EP2181567B1 - Method for the start-up of a lighting system - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for the start-up of a lighting system having lamps and a central control system, wherein each lamp has an identification code independently of its position and a position code assigned by a control device, has the following steps: a) Separating the lamps into two groups by putting one group in a first state and the other group in a second state, b) selecting one of the lamps and entering its state into the operating device selecting the group of lamps that has the same state as the selected lamp for further steps, while the other group is no longer considered, d) when the selected group does not only have the selected lamp, the steps a)-d) are carried out again e) assigning the position code to the remaining lamp, to bring the code directly into relation with the identification code, f) carrying out the steps a)-e) for further lamps.

Description

The invention relates to a method for starting up a lighting system with a plurality of lights and a central control system for driving the lights.

The US 2004/0160199 A1 discloses a plurality of different lighting systems and various ways to configure the respective lighting systems. It describes both light units that are suitable for use in large areas such as outdoor areas of buildings, as well as those that are suitable for indoor areas of large buildings. There are also disclosed methods and various systems for operating, controlling, providing displays for respective lighting units, or also inputting control data for respective lighting units.

The US 2006/049935 A1 discloses a method for linking a plurality of light units of a wirelessly controlled lighting system to respective buttons or other control elements of a remote control. Each light unit transmits a unique identification code of the respective lighting unit by modulating its own illuminance. The remote control is progressively positioned to receive the modulated light of the light units, with a user activating a respective control element of the remote control upon receipt of the modulated light to associate the remote control with the corresponding light unit. The remote control then transmits the unique encryption for the respective elements to be controlled to a control unit.

The WO 2007/029186 A discloses a device for starting up lighting systems and a method for illuminating individual lighting units in a lighting system To be able to operate. The device for starting up lighting systems in this case comprises a detector for generating an indication signal of a lighting device, a further detector for detecting the respective display signal and for generating a further detection signal, and a control device which receives the detected signal and is operably linked to the lighting system.

The DE 10 2004 055 933 A1 discloses a method for assigning short addresses in lighting systems whose lighting components are controlled via a DALI bus. DALI is an acronym for D igital A ddress of the L ighting I nterface, meaning a standardized protocol for communication between components of a lighting system. In building technology, the conventional connection technology of light sources is increasingly replaced by electronic lighting systems, such as a data bus or / and can be connected to a data bus replaced. Such lighting systems contain at least one control unit to which a plurality of operating devices, in particular in the form of electronic ballasts, can be connected. These operating devices are in turn connected to the actual bulbs and serve to control them. In particular, when the lighting system is designed for a larger building, such as an office building, its commissioning is associated with a certain effort. For each operating device or each light source connected therein, a clear addressing and a channel assignment must be made, which are stored in the respective operating device and in the control system as commissioning data. In order to ensure a correct identification and also assignment of the individual lamps, it may be necessary in this context for the commissioning installer to switch on each lamp individually, to find out its exact position within the building and to note this in the control unit. This process is time consuming and also causes the lighting system can not operate during this time.

It has therefore been proposed to provide a locating device for the location-dependent allocation of short addresses. By means of this locating device, an active lighting component is located and reported to the control system for the allocation of a short address. The localization takes place via a radio chip which emits a radio signal upon activation of the lamp, wherein the chips are numbered, so that the radio signal is clearly assigned to a lamp. Disadvantageously, such a system requires that all lamps be provided with a tuned system of chips.

A comparable solution also shows the DE 10 2006 019 144 A1 ,

A method for starting up a lighting system is in DE 10 2004 037 653 A1 disclosed. The lighting system comprises a control unit with several operating devices connected to the control unit. The control unit is connected to a commissioning device. Each operating device is assigned an addressing and a channel of the control unit. These address / channel assignments are stored as commissioning data in the control unit. The commissioning data are written back from the control unit to the commissioning device and stored there in a database, so that they are secured against loss of data and are available for restarting.

A lighting system is disclosed in the DE 103 23 690 A1 , Lamps in the lighting system are provided with externally signal-technically addressable codes via their respective ballasts. These codes are read during the installation of the lighting system and fed to a control unit. By the control unit, the ballasts or lamps are assigned to their respective installation positions. A disadvantage of this design is that individualized lamps must be used to determine unique installation positions.

In the WO 96/00459 A1 a method for commissioning a system with distributed over several rooms lights is described from a central commander. All luminaires have an original address prior to installation and will be installed regardless of the source address. After installation, the source addresses are selected one after the other and the associated consumers are prompted to identify themselves. When the selected consumer identifies, he is sent a preset operating address. This procedure is then repeated with other selected lights until all lights have an operating address. Under this operating address, the luminaires can then be selectively selected with regard to the installation location as well as in groups.

