DE3604753A1 - Circuit arrangement for an electronic ripple-control receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

The circuit arrangement has an evaluation section (26) for evaluating the received remote-control signals, switching devices (35) which can be controlled by the evaluation section, and a switching energy store (44), which is allocated to the switching devices in order to operate them. The evaluation section (26) is formed by a microcomputer and a circuit is provided for monitoring the energy contents of the switching energy store (44), which circuit has a reference element (52) and a switching element (56) and delays the driving of the switching devices (35), if the energy contents are less than a limiting value, until this limiting value is reached again. This delay is effected by temporarily storing the received remote-control signals in the microcomputer (26). In consequence, a plurality of switching devices can be operated reliably by one ripple-control receiver without it being necessary to increase the energy contents of the switching energy store or the power of the power supply section in a corresponding manner. <IMAGE>

Description

MANITZ, FINSTERWALD & ROTERMUND

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Zellweger Uster AG CH-8610 Uster

GERMAN PATENT LAWYERS

DR. GERHART MANITZ ■ graduate phys.

MANFRED FINSTERWALD ■ DIPL-ING., DIPL.-WIRTSCH.-ING.

HANNS-JÖRG ROTERMUND ■ OIPL-PHYs. DR. HELlANE HEYN DIPL-CHEM. WERNER GRÄMKOW DIPL-ING. (1939-1982)

BRITISH CHARTERED PATENT AGENT JAMES G. MORGAN ■ B. se. (PHYS.), D.M.S.

APPROVED REPRESENTATIVES AT THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE REPRESENTATIVES BEFORE THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE MANDATAIRES AGREES PRES L'OFFICE EUROPEEN DES BREVETS

8000 MUNICH 22 ROBERT-KOCH-STRASSE1 TELEPHONE (089) 224211 TELEX 529672 PATMF TELEFAX (089) 297575 (size II + III) TELEGRAMS INDUSTRIAL PATENT MUNICH

Munich, February 14th, 1986 P / Sch-Z 2177

Circuit arrangement for an electronic
Ripple control receiver

Patent claims:

MANlTZ - FINSTERWALD ■ HE i> N · MORGAN ■ 8000 MUNICH 22 · ROBERT-KOCH-STRASSE 1 · TEL. (0 89) 22 4211 TELEX 5 29 672 PATMF ■ FAX (0 89) 29 75 HANNS-JÖRG ROTERMUND 7000 STUTTGART 50 (BAD CANNSTATT) SEELBERGSTR. 23/25 TEL. (0711) 567261 BAYFR. VOLKSBANKEN AG MUNICH BLZ 70090000 ACCOUNT 7270 POST CHECK: MUNICH 77062-805

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Circuit arrangement for an electronic ripple control receiver

The invention relates to a circuit arrangement for an electronic Ripple control receiver, which has an evaluation part for evaluating the received remote control signals, switching devices controllable by the evaluation unit, as well as a switching energy store assigned to the switching elements for their Has actuation.

\\ l A ripple control receiver of this type is described in CH-PS 567 824. This ripple control receiver should replace the LC oscillating circuits or electromechanical resonance structures in the receiving part and the electromechanical switching mechanism in the evaluation part used in the previously known ripple control receivers with fully electronic circuits, in particular with a single integrated circuit. The only electromechanical switching element of this electronic ripple control receiver is the switching element that can be actuated by the evaluation part, for example an impulse switch.

The use of integrated circuits opened up the possibility of to provide a very low power control supply; However, this was due to the high energy requirements for operating the impulse switch opposite. In the known ripple control receiver, this contradiction was resolved by a switched energy storage device, for example a capacitor high capacity, which is released via a charging path from the power supply part of the ripple control receiver is kept in the charged state, so that it takes place in the relatively rare and long time intervals Actuations of the switching element can briefly release the required switching energy.

The latter requirement - infrequent actuation of the switching element, on a large scale time interval - is still fulfilled, but there are ripple control receivers, which are equipped with several switching devices, which in certain cases receive the switching commands almost simultaneously. To these switching commands To be able to do so, either the power of the power supply unit would have to be or the capacity of the switch energy store can be increased accordingly. However, both of these solutions are uneconomical and therefore uneconomical not beneficial.

