AT525144A1 - Method and device for switching an electrical consumer - Google Patents

Abstract

In a method for switching an electrical load, such as a light bulb, in an electrical system that has an electrical load, electrical lines for powering the electrical load, a control circuit for selectively switching the electrical load on or off, a radio module interacting with the control circuit for wirelessly receiving a switching command to switch the electrical load on or off and a manually operated switch for selectively disconnecting or connecting the electrical load together with the control circuit from or to the power supply, the manually operated switch is operated to switch the electrical load to avoid an interruption the power supply of the electrical load and the control circuit for a period of less than 5 seconds, preferably less than 2 seconds, in particular less than 1 second, and the control circuit is switched off during the S current interruption from a chargeable energy store, such as a capacitor, supplied with electricity, and the current interruption is detected at a control input of the control circuit, so that the control circuit switches the electrical load when the current interruption is detected.

Description

such switching device.

In particular, the invention relates to the switching of electrical loads in smart home applications in which the electrical loads can also be switched via network or radio interfaces. In such applications, the control circuit assigned to the electrical load must be constantly supplied with power

be supplied to control commands e.g. via a

To be able to receive and process radio interface.

Recently, smart home products have increasingly been offered, which can be built into existing electrical systems, in which consumers are switched on in the conventional manner by actuating a manual switch, which disconnects or restores the power supply to the electrical consumer. For example, illuminants are sold which can be used in existing illuminant sockets and have an integrated electronic control circuit and a radio module, via which the illuminant can be switched on and off by wireless control commands. The problem here is that in order for the electronic switching device integrated in the lamp to be ready for operation, it is necessary for the manually operated light switch built into the existing power supply system, such as a wall switch, to be permanently in the "on" position. Another problem lies in the lack of flexibility of the actuation, since the switching process is only about the

intended network or radio connection can be made to

wall switches, lose their function,

The invention therefore aims to overcome the disadvantages mentioned above and to create a switching method and a switching device with which the existing switching devices can also be used in the case of the installation of Smart Home

devices can be reused.

To solve this problem, the invention provides, according to a first aspect, a method for switching an electrical load, such as a light bulb, in an electrical system that has an electrical load, electrical lines for powering the electrical load, a control circuit for selectively switching on or Switching off the electrical consumer, one with the

5

Control circuit interacting radio module for wirelessly receiving a switching command for switching the electrical load on or off and a manually operated switch for selectively disconnecting or connecting the electrical load together with the control circuit from or to the power supply, wherein the manually operated switch is actuated to switch the electrical load in order to bring about an interruption in the power supply of the electrical consumer and the control circuit for a period of less than 5 seconds, preferably less than 2 seconds, in particular less than 1 second, the control circuit during the power interruption from a chargeable energy store, such as e.g. a capacitor, is powered, the power interruption at sinem

Control input of the control circuit is detected and the

electrical consumer switches.

The invention thus consists in using a short power interruption, which is caused by the actuation of an existing switch, as a switching pulse for the control circuit. The corresponding devices can therefore, in addition to existing wireless operating options, e.g. via radio, also physically such as

be switched by wall switch as usual,

In order for the control circuit of the electrical consumer to be switched to be able to recognize a short power interruption as a switching impulse, it needs a short-term energy store in order to remain active despite a lack of supply. The invention therefore provides that existing smart home devices, preferably smart home lamps, with one for this

Function intended short-term energy storage e.g. in the form

be provided with a capacitor

The hand-operated switch can preferably be designed as a button, so that the current interruption

Pressing the button is brought about.

Alternatively, the manually operated switch can be designed as a rocker switch with two stable end positions, the switching outputs of which are electrically bridged, the current interruption being brought about by switching the switch from one end position to the other, with the current flow in an intermediate position between the two

end positions is interrupted,

< 2 sec., Pressed at least twice in a row. in order to bring about an at least two-time interruption in the power supply of the electrical load and the control circuit, the control circuit is supplied with power during the power interruptions from a chargeable energy store, such as a capacitor, the power interruptions are detected at a control input of the control circuit and the control circuit Detection of the power interruptions changes to a dimming mocus. It can preferably be provided here that the dimming process taking place in the dimming mode (increase and decrease in brightness) is ended by actuating the manually operated switch again, with the at the time of the

The prevailing dimming status is retained permanently at the end.

According to a second aspect, the invention provides a device for switching an electrical load, such as a lamp, comprising a with the

electrical consumers electrically connected or

connectable control circuit for selectively switching the electrical load on or off, a radio module that interacts with the control circuit for wirelessly receiving a switching command for switching the electrical load on or off, the switching command being able to be fed to a first control input of the control circuit, the control circuit being designed to the electric one

consumers when the switching command is present on the first

to switch the control input on or off, and further comprising electrical power supply connections for connecting the device to a power supply, the device further having a chargeable energy store, such as a capacitor, connected in parallel with the power supply, which is arranged to protect the control circuit in the event of an interruption in the power supply continue to be supplied with power without interruption, and that the control circuit has a second control input which, when the power supply present at the power supply connections is interrupted, experiences a change in potential that can be detected as a switching command, the control circuit being designed to

Presence of the switching command at the second control input

or turn off.

