JP2003121929A - Liquid crystal projector device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to find whether a fan will operate (rotate) still for a while or is stopping operation after turning-off of a lamp, by the color of an LED. SOLUTION: When operation for turning on a lamp 1 is performed on an operation part 5, a lamp power supply part 6 and a fan power supply part 7 are turned on through a microcomputer 10, and the lamp is lit and the fan 4 is operated, and a green LED of LEDs 9 is lit by an LED driving part 8. When operation for turning off the lamp is performed on the operation part 5, counting of the time when operation of the fan should be continued is started by a timer 11, and the lamp is extinguished and the fan continues to operate, and the light emission ratio of the green LED out of red and green LEDs 9 integrated into one body is raised and that of the red LED is reduced by the LED driving part to emit greenish orange light, and light emission ratios of the green LED and the red LED are reversed by a signal outputted from the timer a prescribed time before the end of operation of the fan to emit reddish orange light. When the fan stops operation, only the red LED is lit.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal projector device, and more particularly to a device for displaying an operating (rotating) time of a cooling fan after a light source lamp is turned off.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a liquid crystal projector device, a light source lamp (hereinafter abbreviated as lamp) heats up the inside of the housing during image projection, so a cooling fan (hereinafter abbreviated as fan) is provided to cool the inside of the housing. However, even after the lamp is turned off, the fan continues to run for a certain period of time to remove the heat remaining in the housing. To show the operating status of this fan,
For example, a red / green integrated LED (light emitting diode) is provided, green when the lamp is lit, orange when the fan is off with the lamp off (red and green are lit at the same time), and when the fan is stopped (standby). Some display a red color so that it can be determined whether or not the power cord can be pulled out for moving or the like. However, when the LED is lit in orange (the lamp is off and the fan is running), there is a problem that it is not known whether the fan will continue to run for a while, or will end soon.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention changes the emission color of the LED according to the passage of time while the fan is in operation after the lamp is turned off, and the fan is operated. The purpose is to make it possible to judge from the light emission color of the LED whether the operation continues for a while or the operation is almost completed.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the liquid crystal projector device of the present invention is provided with a fan for cooling the inside of the housing whose temperature has risen due to the heat generated by the lamp, so that a predetermined amount is maintained even after the lamp is powered off. An integrated LED including a first LED (light emitting diode) that emits a first color and a second LED that emits a second color in a case where the fan is continuously operated to cool the inside of the housing, And a microcomputer for turning on / off the lamp and turning on / off the power of the lamp based on an operation of the operating unit to turn on / off each of the two LEDs of the integrated LED. Only the first LED emits light while the lamp is powered on, and the first LED and the first LED are illuminated until a predetermined time elapses while the lamp is powered off and the fan is operating. The second LED is made to emit light by increasing the light emission ratio of the first LED more than the second LED, and after the elapse of the predetermined time, the first LED and the second LED are made to emit light together by making the light emission ratio of the second LED higher than that of the first LED. After the end of the operation of the fan, only the second LED is made to emit light.

The switching of the light emission ratio of the first LED and the second LED is performed by setting the ON time of one LED longer than the OFF time and turning the other LED OFF or ON when the same LED is ON or OFF. .

That is, the first and second LEDs are turned on by the drive pulse from the microcomputer, and the width of the drive pulse is widened or narrowed to obtain two L's.
Change the emission ratio of the ED.

In this case, the width of the drive pulse from the microcomputer may be continuously changed to continuously change the light emission ratio of the two LEDs.

Alternatively, the light emission ratio of the two LEDs is changed by increasing or decreasing the number of drive pulses from the microcomputer per unit time.

In this case, the number of drive pulses from the microcomputer per unit time may be continuously increased or decreased to continuously change the light emission ratio of the two LEDs.