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(η- It is the object of the invention to provide a circuit arrangement for an electronic ripple control receiver, with the help of which several switching devices can be safely switched using a power supply unit of low power and a switching energy store with the lowest possible energy content.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by an arrangement for monitoring of the energy content of the switch energy store, which, when the energy content falls below a first limit value, activates the Switching elements until a second, not smaller limit value is exceeded of the energy content is delayed.

The circuit arrangement according to the invention is made possible by the proposed one Monitoring of the energy content of the switch energy store the safe Actuate several switching devices without affecting the energy content of the switching energy storage or the power of the power supply unit would have to be increased accordingly. The invention is based on the knowledge that it it is not necessary to immediately execute every switching command received, but that time delays of a few milliseconds or even seconds can be tolerated, so that the control of the Switching elements in the event of insufficient energy content of the switching energy store can be delayed until it has sufficient energy content or in other words, is recharged.

In the following, the invention is illustrated by means of one in the drawing Embodiment explained in more detail, wherein the single figure is a simplified circuit diagram of an electronic ripple control receiver with a remote control Switching element shows.

The ripple control receiver denoted by 1 in the figure is connected with its input terminals 2 and 3 to two conductors 4 and 5 of an alternating power supply system 6, on which remote control commands in the form of alternating current pulse sequences are superimposed in a known manner. Therefore, in addition to the AC mains voltage U _n , the signal voltage U _$ superimposed on this is also applied to the input terminals 3 and 3. The conductor 4 can, for example, be a phase conductor and the conductor 5 can be a neutral conductor.

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A power supply unit is used to supply power to the electronic ripple control receiver 1 7 is provided, which is connected to input terminals 2 and 3 connected series circuit of a protective impedance 8, a series capacitor 9 and a full-wave rectifier 10. The one as Graetz rectifier trained full-wave rectifier 10 is located with its AC connections 11 and 12 in the aforementioned series connection, while a filter capacitor is connected to the direct current connections, i.e. to the negative pole 13 and positive pole 14 15 and a voltage limiter 16, for example a Zener diode, are connected are. The protective impedance 8 can, for example, be resistant to shock voltages Resistance or a surge-proof choke coil.

The series capacitor 9 connected in series with the AC connections 11 and 12 of the Vonweg rectifier 10 generates the voltage drop required for the operation of the electronic circuit of the ripple control receiver 1 in _{relation to the mains voltage U n.} Only a relatively low DC voltage of 20 V, for example, is required for this operation. The power consumption of the electronic circuit is very modest, so that the power supply part 7 only has a low output of, for example, approximately 0.3 watts.

From a circuit point 17 between protective impedance 8 and series capacitor 9 leads a line 18 on the one hand to an input 19 of a frequency-selective Receiving part 20 and on the other hand to a resistor 28 and a capacitor 29 existing RC element 27. The receiving part 20, which for example active RC filters as means of selection for the remote control frequency has, is on the one hand to a Minussammei rail 21 and on the other hand connected to a plus busbar 22 and thereby receives from the power supply part 7 the required supply voltage. An output terminal 23 of the receiving part 20 is connected to a first input 25 via a line 24 of the evaluation part 26 of the ripple control receiver 1 connected. On a second Input 32 of evaluation part 26 is a line 31 which branches off from a circuit point 30 between resistor 28 and capacitor 29.

Via the RC element 27, the second input 32 of the evaluation part 26 is received Mains frequency signal supplied, with the help of which in the evaluation part 26 a Sequence of clock pulses tied to the mains frequency for an electronic Time base for the evaluation of the received pulse sequences is formed.

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The breaking frequency of the RC element is around 10 Hz, so that the always existing network harmonics are attenuated relative to the network frequency.