The device preferably has an optocoupler which is connected to the second control input in order to galvanically connect the power supply from the second control input

separate.

The energy store is preferably connected in between

connected to the power supply by an AC/DC converter.

Prefers. is. the energy storage with interposition

connected to the power supply by a voltage divider.

For the already mentioned dimming function, the control circuit can preferably be designed to switch to a dimming mode for individual adjustment of the brightness when at least two switching commands are present within a time span of <5 seconds, preferably <2 seconds

serves.

an electrical consumer, according to a switching device

€ LILG

aa 3

the second aspect of the invention for switching the electrical load, electrical lines connected to the power supply connections of the switching device for supplying power to the electrical load and a manually operated switch for selectively disconnecting or connecting the electrical load together with the control circuit of

or with the power supply.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments shown schematically in the drawing electrical consumer, Fig. 6 an embodiment of an electrical consumer with assigned control circuit and radio module, Fig. 7 to 15 different variants of the integration of conventional manually operated switches in the switching device and Fig. 16

a flowchart to show a dimming process.

As already mentioned, the control circuit of the electrical consumer needs a short-term energy store so that it can recognize a short power interruption as a switching impulse in order to be functional despite a lack of supply. Due to a possibly short charging time and the many charging cycles, this is the case

Capacitors (especially so-called ultra-capacitors) are suitable

different ways of connecting a capacitor in a switching device are shown.

1 shows a power supply 1, which in the present case is formed by a conventional household power supply system. The mains voltage of the power grid (e.g. 230 V)} is converted by means of an AC/DC converter 2 into one for operation

an electronic control circuit suitable

DC voltage from e.g. SV converted. In the case of as a switching pulse for switching the electrical consumer

used current interruption is a connected via a diode 3 capacitor 4 as a buffer, where

the capacitor 4 is connected in parallel to the power supply 1

is.

If the control circuit used can be operated with a voltage level of 5V, for example, but is also functional down to a lower voltage level of 2V, for example, the energy store or the capacitor 1, as shown in FIG. DC converter 2 are connected in parallel. The capacitor 4 must be in this

Case be interpreted so that within a Zu

defined period of time (e.g. 1.5 seconds), which corresponds to the maximum planned duration of the power interruption. Lceht, the charge only decreases so much that the lower

Voltage level is not undershot during this time.

A calculation example for the required capacitance of a capacitor connected as shown in FIG. 1 is given below. When adopting a to

bridging period (tacetive) of 1.5 seconds, one

DL

4:

Pe Ars

vr O2 Average 220 A fr an “Van SW Va 53 VW

Zgetion Kactive 3 1.5 8 Fotak Sag Vena 3258 { IE min)

Fım reg A Sietel 430 pe

Y MAT

Depending on the control electronics used, however, a multiple of energy is also required and a capacitor suitable for this can be quite large. It can therefore make sense to use a more expensive "supercap"/ultra capacitor. However, such a capacitor is not very, with a voltage range of more than 2.7V

spread.

For this reason, one can either connect several smaller dimensioned ultra-capacitors together, or it can also be advantageous to modify the circuit, as shown in FIG. In this case, a voltage divider is implemented using the resistors 5, with the control circuit being operated at connection & with approx. 2 V

can and it is possible to use a capacitor with e.g. 2.6 V

nominal voltage to use. These are mainly in the form of

nd available in various capacities.

The calculation of the capacitor capacitance can then be done as follows

done WEL den,

Acquisitions = 220 fd

Veax 6 Y Vacaats 2 Vv

sactine . active =1Lö8 ha Gy po = 05 8 ET DOG,

Fız AÄaverage + Eatat 286 u

x V 3

In this calculation example for FIG. 2, a required capacitance of 286 uF results. The (silicon) Schottky diodes 3 planned in the circuit have a low voltage drop of less than 0.4V and can drop to a voltage drop of up to 0.1V with such small operating currents as here. For this reason, the

Voltage drop of the diodes in the calculation example above

neglected.

If for the operation of the control circuit and its peripherals

however, a constant voltage of 5 V is added to the output 6

must be available, an energy store 4 must be set after a rectifier 2 in such a way that a STEPdown converter (DC-DC) 7 is then switched, which then supplies the working voltage for the control circuit (e.g. 5 V).

This is shown in fig.

