FR3051312B1 - REMOTE CONTROL AND SUPERVISION OF AT LEAST ONE LUMINAIRE UNIT - Google Patents

Abstract

Communication system for remote control and supervision of at least one luminaire unit comprising an antenna, characterized in that said antenna is an active antenna (4) and in that said communication system comprises: - a control box (1) containing embedded electronics; and a connection means which connects said control box to said antenna.

Description

The present invention relates to a control system for remote control and remote monitoring of luminaires, and finds use in particular for streetlights for street lighting.

The need to reduce energy costs, both from an environmental and an economic point of view, is no longer debated. Public lighting is part of this perspective, and innovative solutions must be developed to respond to this desire to reduce energy consumption, while allowing to maintain or even improve the ease of maintenance and installation of equipment. complying with the regulations.

The networking of streetlights is a solution that is envisaged to control the lighting, for example, of an urban area, or a part of road. It may be useful to be able to control lighting with at least one factor such as the number of bystanders traveling in an urban area during a time slot. Likewise, on a roadway section, the tracking of at least one vehicle by integrating data such as its speed may be used for the purpose of activating only streetlights directly where said vehicle is located. Such control of lighting according to the needs measured allows a considerable saving in terms of energy expenditure, and is sought in a perspective of being part of a dynamic of sustainable development.

In this regard, the use of a mesh network is interesting in many ways, because it allows to control a urban area or at least a section of the road centrally, and it allows communication between each meshes through an exchange of data, wired or not, acquired directly by the neighboring meshes.

The remote management of a public lighting is known from the application EP 1 201 010, however such remote control lighting can meet all the needs for a real-time adaptation to the configuration and to the various parameters of the site to be lit.

The present invention aims at overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art, and for this purpose concerns, in one aspect, a communication system for remote control of at least one light unit comprising an antenna, characterized in that said antenna is an active antenna. and in that said communication system comprises: a control box containing embedded electronics; and a connection means which connects said control box to said antenna.

An active antenna is an antenna that includes an antenna housing suitable components for transmitting and receiving data positioned in the antenna housing. The transmission and reception of data is carried out by means of communication. The communication medium uses at least one of the following modalities: radio waves, for example UHF (acronym for Ultra High Frequency), luminous, for example infrared, sound, for example infrasound or ultrasound and / or communication specifications on a network, for example Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wi-fi (registered trademark) or ZigBee (registered trademark).

The preferred means of communication is the radiofrequency (RF) waves. Such an active antenna can be associated with the control box in a large number of configurations, and the distance between the housing and the antenna is not a limiting factor. Thanks to this arrangement, it is not necessary to connect the control box to the antenna by a coaxial cable, because the active antenna integrates all the means necessary for the transmission and reception of the data by radio waves. The recourse to the use of a coaxial cable is avoided because of the relatively high cost of the coaxial cable, and moreover such a coaxial connection does not have the desired robustness, the cable is fragile. In addition, the use of such a coaxial cable causes signal losses over long lengths of wires.

The connection means of the communication system as described above in the context of the invention, is advantageously a communication bus comprising a two-strand cable consisting of two conductor wires wrapped in a plastic sheath. Such a cable strands allows, in addition to data transmission, the supply of electrical energy. The communication bus may comprise more than one cable, all of these cables being able to be arranged according to a qualified set of cable plies. In this way, the use of coaxial cable is avoided contrary to passive antennas, it then becomes possible to position the housing at a distance of several meters from the antenna without loss of signal. It is possible thanks to these characteristics to position the antenna on the hood of the street lamp to increase the radius of action of the antenna, and, having to place the control box at the foot of mast for easy maintenance.

The control box advantageously comprises a data storage unit for storing the characteristics of the electrical consumption. The characteristics of the electrical consumption are preferably the following parameters: the power, the current, the voltage, the power factor, and the number of lighting hours. The monitoring of the consumption is then kept in memory, which makes it possible to optimize the maintenance of the lamp post network.

The control box advantageously comprises at least one input, preferably two inputs, provided for connection with a sensor selected from at least one of the following sensors: presence detector, a brightness detector and a temperature detector. Alternatively or in combination with the foregoing, the sensor is advantageously a sensor comprising a logic level output interface (i.e., an output operating in a binary mode), any sensor type including such a level output interface. logic can be connected with said housing. A control box allows for a centralized solution that manages and optimizes the data perceived within the lamp and the data received from the other lamps through the RF antenna.

Advantageously, the active antenna comprises at least one sensor. Such sensors are ideally positioned inside the active antenna housing. These sensors can be of any kind (temperature, humidity, air quality, brightness, etc.) with analog or logical interfaces. This data from the sensors can then be sent to a central office via a ZigBee network of light beams and via communication gateways.