The evaluation part 26, which is connected to the minus and plus busbars 21 and 22, respectively is connected and thereby from the power supply part 7 the required Receives supply voltage is programmed as a fixed, preferably as a mask programmed One-chip microcomputers realized. Because electronic evaluation parts for ripple control receivers can be found here for more details be waived. It should only be pointed out that the evaluation part 26 among other things electronic memories and shift registers for contains temporary storage of received pulse sequences. Any such stored pulse sequence is with one of the relevant ripple control receiver assigned pulse sequence (remote control command) is compared and, if the result of the comparison is positive, a first or second output 33 or 34 of the evaluation part 26 emits an approval signal as an actuation signal for a remotely-controlled switching element 35 designated by 35. In addition Switching element 35 is a switch 35 'according to the illustration, and depending on at which of the two outputs 33 or 34 the approval signal appears, the switch 35 'is switched on or off, whereby a power consumer 36 is connected to the network 6 or disconnected from it.

To operate the switch 35 ', the at output 33 or 34 of the Evaluation part 26 appearing signal either a switching transistor 37 or 38 controlled so that one or the other of the two windings 39 and 40 of a relay 41 carries current and thereby switches the switch 35 'on and off. Protective diodes 42 and 43 are connected in parallel to windings 39 and 40 in order to protect transistors 37 and 38 against inductive voltage surges protection.

Since the receiving part 20 and the evaluation part 26 of the ripple control receiver 1, only have a low power requirement of, for example, 0.2 watts, is for economic reasons the power supply part 7 also only dimensioned for the delivery of a relatively small amount of power. For the actuation of the switching element 35, however, a greater power is temporarily required needed, which the tightly dimensioned power supply part 7 is not within a sufficiently short time. For this reason, the switching element 35 has a switching energy store 44 in the form of a storage capacitor assigned a sufficient capacitance of, for example, 200 pF.

The switch energy storage 44 is via a charging path 45, which is a Has resistor 46 connected to the power supply part 7. Of the Resistor 46 can have a relatively high resistance and have a value of 400 ohms, for example. The switch energy store 44 then becomes relatively slow charged from the power supply part 7, but then continuously kept in the charged state so that it can deliver the energy required for a switching process at any time. As long as the mains voltage U ^ between terminals 2 and 3, the switch energy store 44 is charged and, due to the very low leakage current, retains its charge even in the event of a failure the mains voltage for a long time.

In the event of a temporary failure of the mains voltage, that of the power supply unit drops 7 output voltage for the receiving part 20 and the Evaluation part 26 and after some time it will function properly des fall below the minimum voltage value. Then it is possible that indefinite signals are emitted at the outputs 33 and 34, which is in connection with the fact that the switching energy store 44 continues for longer Time for the actuation of the switching element 35 can emit sufficient energy, leading to an erroneous actuation of the switching element 35 and the switch 35 'can lead.

About such undesired switching processes not triggered by remote control commands To avoid this, the charging path 45 is assigned a discharge path 47 with a diode 48, the forward direction of which is directed towards the power supply part 7 is. As soon as the supply voltage of the power supply part 7 to the voltage on the diode 48 below the voltage on the switching energy store 44 drops, the receiving part 20 and the evaluation part 26 are on the Diode 47 from the switching energy store 44 is supplied with energy and the supply voltage of receiving part 20 and evaluation part 26 drops jointly and uniformly with the voltage applied to switching element 35. As soon as at If the above-mentioned minimum voltage value is not reached after this decrease, an erroneous actuation of the switching element 35 could again take place. However, this is prevented in that the response voltage of the switching element 35 is selected to be higher than this lower limit value for the supply voltage of the evaluation part 26. Because then after falling below this limit value no more erroneous actuation of the switching element 35 take place because the voltage then still present at the switching energy store 44 is too small to to let the relay 41 respond.

If only one switching element 35 with a switch 35 'is shown in the figure, then this should not be understood in a limiting sense, but the switching element 35 should be seen as a representative of several switching elements. Because Ripple control receivers are able to send switching commands for to receive several switching elements 35.

It would now be obvious to dimension the switch energy store 44 in such a way that that it can switch all connected switching elements 35 simultaneously or in quick succession without having to be charged in between. According to the invention, however, another, more cost-effective solution is proposed: This assumes that when receiving switching commands for several Switching elements 35 these switching commands do not have to be executed instantaneously, but rather time delays in the order of magnitude of a few seconds are problem-free and therefore tolerated. The solution according to the invention consists in monitoring the voltage across the switching energy store 44 and in the event of an insufficient voltage for the execution of a switching command to delay the control of the corresponding switching element or the corresponding switching elements 35 until the switching energy store 44 is recharged.