If it makes sense for reasons of cost and/or space, the energy store 4 can also be connected between two step-down converters. For example, an AC-DC step-down converter can be used (in this case with 24 V on the output side) and then only a small DCDC converter is required (in this case 5 V- 24 V on the input side with 5 V output), which a constant

delivers output voltage. Therefore, the voltage at

Energy storage drop significantly more and thus the efficiency of the storage is higher, whereby this (capacitive}

can be made smaller.

The calculation of the capacitor capacity can be done at the

Execution according to FIG. 3 can be carried out as follows,

A+8 vs

FF

Amount = 220 pads

V acer = 24V Vpanets 55V

Fe CET « N tacttva 5 1.5.8 A NE

(Vacoe- Yoore)

Fe Aquerage + Saptal = 83.268 za

T 3 tbsp

As can be seen in this calculation example, a capacitor installed according to the variant according to FIG. 3 requires less capacitance in comparison to the variants according to FIGS. 1 and 2 with the same bridging time span (tactive). The higher the difference between the charging voltage of the capacitor (Vmax or in this example Vacse) and the minimum output voltage (Ymin or VDCDC} at the end of the time period, i.e. J]e more

Percentage of voltage loss the capacitor may have£,

the smaller its capacitance can be selected - which of course also makes smaller sizes possible. Not to be neglected, however, is the larger space requirement for the

additional voltage converter.,

In addition, in the variant shown in FIG. 3, a constant voltage is maintained within the period of time to be bridged by the energy store, which for some

microprocessors should be advantageous

Since there are capacitors that can also be used with a voltage of 100-230 V, there is no need for an AC/DC converter with a low-voltage output. In this case, a pure AC-DC conversion is sufficient, which can be implemented, for example, by a simple diode rectifier 8, as is the case in the embodiment according to FIG. This structure is particularly favorable, since such diode rectifiers are normally already present on the circuit boards of the existing products -- an AC-DC step-down converter in smart home devices is often not implemented via a purchased module, but with specially developed circuits and thus coupling directly after the rectifier in these cases is not very complicated

possible.

For other energy stores, however, it is sometimes necessary to lower the voltage level on the input side to a certain value. In such a case, this version is not

usable. Fig. 5 shows an example of a circuit with which from a

Power interruption of the power supply 1 a control pulse for

the control circuit is generated. So that the control circuit

which is usually constantly supplied, can recognize that the supply line to the electrical consumer has been disconnected, it needs a signal at pin 11 of its microprocessor, which indicates the low voltage level of the

processor must be minimized. This is through the

Using an opto coupler 10 achieved.

However, the use of an optocoupler is not necessary in the circuits according to FIGS. 1 and 2, since the voltage level here before the capacitor is already low enough. In the variant according to FIG. 3, the level can also be gof. with a voltage divider au£ the right one

lower voltage level.

Pin 11, on which the processor detects the failure of the supply, should be an interrupt pin if possible, in order to be as quick and as short as possible

to be able to react to power interruptions.

Fig. 6 shows the schematic structure of a smart lamp

Circuit. The microcontroller (RC) 12 represents the control circuitry of the device and therefore needs to be powered at all times. The LED circuitry 13 (often also called the LED driver) requires power during the physical switching command by operating the manual switch

no current because the input voltage for supplying the

LEDs are not ready anyway. Likewise, the radio module 14 does not necessarily require power, since it is very unlikely that a physical switching command and a radio switching command will be given at the same time. However, supplying power to the module can be advantageous when restarting

of the module would take a lot of time if this

should nevertheless be the case, it should not be problematic

if the radio command is ignored or implemented later. However, depending on the radio module, it may be necessary to supply the radio module permanently, since some modules sometimes need a while to restart after a power failure and this can lead to disadvantages

could.

7 to 13 show different ways of arranging manually operated switches in an electrical installation for an electrical consumer, in particular a lamp. It is important that, due to the nature of wall switches and wall push-buttons, "rushing" (frequent and irregular switching on and off during the switching process) can occur when switching. In order to avoid the control circuit interpreting this as a large number of switching pulses, it can make sense to buffer/smooth the voltage at feedback pin 11 of the processor. This can, for example, with a very

low-capacitance capacitor,

Fig. 7 shows a circuit with a power supply 1 and an electrical load 13, such as a light bulb. There is a mechanical switch 15 in the circuit

provided that back and forth between two switching positions

is herschaltbar to turn the consumer off or on. Fig. 8 shows a modified embodiment, in which two switches 16 in the circuit in a so-called. Alternating circuit

are arranged.

Fig. 12 shows a modified embodiment in which im

Circuit two changeover switches 16 and one or more

Cross switch 22 arranged in a so-called. Cross circuit

gind,.

