AU2005204294B2 - Infrared & light sensor controlable luminous tubes - Google Patents

Description

Remote Dimmable Energy-Saving Device for Fluorescent Lamps

CA

0 FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to dimmable fluorescent lamps. More specifically, it relates to a remote dimmable energy-saving device and a remote dimmable S energy-saving fluorescent lamp thereof.

C'l t BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Ci Fluorescent lamps are widely used in homes, offices, schools and public buildings because of their high brightness and low cost, The traditional fluorescent lamp generally comprises a shell, a magnetic ballast, a fluorescent tube, a batten and a starter switch.

The control switch, connected to the fluorescent lamp via a wire, is generally installed on the wall. To turn on or off the lamp, it is necessary to be physically at or near the location of the switch. A simple task no doubt, but consumers these days expect minimum inconvenience and maximum comfort in the daily appliances used, including lamps that can be dimmed or brightened with ease to suit the activities at hand.

Currently, therre ae a couple of products from our research that try to meet these needs and expectations.

One such product is the remote dimmable control by wiring between a vary voltage device and a remote electronic ballast that has a potentiometer adjuster or dimmer contained in its power supply circuit. Even it services the purpose of changing the brightness of the fluorescent lamp, the adjustment of the desired brightness of the lamp is not convenient. It must be perfnrmed by hand on the voltage vary device and usually the usage is limited to electrical professionals who design the wiring and installation by themselves.

There are another kind of dimmable fluorescent lamp that utilizes an infrared

SO

O remote controller for brightness adjustment. It was found that the brightness levels

C-I

O of these fluorescent lamps are predefined and fixed. Thus, this kind of fluorescent 0 lamp is still inconvenient for the consumers and cannot meet the expectations and req u ire mI ents.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0 The objective of the present invention is to provide a remote dimmable energy-saving device and a remote dimmable energy-saving T4'T5 fluorescent 0 C lamp thereof, to adjust a brightness of the tube to any brightness level in the Afll brightness range.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a remote dimmable energy-saving device is provided, the device comprising a dimmable electronic ballast, also comprising a remote control transmitter and a remote control receiver working with said remote control transmitter to control the brightness adjustment of the dimmable electronic ballast via a remote control manner, wherein the remote control receiver is integrated with the dimmable electronic ballast, and assembled in a fluorescent tube batten or a T4/1T5 tube adapter r oa TS/TI 0 tube batten.

Advantageously, a signal processing circuit of the remote control. receiver and a ballasting control circuit of the dimmable electronic ballast are integrated into a single dimming control integrated circuit comprising: A decoding circuit that is adapted to decode a received dimming signal; A D/A converting circuit that is adapted to convert a digital dimming signal outputted from the decoding circuit into an analog dimming signal; A dimming interface that is adapted to receive the analog dimming signal and provide a reference phase; A phase control circuit that is adapted to compare the reference phase with the detected actual phase and generate an error signal; A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) that is adapted to change an oscillating 2 S0 cl P -frequency so as to drive the ertor signal to zero; t--1 o A half bridge driving circuit that is driven by a output of the VCO, thereby S providing high HO and low LO outputs to a half bridge electronic switches.

Advantageously, said dimming control integrated circuit controls the brightness level in the full brightness range of the lamp tube, C Advantageously, said remote control transmitter comprises a coding circuit 0 and a transmii iii iittin coding a ming sing from users and then transmitting out via a wireless manner.

C' lAdvantageously, said remote control transmitter further comprises a first chann el and/or ID selection circuit, which is adapted to setup various channels and/or IDs by a user to encode the dimming signal; said single dimming control integrated circuit firther comprises a second channel and/or ID selection circuit, which is adapted to select a corresponding channel and/or ID according to the setting of the remote control transmitter, to decode the received dimming signal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a remote dimmable energy-saving fluorescent lamp is provided, said fluorescent lamp comprising a 14/T5 fluorescent tube, a T4/T5 tube adapter, a tube batten and a dimmable electronic ballast, said fluorescent lamp further comprising a remote control transmitter and a remote control receiver working with said remote control transmitter to control the brightness ade dimmable electronic ballast via a remote control manner, wherein the remote control receiver is integrated with the dimmable electronic ballast, and assembled in the tube batten or the T4/T5 tube adapter for the TS/T 10 tube batten, Advantageously, a signal processing circuit of the remote control receiver and a. ballasting l ont circuit of the dimmable electronic ballast are integrated into a single dimming control integrated circuit comprising: A decoding circuit that is adapted to decode a received dimming signal; A D/A converting circuit that is adapted to convert a digital dimming signal o outputted fiom the decoding circuit into an analog dimming signal:

C-I

o A dimming interface that is adapted to receive the analog dimming signal and provide a reference phase; A phase control circuit that is adapted to compare the reference phase with the detected actual phase and generate an error signal; A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) that is adapted to change an oscillating o frequency so as to drive the error signal to zero; A half bridge driving circuit that is driven by a output of the VCO, thereby C providing high HO and low LO outputs to a half bridge electronic switches.

