CN101870273B - Flasher and control method thereof - Google Patents

Flasher and control method thereof Download PDF

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Publication number
CN101870273B
CN101870273B CN 200910082544 CN200910082544A CN101870273B CN 101870273 B CN101870273 B CN 101870273B CN 200910082544 CN200910082544 CN 200910082544 CN 200910082544 A CN200910082544 A CN 200910082544A CN 101870273 B CN101870273 B CN 101870273B
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Prior art keywords
relays
circuit
flash
mcu
relay
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CN 200910082544
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CN101870273A (en
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周伟波
刘畅
王金文
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Beijing Jingwei Hirain Tech Co Ltd
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Beijing Jingwei Hirain Tech Co Ltd
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Abstract

The invention discloses a control method of a flasher. The flasher comprises a plurality of relays, wherein each relay controls the flashing of one or one group of corresponding vehicle lamps and is provided with an input loop for controlling the opening or closing of a contact thereof and an output loop for supplying power to the corresponding vehicle lamp. The control method comprises the following steps of: controlling to cut off the output loops of the plurality of relays; controlling to close the contacts of one or more relays; controlling to close the contact of one of the plurality of relays; and controlling to close the output loops of the plurality of relays to ignite the vehicle lamps corresponding to the relays. The invention also provides the flasher controlled by the method. Because no electricity exists in the output loop for supplying power to the vehicle lamp when the contact of the relay is switched, the contact works without electricity during the contact switching of the relay so as to prolong the life of the flasher.

