Summary of the invention
The present invention attempts to alleviate at least one problem in the problem discussed in conjunction with prior art above.
The present invention can relate to several broad form.Embodiments of the invention can comprise one or combination in any of different broad form described herein.
In the first broad form, the invention provides a kind of device, described device is configured to be electrically connected with load, to control the output of described load, described device comprises:
Circuit, it is for changing the angle of flow of the input AC power supplies voltage being applied to described load;
Current scanning instrument, it is for scanning in response to the change angle of flow of the described input AC power supplies voltage being applied to described load at least one current forms flowing through described load;
Digital signal processing unit, it is electrically coupled to described current scanning instrument and described circuit, described digital signal processing unit is configured to reference to certain pattern to confirm the service load type of described load, and described pattern shows the relation between at least one current forms of scanning and the described change angle of flow of described input AC power supplies voltage;
Wherein said digital signal processing unit is configured to apply at least one in multiple predictive mode of operation, to control based on the described output of confirmation service load type to described load of described load.
Usually, described load can comprise at least one in light-emitting device, fan and space heater.
Usually, at least one in the following manner can be configured to change the described angle of flow for the described circuit of the described angle of flow changing described input AC power supplies voltage: within the scope of the first predetermined angle of flow, increase the described angle of flow gradually; And within the scope of the second predetermined angle of flow, reduce the described angle of flow gradually.
Preferably, described current scanning instrument can be configured to scan at least one in following current forms:
(a) absolute current mean value;
(b) half period current average;
(c) rms current; And
(d) current integration.
Preferably, described digital signal processing unit can be configured at least one feature with reference to described pattern to confirm the described service load type of described load.Usually, described feature can comprise at least one in following item:
Breakover point in (a) described pattern;
Greatest gradient in (b) described pattern;
Minimum slope in (c) described pattern;
Monotone decreasing in (d) described pattern;
Monotonic increase in (e) described pattern;
Local paddy in (f) described pattern; And
Peak in (g) described pattern.
Preferably, with reference at least one feature described in described pattern, described digital signal processing unit can be configured to confirm at least one in following item further:
A () is minimum starts (kick-start) angle of flow, and described minimum output of starting the angle of flow to be provided for described load suitably starts; And
B the least part of () described angle of flow, described least part will be blocked to make towards relatively low final output to change the described output of described load.
Preferably, the described service load type of described load can comprise at least one in following item: the nonlinear load of linear load, tunable optical, and can not the nonlinear load of light modulation.
Preferably, described digital signal processing unit can be configured to perform pattern recognition algorithm, thus identifies the described service load type of described load.
Preferably, described digital signal processing unit can be configured to the current forms digitlization that at least one scanned.
Preferably, described digital signal processing unit can be configured at least one current forms normalization scanned described.
Preferably, described digital signal processing unit can be configured to leach noise from least one current forms scanned described.
Preferably, described predictive mode of operation can comprise at least one in following item:
(a) linear operation mode, the operation for the described output of the described load to linear load type controls;
The nonlinear operation pattern of (b) tunable optical, operation for the described output of the described load of the nonlinear load type to tunable optical controls, the nonlinear operation pattern configurations of described tunable optical becomes that at least one in the following item of application is minimum starts angle, and described minimum output of starting angle to be provided for described load suitably starts; And the least part of the described angle of flow, described least part will be blocked to make towards relatively low final output to change the described output of described load; And
C () can not the nonlinear operation pattern of light modulation, for can not the operation of described output of described load of nonlinear load type of light modulation control.
Preferably, at least one in described predictive mode of operation can be configured to be resistive or capacitive character in response to described load and carry out rear along phase-cut dimming to described input AC power supplies voltage, and carries out forward position phase-cut dimming in response to described load is inductive to described input AC power supplies voltage.
Preferably, described can not the nonlinear operation pattern of light modulation can be configured to the on/off of described input AC power supplies voltage to be supplied to described can not the nonlinear load of light modulation.
Preferably, for rear edge or forward position phase-cut dimming, dimming scope can be arranged for the angle of flow between 0 ° to 180 °.
In the second broad form, the invention provides a kind of method for controlling the output of load, said method comprising the steps of:
(i), in response to the change angle of flow of input AC power supplies voltage being applied to described load, at least one current forms of described load is flow through in scanning;
(ii) confirm the service load type of described load with reference to certain pattern, described pattern shows the relation between the described change angle of flow of at least one current forms scanned and described input AC power supplies voltage; And
(iii) apply at least one in multiple predictive mode of operation, to control based on the described output of confirmation service load type to described load of described load.
Usually, described load can comprise at least one in light-emitting device, fan and space heater.