Advantageously, said dimming control integrated circuit controls the brightness level in. the full brightness range of the lamp tube.

Advantageously, said remote control transmitter comprises a coding circuit and a transmitting circuit, encoding a dimming setting from users and then transmitting out via a wireless manner.

Advantageously; said remote control transmitt thefther comprises a first channel and/or ID selection circuit, which is adapted to setup various channels and/or IDs by a user to encode the dimming signal; said single dimming control integrated circuit further comprises a second channel and/or ID selection circuit, which is adapted to select a corresponding channel and/or ID according to the setting of the remote control transmitter, to decode the received dimming signal.

The advantages of the present invention are as following: The present invention can utilize various controls using the integrated circuit, including infrared control, RF control and simple wired box control.

For infrared control, 5 meters is the effective operation range, thus general indoor lighting requirements can be satisfied, Users can conveniently adjust and control brightness of the fluorescent lamp, pointing to the infirared receiver, in any positions in the roomn: With the subject remote dimmable energy-saving fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, users can adjust any brightness level of 4 Sthe lamp from 0% to 100% o t o the full brightness range based on desired

CA

S reqirements or situations. Thus this fluorescent lamp systenm can save energy and 0 produce the right level of light for a comfortable environment. The present invention can avoid interferences between the remote controller and different lamp tubes under control, by setting different channels and/or IDs for different fluorescent lamps. Further, one remote controller can control different sets of o fluorescent lamps fbr different brightness level by the channel setting.

C,

t" 0'- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS With the attached drawings and embodiments, together with the following descriptions, this inventionill be expressedas follows. Asrefer to the attached drawings, per item Fig. isa structural diagram oftheremote dimmable energy-saing fluorescent lamp including 4 types of wireless remote controller and remote dimming energy saving device in a ceiling lamp in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Fig 2 is a block diagram of the remote control transmitter in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Fig 3 is a block diagram of the dimmble electronic ballast in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Fig.4 is circuit diagram of the dimable electronic ballast in accordance with one embodiment of the inventi on; Fig 5 is a block diagram of the dimming control integrated circuit in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Fig.6 is sketched diagram of the output stage of the ballast in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Fig,7 shows changes of the power ofthe fluorescent lamp relative to the phase angle between the current and volta ge provided to the fluorescent lamp.

Fig.8 is a circuit diagram of the ballasting control portion in the dimming control IC as shown in Fig. Fig. 1 isa sructural diagram oftheremote dimmable energ-saving fluorescent tamp including 4 types of wireless renote controller and remote dimming energy saving device in a ceiling lamp in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the remote dimming energy saving device comprises a ceiling lamp batten or in a inear' fluorescent lamp batten, installed with a remote dimming ballast receiver, a T4/TS/T6/T8 fluorescent tube and a remote control transmitter. The remote control tansmitter wil use radio frequency technologies, on which brightness adding, subtracting buttons and/or ON/OFF button and/or channel selection for users to dim individual lamp are provided.

Specifically, Fig.2 is a structural diagram of the remote control transmitter ofthe fluorescent lamp in accordance with the invention. As shova in Fig.2, the remote control 13/17 transmitter 50 comprises dimming buttons 51, ON/OFF buttons 54, an encoding circuit 52 and a transmitting circuit 53 Users can adjust the fluorescent lamp to any brightness level o in the full brightness range through the dimming buttons 51. The user inputs are then