The object of the invention is to provide a method for starting up a lighting system with a plurality of lights and a central control system that allows largely independent of the type of lights commissioning in the shortest possible time.

1. a) Unterteilung der Leuchten in zwei beliebig gewählte Gruppen dadurch, dass eine Gruppe in einen eingeschalteten und die andere Gruppe in einen ausgeschalteten Zustand versetzt wird,
2. b) Auswahl einer der Leuchten und Eingabe ihres Betriebszustandes in das Bediengerät,
3. c) Auswahl der Gruppe der Leuchten, die im gleichen Betriebszustand sind, wie die ausgewählte Leuchte, für die weiteren Verfahrensschritte, während die andere Gruppe nicht mehr betrachtet wird,
4. d) wenn die ausgewählte Gruppe nicht nur noch die ausgewählte Leuchte enthält, erneute Durchführung der Schritte a)-d) mit der ausgewählten Gruppe,
5. e) Zuweisung des Positions-Codes zu der verbleibenden Leuchte so, dass der Positions-Code mit dem Identifikations-Code eindeutig in Bezug gesetzt ist,
6. f) Durchführung der Schritte a)-e) für weitere Leuchten.

According to the invention this object is achieved by a method for commissioning a lighting system with a plurality of lights and a central control system for driving, each light is initially assigned regardless of their position an identification code and then each lamp according to their position a position code is assigned by means of an operating device, wherein the following steps are performed in succession:

1. a) subdivision of the luminaires into two arbitrarily selected groups by putting one group into an on-mode and the other group into an off-state,
2. b) selecting one of the luminaires and entering their operating status into the operator panel,
3. c) Selection of the group of luminaires which are in the same operating condition as the selected luminaire for which further process steps while the other group is no longer considered,
4. d) if the selected group not only contains the selected luminaire, re-executing steps a) -d) with the selected group,
5. e) assigning the position code to the remaining fixture so that the position code is uniquely related to the identification code,
6. f) carrying out steps a) -e) for further lamps.

Previous methods for starting up lighting systems are based either on the fact that a respective lamp was identifiable by an individual property or that lights with respect to their installation position was randomly and successively placed in an operating state that allowed their identification. While in the former method disadvantageously increased installation effort occurs because each lamp must be marked individually, arises in the second variant, an increased effort during commissioning, since a lamp must first be found, what a complex lighting system, which possibly even about several rooms is distributed, can be very time consuming.

In contrast, it is now possible with the invention, luminaires sequentially in a suitable order, ie in particular according to the sequence of their spatial arrangement to identify and put in their spatial position so that the central control system a unique identification of a light, depending on their spatial position receives. For this purpose, an iterative process is performed, which allows a gradual limitation of all possible lights to the desired, just selected light. It can be used virtually any lamp without special labeling means, since the lamp only by the central control system in a defined operating condition, so in particular a switched on and a switched off state are added got to. By entering the operating status of the selected luminaire, each group containing the selected luminaire is identified. Only this group is used for re-division into two groups with different operating states. Again, the group is selected which is in the operating state corresponding to the selected luminaire. Finally, only the selected light remains. This is known in the operating device and in the control system via the assignment of the identification code of the control system. Now, the known by the selection of the luminaire spatial position is assigned by means of a position code, so that now there is a clear assignment of the identification code to the position code. In other words, the control system is now both the identification code for controlling the lamp and the spatial position of this lamp known. Thus, it is now possible to set by means of the central control system different spatially ordered lighting conditions of the lighting system, such as by spatial grouping of lights.

Preferably, the arbitrarily selected groups are about the same size, in particular, each group contains one half of the lights.

More preferably, the first operating state is a switched-on state, while the second operating state is a switched-off state.

Preferably, the input of the operating state of the selected lamp according to method step c is carried out in each case by a separate button of the operating device for the "ON" state and for the "OFF" state. The keys are conveniently arranged so that an operator can even without looking to enter the operating state.

Preferably, an acoustic switching signal is emitted when switching the operating state of the lights. That's it possible to enter the operating state of the selected light in the control unit without further looking at the HMI device, since with the acoustic switching signal is present at the same time a prompt for entering this operating state. The iterative iteration for identification of the selected lamp is thus very fast, because within a few seconds, the input can be made in the HMI device.

