparatus further comprises:

a set of dials for receiving input from an user.

12 . A method of determining faults within a light emitting diode (LED) driver comprising:

determining primary side and secondary side data via a set of primary side and secondary side sensing circuits;

processing the primary side data, via a primary side monitoring circuit, to determine if a primary side power anomaly or fault has occurred;

processing the secondary side data, via a secondary side monitoring circuit to determine if a secondary side power anomaly or fault has occurred, and

transmitting a signal to a lighting system controller if it is determined that a power anomaly or fault has occurred.

13 . The method of claim 12 further comprising:

storing the primary side and secondary side data for retrieval by the data acquisition lighting system controller.

14 . The method of claim 12 wherein processing the primary side data comprises:

comparing the primary side data with an expected value range; and

determining that a primary side power anomaly has occurred if the primary side data is not within the expected value range.

15 . The method of claim 12 wherein processing the secondary side data comprises:

comparing the secondary side data with an expected value range; and

determining that a secondary side power anomaly has occurred if the secondary side data is not within the expected value range.