EP0117279B1 - Direction-indicating running light system - Google Patents

Abstract

1. A direction-indicating running-light system having a plurality of traffic lamps (L) to be set up in a line, which are switched on and/or off in succession by means of a synchronizing control and each of which has its own current source (30) independent of the mains, wherein all the lamps (L) are provided with an oscillator (32 ; 62) fed from the current source (30), the oscillators (32 ; 62) of all the lamps (L) working at the same frequency and a common switching-on device (24, 25 ; 45 ; 47 ; 60) which can be coupled to the lamps being provided for all the lamps (L), and having an electronic counter (33 ; 63) which periodically runs through its counter stages and connects to the lamp end stage (34), characterized in that the electronic counter (33 ; 63) connects to the lamp end stage (34) when the current counter position coincides with the position which the corresponding lamp (L) should occupy in the line of lamps.

Description

The invention relates to a trend-setting running light system with a plurality of traffic lights to be set up in a row, which are switched on and / or off in succession by means of a synchronous control, each with its own mains-independent power source, in which all lights are provided with an oscillator fed from the power source, the oscillators all Luminaires work at the same frequency and a common switch-on device that can be coupled to them is provided for all luminaires, as well as an electronic counter that periodically runs through its counter stages and switches on to the luminaire output stages.

A running light system of this type is known (US-A-3 787 867), which is used as a navigation aid for the designation of fairways or shipping routes. In this running light system, a large number of navigation aids, which are not electrically connected to one another, are synchronized in that electromagnetic waves transmitted from a separate transmitter, which contain synchronization signal components through corresponding modulations, are received by receivers, each of which is contained in all the individual navigation aids. A synchronization of a running light system by means of a synchronization signal originating from a transmitter is disadvantageous, since if the transmitter fails, the entire running light system stops working after a short time, since oscillators are used in the receivers that are not sufficiently stable to be in phase for long periods to work in phase with the other oscillators of the other receivers of the chaser system.

These system-related disadvantages of synchronous control of a running light system by means of synchronization signals emitted by an HF transmitter make an application for many purposes, for example also for controlling running light systems on road construction sites, impossible.

In addition to this known running light system controlled by means of an HF transmitter, running light systems are used in particular in the construction site area, for example for narrowing the lane or changing lanes, in which all the lights have to be connected to one another either with a common control device or with each other with cables. The cabling on construction sites is also disadvantageous because it is labor-intensive and due to the relatively prone to failure-prone cables and cable connections not very reliable. Theoretically, it is also possible to synchronize and program the individual lights of a running light system instead of HF signals with infrared signals, but this type of control can only be implemented at great expense and has the same system-related disadvantages as those controlled with HF signals Running lights.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a trend-setting running density advantage which, on the one hand, can be set up in a particularly simple manner by untrained persons without any wiring, which on the other hand is characterized by low production and maintenance costs and which works with great constancy over long periods of use.

The object is achieved according to the invention in that the electronic counter switches on to the lamp output stage when the respective counter position corresponds to the position which the corresponding lamp should assume in the lamp alignment.

The advantage of the proposed running light system is that by using a decadal counter, the different outputs of the decadal counter are switched to the output stages for controlling the illuminant in a simple manner, i.e. The synchronous control takes place in that the corresponding connection of the respective outputs of the decadal counter to the output stage or to the illuminant ensures that the decadal counter then switches on to the lamp output stage when the respective counter position corresponds to the position that the corresponding lamp is on the lighting fixture should take. By providing these measures, the running light system is suitable to be synchronized and set up by untrained persons, since the individual lamps can be used in an orderly manner, for example, in a transport or collecting container in which the switch-on device can be located, according to their intended position in the lamp alignment.

Further details of the invention emerge from the subclaims.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are explained below, for example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

• Fig. 1 eine schematische Seitenansicht einer Transportbox für zehn Leuchteneinheiten einer Lauflichtanlage,
• Fig. 2 ein schematisches Schaltbild zu Fig. 1,
• Fig. 3 eine der Fig. 2 ähnliche Darstellung einer Leuchteneinheit mit zusätzlichem Handausschalter,
• Fig. 4 und 5 schematische Darstellungen von zwei weiteren Möglichkeiten, die Leuchteneinheiten einer Lauflichtanlage synchron zu starten und
• Fig. 6 ein der Fig. 2 entsprechendes schematisches Schaltbild einer weiteren Ausführungsform der Erfindung.

