EP2570714B1

EP2570714B1 - Electronic candle

Info

Publication number: EP2570714B1
Application number: EP12155211.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Yingqi Ding
Original assignee: Nantong Ya Tai Candle Arts and Crafts Co Ltd; Shanghai Q Mall and Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nantong Ya Tai Candle Arts and Crafts Co Ltd; Shanghai Q Mall and Co Ltd
Priority date: 2011-09-16
Filing date: 2012-02-13
Publication date: 2016-05-04
Anticipated expiration: 2032-02-13
Also published as: EP2570714A1; DK2570714T3

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a candle, and in particular, to an electronic candle capable of emitting light of different effects. An electronic candle as described in the preamble portion of patent claim 1 has been known from WO 2006/104898 A1 .

Related Art

Since the advent of electronic candles, the electronic candles have become more and more popular due to safety in use, convenience, energy saving and environmental protection, especially in Europe and America, and are gradually replacing conventional candles.
However, although the existing electronic candles have an electronic control circuit, only a few functions are provided and the electronic candles do not closely resemble a real candle, and although some electronic candles have a timing function, the design is not human-friendly, high energy consumption is required, and the candle can only provide a single light effect, which all limit the application of the electronic candles.
WO 2006/104898 A1 discloses an electronic candle comprising a candle body, wherein an electronic control module is disposed in the candle body, the electronic control module comprises a light-emitting unit.
DE W2008018364 discloses the electronic control of an electronic candle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the defects in the prior art, the present invention is directed to an electronic candle with complete functions, which closely resembles a real candle, requires low energy consumption and is capable of selecting a timing level.
According to the present invention, this object is accomplished with an electronic candle having all features of patent claim 1.
Dependent claims are directed on features of preferred embodiments of the invention.
Preferably, the light guide body is an optical fiber, which has a good light guide effect.
Preferably, the first light-emitting body is a light-emitting diode (LED) and is directly connected to a power source through the electronic control device.
Preferably, two second light-emitting bodies are disposed and are an LED flash lamp and a seven-colored light lamp, respectively. The LED flash lamp and the seven-colored light lamp are connected in parallel, controlled by two gears of a two-gear slide switch respectively, and then connected to the first light-emitting body in series. When the two-gear slide switch is connected to neither of the second light-emitting bodies, as long as the power source is switched on, the first light-emitting body emits light and transmits the light to the upper surface of the candle body through the light guide body to form a light-emitting effect of the light guide candle wick, which is very vivid; when the two-gear switch is connected to the LED flash lamp, light emitted from the second light-emitting bodies shines in the candle body to achieve a flash effect; when the two-gear switch is connected to the seven-colored light lamp, the light emitted from the second light-emitting bodies shines in the candle body to achieve a seven-colored effect, and the second light-emitting bodies and the first light-emitting body emits light at the same time and the candle emits light of different effects at the same time, creating a very beautiful look.
Preferably, the several light-emitting bodies are connected in parallel, controlled by multiple gears of a multi-gear slide switch respectively, and then connected to the first light-emitting body in series.
Preferably, a light-blocking body is disposed at the lower end which extends from the upper surface of the light guide candle wick. The light-blocking body is a black or white wick formed by wrapping a black or white plastic sheet or a black or white wick formed through dyeing, so that the effect of the electronic candle is more vivid as if the lower end of the wick does not emit light or is burned black.
Preferably, a timing control device is disposed in the electronic control device.
Preferably, the timing control device selects a timing function through a jumper switch.
The beneficial effect is that, through the reasonable structure, light emitted from the first light-emitting body in the cavity in the candle body is transmitted to the light guide candle wick on the upper surface of the candle along the light guide body; meanwhile, other several second light-emitting bodies control, through the multi-gear slide switch, light emitted from lamps with different light effects in the cavity in the candle body to shine through the semitransparent candle, creating a very beautiful look.
According to the present invention an electronic candle is provided which includes a candle body, where an electronic control module is disposed in the candle body, the electronic control module includes a mode selection switch, a timing selection switch, a central processor and a light-emitting unit, one part of the mode selection switch is connected to the central processor, the other part of the mode selection switch is connected to the timing selection switch, the timing selection switch is connected to the central processor, and the central processor is connected to the light-emitting unit.
In the structure, the mode selection switch is a three-position slide switch and the timing selection switch is a jumper switch.
In the structure, the timing selection switch further has a timing level selection switch.
In the structure, the central processor is further connected to a crystal oscillator.
In the structure, the light-emitting unit is formed by a light-emitting diode (LED) and an optical fiber.
Preferably, the central processor adopts microprocessors of types of W27C512 and XC3042.
Preferably, a frequency of the crystal oscillator is 2 MHz.
Preferably, the light-emitting unit includes several light-emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted in the candle body and an optical fiber connected to at least one of the LEDs.
Preferably, the optical fiber passes through a top of the candle body and extends to an upper surface of the candle body to form an optical fiber candle wick.
The beneficial effect is that, compared with the electronic candle in the prior art, the electronic candle of the present invention has complete functions and accurate timing, can select the timing level according to an actual situation, and can transmit bright light through the optical fiber; meanwhile, the three-position slide switch controls the LEDs in the candle body so that the candle provides various light effects, creating a more beautiful look.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a circuit of the present invention; and
FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of a demo board of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is further described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing.
As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic candle includes a candle body 1. A cavity 2 is disposed in the candle body 1. A first light-emitting body 3 and an electronic control device 4 for controlling operation of the first light-emitting body 3 are mounted in the cavity 2. The first light-emitting body 3 is an LED and is directly connected to a power source through the electronic control device 4. The first light-emitting body 3 is connected to an optical fiber light guide body 5. The optical fiber light guide body 5 passes through a top of the cavity 2 and extends to an upper surface of the candle body 1 to form an optical fiber light guide candle wick 6. Two second light-emitting bodies 7 are connected below the first light-emitting body 3 in turn and are located in the cavity 2. The second light-emitting bodies 7 are an LED flash lamp and a seven-colored light lamp, respectively. The LED flash lamp and the seven-colored light lamp are connected in parallel, controlled by two gears of a two-gear slide switch respectively, and then connected to the first light-emitting body 3 in series. A black wick light-blocking body 8 formed by wrapping a black plastic sheet is disposed on a bottom of the light guide candle wick 6.
As shown in FIG. 2, the present invention relates to an electronic candle, including a mode selection switch, a timing selection switch, a central processor and a light-emitting unit. An input port of the central processor is connected to the mode selection switch, the timing selection switch and a crystal oscillator, and an output port of the central processor is connected to the light-emitting unit. The mode selection switch is a three-position switch, so that a user can select different functions according to requirements, and select different time period modes in combination with the timing selection switch. The crystal oscillator provides an accurate time signal for the central processor, so that the central processor can control, based on setting and according to the mode selected by the mode selection switch and the time signal provided by the crystal oscillator, on/off of the light-emitting unit according to the time period mode. The light-emitting unit includes several LEDs mounted in a candle body and an optical fiber connected to at least one of the LEDs, and the optical fiber passes through a top of the candle body and extends to an upper surface of the candle body to form an optical fiber candle wick.
FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of a demo board of the present invention. The upper part of the figure shows a micro-processing system formed by single-chip microcomputers W27C512 and XC3042 and a crystal oscillator, where the crystal oscillator provides a time pulse signal. The middle part of the figure shows a light-emitting unit formed by M2 and M3. M2 is formed by four LEDs L1, L2, L3 and L4 connected in parallel, where L1 is a candle lamp in a soft light flash mode, L4 is a candle lamp for simulating "Mouse Loves Rice" (flickering according to the rhythm of a popular Chinese song), and L2 and L3 are constant lighting lamps. M3 is an optical fiber light-emitting system formed by lamp bulbs D1, D2 and D3, an optical fiber 6 and a switch S6, where D1 flashes yellow light, D2 emits seven-colored light, D1 and D2 are switched over through the two-gear switch S5, and light of the lamp bulbs D1 and D2 is transmitted to the lamp bulb D3 through the optical fiber 6.
The lower part of the figure shows a mode selection switch system M1 and a timing selection switch M4. S1 is a three-position selection switch. In position 1 a connection is made to timing selection switches S2, S3, S4 and S5. S7 is a timing level selection jumper switch. A position 2 is a neutral position, where none of the lamps operates. A position 3 is a steady operating mode. In the figure, K1 is a button switch, which is pressed to enter an accelerated test mode. L1 and L4 flash rapidly at a frequency of 2 Hz.
In the use of the present invention, when the position 1 of the three-position switch is selected, the timing selection mode may be entered, a timing duration of 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours or 8 hours is selected through the jumpers S2, S3, S4 and S5, and a timing level being minute or hour is selected through the jumper S7. When the position 2 is selected, none of the lamps emits light. When the position 3 is selected, all the lamps emit light all the time, which is in the steady mode. The optical fiber light-emitting module according to the present invention may select yellow light or seven-colored light, and can cooperate with a soft flash mode of the LED L1 and the LED L 4 for simulating "Mouse Loves Rice" to provide a romantic and warm atmosphere, which is applicable to various occasions. The present invention has a reasonable circuit design, requires low energy consumption, and can operate for a long time.