Usually, can in the following manner at least one change the described angle of flow of described input AC power supplies voltage: within the scope of the first predetermined angle of flow, increase the described angle of flow gradually; And within the scope of the second predetermined angle of flow, reduce the described angle of flow gradually.
Preferably, at least one in following current forms can be scanned:
(a) absolute current mean value;
(b) half period current average;
(c) rms current; And
(d) current integration.
Preferably, the described service load type of described load can be confirmed with reference at least one feature of described pattern.Usually, described feature can comprise at least one in following item:
Breakover point in (a) described pattern;
Greatest gradient in (b) described pattern;
Minimum slope in (c) described pattern;
Monotone decreasing in (d) described pattern;
Monotonic increase in (e) described pattern;
Local paddy in (f) described pattern; And
Peak in (g) described pattern.
Preferably, with reference at least one feature described in described pattern, at least one in following item can be confirmed:
A () is minimum starts the angle of flow, and described minimum output of starting the angle of flow to be provided for described load suitably starts; And
B the least part of () described angle of flow, described least part will be blocked to make towards relatively low final output to change the described output of described load.
Preferably, the described service load type of described load can comprise at least one in following item: the nonlinear load of linear load, tunable optical, and can not the nonlinear load of light modulation.
Preferably, the described service load type of described load can be confirmed by application pattern recognition algorithm.
Preferably, can by least one current forms digitlization scanned described.
Preferably, can by least one current forms normalization scanned described.
Preferably, filtering can be carried out at least one current forms scanned described, to remove denoising.
Preferably, described predictive mode of operation can comprise at least one in following item:
(a) linear operation mode, the operation for the described output of the described load to linear load type controls;
The nonlinear operation pattern of (b) tunable optical, operation for the described output of the described load of the nonlinear load type to tunable optical controls, the nonlinear operation pattern configurations of described tunable optical becomes to provide at least one in following item: describedly minimumly start the angle of flow, and described minimum output of starting the angle of flow to be provided for described load suitably starts; And the described least part of the described angle of flow, described least part will be blocked to make towards described relatively low final output to change the described output of described load; And
C () can not the nonlinear operation pattern of light modulation, for can not the operation of described output of described load of nonlinear load type of light modulation control.
Preferably, at least one in described predictive mode of operation can be configured to be resistive or capacitive character in response to described load and carry out rear along phase-cut dimming to described input AC power supplies voltage, and carries out forward position phase-cut dimming in response to described load is inductive to described input AC power supplies voltage.
Preferably, described can not the nonlinear operation pattern of light modulation can be configured to the on/off of described input AC power supplies voltage to be supplied to described can not the nonlinear load of light modulation.
Preferably, for rear edge or forward position phase-cut dimming, dimming scope can be arranged for the angle of flow between 0 ° to 180 °.
Advantageously, owing to having remained capacity ability and the selection of automatic operation control model, the present invention can operate together with conventional linear load and nonlinear load, wherein said conventional linear load such as incandescent lamp and appendiron core transformer low-voltage halogen lamp, described nonlinear load comprise tunable optical/can not light modulation compact fluorescent lamp, there is the fluorescence tubular lamp of electric ballast, and tunable optical/can not the LED of light modulation.
Also advantageously, the present invention does not require that any manual configuration and/or Programming just can normal operations, and only just can operate after being installed in series with light-emitting device.
Should be further appreciated that the light-emitting device service load type because the present invention is applicable in a big way, comprise linear unit and non-linear device, therefore the present invention presents sizable commercial appeal.
Embodiment
Referring now to Fig. 1 to Fig. 4, the preferred embodiments of the present invention are described.For exemplary object, embodiment described herein only relates to light-emitting device 8) carry out controllable dimming.But those skilled in the art will appreciate that, the alternate embodiment clearly do not described herein can be applicable to carry out controllable dimming to the output of other types device, such as, thermal output of fan speed, space heater etc.
The first embodiment light modulating device 1 shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 2 A and Fig. 2 B can be disposed for two-wire or the electrical connection of three lines.In fig. 2, under two-wire configured in series, the conducting terminal 6 of light modulating device 1 is connected to AC primary, voltage source 7 and (linear or non-linear) light-emitting device 8 of 50/60Hz.Or Fig. 2 B depicts employing three line and configures the light modulating device, AC primary, voltage source 7 and the light-emitting device 8 that couple together.In three line configurations, dimmer arrangement 1 comprises extra conducting terminal 6', to be connected with light-emitting device 8 with AC primary, voltage source 7.
