EP1667079A1 - Sensor lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

A sensor light comprises a light unit activated by an infrared movement sensor (16) in a carrier mount (10,12). The sensor is modular and can be removed from the carrier and comprises at least one manually operated component that can be operated when the sensor is removed. An independent claim is also included for a unit as above having four ir sensors in separate pairs.

Description

The present invention relates to a sensor lamp according to the preamble of the main claim. Such devices are well known in the art and are marketed as outdoor or garden lights controlled by an infrared motion sensor in large numbers.

Principle of this used as a generic forming lights is that an almost arbitrarily aesthetically designed, having a light source lamp unit is attached to a support unit (base unit), which ensures the one hand, the electrical supply of the light unit, on the other od the mechanical attachment of the sensor lamp to a house wall. like. Mounting position allows. In addition, with such luminaires, a motion sensor system is present, which, typically integrated into the carrier unit, offers a lens window for a movement sensor arranged behind it and sensitive to infrared radiation.

The associated, integrated in the support unit sensor electronics then allows the sensor-controlled switching on and off of the light emitting element in response to a detected movement, in addition suitable ambient or operating parameters can be selected or preselected, such as a level of ambient brightness, in which the device is first activated, a lighting period in the activated state (before the lighting unit is automatically deactivated again), or a detection range of the sensor. These parameters are usually location- or environment-related, so that each mounted sensor light must first be adjusted properly before proper commissioning.

A disadvantage of the devices known from the prior art is that, especially at wide detection angles and the use of a mirror for interaction with an infrared motion sensor, the circumferential detection area is highly inhomogeneous; This is due to the fact that, with typically two sensor-individual elements of a motion sensor, certain optical radiation conditions cause, depending on the circumferential position of a person moving relative to the sensor whose image is projected in different ways on the sensor adjustment elements.

However, since the motion detection signal is based on a difference of the individual signals outputted from the elements, there exist positions in the circumferential direction in which both sensor elements receive infrared images equally and thus no usable sensor difference signal is generated, hence the motion sensor has an extremely inhomogeneous sensitivity in the environment direction - and thus detection area shows.

9 to 11 illustrate this relationship: A person of size of 1.80 m whose movement is to be detected by a pair of individual sensor elements (more precisely, the signal of this sensor pair is fed to a differential gain and evaluated on signal difference, which then , after suitable filtering, triggers a motion detection signal) generates a picture size of 2 mm on the pair of sensors at an object distance of 20 m to the motion sensor with a lens focal length of 22.2 mm. It is assumed that the person moves relative to the sensor, in the example of FIG. 9 that would be perpendicular to the image plane.

Figures 10 and 11 illustrate the resulting signal, depending on the arrangement of the two sensor segments of the sensor pair; in FIG. 10 these sensor segments are arranged horizontally next to one another (that is to say along the direction of movement of the person), whereas in FIG. 11 they are arranged vertically next to one another, ie perpendicular to the direction of movement of the person. From the representations of FIGS. 10 and 11, it follows that, as in the example of FIG. 10, first the projected image of the person is displayed on the first sensor segment A, then according to the arrow direction on the second segment A '. Correspondingly, the differential amplifier evaluating both sensor segments on the input side generates the useful signal shown in FIG. 10 above, which due to the high signal amplitude can be evaluated well for the motion detection.

By contrast, a sensor arrangement of FIG. 11 results in the projected image of the person essentially achieving both sensor segments A and A 'simultaneously, insofar as only a weak useful (difference) signal, caused by the different covers, can be achieved. However, by providing a 360 ° round detection (such as by providing a suitable plurality of mirrors that project the person image onto the pair of sensors in each circumferential position such that, for example, a circular, faceted mirror arrangement images the person's image onto the sensor For example, if there are circumferential positions which correspond more closely to the pattern of FIG. 10, but also positions which only reach the constellation of FIG. 11, it can be clearly seen that with respect to FIG to a desired all-round (360 °) detection is the existing, based on a pair of sensor element technology based on its inhomogeneous sensitivity and detection range.

Object of the present invention is therefore to improve the range and sensitivity homogeneity of the motion sensor of a sensor lamp in the circumferential direction.

The object is achieved by the sensor lamp with the features of the main claim; advantageous developments of the invention are described in the subclaims.