The first LED emits green light and the second LED emits red light. While the lamp is on, the first LED emits red light and the lamp is turned off. While the fan is operating, the first LED and the second LED emit an orange color closer to green until a predetermined time elapses, and after the predetermined time elapses, the first LED and the second LED emit an orange color closer to red. Is emitted, or the lamp is powered off and the fan is operating, the first L
It is assumed that the ED and the second LED emit light while continuously changing from orange near green to orange near red, and after the operation of the fan ends, the second LED emits red light.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described based on examples with reference to the drawings. 1 is a block diagram of an essential part of an embodiment of a liquid crystal projector device according to the present invention.
Is a lamp, 2 is an LCD (liquid crystal panel) that modulates the light beam from the lamp 1 with an image signal, 3 is a projection lens that projects the image light beam from the LCD 2 onto the screen, and 4 is the inside of the housing heated by the heat of the lamp 1. Cooling fan, 5 is lamp 1
An operation unit for turning on / off the lamp, 6 is a lamp power supply unit for turning on / off the power of the lamp 1 by a signal from the microcomputer 10 based on a signal from the operation unit 5, and 7 is a signal from the microcomputer 10 for powering the fan 4. Is a fan power supply part for turning on and off, and 8 is two LEs of the LED 9 based on a signal from the microcomputer 10 according to turning on and off of the lamp 1 and turning on and off of the fan 4.
LED drive unit for turning on / off D, LED 9 is an integrated LED in which two color LEDs, for example, green and red LEDs are housed in one case, 11 is the operation of fan 4 after turning off lamp 1 (rotation) ) Is a timer that counts the time (predetermined time) set to be continued under the control of the microcomputer 10.

Next, the operation of the liquid crystal projector device according to the present invention will be described. The lamp 1 on the operation unit 5 for image projection
Is turned on, the lamp power supply unit 6 is turned on by the signal from the microcomputer 10 based on the signal from the operation unit 5, and the lamp 1
The power is supplied to and white light is output. This white ray is separated into three colors of red, green, and blue by a color separation system (not shown), and is incident on three LCDs (LCD2) for red, green, and blue, and a video signal of each color of red, green, and blue. Are modulated into a three-color image light beam, are combined by a color combining system, and are projected onto the screen by the projection lens 3. Then, for example, when the lamp power supply unit 6 is on, the fan power supply unit 7 is turned on by the signal output from the microcomputer 10, the fan 4 starts operating (rotating), and at the same time, the LED is output by the signal output from the microcomputer 10. First LED of LED 9 (integrated LED) by the drive unit 8
(For example, a green color as shown in FIG. 2A) is driven to emit (display) a green color indicating that the lamp 1 is lit.

When the operation unit 5 turns off the lamp 1 to finish the image projection, a signal is sent from the microcomputer 10 to the lamp power supply unit 6 based on the signal from the operation unit 5, and the lamp power supply unit 6 is turned off. The lamp 1 is turned off, and at the same time, the timer 11 starts measuring a predetermined time (a time set after the lamp 1 is turned off to continue the operation of the fan 4 for cooling the inside of the housing). The fan power supply unit 7 is kept on until the end of the above, and the fan 4 continues to operate. Based on the signal output from the microcomputer 10, the lamp power supply 6 is turned off, the fan power supply 7 is turned on, and until the intermediate signal is output from the timer 11 shortly before the end of the counting of the predetermined time. , LED by LED drive unit 8
For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the ON time of the first LED (green) is longer than the OFF time (for example, the ON time is twice the OFF time), and the second LED is OFF while the first LED is OFF.
It is driven so that D (red) is turned on. This gives L
ED9 is orange near green (color indicating that lamp 1 has been turned off but fan 4 continues to operate for a while)
Is emitted (displayed).

Then, based on the signal output from the microcomputer 10 in response to the intermediate signal output from the timer 11 shortly before the end of the counting of the predetermined time, the LED driver 8 drives the LE signal.
D9 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The (green) ON time is shorter than the OFF time (for example, the ON time is half the OFF time), and while the first LED is OFF,
The second LED (red) is driven to be turned on. As a result, the LED 9 emits (displays) orange near red (a color indicating that the operation of the fan 4 is about to end).