Description

Flasher and control method thereof
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a flash and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a composite flash for a vehicle and a control method thereof, which have both characteristics of a relay type flash and a contactless type flash.
Background
Most of the vehicle flashers in the market at present are relay type or contactless (also called pure electronic type) flashers. The relay type flasher has the defects that sparks are generated when the relay contact is closed, the flasher is easy to burn out, and the service life is influenced; the contactless flasher has no mechanical contact and is controlled by circuit to flash lamp, so that although the short-circuit resistance is poor, some contactless flashers with short-circuit protection and detection function have complicated circuit, high cost and high price compared with those of relay flashers. In addition, in some low-cost flashers in the market, the broken wires of the car lamps cannot be reliably alarmed, so that drivers cannot know that the car lamps are damaged in time, the traffic regulations are violated on the road of the car, and potential safety hazards are more easily caused; or a driver changes the vehicle lamp privately, the rated power of the load is exceeded, or a circuit is short-circuited, so that the control circuit is burnt; or a certain loop of the flasher is in failure, so that the whole vehicle body indicating lamp stops working or does not work normally.
Disclosure of Invention
The technical problem underlying the present invention is to provide a flash and a control method thereof, which reduce or avoid the aforementioned problems.
Specifically, the present invention provides a flash device and a control method thereof, which have the characteristics of both a relay type flash device and a contactless type flash device, wherein no spark is generated when the relay contact is closed, and the circuit is simple compared with the contactless type flash device, the cost is relatively low, and the cost performance is high.
In order to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a control method for a flasher, the flasher includes a plurality of relays, each relay controls one or a group of corresponding lamps to flash, each relay has an input circuit for controlling the opening and closing of its contact and an output circuit for supplying power to its corresponding lamp, the control method includes the following steps:
controlling the output circuits of the plurality of relays to be opened, and then controlling the contact points of one or more relays to be closed; then, the contact of one of the relays is controlled to be closed, and then the output circuits of the relays are controlled to be closed, so that the vehicle lamp corresponding to the relay is turned on.
The invention also provides a flasher controlled by the control method, wherein the flasher further comprises an electronic switch which controls the opening and closing of all the output circuits of the plurality of relays; the contacts of one or more of the relays are closed only after the electronic switch opens the output circuit of the plurality of relays; and, only after the contact of one of the relays is closed, the electronic switch closes the output circuit of the relays, and lights the vehicle lamp corresponding to the relay.
Preferably, the electronic switch comprises at least one controllable N-MOS.
Preferably, the flash further comprises an MCU to control the plurality of relays and the electronic switch.
Preferably, the flash further comprises an N-MOS drive circuit, and the MCU controls the opening and closing of the N-MOS through the N-MOS drive circuit.
Preferably, the flash device further comprises an N-MOS short-circuit protection circuit, and when one of the vehicle lamps is short-circuited, the N-MOS short-circuit protection circuit controls the N-MOS driving circuit to be turned off and sends a short-circuit signal to the MCU to turn off the flash function of the vehicle lamp.
Preferably, the MCU may be connected to the relays through an underload and/or overload detection circuit corresponding to each relay, and when the underload and/or overload detection circuit detects one or more of the lamps under-load and/or overload, the underload and/or overload detection circuit signals the detected underload and/or overload to the MCU control alarm.
Preferably, the MCU controls alarm through a fault indication circuit, and the fault indication circuit is provided with a short-circuit protection circuit to protect the fault indication circuit.
Preferably, the MCU detects a change in external voltage through a voltage detection circuit, and turns off a flash function of the lamp when a high voltage is detected.
Preferably, the MCU is connected to an external power source through a power management circuit to supply power to the MCU and provide reverse connection protection.
According to the flasher and the control method thereof provided by the invention, when the contact of the relay is switched, no electricity exists in the output loop for supplying power to the vehicle lamp, so that the contact of the relay is not electrified to work when being switched, namely, the contact of the relay is not electrified when being closed or disconnected, therefore, sparks are not generated when the contact acts, and the service life of the flasher is prolonged.
In addition, the flasher also provides various protection circuits, so that the vehicle lamp control and the danger alarm control can be reliably carried out in a wide voltage range, correct detection, protection and fault indication can be carried out when each vehicle lamp is overloaded and underloaded, and the wire breakage alarm and short-circuit protection can be reliably realized.
Drawings
The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating and explaining the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. Wherein,
fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a flash device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a flash device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
In order to more clearly understand the technical features, objects, and effects of the present invention, embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherein like parts are given like reference numerals.
Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing the construction of a flash according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is a composite flash for a vehicle, having both the features of a relay type flash and a contactless type flash. Specifically, the flash of the present invention is more similar to a conventional relay-type flash, but in order to avoid the drawbacks described in the background section, an electronic switch is added to the relay-type flash, so that the contacts of the relay do not work electrically when switched.