In accordance with the invention, the motion sensor unit for realizing the sensor system has four infrared-sensitive sensor elements which expand the known pair of sensor elements. As a result, the above-described problem of inhomogeneous detection area is solved in the circumferential direction by greatly varying sensitivity behavior, as in accordance with the invention, the suitably paired and / or cross-connected four sensor elements in the form of two independent branches (with respective sensor electronics) evaluated so that even in the above-described unfavorable case of simultaneous application of both sensor elements of a pair of sensor elements with an identical IR image, the respective other branch outputs a detection detection signal useful for detecting movement. By a logical OR combination of both branches, a uniform, homogeneous detection signal is then ensured for each case of the environmental position at a wide detection angle.

A favorable development of the invention also consists in that the mirror element which cooperates with the sensor (or the individual sensor elements) and is used to realize the large detection angle is itself adjustable or adjustable, so that in this way a setting can be made in a simple and elegant manner of the detection range (for example by tilting or pivoting of individual or all facets or segments of the mirror) can take place.

According to training and for the purpose of simplified handling and adjustment of the detection and operating parameters, the module-like motion sensor unit can be removed from the sensor light and then done - this simple and problem-free adjustment of the operating parameters in this removed state. It is particularly advantageous that, according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the removal of the motion sensor unit a predetermined illumination state of the sensor lamp, in particular a continuous light of the lamp unit, triggers, which in particular also so that a setting under poor ambient light conditions (such as when setting a twilight threshold) is simplified.

The sensor housing accommodating the movement sensor unit is particularly suitably designed to be cylindrical and pluggable, with the at least one positioning element being more preferably concealed in the inserted state. Not only can thereby promote an aesthetically pleasing realization of the sensor light as a whole, also this typically used as an actuator control knob or switch advantageously protected against environmental influences, without having to take special measures for this purpose.

It is also particularly suitable to equip the present invention with a motion sensor which has a wide detection range, ie. H. greater than 180 ° and typically up to 360 °. This detection range is made suitable by a multi-faceted mirror which then interacts with the actual (infrared-sensitive) sensor, the sensor housing forming a peripheral slot area for this purpose, through which infrared radiation can strike the mirror, in order then to be suitably deflected onto the sensor.

According to training and to improve or extend the detection area in a vertical plane, it is also provided to introduce a frontally arranged lens area in the sensor housing, so that, for example, movements in a region immediately below a suspended sensor light can be detected.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention is also provided that the above-mentioned and further adjustment parameters for the lighting and detection behavior the sensor light - brightness thresholds, detection range, light duration, illuminance in rest and activation state, etc. - not individually and separately set, but for this purpose predetermined, programmatically stored sets of parameters by pressing the control element are easily selectable. These parameter sets are based on factory-set and stored typical environmental scenarios, so that the (first) adjustment effort can be drastically reduced for the user performing the assembly and initial setting on the sensor light.

The result is thus surprisingly simple and elegant way a sensor lamp, which combines significantly improved detection characteristics with simplified production and simplified assembly and adjustment.

Fig. 1:

Eine Ansicht einer Sensorleuchte gemäß einem ersten Ausführungsbeispiel der vorliegenden Erfindung;

Fig. 2, Fig. 3:

die Teilansichten des unteren Bereichs der Trägereinheit der Sensorleuchte gemäß Fig. 1 mit eingesteckter, modulartiger Bewegungs-Sensoreinheit (Fig. 2) sowie explosionsartig dargestellte, dem abgenommenen Zustand;

Fig. 4:

eine Variante der Trägereinheit gegenüber Fig. 2 als zweites Ausführungsbeispiel;

Fig. 5, Fig. 6:

Perspektivansichten der modulartigen Bewegungs-Sensoreinheit mit verschiedenen Flächen des Sensorgehäuses;

Fig. 7:

eine Schnittansicht des Sensorgehäuses der Fig. 5, 6 mit innenliegender Spiegeleinheit, Sensorik und zugehöriger Elektronik;

Fig. 8:

ein Empfindlichkeits-/Reichweiten-Erfassungsdiagramm der Erfassungseigenschaften der mit der Bewegungssensorik der Fig. 5 - 7 ausgestatteten Sensorleuchte im Vergleich zu bekannten Zweielement-Sensoren;

Fig. 9 bis 11

schematische Diagramme zum Verdeutlichen des Problems der in Umfangsrichtung stark inhomogenen Signal- und Empfindlichkeits- eigenschaften bekannter Zweisegment-Sensoren;

Fig. 12 bis 15

vier alternative Möglichkeiten zur Anordnung von vier Sensorsegmenten eines Vierelement-(Viersegment)-Sensors und

Fig. 16

eine schematische Draufsicht auf die geometrischen Verhältnisse einer aus vier Spiegeln bestehenden Prinzipdarstellung im Hinblick die Sensorkonfiguration der Fig. 15.