Preferably, a lighting plan of the lighting system is displayed in the operating device so that the selected light can be identified in the lighting plan. An operator can thus make the assignment of the position code to the identification code by simply assigning the selected luminaire directly in the lighting plan. Preferably, he can make this through a pressure-sensitive display of the operating device, i. By touching the selected luminaire in the lighting plan directly on the pressure-sensitive display, the system is informed of the position code of the selected luminaire, for which the identification code has already been determined by going through the selection steps.

Another way of assigning the position code to the identification code is to step through the lights in a predetermined order, particularly in a sequential order, i.e., in a sequential order. A program specifies the selected luminaire according to the sequence, and thus already has the information for the spatial position. After the iterative determination of the identification code, the assignment of the identification code to the position code can thus be carried out automatically without further manual assignment step directly after the last time the step is passed through.

Preferably, the communication of the control system with the lamps on the standardized protocol D igital A ddress of the L ighting I nterface (DALI) is carried out. In a lighting system with the DALI protocol is usually after the installation a random assignment of addresses, ie identification codes, to the installed lights by means of the control system to allow control of the lights. Due to this random distribution of the identification codes, there is no assignment of the luminaires to their respective spatial position. This is then done with the method described in more detail above.

Preferably, the HMI device is a mobile device, in particular a laptop or notebook computer. Especially in lighting systems in very large rooms or in a distribution of the lights over several rooms, it may no longer be possible to select a luminaire from a central location. By means of a mobile operating device, a commissioning engineer can thus go into the vicinity of the selected luminaire, in order then to enter the operating state that may change in the course of the iterative steps into the operating device. On e.g. a laptop or notebook computer is then provided with installation software that includes the lighting plan. The inputs can also via a mouse, touchpad or the like. respectively.

More preferably, the operating device is wirelessly connected to the control system, in particular via wireless LAN. On the HMI device, the information is then available, which light, which operating state group is assigned, and the control system, the operating state of the selected light is communicated, so that only the selected group is used by the control system for the other controls.

Preferably, according to the number of lights of the lighting system, a maximum number of cycles for the passage of steps a) -e) is determined, wherein the achievement of the maximum cycle number is indicated by a different from the switching signal end signal. By such an acoustic reproduction of the step cycle, the connection of the operating device with the control system to a minimum be reduced, ie it must only the signal for the operating state of the selected light for each step to the control system to be transmitted. It would be conceivable, for example, that an existing acoustic information system is used in a building for the transmission of the acoustic signals. On the basis of existing in space each key to indicate the operating status of the selected light in such a room, can thus be dispensed with a mobile control unit entirely. The commissioning engineer only considers the current luminaire according to the given sequence and, according to the acoustic signals, inputs its operating state until the sequence has been completed.

FIG 1

einen ersten Verfahrensschritt zur Inbetriebsetzung eines Beleuchtungssystems und

FIG 2

ein weiterer Verfahrensschritt zur Inbetriebsetzung des Beleuchtungssystems.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawing, partially schematic and not to scale. Show it:

FIG. 1

a first method step for starting up a lighting system and

FIG. 2

a further process step for putting the lighting system into operation.

FIG. 1 shows a lighting system 1. To a central control system 3, a series of lights 5a to 5f are connected. Each luminaire 5 has a respective electronic ballast 6. About the electronic ballast 6 and a communication line 4, the lights 5 are connected to the central control system 3. The communication line 4 is designed as a bus so that the communication means of the standardized protocol D igital A ddress of the L ighting I nterface (DALI) is feasible. After the installation of the lighting system 1, a random address, ie an identification code 7, is allocated via the central control system 3 to each of the lamps 5 via the respective ballast 6. In a memory area 13 of the control system 3, the identification codes are stored. Another memory area 15 of the control system 3 is used to store position codes that represent the spatial position of each lamp 5. For commissioning of the lighting system 1, it is now necessary to assign the identification code 7 of a respective lamp 5 clearly a position code. For this purpose, an operating device 2 is used. The operating device 2 has a pressure-sensitive display 19. Furthermore, the operating device 2 has an "ON" switch 21 and "OFF" switch 23. The operating device 2 displays a lighting plan 31 graphically on the display 19. Furthermore, it is displayed in a display area 25 which of the lights 5 are in an activated operating state. In a further display area 27, the lights are displayed in the switched-off operating state. In the display areas 25 and 27, the lights are displayed only with their identification codes. The task of commissioning is now to assign a unique position code to each of these identification codes. For this the following steps are carried out:

All lamps 5 are divided into two groups by random selection. Each group in the example shown here comprises three lights for the total number of six lights of the lighting system 1. The first group 25 is turned on while the second group 27 is turned off. A commissioning engineer, who observes the lights 5 in succession with the mobile operating device 2, inputs the current operating state of a first selected light. In the example shown here, this is the lamp 5d. This is in the switched-on state. The commissioning is thus on the operation of the switch 21 this operating state. Then, the lights of the group 25, which are in the on state, used for the further process steps, while the lights of the group 27 are not considered closer. The remaining lights are again divided into two groups. After random selection by the system, in the example shown, the lights 7a and 7c are in the on state while the light 7d is off. After this switching operation, an acoustic signal is emitted so that the commissioning engineer detects the execution of the switching operation. In the example shown, although he would also already on switching off the lamp 7d, ie the light he just selected, recognize that a switching operation has occurred. Of course, because of the random selection, such a switching of the operating state of the selected luminaire 7d does not necessarily have to take place. The commissioning is now again the operating state of the selected lamp 7 d in the system, this time with the switch 23. Since the group thus selected only includes the selected light 7 d, a clear identification of the selected light is already possible. The commissioning engineer now presses on the light 5d in the lighting plan 31 by means of the pressure-sensitive display 19. As a result, the identification code 7d of the light 5d is now assigned a unique position code and stored in the memory area 15 of the control system 3. The commissioning now goes to the next light, eg 5e of the lighting system 1 and again performs the method steps described. Frequently, of course, more lights are present in a lighting system, so that more frequent input of the operating state of the selected lamp is required per lamp. A DALI system typically provides a maximum of 64 lights for a lighting system. Accordingly, a maximum of six inputs are required to uniquely identify the selected luminaire. With the described method, however, such an input is possible very quickly, ie in a few seconds. Precisely because of the acoustic indication of the switching of the operating states, the commissioning engineer no longer has to look at the operating device 2 in order to carry out the inputs. The operating device 2 is connected to the control system 3 via a wireless communication link 17. Through this communication link 17 identification codes and the switching states of the lights 5 can be transmitted to the control unit 2 both by the control system 3, as well as the respective operating conditions of the selected lights and the indication of the selected light in the lighting plan 31 are transmitted to the control system 3.

By means of this method, it is now possible to achieve a very simple startup of a lighting system 1 without providing the luminaires 5 with additional identification means. A commercial light can thus be installed without further technical measures in the lighting system 1.

Claims (12)

1. Method for starting up a lighting system (1) having a plurality of lamps (5) and a central control system (3) for actuating the lamps (5), each lamp (5) first being associated with an identification code (13) independently of its position and each lamp (5) then being assigned a position code (15) according to its position by a control device (2), by means of the following steps:

   a) dividing the lamps (5) into two arbitrarily selected groups (25, 27), by switching one group (25) to a first operating state and the other group (27) to a second operating state different from the first operating state,

   b) selecting one of the lamps (5) and inputting its operating state into the control device (2),

   c) selecting the group (25, 27) of lamps (5) having the same operating state as the selected lamp (5) for the further method steps, while the other group (25, 27) is no longer considered,

   d) if the selected group (25, 27) does not only comprise the selected lamp (5), carrying out steps a) - d) again with the selected group (25, 27),

   e) assigning the position code (15) to the remaining lamp (5), so that the position code (15) is related uniquely to the identification code (13),

   f) carrying out steps a) - e) for further lamps (5).
2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the arbitrarily selected groups (25, 27) are of roughly equal size.
3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first operating state is a switched on state and the second operating state is a switched off state.
4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the inputting of the operating state of the selected lamp (5) according to method step c) is effected in each instance by a separate key on the control device (2) for the "on" state and for the "off" state.
5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein an acoustic switching signal is emitted when the operating state is switched according to step a).
6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a lighting plan (31) of the lighting system (1) is displayed in the control device (2), so that the selected lamp (5) can be identified in the lighting plan (31).
7. Method according to claim 6, wherein a pressure-sensitive display (19) allows the selected lamp (5) to be identified directly in the graphically displayed lighting plan (31) by pressing the lamp (5).
8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein communication of the control system (3) with the lamps (5) takes place by way of the standard protocol "Digital Addressable Lighting Interface", DALI.
9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the control device (2) is a mobile device, in particular a laptop or notebook computer.
10. Method according to claim 9, wherein the control device (2) is connected wirelessly to the control system (3).
11. Method according to claim 4, wherein a maximum number of cycles for running through the steps a) - e) is determined according to the number of lamps (5) in the lighting system (1), the reaching of the maximum cycle number being indicated by an acoustic end signal, which is different from the switching signal.
12. Method according to claim 9, wherein the control device (3) first obtains the identification codes (13) from the control system (3) and after the position codes (15) have been assigned, they are passed on to the control system (3).

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