The control box advantageously comprises a treatment unit capable of controlling the luminous intensity of a street lamp in accordance with the data acquired by at least one sensor, such as the sensors described above in the context of the invention, or by means of data integrated in said housing. The integrated data is data acquired by a predefined programming in the box implementing a software installation and supervision. Thanks to these data, it is possible to control the light intensity by reacting the parameters measured by the sensor or by the defined programming (for example the desired level of brightness according to time slices). Thus, everything is centralized in the housing to be able to reactococally to a situation such as a decrease in the attendance of a sitemesure through a presence sensor, which is adapted lighting by decreasing the light intensity.

The present invention furthermore relates to a lamp post comprising a mast, a lantern containing at least one lighting means, and a communication system as described above, in which said lantern comprises a cover comprising the active antenna of the communication system. The antenna is advantageously raised above the bonnet and comes to form like a bulb in surface to optimize the transmission. Such a hood is positioned either in the upper part or in the lower part of said lantern on which is positioned that integrates that can significantly reduce energy expenditure through the ability to finely control the level of illumination locally. The lantern can also integrate the control box, which is envisaged inconfigurations where it is preferred to have a solution in laquelletout the equipment of the lamppost is integrated under the hood of the lantern.

Advantageously, the mast comprises a compartment at its base which integrates the aforesaid control box of the communication system. Maintenance is facilitated by the fact that the operator does not resort to the use of lifting means to rise to the top of the lamp. The cost of maintenance is also reduced.

The present invention also relates to a communication method implementing at least two streetlights as described above, comprising the following steps: - emission of at least one data by the RF waves from the antennae of a first floor lamp; receiving at least one datum by RF waves from the activated antenna of a second lamppost and then processing the data by the control unit of said second lamppost; and - adjusting the intensity of a lighting means of said second lamppost.

Advantageously, the communication method implements a ZigBee communication protocol (registered trademark which designates a wireless communication protocol governed by the norm of the IEEE 802.15.4 group). Such a protocol is easy to install, it is perfectly adapted to exchanges by an internet network, it can support the connection of several thousand nodes of a network and consumes little energy.

Advantageously, the street lights are constituent elements of at least one mesh network. The malfunctioning of the lamps is immediately compensated according to the meshed network architecture, the network is rebuilt automatically when a lampposite is unable to trade with its neighbors. Such a mesh network also allows an increase of the porteradio by repetitive jumps .

The present application also relates to the use of the communication method incorporating at least one mesh network of streetlights for lighting management implementing at least one subnetwork gateway, a manager gateway for exchanging with the subnet gateways, and a technical center that drives the gateway. The managing gateway is relaying between the different subnet gateways, when there are several, and also relaying between the CPU and the subnet gateways. The sub-network gateway may be an electrical box or be directly one of the mesh network's message boards.

The following detailed description presents embodiments of the present invention, which are given purely by way of illustration and which should in no way be interpreted as limiting, and their appended figures, in which: FIG. 1 represents a perspective view of a system control box; communication device according to the invention; FIG. 2 represents a perspective view of an activated antenna of the communication system according to the invention; FIG. 3 represents a perspective view of a lantern of a street lamp according to the invention; FIG. 4 diagrammatically represents a set of delampadar network comprising the control system controlled from a technical center; FIG. 5 represents a diagrammatic view of a delampal mesh network comprising the control system according to the invention; - Figure 6 shows a schematic view of a voieoutière section equipped with street lights comprising the control system according to the invention; FIG. 7 represents a schematic view of the same embodiment as that of FIG. 6, with vehicles traveling on the track; FIG. 8 represents a graph illustrating the luminous intensity at the level of the lamps of the street lamps as a function of different time slots; and - Figure 9 schematically shows two mesh networks delampadaires according to the invention operating together.

Figure 1 shows a control box 1 sized to fit in a rectangular shaped space of 110 mm x 40 mm. The control unit 1 comprises on-board electronics, including a central processing unit for storing and processing data exchanged within a luminaire unit or from outside the luminaire unit. The housing 1 also incorporates means for measuring consumption in kWh. The housing 1 comprises at least one management connector 2 for connection with a standardized interface controlbifilaire known under the name of DALI interface or a 1-10V or 0-10V-type interfacestandardized. The housing 1 also comprises at least one measuring connector 3 for connection with two sensors which must measure a parameter (temperature, presence, intensity of the solar light, etc.) on the luminaire unit to which they are integrated. The control box 1 operates with a 230V-110V / 50Hz-60Hz power supply. A communication bus connects the control box 1 to an active antenna 4.