Further advantages, features and details of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments and from the drawings; these show in

Fig. 1:

A view of a sensor lamp according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2, Fig. 3:

the partial views of the lower portion of the support unit of the sensor lamp of Figure 1 with plugged, module-like motion sensor unit (Figure 2) and explosively shown, the removed state.

4:

a variant of the carrier unit with respect to Figure 2 as a second embodiment.

Fig. 5, Fig. 6:

Perspective views of the modular motion sensor unit with different areas of the sensor housing;

Fig. 7:

a sectional view of the sensor housing of Figure 5, 6 with internal mirror unit, sensors and associated electronics.

Fig. 8:

a sensitivity / range detection diagram of the detection characteristics of the sensor lamp equipped with the motion sensor system of Figs. 5-7 compared to prior art two-element sensors;

Fig. 9 to 11

schematic diagrams to illustrate the problem of circumferentially highly inhomogeneous signal and sensitivity characteristics of known two-segment sensors;

Fig. 12 to 15

four alternative ways of arranging four sensor segments of a four-element (four-segment) sensor and

Fig. 16

a schematic plan view of the geometric relationships of a four-mirror principle diagram with respect to the sensor configuration of FIG. 15th

The sensor lamp shown in Fig. 1 has a arm 10 and a wall portion 12 having carrier unit made of a plastic material, wherein at the end of the arm in an otherwise known manner, a bulb socket and a holder for a (not shown), the bulb socket and thus the bulb enclosing lampshade is provided. At the other end, in the lower region of the arm of the carrier unit, a motion sensor unit 16, which can be plugged in by means of a cylindrical sensor housing 14, is detachably provided.

Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the relative relationship between the carrier unit of the sensor lamp and the sensor housing; Fig. 2 shows the sensor housing in the inserted state, wherein an annular lens portion 18 protrudes in the inserted state from the housing realized by the carrier unit, while the remaining housing portion is hidden in the lamp body. The exploded view of Fig. 3 illustrates the pulled-out state.

With reference to FIGS. 5 to 7, the basic structure of the sensor unit 16 will be explained. The cylindrical housing 14 made of a plastic material has at one end an electronic module 20, which, exposed above, among others further electronic components an infrared sensor 22 (again consisting of an arrangement of four pairs and cross-connected IR single sensors according to FIG. 12 to 15, see below) carries. In the housing, the sensor 22 opposite a cone-shaped facet mirror 24 is provided, which is in the housing 14 at the height of the laterally encircling lens portion 18 and can be acted upon by this with incident radiation, which is then deflected by the facets of the mirror unit 24 on the sensor 22 , In addition, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the sensor housing has an additional round lens area 26 at the end, through which incident radiation can fall directly onto a sensor 22 through a free middle area of the mirror 24. On the bottom side (ie the electronics module 20 adjacent), the housing 14 from the outside accessible control elements in the form of rotary controls 28, and a molded into the housing material and corresponding plug contacts having connector 30 for electrical connection provided in the support unit of the lamp further units, including Power supply and control of the lighting unit.

In use, first, the lamp shown in Fig. 1, approximately in the position shown, mounted on a wall or the like, it is screwed in the lamp and the lampshade mounted. After the electrical connection, it is then possible to remove in the manner shown in Fig. 3, the motion sensor unit 16 and make in this withdrawn state by pressing the adjusting elements 28, the desired settings. By appropriate configuration of the electronics present in the carrier unit, at this time (ie by removing the module), the lighting unit is set in a steady light state. After reinserting (FIG. 2), the sensor light for the motion detection operation is then ready for operation in the set manner.

8 illustrates the advantages in the detection range achieved by the configuration of the sensor 22 with four sensors connected in pairs: while the measurement curves provided with the reference symbols 36 and 38 illustrate an angularly limited or highly inhomogeneous detection range, as is the result of a typical, is conventional 2-element sensor, the measurement curve 40 shows the measured with the sensors of the present invention homogeneous profile using four pairwise and redundantly evaluated IR single sensors.