Claims

An electronic candle, comprising a candle body (1), wherein an electronic control module (4) is disposed in the candle body (1), the electronic control module (4) comprises a light-emitting unit (M2, M3) with a first light-emitting body, the light of which is transmitted to the upper surface of the candle body through a light guide body to form a light-emetting effect of a light guide candle wick, and with second light-emitting bodies, the light emitted from lamps with different light effects shines through the semitransparent candle body,
characterized in that said electronic control module further comprises a mode selection switch (S1), a timing selection switch (S2-S5), a central processor, one part of the mode selection switch (S1) is connected to the central processor, the other part of the mode selection switch (S1) is connected to the timing selection switch (S2-S5), the timing selection switch (S2-S5) is connected to the central processor, and the central processor is connected to the light-emitting unit (M2, M3), one of the second light-emitting bodies is controlled so as to provide a light effect of flickering according to the rhythm of a song.
The electronic candle according to claim 1, wherein the mode selection switch is a three-position slide switch (S1) and the timing selection switch is a jumper switch (S7).
The electronic candle according to claim 1, wherein the timing selection switch (S2-S5) further has a timing level selection switch.
The electronic candle according to claim 1, wherein the central processor is further connected to a crystal oscillator.
The electronic candle according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting unit (M2, M3) comprises several light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (L1-L4) mounted in the candle body (1) and an optical fiber (6) connected to at least one of the LEDs (L1-L4).
The electronic candle according to claim 5, wherein the optical fiber (6) passes through a top of the candle body (1) and extends to an upper surface of the candle body (1) to form an optical fiber candle wick (6).