As shown in the figure, the flasher of the present invention comprises a plurality of relays 2, each relay 2 controls one or a group of corresponding lamps 1 to flash, and each relay 2 has an input circuit 22 for controlling the opening and closing of its contact 21 and an output circuit 23 for supplying power to its corresponding lamp 1. The flash device further comprises an electronic switch 24, which electronic switch 24 controls the opening and closing of all output circuits 23 of the plurality of relays 2.
The general relay type flasher does not comprise an electronic switch 24, and an output loop 23 is directly connected with the vehicle lamp 1, so when a contact 21 of a relay 2 is opened and closed, electric sparks are generated, the relay is easy to burn, and the service life is influenced. The conventional contactless flashers do not include the relay 2, and the vehicle lamp 1 is controlled to flash only by the electronic switch 24, but the short-circuit resistance is poor, and some contactless flashers with short-circuit protection and detection functions have complex circuits, and the cost is greatly increased and the price is higher compared with that of the relay flashers.
In the invention, the relay 2 corresponding to each vehicle lamp 1 is still used for controlling the flash of the vehicle lamp, and the electronic switch 24 is used for controlling the opening and closing of the output loops 23 of all the relays 2, so that only one electronic switch 24 is needed to control the contact points 21 of all the relays 2 not to work with points when the contacts are switched, therefore, no spark is generated when the contact points 21 act, and the service life of the flasher is prolonged compared with a relay flasher. Moreover, only one electronic switch 24 is needed to be added to the relay type flasher, so that the cost is not increased much compared with the cost increased by a plurality of relays 2, but the service life of the relays can be greatly prolonged, and the cost performance is relatively high.
On the other hand, since a single electronic switch often requires a corresponding driving circuit, a protection circuit and the like, which is very costly relative to a single relay, if each vehicle lamp is provided with a corresponding electronic switch to control the flashing like a contactless flasher, the cost is significantly higher than that of a relay-type flasher and also higher than that of the composite flasher of the present invention.
In addition, because the contactless flasher needs additional components to generate switching sound in the process of controlling the flashing of the vehicle lamp (the flasher needs to generate the switching sound in the process of controlling the flashing of the vehicle lamp in all countries), the composite flasher provided by the invention keeps a relay, so that the relay can generate natural switching sound when the contacts of the relay are switched, and additional sounding components are not needed. Compared with a non-contact flasher which needs to be provided with a set of sounding components corresponding to each vehicle lamp, the composite flasher further reduces the cost and improves the competitiveness of products.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic switch 24 may be an N-channel field effect transistor (N-MOS), which is simpler and cheaper than other types of electronic switches, such as a P-channel field effect transistor (P-MOS) or a silicon controlled rectifier, and the N-MOS may also satisfy the requirement of the present invention in terms of function and reliability since it is still the corresponding relay that controls each lamp to flash. Of course, the present invention may also employ P-MOS or SCR as the electronic switch 24.
When the flasher shown in the figure works, it can be set that the contact 21 of one or more relays 2 is controlled to be closed only after the electronic switch 24 opens the 2 output circuit 23 of the plurality of relays; only after the contact 21 of one of the relays 2 is closed, the electronic switch 24 is controlled to close the output circuit 23 of the relay 2, and the lamp 1 corresponding to the relay 2 is turned on. In this way, when the contacts 21 of the relay 2 are closed or opened, the output circuit 23 for powering the lamp 1 is open, so that the switching of the contacts 21 is not electrically charged and therefore does not generate sparks.
The specific operation flow is that when the vehicle needs to turn to a left direction, for example, when the vehicle needs to turn to a left direction, the left side vehicle needs to flash, and in a state that the left side vehicle 1 is turned on, the electronic switch 24 and the contact 21 of the relay 2 corresponding to the vehicle are both closed, so that the electronic switch 24 is controlled to disconnect the output loops 23 of all the relays 2, then the contact 21 of the relay 2 is controlled to be disconnected, and the left side vehicle 1 is turned off; the lighting process of the left lamp 1 is then started: when the electronic switch 24 is still in an off state, the contact 21 of the relay 2 corresponding to the left vehicle lamp 1 is closed, and then the electronic switch 24 is controlled to close the output loop 23 to light the vehicle lamp 1; and circulating in turn. In the state that the left lamp 1 is turned off, the contact 21 of the relay 2 corresponding to the electronic switch 24 and the left lamp 1 are both opened, so that in the state that the electronic switch 24 is still opened, the contact 21 of the relay 2 corresponding to the left lamp 1 is firstly closed, and then the electronic switch 24 is controlled to close the output loop 23 to light the lamp 1; then, the turning-off process of the left lamp 1 is started: firstly, the electronic switch 24 is disconnected from the output loop 23, then the contact 21 of the relay 2 corresponding to the left vehicle lamp 1 is controlled to be disconnected, and the left vehicle lamp 1 is turned off; and circulating in turn.
The working process of the flasher of the present invention is described above by taking the left vehicle lamp as an example, and those skilled in the art should be able to easily generalize the flasher to other situations where the vehicle lamp needs to be controlled to flash, and the details are not repeated here.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a flash device according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which each relay 2 is simplified to a block representation. As shown, the flash further comprises a Microcontroller (MCU) 3 to control at least one relay 2 and a corresponding N-MOS 24 as electronic switch. In fig. 2, a plurality of relays 2 are shown, and all relays 2 control the power supply to a plurality of vehicle lamps 1 through one N-MOS 24.
The invention needs to simultaneously control the opening and closing of the output loops of a plurality of relays 2 through one N-MOS, and simultaneously considers the problem of the mutual matching of the N-MOS and each relay, so that the invention needs to provide relatively high-precision oscillation frequency and ensure that the frequency is not influenced by the external environment. Therefore, the invention adopts the MCU, utilizes the crystal oscillator therein to generate the clock frequency, and ensures the accuracy of the flash frequency of the flasher. In contrast, if the oscillation circuit is used to generate the oscillation frequency, the frequency will change with the temperature and voltage changes, and the error is large, while the oscillation frequency provided by the MCU is stable and reliable, and has small change with the environment. Of course, the present invention may also employ an external crystal oscillator to generate the desired clock frequency.