C

Sencoded by the encoding circuit 52 according to a respective manner, and transmitted by the transmtting circuit 53 in an infrared anner, or transmitted by an antenna coupled to S the transmitting circuit 53 in a RF manner. I order to avoid interference ofthe remote control signals between various devices in a room, the remote control transmitter further comprises a first channel and/or ID selection ciruit 55 that is adapted to select a S suitable channel, with which the dimming inputs from a user are encoded before C transmitted. Then the encoded dimming inputs are transmitted inthe selected chanel. The remote control transmitter 50 may use the first channel and/or ID selection circuit 55 to input a ID corresponding to the fluorescent tube that is to be adjusted, or to select apreset ID corresponding to the fluorescent tube to be adjusted. Then the dimming inputs from a user are encoded with the ID of the fluorescent tube to be adjusted, and transmitted through the transmitting circuit 53. Thus, a single remote control transmitter can adjust a plurality of fluorescent lamps having different IDls Fig 3 and Fig.4 are respectively structral and circuit diagrams of the dinmable electronic ballast 30 integrated with a remote control receiver in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. As show in the figures, in the dimmable electronic ballast firstly the AC inputis filtered by an EMI filter stage 31, which utlizes suitable capacitrs and inductors well known to those of skill in the art to miniize the EMI Then, the output ofthe EMI filter stage is provided to a rectifier stage 32, for example a full wave rectifier The rectified DC output ofthe rectifier stage 32 is then provided to a power factor correction (PFC) stage 33. The power factor correction stage 33 uses a boost converter circuit to increase the voltage from the rectifier 32 up to a DC bus voltage. Further, the power factor correction stage 33 shapes the wavefbrmto rinnmize thephase shift of current and voltage at the A C input line, preferably maintaining a power t ctornear 1. The power factor correction stage 33 is controlled bya power factor correction controller in a conventional manner, Then the DC bus voltage is provided to a half bridge electronic switching stage 35, which utilizes high side and low side switches to provide voltage necessary for driving the fluorescent tube, Operation ofthehalfbridge electronic switching stage 35 is driven by dimming control IC 37. The output from the half bridge 14/17 electronic switching stage 35 is provided to an output stage 36, which comprises a t resonantLC circuit composed ofa resonant inductor and a resonant capacitor The O fluorescent tube 20 is coupled to the output stage 36 and then powered by it.

C

As shownin Fig.4, the dimming control 1C 37 may bea single IC with integrated F dimming signal processing circuit and ballasting control circuit, receiving a remote C dimming signal transmitted by the ee ote control tranmitter from the signal receiver 38 (e infrared sensor orRF antenna) and processing the signal The specilc structure of the dimming control IC 37 is shovn in Fig5, wherein the dimming control IC 37 Scomprises a decoding circuit 371 that is adapted to decode the received dimning signal and then provide it to a D/A converting circuit 372. which converts the decoded digital S dimming signal into analog dimming signal. The dimming control IC 37 futher comprises a second channel and/or ID selection circuit 373 that is adapted to select a channel corresponding to the remote control transmitter r decoding the received dimming signal.

Alteratively, The second channel and/or ID selection circuit 373 may use a corresponding ID presetin it for decodingthe received dimming signal, while ignoring the signals that are not corresponding to the selected channel or ID.

The dimming control IC 37 also comprises a dimminginterface 374, which receives the analog dimming signal from the D/A converting circuit 372, and provides a reference phase to a phase control circuit 375. The phase control circuit 375 determines the actual, phase of the output current by detecting the zero crossing of the voltage signal proportional to the current of the output stage 36. The phase control circuit 375 then compares the reference phase as provided by the dimming interfce 374 and the detected actual phase to obtain a phase error, and provides the error signal to the VCO 376 thereby altering the VCO frequency to drive the error signal to zero. The half bridge driving ircuit 377 is driven by the output of the VCO 376. to providethe high HO and lowLO signals to the high side and low side switched ofthe half bridge electronic switching circuit respectively. Then the output of the halfbridge electronic switching circuit 35 is provided to the output stage 36 at the common connection pointbetween the high side and low side switches for adjusting the power of the fluorescent tube Fig.6 shows a model of the output stage 36, for further describing the phase control The fluorescent lamp and its filament are represented by resistors, with the lamp resistance R P inserted between the filament resistances (R 1 R R3 and R 4 According the 15/17 tansferring function(l) for theinput curmnt relative to the input voltage of the output Sstage, we see that the contribution ofthe filament resistances isnegligible comparedto the 0 o resistance of thelamp, and become even more negligibleas theresistance of the la

CA

increase. Solving for the finction the phase angle of the output stage current yields, A R,(1) lajs) 1+ f,R +4tRklC