Light modulating device 1 also comprises: circuit (not shown), and described circuit is for changing the angle of flow of the voltage being applied to light-emitting device 8; Current scanning instrument 4; And digital signal processing unit 2, described digital signal processing unit is electrically coupled to described current scanning instrument and circuit.Such as, digital signal processing unit 2 can be microcomputer, and comprises analog to digital converter 2a and memory (memory store) 2b.Computer program embeds in memory in 2b, and described computer program can perform on digital signal processing unit 2, digital signal processing unit 2 to be configured to the one or more functions performed in function described herein.
When light modulating device 1 is initial and light-emitting device 8 and AC main power source 7 are connected in series (as shown in Figure 2 A and 2 B), digital signal processing unit 2 and current scanning instrument 4 are configured to be changed in response to the angle of flow of the voltage being applied to light-emitting device 8, and the current forms that light modulating device 1 is crossed in automatic convection current scans.As an example, in this embodiment, the mode changing the described angle of flow is, the angle of flow of voltage is increased to relative maximum conduction angle (being called " electric current rises and scans ") gradually from the relatively minimum angle of flow, and the described angle of flow is reduced to the relatively minimum angle of flow (being called " electric current declines and scans ") gradually from relatively maximum.The step of electric current rising scanning and electric current decline scanning represents with block 100 in flow chart 3.Digital signal processing unit 2 combines with suitable change-over circuit, is configured to automatically change the described angle of flow during sweep current form.Those skilled in the art is known and understand this type of circuit, therefore, can not discuss in detail further herein.
The current forms that digital signal processing unit 2 and current scanning instrument 4 scan in response to changing voltage can comprise:
(a) absolute current mean value;
(b) half period current average;
(c) rms current; And/or
(d) current integration.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, the angle of flow of voltage is the part be used in the work period (such as, the sinusoidal voltage of 360 °) as light-emitting device 8 power supply.In this embodiment, because dimming period only considers half work period, therefore for half work period, the relatively minimum angle of flow is 0 °, and maximum conduction angle is 180 ° relatively.In alternative embodiments, the angle of flow scope scanned can change certainly where necessary.As an example, in an embodiment of the present invention, for positive half period, the minimum angle of flow can be 0 ° or be greater than 0 °, and maximum conduction angle can be 180 ° or be less than 180 °.For negative half-cycle, the minimum angle of flow can be 180 ° or be greater than 180 °, and maximum conduction angle can be 360 ° or be less than 360 °.
After the angle of flow in response to the voltage being applied to light-emitting device 8 increases gradually and reduces and scan each current forms, represent that the data of the current forms scanned are fed to current processing unit 3 from current scanning instrument 4, then be fed to digital signal processing unit 2, described digital signal processing unit uses analog to digital converter 2a by described Data Digital.Subsequently, digital data recording, in digital signal processing unit memory 2b, processes for further and analyze.The step of the current forms Data Digital scanned is represented with block 110 in flow chart 3.
Digital signal processing unit 2 be configured to current forms by scanning normalized come data described in preliminary treatment, but also provide noise filtering, so that relatively significantly distortion in the current forms data scanned described in eliminating.By normalized for the current forms scanned and represent with block 120 in flow chart 3 step that it carries out noise filtering.
Relation between the angle of flow of the described current forms data that scan and increase and the angle of flow of minimizing can represent intuitively with two dimensional image form.As an example, Fig. 4 A, Fig. 4 B, Fig. 4 C and the curve chart pattern shown in Fig. 4 D show the relation between the average line current forms data that some exemplary scan arrives and the voltage turn-on angle of increase/minimizing, these figure respectively for incandescent lamp, there is capacitive load property (such as, there is electronic transformer) linear operation lamp, tunable optical compact fluorescent lamp, and can not the compact fluorescent lamp of light modulation.The line X shown in each figure in Fig. 4 A to Fig. 4 D represents that electric current declines the pattern of the angle of flow of the average line current forms data that scan and minimizing, and the line Y shown in each figure in Fig. 4 A to Fig. 4 D represents electric current rises the pattern of the angle of flow of the average line current forms data that scan and increase.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, when being different from the voltage turn-on angle of the current forms of average line electric current and increase/minimizing by graphical representation, different curve chart patterns can be formed.From hereafter understanding further, by scanning some different current forms (such as according to the voltage turn-on angle of change, absolute current mean value, half period current average, rms current, current integration etc.), can extract a large amount of uniquenesses and confirm feature from each curve chart pattern, and described feature can with helping the concrete operations loadtype identifying light-emitting device 8.