The N-MOS 24 requires a higher voltage to drive than other kinds of electronic switches, and therefore, the flash device of the present invention may further include an N-MOS driving circuit 25, and the MCU 3 controls the opening and closing of the N-MOS 24 through the N-MOS driving circuit 25. In order to protect the N-MOS 24 from being burned out by short circuit, the flash device of the present invention may further include an N-MOS short-circuit protection circuit 26, wherein when the vehicle lamp 1 is short-circuited, the N-MOS short-circuit protection circuit 26 may control the N-MOS driving circuit 25 to turn off, and send a short-circuit signal to the MCU 3 to turn off the flash function of the vehicle lamp 1.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the MCU 3 may be connected to the relays 2 through an overload detection circuit 4 corresponding to each relay 2, and when the overload detection circuit 4 detects that the vehicle lamp 1 is overloaded, for example, when the vehicle lamp 1 has an overcurrent fault, the overload detection circuit 4 sends a detected overload signal to the MCU 3 to control an alarm, for example, to provide an alarm signal through the fault indicator lamp 14.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the MCU 3 may be connected to the relays 2 through an underload detection circuit 5 corresponding to each relay 2, and when the underload detection circuit 5 detects an underload of the vehicle lamp 1, for example, when the vehicle lamp 1 has a wire break fault, the underload detection circuit 5 sends a detected underload signal to the MCU 3 to control an alarm, for example, an alarm signal is provided through the fault indicator 14.
In a specific embodiment of the invention, the MCU 3 may control the alarm by a fault indication circuit 13 corresponding to a fault indication lamp 14, the fault indication circuit 13 being provided with a short circuit protection circuit 12 to protect the fault indication circuit 13.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the MCU 3 may detect a change in external voltage through the voltage detection circuit 9, and turn off the flash function of the lamp 1 when a high voltage is detected.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the MCU 3 may detect the external switch state through the switch detection circuit 10 to detect whether the left steering switch, the right steering switch or the hazard switch is active.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the MCU 3 may be connected to an external power source through the power management circuit 11 to implement power supply and reverse connection protection of the MCU 3. For example, a diode may be included in the power management circuit 11, and when the power and ground are connected in reverse, the MCU will not be burned out due to the protection of the diode.
It should be appreciated by those of skill in the art that while the present invention has been described in terms of several embodiments, not every embodiment includes only a single embodiment. The description is given for clearness of understanding only, and it is to be understood that all matters in the embodiments are to be interpreted as including technical equivalents which are related to the embodiments and which are combined with each other to illustrate the scope of the present invention. The above description is only an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any equivalent alterations, modifications and combinations can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and principles of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. A method for controlling a flashlight including a plurality of relays, each of said relays controlling one or a group of corresponding lights to flash, each of said relays having an input circuit for controlling the opening and closing of its contacts and an output circuit for supplying power to its corresponding light, said method comprising the steps of:
controlling the output circuits of the plurality of relays to be opened, and then controlling the contact points of one or more relays to be closed; then, the contact of one of the relays is controlled to be closed, then the output loop of one of the relays is controlled to be closed, and the vehicle lamp corresponding to the relay is lightened;
the flasher also comprises an electronic switch which controls the opening and closing of all the output loops of the plurality of relays; wherein,
the contacts of one or more of the relays are closed only after the electronic switch opens the output circuit of the plurality of relays; and,
and only after the contact of one of the relays is closed, the electronic switch closes the output loops of the relays to light the vehicle lamp corresponding to the relay.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic switch comprises at least one controllable N-MOS.
3. The control method of the flash according to claim 2, wherein the flash further comprises an MCU to control the plurality of relays and the electronic switch.
4. The control method of the flash device according to claim 3, wherein the flash device further comprises an N-MOS driving circuit, and the MCU controls the opening and closing of the N-MOS by the N-MOS driving circuit.
5. The control method of the flasher according to claim 4, wherein the flasher further comprises an N-MOS short-circuit protection circuit, when one of the vehicle lamps is short-circuited, the N-MOS short-circuit protection circuit controls the N-MOS driving circuit to be closed, and sends a short-circuit signal to the MCU to close the flash function of the vehicle lamp.
6. The method of controlling a flash unit according to claim 5, wherein said MCU is connectable to said relays by an under-run and/or over-run detection circuit corresponding to each relay, said under-run and/or over-run detection circuit signalling to said MCU control an alarm of a detected under-run and/or over-run when it detects one or more of said vehicle lights under-run and/or over-run.
7. The control method of the flash of claim 6, wherein the MCU controls an alarm through a fault indication circuit provided with a short-circuit protection circuit to protect the fault indication circuit.
8. The control method of the flasher according to claim 3, wherein the MCU detects an external voltage variation through a voltage detection circuit, and turns off a flash function of the lamp when a high voltage is detected.
9. The control method of the flash according to claim 3, wherein the MCU is connected to an external power source through a power management circuit to power the MCU and provide reverse connection protection.
CN 200910082544 2009-04-24 2009-04-24 Flasher and control method thereof Expired - Fee Related CN101870273B (en)