CA

360 2R, V! 9q= tan "C L)24f LC 1(2) Wherein L is output stage inductor, C is output stage capacitor, Py.is lamp power, fis lamp voltage amplitude at lamp power% According to the ftmction(2), we seethat there is a linear change relating the lamp power to the phase aneg between the current and voltage providedto the lamp, as show In Fig.7, whereinthe lower the phase angle, the greater the power. Therefore, when the phase of the lamp voltage is more close to the phase of the lamp =rrt, the power consuption in the lamp will increase, thus brightness of the lamp increases; when the phase angle between the current and voltage increases, the power consumption in the lamp decreases, thus brightness of the lamp decreases The linear relationship of the lamp power and the phase angle between the canrent and voltage ofthelamp can be utilized to realize a closed loop dimming control Fig 8 is a sketched circuit diagram of the ballasting control portion in the dimming control IC in Fig. 5, As shown in the figure, the ramm andmiimum lamp power is set from pins MAX and MIN of the dmrring interface respectively A dimming input pin DIM provides Q5V-5V direct voltage, wherein SV is corresponding to the minimum phase(i.e. maximum lamp power). The minimumphase(maimum power) corresponding to 5V input of the pin DIM is defined by a external coupled resistor of the pin MAX, and the maidrnnum phase (minimum power) coesponding to the 0. 5V input of the pin DIM is defined by a eternal coupled resistor ofthe pinMIN Output voltage of the dimming intaceis compared with voltage of a timing capacitor in the dimming interface, thereby a reference phase is generated and provided to the phase t cnt ircuit In Fig.S, a pin CS provides current detection input; voltageat pin CS has a zero crossing point proportional with the phase angle between ament and voltage of the lamp.

The actual phase of the lan4 can be obtained by detecting the zero crossing point at pin CS. Then a feedback control to the dimming powerlevel can be realized by comparing the 16/17

IF~

zero crossing point (the actual phase) with the reference phase received by the dimming signal input pin DIM. As described above, the actual phase is compared with the preset o reference phase by a phase comparator in the phase control circuit. A phase error between the reference phase and the actual phase cause the frequency ofthe VCO changed, thus the S phase erroris drivento zero. The VCO is connected wth an internal 15 A power supply, CI which discharge to a capacitor Cvco exterr coupled to the VCO during the dimming operation, thereby the oscillating frequency is decreased ta locked value, and the half 01 bridge driving circuit is driven to provide HO andLO outputs to the high side and lowside switches. Thus the fluorescent lamp is driven to a desired brightness Therefore, the S remote dimmable energy-saving device ofthe present invention can adjust the lamp to any o brightness level inthe full brightess range; that is to say, the brightness ofthelanm can be adjusted to anyvalue from 0% to 100%, to satisfy different requirements of different users. Further, the power consumption is saved.

As shown in Fig5 and Fig 8, the dimming control IC further comprises a fault logic 378. During dimming operation, a current in the half bridge electronic switching circuit that is proportional wth lamp crrent is detected at the current detection pin CS, then the signal is provided to the fault logic 378 When an over current is detected, the faultlogic can shut down the half bridge driving circuit the pins HO and LO. Additionally, a over-temperature detection and a under-volta ge detection are provided in the IC as inputs to the faultlogic 378 to allowing shutting down the half bridge driving circuit, the pins HO and LO in the event of over-tempeature or under-voltage.

End 17/17

Claims (4)