Specifically, FIGS. 12 to 15 show various possible arrangements for arranging the four sensor elements (segments) in the detection plane (that is to say, for example, on the component surface of sensor electronics, as indicated in FIG. 7 by reference numeral 22). In pairs, the element (segment) pairs AA 'and B-B' are evaluated. There is both the possibility, as shown in Fig. 12, both pairs, offset from one another by 90 °, to arrange next to each other, and to arrange the pairs with a common geometric center, as illustrated in Figs. 13 to 15. More specifically, straight lines G _A (for the elements A, A ') and G _B (for the elements B, B') described by geometric centers of the relevant sensor elements of a pair are perpendicular to one another, in the case of the optimized examples of FIGS. 13 to 15 they intersect within the sensor array.

Advantageously, when using such a configured four-element (four-segment) sensor, which is evaluated in pairs in the manner shown, no areas of lower sensitivity occur in the circumferential direction, so the measurement curve 40 of FIG. 8 can be achieved. This is plausibilized by the schematic representation of FIG. 16: Shown are four cone segments Sp1 to Sp4, which, with a suitable inclination relative to the underlying four-element sensor arrangement, map a circumferential 360 ° detection area (relative to the image plane) and accessible for the sensor evaluation. When assigning a sensor configuration according to FIG. 15 to the mirror arrangement according to FIG. 16, it is plausible that a person moving in these areas of the mirror facets Sp1 and Sp4 generates an evaluatable signal over the sensor segments AA '(insofar as the geometrical relationships of FIG before), while for these detection areas, the sensor segments BB 'hardly generate a signal (analogous to the constellation of FIG. 11). In contrast, the mirror images in the segments of the mirrors Sp2 and Sp3 generate an evaluable signal in an analogous manner for the sensor segments BB ', while this is of significantly lower sensitivity for the sensor segments AA'.

Claims (12)

Sensor light with
a light-emitting unit activatable in response to a sensor output signal of an infrared-based sensor unit,
which is provided on a carrier unit for mounting the sensor lamp indoors or outdoors,
characterized in that
the motion sensor unit has a sensor (22) having four infrared-sensitive sensor elements, wherein the sensor elements are assigned in pairs separately to a branch having signal electronics and are evaluated such that a detection signal of one of the branches effects activation of the lighting unit. Sensor light according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor (22) in a sensor housing (14) of the motion sensor unit provided, a plurality of facets having mirror (24) is associated. Sensor light according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the motion sensor unit has a detection angle of 360 °. Sensor light according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the motion sensor unit comprises means for setting a detection range, in particular by varying the position of a cooperating with a sensor of the motion sensor unit mirror unit. Sensor light according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the motion sensor unit is modular and when mounted carrier unit is detachably formed from this and at least one manually operable actuator (28) which is actuated in the removed state of the motion sensor unit. Sensor light according to claim 5, characterized in that the motion sensor unit (16) has a sensor housing (14) which is designed for pluggable cooperation with the carrier unit and a mechanical and an electrical connection between the motion sensor unit and the carrier unit in an inserted Condition of the sensor housing manufactures. Sensor housing according to claim 6, characterized in that the sensor housing at one end has a lens area (18, 26) which protrudes from the carrier unit in the inserted state of the sensor housing,
and the other end the adjusting element (28) is provided, which is hidden in the inserted state. Sensor light according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the sensor housing (14) is cylindrical and at one end has the circumferential and slot-shaped lens portion (18). Sensor light according to claim 8, characterized in that the sensor housing has an end face of the detection range of the motion sensor unit expanding additional lens area (26). Sensor light according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the sensor light is designed so that in response to a removal of the motion sensor unit from the mounted and ready to use carrier unit, the light unit in a predetermined activation state, in particular continuous light, is activated. Sensor light according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that at least one predetermined, programmatically predetermined control parameter set for a luminous operation of the sensor lamp and / or detection conditions of the motion sensor unit can be set or selected by the actuator. Sensor light according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the sensor elements are adjacent to each other arranged so that a by sensor elements of a first pair (A-A ') described straight line (G _A ) perpendicular to one by sensor elements of the second pair (B -B ') described straight line (G _B ), wherein preferably the intersection of the straight line is within the arrangement of the sensor elements.

Images