The drawings show:

• 1 is a schematic side view of a transport box for ten lighting units of a running light system,
• 2 shows a schematic circuit diagram of FIG. 1,
• 3 a representation similar to FIG. 2 of a lamp unit with an additional manual switch,
• 4 and 5 are schematic representations of two further ways to start and synchronize the lighting units of a running light system
• FIG. 6 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a further embodiment of the invention corresponding to FIG. 2.

In the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 and 2 there are ten independent lamps 1 to 10 provided with their own power source in a transport box 20 which contains three touch contacts 27 in its bottom or side surface for each individual lamp, which contacts with correspondingly designed touch contacts 26 the individual lights 1 to 10 can work together. The three touch contacts in the transport box 20 are connected in parallel via lines 21, 22 and 23. These lines mentioned lead to two push button switches 24 and 25 _f which can be switched on and off in a synchronizing manner in the manner described below.

The individual lights 1 to 10 can be accommodated in the transport box 20 in any manner. Appropriately, however, the ten lights, for example, are mounted in parallel one behind the other in one or two rows, which then also ensures that the upstanding optics with the incandescent or flash lamps, which are located outside the light housing, cannot be damaged.

As FIG. 2 shows, each individual lamp L1 to L10 contains its own mains-independent power source 30 in the form of a dry battery or a rechargeable battery. In addition to the actual illuminant 35, a quartz-controlled oscillator 32 and a decadal counter 33 are also provided in each luminaire. The synchronous switch 31, which can connect the voltage output of the voltage source 30 to the aforementioned electrical and electronic components, is used to switch the individual lights on and off. The synchronous switch 31 is connected via the already mentioned touch contacts 26 to the touch contacts 27 provided in the transport box. The circuit is designed so that, using the power supply through the individual voltage sources 30 by briefly pressing the button 24, all the lights can be switched on at the same time and also switched off by pressing the button 25 once.

If the running light system according to the invention is to be put into operation, all lights 1 to 10 are switched on at the same time by actuating the switch 24 as long as they are still in the transport box 20. Then the individual lights can be removed and set up in the order provided, without the need for any line connections or controlling light or radio links. Switching on results in a synchronization of all lights, which is maintained even after the individual lights have been separated.

When the switch 24 is actuated, the reset input of the quartz oscillator 32 and the reset input of the decadal counter 33 are set to zero via the synchronous switch 31. When the button 24 is released, all the crystal oscillators 32 start at the same instant and emit a frequency of 10 Hz, for example, which corresponds to a pulse interval of 100 ms. These pulses from the quartz oscillators 32 are passed to the decadal counter 33, which has ten outputs. In the light L1, the counter output 1 is connected to the associated illuminant 35 via the output stage 34. In the case of the lamp 2, the counter output 2 is connected to its associated illuminant via the output stage and so on up to the tenth lamp, where the tenth counter output is then connected to the associated illuminant via the output stage. In this way, a lighting sequence with the aforementioned frequency of 10 Hz is created, which is selected here only as an example. With the specified data, the running light would run through ten lights within one second.

In connection with the chaser effect, it should also be mentioned that this can be illuminated light and also flash light or combination effects. It is also irrelevant to the invention whether the individual illuminants are only switched on for a brief moment or whether all illuminants remain switched on until a complete run has taken place, so that all the illuminants are then switched off at the same time before a new run begins. If, for example, xenon gas tubes are used as the illuminant, the output of the counter has the task of providing an ignition of the flash tube via the output stage 34.

From the above description it should be clear that all lights, once started by the switch 24, work unchanged according to their program. Only when you have the lights back with the common switching device, d. H. has connected the transport box, you can delete them all together using the switch 25.