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Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102011005582A1 (en) * 2011-03-15 2012-09-20 Automotive Lighting Reutlingen Gmbh Lighting device for a motor vehicle with a redundant control of light sources
CN109878411B (en) * 2019-04-12 2024-04-05 福建船政交通职业学院 Electric heating wire type flasher circuit capable of automatically switching between two gears

Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB780549A (en) * 1955-08-19 1957-08-07 Hollins J R Signaling device
US3002127A (en) * 1959-10-14 1961-09-26 Signal Stat Corp Oscillator controlled flashing signal lamp circuit
US3188623A (en) * 1960-02-08 1965-06-08 Master Specialties Company Free running multivibrator circuit energizing an indicator circuit
CN2101612U (en) * 1991-09-24 1992-04-15 石求新 Delay flashing relay for lamp of car
US5309142A (en) * 1991-04-25 1994-05-03 Temic Telefunken Microelectronic Gmbh Electronic flasher unit
CN2286126Y (en) * 1997-03-18 1998-07-15 李泽辉 Flash controller for lamp of vehicle
WO2005009786A1 (en) * 2003-06-23 2005-02-03 Jean-Paul Degaches Device for improving the effectiveness of hazard warning lamps of motor vehicles or trailers

Patent Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB780549A (en) * 1955-08-19 1957-08-07 Hollins J R Signaling device
US3002127A (en) * 1959-10-14 1961-09-26 Signal Stat Corp Oscillator controlled flashing signal lamp circuit
US3188623A (en) * 1960-02-08 1965-06-08 Master Specialties Company Free running multivibrator circuit energizing an indicator circuit
US5309142A (en) * 1991-04-25 1994-05-03 Temic Telefunken Microelectronic Gmbh Electronic flasher unit
CN2101612U (en) * 1991-09-24 1992-04-15 石求新 Delay flashing relay for lamp of car
CN2286126Y (en) * 1997-03-18 1998-07-15 李泽辉 Flash controller for lamp of vehicle
WO2005009786A1 (en) * 2003-06-23 2005-02-03 Jean-Paul Degaches Device for improving the effectiveness of hazard warning lamps of motor vehicles or trailers

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Address after: 4 / F, building 1, No.14 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020

Patentee after: Beijing Jingwei Hirain Technologies Co.,Inc.

Address before: 100101 Beijing city Chaoyang District Anxiang Lane No. 11 Beijing building B block 8 layer

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