According to the illustration, parallel to the switching energy store 44, between its cathode 49 and anode 50, a line 51 with a Zener diode 52 and a Resistor 53 arranged. A line 54 branching off from the plus busbar 22 leads to the emitter connection of a transistor 56, the collector connection of which via a resistor 55 to the minus busbar 21 and the latter The base is connected to the line 51 containing the Zener diode 52 via a resistor 57. The evaluation part 26 has a third input 58 to which a signal line 59 branching off from the collector connection of transistor 56 is connected.

The Zener diode 52 acts as a voltage reference for the switch energy store 44. Because as long as the voltage across the switching energy store 44 is less than the Zener voltage of the Zener diode 52, no current can rail from the plus bus 22 flow via the resistor 53 and the Zener diode 52 to the cathode 49 of the switching energy store 44.

But there can also be no emitter-base current from the plus busbar 22 over the line 54 flows into the transistor 56 and via the resistor 57 into the Zener diode 52 to the cathode 49 of the switching energy store 44. The switching transistor 56 thus blocks and the signal line 59 connected to it assumes the potential of the minus busbar 21, since it is connected to this via the resistor 55.

The evaluation part 26 formed by a microcomputer can in addition to the functions already described read in input 58 and process it in its program. The microcomputer is programmed in such a way that it then when the input 58 assumes the potential of the minus busbar 21, i. e. when the voltage across the switching energy store 44 is less than the Zener voltage of the Zener diode 52, all switching commands that are due for the Relay 41 stores and does not execute. Only when the input accepts the potential of the plus busbar 22 does the evaluation part 26 execute the stored and / or possibly newly arriving switching commands.

The input 58 only accepts the potential of the plus busbar 22, when transistor 56 turns on. This is only the case, however, if a Zener current can flow through the Zener diode 52, that is to say over the voltage the switching energy store 44 is greater than the Zener voltage. Then can from the transistor 56 an emitter-base current via the resistor 57 and the Zener diode 52 flow, which switches the switching transistor 56 through.

Claims (8)

Claims 1. Circuit arrangement for an electronic ripple control receiver, which an evaluation part for the evaluation of the received remote control signals, from the evaluation part controllable switching elements, as well as one the Has switching energy storage associated with switching elements for their actuation, characterized by an arrangement for monitoring the energy content of the switching energy store (44), which controls the switching elements when the energy content falls below a first limit value until a second, not smaller limit value is exceeded of the energy content is delayed. 2. Circuit arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the both limit values of the energy content are the same. 3. Circuit arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that the Arrangement for monitoring the energy content, a measuring circuit for measuring the voltage at the switch energy store (44) and an information store for the temporary storage of the received remote control signals. 4. Circuit arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that the Evaluation part (26) formed by a microcomputer and that the information memory is integrated into this. 5. Circuit arrangement according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the measuring circuit has a reference element (52) for the minimum energy of the switching energy store required to actuate the switching elements (35) (44) corresponding voltage and a switching element (56) for outputting a signal to the evaluation part (26) when the value falls below the required minimum energy corresponding and by the reference element Has predetermined voltage. 6. Circuit arrangement according to claim 5, in which the switch energy store is formed by a capacitor, characterized in that the reference element (52) by a parallel to the capacitor (44) arranged Zener diode is formed. 7. Circuit arrangement according to claim 6, characterized in that the Switching element (56) is formed by a transistor whose collector terminal with the minus and its emitter connection with the plus busbar (21 or 22) of the circuit arrangement and its base with the the line (51) containing the Zener diode (52) is connected. 8. Circuit arrangement according to claims 7 and 2, characterized in that that from the collector connection of the transistor (56) a signal line (59) to an input (58) of the microcomputer forming the evaluation part (26) and that the microcomputer is programmed in such a way that it then if the named input accepts the potential of the negative busbar (21), any switching commands for the switching elements (35) are not carried out, but saves and only when the potential of the plus collection is available rail (22) delivers at this input to the switching elements.