1. 6. WHAT ARE CLAIMED IS (The Specifications): 1. A remote dimming controller comprises a remote control transmitter used to control the brightness of the fluorescent tube in the batten installed with the dimmable energy-saving device, built in with the remote control receiver integrated with the dimmable electronic ballast. There are three kind of remote controls as basically developed, one with 4 channel RF remote control as shown in Fig la of page 6/17. The second one, also with 4 channel RF remote controller in a power switch fitting is as shown in Fig lb of page 6/17. Users can use the controller to remotely adjust and set the desired brightness level for best lighting environment as well as 4 different channels and at same time, for energy saving. The third remote controller as shown in Fig lc of page 6/17 is a most handy and simplest way to dim lighting and turn off by using a key chain remote control. Users can use the controller to remotely turn the lighting On Off and set the desired brightness level for different lighting environment such as different brightness for reading and watching movies. And at the same time, user can save electricity energy by minimising undesired brightness. The remote dimmable controller working with the remote dimming device can select to control up to 4 sets of fluorescent lamps, each set can be tens of lamps, with 4 different channels or IDs. A signal processing circuit of the remote control receiver and a ballasting control circuit of the dimmable electronic ballast are integrated into a single dimming control integrated circuit is as shown in Fig 5, the dimming control integrated circuit with external channel switch. A decoding and a RAM circuit that is adapted to decode a received dimming signal and access the program by the user; A D/A converting circuit that is adapted to convert a digital dimming I signal outputted from the decoding circuit into an analog dimming signal; A dimming interface that is adapted to receive the analog dimming. signal and provide a reference phase; SA phase control circuit that is adapted to compare the reference phase INO with the detected actual phase and generate an error signal; A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) that is adapted to change an oscillating frequency so as to drive the error signal to zero; A half bridge driving circuit that is driven by a output of the VCO, thereby providing high HO and low LO outputs to a half bridge electronic Sswitches. 2. The remote dimmable energy-saving device of claim 2, wherein said device enables a user to control brightness level in the full brightness range of the lamp tube and the level of brightness can be predetermined and set from 0-100%, 10-100% or a range in accordance to the market's requirement. 3. The remote dimming controller of claim 1 (per Fig wherein said remote control transmitter comprises a encoding and a RAM circuit as programmed by the user and a transmitting circuit, which encodes the dimming setting by users and then transmit to the remote dimmable energy-saving device via a wireless manner. The program by user at the remote controller will be encoded and transmitted to the receiver in the remote dimmable energy-saving device for decoding, controlling and dimming the fluorescent lamps. 4. The remote dimmable energy-saving device of claim 3, wherein said remote control transmitter comprises a ID Identity) encoding selection circuit, which is adapted to work in a specific channels and/or in a different ID/channel by a user to encode the dimming signal; said dimmable energy-saving device consists of a control integrated circuit further comprises a channel selection circuit, which is adapted to work with a corresponding channel or a ID/channel according to the setting of the 3/17 I I remote control transmitter, to decode the received dimming signal. Furthermore, user can select the channel switch (per Fig 5) in the dimmable energy-saving device for the lamp under control, and the user simultaneously set the remote controller to work with the corresponding channel number as desired. The remote dimming controller of claim 1, wherein said remote control transmitter comprises a encoding and a RAM circuit as programmed by the user and a transmitting circuit, which encodes the dimming setting from users and then transmit to the remote dimmable energy-saving device via RF (Radio Frequency) wireless manner. The encoding circuit in the remote controller and the decoding circuit in the dimmable energy-saving device contain memory-programming device (RAM for multi channel selection for distinguishing individual remote dimmable energy-saving device or fluorescent lamp. 6. The fluorescent lamp in a lighting batten or a fitting with a remote dimming energy-saving device of claim 6, wherein a signal processing circuit of the remote control receiver and a ballasting control circuit of the dimmable electronic ballast are integrated into a single dimming control integrated circuit comprising: A decoding and RAM circuit that is adapted to decode and process a received dimming signal; A D/A converting circuit that is adapted to convert a digital dimming signal outputted from the decoding circuit into an analog dimming signal; A dimming interface that is adapted to receive the analog dimming signal and provide a reference phase; A phase control circuit that is adapted to compare the reference phase with the detected actual phase and generate an error signal; A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) that is adapted to change an oscillating frequency so as to drive the error signal to zero; A half bridge driving circuit that is driven by a output of the VCO, thereby providing high HO and low LO outputs to a half bridge electronic 4/17 switches.
2. 7. The fluorescent lamp of claim 7, in a lighting batten or a fitting with a remote dimming energy-saving device, wherein said device enables user to control brightness level in the full brightness range of the lamp tube and the level of brightness can be predetermined and set from 0-100%, 00% or a range in accordance to the market's requirement.
3. 8. The remote dimming controller (per Fig I wherein said remote control transmitter uses a standard power switch fitting, with 2 wires connecting to the mains supply, comprising a AC/DC converter, an encoding RAM for dimming setting and channel selection, wherein transmitting to the remote dimmable energy-saving device. The channel or lamp can be either selected from the remote dimming controller embodied in the switch fitting or at the remote dimmable energy-saving device for distinguishing individual lamps.
4. 9. The remote dimming controller (per Fig Ic), wherein said remote control transmitter uses a simple 4 button key ring, with a watch battery as power supply, comprising a encoding and a RAM for dimming and ON/OFF setting from users and then transmitting to the fluorescent lamps containing a remote dimmable energy-saving device for control via RF wireless manner. For Channel selection version, the remote dimming controller (per Fig l wherein said remote control transmitter is a hand held controller, using a car remote control 12V battery as power supply, comprising a encoding and a RAM for dimming and ON/OFF and channel setting from users and then transmitting to the fluorescent lamps containing a remote dimmable energy-saving device for control via RF wireless manner. End ofClaimed 5/17