In the further embodiment of the invention according to FIGS. To 5, the individual lights L1-L10 dispense with external contact connections to a synchronizing switch-on device. In the luminaire L2 shown in FIG. 3, the components 30 and 32 to 35 coincide with the components of FIG. 2 numbered in the same way. What is different, however, is that the synchronous switch 41 now used is designed so that it can be operated with the aid of an external Magnetic field can be turned on to start the counter 33.

As can be seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the individual lights L1-L10 are brought together in a predetermined spatial position, for example in a transport frame in which the magnetic field generator is located, for synchronous switching on. 4 is next to all the lights or in the vicinity of their synchronous switches 41 an axis 43 to be rotated with a handle 44, which carries a permanent magnet 45 for each individual light. After the supply of a permanent magnetic pulse, all the counters 33 of the lights start up in the manner described above, so that the desired running light effect occurs.

As shown in FIG. 5, instead of the mechanically moved permanent magnets according to FIG. 5, electromagnets 46 can also be used, which are connected in parallel for each individual lamp and can be excited with the aid of a button 47 from a battery connected at 48.

If, as shown in FIG. 3, a hand switch 42 is provided with which the voltage source 30 can be disconnected, the individual lights can be switched off on and off separately. If the individual manual switches 42 are actuated one after the other, synchronous operation of the illuminants initially results. The desired synchronization only occurs after the synchronization device according to FIGS. 4 and 5 has been actuated.

In order to make the synchronization switches 41 responsive to external magnetic fields, they preferably contain a reed contact, a Hall generator or a relay.

6, components which correspond to components of the previously described embodiments are also provided with the same reference numerals.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 6, the electronic counter 33 provided in each individual luminaire according to FIG. 2 is replaced by a common counter 63 which is located in a special switch-on device. This switch-on device is preferably part of a transport box common to all lights. The switch-on device can also be designed as a handheld programming device.

The mentioned switch-on device 60 contains its own voltage source 61, for example an accumulator or a battery. A two-pole switch 70 is used to start up the switch-on device 60, which switches on an oscillator 62 in the switched-on state and sets the reset input 71 of the electronic counter 63 to zero in the switched-off state. The quartz-controlled oscillator 62, which can be configured in exactly the same way as the oscillators 32 of the above-mentioned embodiments, is used to clock the electronic counter 63, the ten outputs of which, provided in a decade configuration, each lead to an amplifier 64. These individual amplifiers 64 lead via lines 66 to infrared diodes 65, which are arranged in the transport box 20 in line of sight with photodiodes 53, which are located in the individual light units L1-L10. Here, for example, it can be thought that the corresponding light-emitting diodes 65 are arranged on the bottom of the transport box 20 at the individual positions of the light units, specifically at a position at which there is an opening in the base surface of the light, behind which the photodiode 53 is arranged. The switch-on distance between the switch-on device and the individual lights is therefore the line of sight between the infrared diode 65 and the photodiode 53.

Each individual lamp 11-L10 must be switched on manually using a switch 52 located on the lamp, which connects to the lamp's own power source 30.

The individual lights to be inserted in the transport container 20 each contain a battery 30, an infrared diode receiver 53 for later programming, a quartz oscillator 32, a divider 51, which emits a second pulse to the output stage 34 with the associated illuminant 35 to let the Osziiiaior 32 run at a frequency which is considerably higher than the frequency at which the lamps 35 are to be switched.

In order to operate the system described above as a guide light or trend-setting running light, the aforementioned switch-on device 60 is required, which is preferably installed in the transport box 20. By actuating the two-pole switch 70, the battery 61 is switched on, so that the oscillator 62 begins to oscillate. In this case, the reset input 71 of the counter 63 is also released so that the counter can switch on the connected amplifiers 64 with their infrared diodes 65 one after the other with a time delay. The short pulse of the infrared diodes 65 is received by the photodiode 53 in visual contact in the lights L1-L10. Due to the short exposure of the photodiodes 53, the divider 51 is set to zero via the reset input and then begins to work according to the program, so that the desired sequence of lighting occurs. In this way, programming was carried out using time-shifted IP pulses in the transport box. Understandably, with the system according to the invention, it is also possible to ensure that all the lamps light up or flash at the same time by emitting a synchronous pulse.