FIG. 2 shows the active antenna 4 to which is connected the control unit 1 composed of an upper part 5 comprising a bubble 6 which integrates means for transmitting and receiving radio waves (RF), and a lower part 7 on which the upper part 5 rests. The lower portion 7 comprises an annular base 8 provided to fit on the bubble 6 by means of a locking system which can incorporate clipset and / or thread. The base 8 also comprises a threaded ring for fixing a plug 9 on which is formed a through hole 10 forinsertion of at least one cable 11 for the control and / or supply of the transmission and reception means d 'radio waves.

The control box 1 is intended to be placed on the mast 12 or in the lantern 13 of a luminaire unit, which may be a lamp post 14 as described hereinafter.

FIG. 3 shows the active antenna 4 positioned in a cover 15 integrated in the lantern 13 of the lamppost 14. The bubble 6 of the active antenna 4 is erected on the outside face of the cover 15 for optimization of the radio communications. The active antenna 4, the control box 1 and a communication bus which connects the control box to the active antenna, form a communication system for the exchange of data between several lamppost 14.

FIG. 4 illustrates a set of two mesh networks 16a and 16bcontaining a set of lamps 14 and which are each commanded from a respective interface described as a sub-network gateway 17a and 17b which may be composed of a node of the network, that is, that is to say in the present case a street lamp 14. The sub-network gateways 17a and 17b are controlled from a central office 18 which transmits and receives information from or to the sub-network gateways 17a and 17b through a management bridge 19.

FIG. 5 shows a network of streetlights 14 equipped with sensors of the presence detector type 20 for adjusting the light intensity as a function of the number of passes in an urban area 21. A graph is shown in FIG. 8 which illustrates an example of variation of the lighting according to the presence of passers-by in an urban area 21: the level of lighting is expressed as a function of time intervals.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are an exemplary embodiment of a delampel network that equips a section of a road lane 22. A lamp post 14 positioned at one end of the road lane section 22 is equipped with a radar type sensor 23 for the detection of 24 Lamps adapt their lighting level according to road traffic. When there is no traffic, only a standby light is activated (Figure 6). When vehicles enter the section 22, they are detected and the intensity of the lighting increases accordingly (Figure 7).

Lamps of different mesh networks 16a and 16b can communicate with each other if one adopts a configuration as illustrated in FIG. 9. It becomes possible to sectorise groups of lamps 14 so that they react in a synchronous manner although belonging to two mesh networks. 16a and 16b different. In this embodiment, the mast 12 of the lamp posts 14 comprises a compartment 26 which integrates the control box 1.

Claims (4)

A communication system for remote control of at least one luminaire unit comprising an antenna, characterized in that said antenna is an active antenna (4) and in that said communication system comprises: - a control box (1) containing embedded electronics, and - a communication bus comprising a two-strand cable which said control box to the aforesaid antenna. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the control box (1) comprises a data storage unit for storing the characteristics of the power consumption. 3. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the control box (1) comprises at least one input provided for connection with a sensor selected from at least one of the following sensors: a presence detector (20) , a brightness detector and a temperature detector. 4. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the active antenna comprises at least one sensor. Communication system according to claims 2 and 3, in which the control box comprises a processing unit for monitoring the light intensity according to the data acquired by at least one sensor or as a function of data integrated in said housing. 6. Floor lamp (14) comprising a mast (12), a lantern (13) containing at least one lighting means and a communication system according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said lantern comprises a hood (15) comprising the active antenna (4) of the communication system. 7. Floor lamp (14) according to claim 6, wherein the mast (12) comprises a compartment (26) at its base which incorporates the aforesaid control box (1) of the communication system. 8. Communication method implementing at least twoampadaires according to one of claims 6 to 7, comprising the steps: - emission of at least one data by RF waves fromi'antenne active (4) of a first lamppost (14). ); - Receiving at least one data by RF waves of the antenneactive (4) of a second lamppost (14) and processing desdonnées by the control box (1) of said second lamppost (14); and - adjusting the intensity of a lighting means of said second lamp. 9. The communication method according to claim 8, wherein a ZigBee communication protocol is implemented. 10. Communication method according to one of claims 8 and 9, wherein said lampposts (14) are constituent elements of at least one mesh network (16a, 16b). 11. Use of the communication method according to claim 10, implementing at least one subnetwork gateway (17a, 17b), a management gateway (19) for exchanging with the sub-network gateway, and a technical center (18). ) who controls the management lapassel (19).