Digital signal processing unit 2 is configured to confirm: the service load type of light-emitting device 8 be whether linear unit, tunable optical non-linear device, can not the non-linear device of light modulation, and/or whether it presents resistive, capacitive character and/or inductive load characteristic.Specifically, can with reference to the key feature extracted from scan pattern when executable operations loadtype confirms, the current forms data scanned that these character representations are relevant with the voltage turn-on angle of change.The key feature of the scan pattern extracted only indicates known service load type.Such as, this category feature for comparing can comprise breakover point, minimum and maximum slope, monotone decreasing and the monotonic increase, locally paddy and the peak that usually occur in the curve chart figure of any specific operation loadtype.The storehouse of this type of known features can be stored in digital signal processing unit memory 2b, as this type of reference of comparing and confirming of execution.The step extracting the key feature of image represents with block 130 in flow chart 3, and wherein said key feature represents the relation between current forms data and the angle of flow of increase/minimizing scanned.
Based on extracted characteristics of image, digital signal processing unit 2 is also configured to confirm: minimumly start the angle of flow, the described minimum angle of flow that starts will be applied to load, suitably start to make the illumination of light-emitting device 8; And the least part of the described angle of flow, described least part will be blocked to make it possible to carry out light modulation towards relatively low final output to the output of load.
In this embodiment, feature extraction and comparing function are performed by program, and described program is run on digital signal processing unit 2, to apply suitable pattern recognition algorithm.This step represents with block 140 in flow chart 3.
After confirming service load type, digital signal processing unit 2 is configured at least one in automatic select operating mode, and described operator scheme is applicable to carrying out controllable dimming based on the confirmation service load type of light-emitting device 8 to the illumination of light-emitting device 8.
In an embodiment of the present invention, perform following steps by digital signal processing unit 2: at least one automatically in the multiple predictive mode of operation of application, to control light-emitting device 8.As an example, in embodiments of the invention as herein described, automatically can apply three possible operator schemes, to carry out controllable dimming based on the service load type identified to light-emitting device 8, described service load type comprises:
(a) linear operation mode, the operation for the output to linear lighting device controls;
The nonlinear operation pattern of (b) tunable optical, the operation for the output of the non-linear light-emitting device to tunable optical controls; And
C () can not the nonlinear operation pattern of light modulation, for can not the operation of output of non-linear light-emitting device of light modulation control.
When digital signal processing unit 2 applies the nonlinear operation pattern of linear and tunable optical, in response to light-emitting device 8, there is resistive or capacitive load property and voltage carried out rear along phase-cut dimming, and in response to light-emitting device 8 has inductive load characteristic, forward position phase-cut dimming being carried out to voltage.In either case, for the positive period of voltage and negative cycle, dimming scope can be in any angle of flow place between 0 ° to 180 °.
As an example, the nonlinear operation pattern of tunable optical can be applied to the lamp with electronic transformer automatically by digital signal processing unit 2, and described light fixture has the operating characteristic shown in curve chart pattern of Fig. 4 B.There is the lamp of electronic transformer in essence in capacitive character, and when carrying out light modulation to this certain loads, along phase-cut dimming after applying.The nonlinear operation pattern of the described tunable optical applied by digital signal processing unit 2 is also configured to application automatically and starts the angle of flow, described illumination of starting the angle of flow to be provided for light-emitting device 8 suitably starts, and/or apply the least part of the described angle of flow, described least part will be blocked to make to carry out light modulation towards relatively low final output to the output of load, wherein with reference to the pattern characteristics that extracts, non-linear with in the operating characteristic of autocompensation installation.As an example, in this embodiment, the described angle of flow that starts can be arranged, to make to be no less than in voltage positive half period and negative half-cycle each one 20% is applied to load when starting, and will be blocked to make can be arranged to be no less than 20% of voltage positive half period and negative half-cycle towards relatively low final output to the angle of flow part that light modulation is carried out in the output of load.In addition, if service load type is identified as by pattern recognition program have capacitive load property, so in the case, digital signal processing unit 2 will automatically apply after along phase-cut dimming.
About forward position or after can be in any angle of flow place between 0 ° to 180 ° equally along the dimming scope of phase-cut dimming.
When light-emitting device 8 be identified as presenting can not the nonlinear characteristic of light modulation, application can not the nonlinear operation pattern of light modulation, so that the on/off of voltage is supplied to light-emitting device 8.
One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, without departing from the scope of the invention, and other changes outside illustrating easily appears in the present invention and amendment.Those skilled in the art easily understands, this type of changes all and amendment should be considered and belong in the spirit and scope of the present invention, as broadly described above.Should be understood that and the present invention includes this type of changes all and amendment.The present invention also to comprise in specification separately or the unified institute mentioned or point out in steps and feature, and any and all combinations of step described in two or more or feature arbitrarily.
In this specification to the reference of any prior art not and should not regard as and admit or imply in any form that prior art defines the part of common practise.