The circuits shown in Figures 7, 8 and 12 are worldwide

the most common wiring variants in households,

If you do not want to or are not allowed to make any changes to the electrical installation, you can still use the advantage of the invention by causing the power interruption to be used as a switching pulse by switching the switch 15 or 16 twice within a short period of time. However, between switching back and forth there may be a maximum period of time for which the device is designed. Few

Seconds can make sense here,

If it is possible and/or desired, a hand-operated switch 15 or 16 can easily be bridged with a short piece of wire. It is irrelevant whether the existing electrical installation is a simple circuit, an alternating circuit or even a cross circuit. Bridging a single switch is sufficient in any case. 92 shows an embodiment according to FIG. 7 with an additional bypass 17. FIG. 10 shows an embodiment according to FIG. 8 with an additional bypass 17 for one of the two changeover switches 16. FIG additional bridging 17 at one of the changeover switches 16. Here, when switching between the two end positions of the switch

occurring current interruption used as a switching pulse. For simple circuits of the type shown in FIG. 7, it is

also possible to replace this with a button 18, such as

This is shown in Fig. 1L. The advantage of this embodiment

compared to bridging the switch is that the button 18 is always in the same position after switching

lingers.

14 shows a circuit in which the consumer is switched by means of a surge circuit with a plurality of buttons 19 which actuate a relay 20 which controls the switch 21. FIG. Here the jumper wire 17, as shown in Fig. 15, must be connected in front of the relay in the control cabinet, i.e. on the two inputs of the relay

switching contact, not at the inputs of the coil,

Fig. 16 shows a flowchart to show a dimming process triggered by actuating the manually operated switch, e.g. a button. In step S1, pressing the switch or button triggers a switching pulse that triggers a timer, if within a defined time interval of e.g. 2 seconds. a second switching pulse is triggered in step S2, the process continues with step S. Otherwise, the process starts over and waits for step 82 again. In step S3, the dimming process is carried out until, in step S4, a switching pulse is triggered again by actuating the switch or button is detected. This is followed by the at the switching time

existing dimming state maintained in step S5.

Claims (17)

power failure switches the electrical consumer on, 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the manually operated switch is designed as a button and pP v the power interruption is brought about by pressing the button. 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that v f vr £ the hand-operated switch as a rocker switch with two stable end positions is formed, the switching outputs 17 are electrically bridged, and the current interruption is brought about by changing over the switch from one end position to the other, with the flow of current £ in an intermediate position between the two end positions is interrupted 4. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that for dimming the electrical load of the manually operated switch within a period of <5 seconds, preferably <2 seconds, is actuated at least twice in succession in order to bring about at least two interruptions in the power supply of the electrical load and the control circuit, the control circuit being supplied with power from a chargeable energy store, such as a capacitor, during the power interruptions is, the current interruptions are detected at a control input of the control circuit and the Control circuit when detecting the current interruptions in changes a Dirmm-Madus. 5. A device for switching an electrical load, such as a light bulb, comprising a control circuit that is electrically connected or can be connected to the electrical load for selectively switching the electrical load on or off, a N Control circuit cooperating radio module for wireless Receiving a switching command to switch the electrical load, the switching command being one first control input of the control circuit can be supplied, the control circuit being designed to switch the electrical load on or off when the switching command is present at the first control input, and further comprising electrical power supply connections for connecting the Device to a power supply, characterized in that the device also has a chargeable energy store, such as a capacitor, which is connected in parallel with the power supply and is arranged to supply the control circuit with power in the event of an interruption in the power supply, and in that the control circuit has a second Having a control input which experiences a potential change that can be detected as a switching command when the power supply present at the power supply connections is interrupted, the control circuit being designed to switch the electrical consumer on or off when the switching command is present at the second control input. 6 Device according to claim 5, characterized in that that the device has an optocoupler which is connected to the second control input in order to electrically isolate the power supply from the second control input. 7. The device according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the energy store under N / A Intermediate connection of an AC/DC converter to the power supply (i.e connected. 8, Device according to claim 5, 6 or 7, characterized indicated that the energy storage under Interposition of a voltage divider to the power supply is connected 9, device according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized characterized in that the control circuit is designed to if there are at least two switching commands within a period of <5 seconds, preferably <2 seconds, to switch to a dimming mode. 10. Electrical system for operating an electrical consumer, such as a light bulb, comprising an electrical consumer, a switching device for switching the electrical consumer according to one of claims 5 to 3, electrical lines connected to the power supply connections of the switching device for the power supply of the electrical consumer and a hand-operated switch for selectively disconnecting or connecting the electrical load together with the control circuit from or to the power supply. 11. Plant according to claim 10, characterized in that the manually operated switch is designed as a button. 12. System according to claim 10, characterized in that the manually operated switch is designed as a rocker switch with two stable end positions, the switching outputs of which are electrically bridged, with a current flow through the switch from one end position to the other in an intermediate position between the two end positions switch can be interrupted. Vienna, on 1. June 2021 registration MA A and Keschmann Pafentanwälte GmbH