If one disconnects the switch-on device 60 from the transport box and forms it as a separate hand-held programming device, this device can be used in exactly the same way as with a TV remote control. A switch button is then provided for each luminaire position. The handheld programming device is basically designed in exactly the same way as the switch-on device in the transport box, except that the IR diodes are eliminated and an IR diode is provided in the optics with which the IR receiver of a lamp can be illuminated. If you hold the handheld programming device in the direction of the first lamp and press the first switch, the lamp will receive the pulse that is intended for the first lamp. The same applies to the second luminaire, etc. If you program all luminaires with one and the same switch, you get a synchronously flashing system.

Claims (16)

1. A direction-indicating running-light system having a plurality of traffic lamps (L) to be set up in a line, which are switched on and/or off in succession by means of a synchronizing control and each of which has its own current source (30) independent of the mains, wherein all the lamps (L) are provided with an oscillator (32; 62) fed from the current source (30), the oscillators (32; 62) of all the lamps (L) working at the same frequency and a common switching-on device (24, 25; 45; 47; 60) which can be coupled to the lamps being provided for all the lamps (L), and having an electronic counter (33; 63) which periodically runs through its counter stages and connects to the lamp end stage (34), characterised in that the electronic counter (33; 63) connects to the lamp end stage (34) when the current counter position coincides with the position which the corresponding lamp (L) should occupy in the line of lamps.

2. A running-light system according to Claim 1, characterised in that the common switching-on device is disposed in a transport or storage container (20) in which the individual lamps (L) can be inserted according to their intended positions in the line of lamps.

3. A running-light system according to Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that each lamp (L) is provided with a synchronized switch (31) which can be influenced by the switching-on device and with an electronic counter (33) supplied with clock pulses by the oscillator (32), and that, in each lamp (L), the lamp end stage (34) is connected only to a single predetermined counter stage, the position of which in the counter (33) corresponds to the intended position of the lamp in the line of lamps.

4. A running-light system according to Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the switching-on device (6) disposed in the common transport or storage container (20) contains a current source (61), an oscillator (62) and a common electronic counter (63) for all the lamps (L), which counter is supplied with clock pulses from the oscillator (62) and the counter stage outputs of which are each connected to a specific associated lamp location in the container (20).

5. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the switching-on device contains a magnetic-field generator for the individual lamps (L) and the individual lamps (L) contain syncchronized switches (Figure 3, 41) responding magnetically.

6. A running-light system according to Claim 5, characterised in that the switching-on device contains permanent magnets (Figure 4, 45).

7. A running-light system according to Claim 5, characterised in that the switching-on device contains electromagnets (Figure 5, 46).

8. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that, for the connection of the switching-on device to the walls of the transport or storage container (Figure 1, 20), plugs or contacts (27), which are connected in parallel and connected to a switching-on push-button switch (24), are provided for the individual lamps (L), and external contacts (26), which are taken out at the individual lamp housing (L) are provided.

9. A running-light system according to Claim 8, characterised in that the transport or storage container (20) is provided with a switching-off push-button switch (25) for simultaneously switching off all the lamps (L) used.

10. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that infrared visual communication (65/63) is provided between the switching-on device (60) and each of the individual lamps (L), while the transport or storage container (20) contains IR diodes (65) and the individual lamps (L) contain IR receivers (53).

11. A running-light system according to Claim 10, characterised in that a cutout switch (52), which can be operated manually, is provided in each lamp (L) between IR receiver (53) and current source (30).

12. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 11, characterised in that the electronic counters (33; 63) are decade counters with ten outputs.

13. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 12, characterised in that the oscillators (32; 62) are crystal-controlled.

14. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 13, characterised in that the oscillators (32; 62) work at a frequency of about 10 Hz.

15. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 14, characterised in that the frequency of the oscillator (32; 62) differs from the desired switching frequency of the lamps (L) and a divider (51) is disposed between the output of the oscillator (32) and the input of the lamp end stage (34).

16. A running-light system according to Claims 1 to 15, characterised iii that a-multiple-pole switch (70) is provided to switch on the electronic counters (33/63) and, in the off position, sets the reset input (71) of the counter (63) to zero.

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