A signal from the timer 11 when the timer 11 has finished measuring time outputs a signal from the microcomputer 10 to the fan power supply unit 7 to turn off the fan power supply unit 7 and stop the operation of the fan 4. At the same time, the microcomputer Based on the signal output from the LED 10, the LED drive unit 8 turns off the power of the first LED (green) as shown in FIG.
The ED (red) power source is driven so as to be turned on, whereby the LED 9 emits (displays) red color (a color indicating that the lamp 1 is off and the fan 4 is not operating).

First LED (green) and second LE of LED 9
The change in the light emission ratio of D (red) means that the width of the drive pulse from the LED drive unit 8 is changed from the start of the timing of the timer 11 to the fan 4
In the period up to the intermediate signal output from the timer 11 shortly before the end of the operation of, the width of the drive pulse of the first LED is wider than the width of the drive pulse of the second LED, as shown in FIG. For example, about 1 to 2 for the first LED
When is on (off), the second LED is turned off (on),
As a result, the emission ratio of the first LED is increased so that the orange color near the green is emitted, and from the time when the intermediate signal is output from the timer 11, for example, as shown in FIG. The width of the first LED is narrower than the width of the drive pulse of the second LED, for example, about 1 to 2.
Is off (on), the second LED is turned on (off),
The emission ratio of the second LED is increased so that the orange color closer to the red color is emitted. In addition, the width of the drive pulse from the LED drive unit 8 is continuously changed, that is, the width of the drive pulse of the first LED is wide at the time when the timer 11 starts counting, and the pulse width becomes narrow at the time when the timer 11 finishes measuring. The pulse width of the second LED is continuously changed so that the width of the drive pulse of the second LED is changed continuously from the narrow side to the wide side, and the emission color of the LED 9 changes from orange toward green to red. You may make it change to orange continuously.

Alternatively, the number of drive pulses per unit time from the LED drive unit 8 is changed from the time when the timer 11 starts to the intermediate signal output from the timer 11 shortly before the end of the operation of the fan 4. The number of drive pulses of the first LED is larger than the number of drive pulses of the second LED, for example, about 2 to 1, and when the first LED is on (off), the second LED is turned off (on). When the ratio is increased to make the orange color closer to green light, and the intermediate signal is output from the timer 11, the first L
The number of drive pulses of the ED is less than the number of drive pulses of the second LED, for example, about 1: 2, and when the first LED is off (on), the second LED is turned on (off), and the second L
The emission ratio of the ED may be increased so that orange near red is emitted. Alternatively, the number of drive pulses from the LED drive unit 8 is continuously changed, that is, the number of drive pulses of the first LED is increased at the time when the timer 11 starts counting, and the number of pulses is decreased at the end of the timer 11. The number of pulses is continuously changed so that
Contrary to this, the number of drive pulses of D is continuously changed from a small number to a large number so that the emission color of the LED 9 is continuously changed from orange toward green to orange toward red. Good.

A temperature sensor is provided in the housing, and after the lamp 1 is turned off, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is below a predetermined operation stop temperature (the temperature set to stop the operation of the fan 4). The operation of the fan 4 is continued until the temperature reaches a certain level, and while the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is higher than the operation stop temperature (preset) or more, the LED 9 emits an orange color closer to green and is slightly higher than the operation stop temperature. When the temperature becomes lower than the temperature, the LED 9 may emit reddish orange, and when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor becomes lower than a predetermined operation stop temperature, the LED 9 may emit red light.

[0019]

As described above, according to the liquid crystal projector device of the present invention, the operating time of the fan is indicated by the color of light emitted from the LED after the lamp is powered off.
For the LED, for example, an integrated type of green and red is used, and the LED is turned on by pulse driving, and when the lamp is off (the fan is continuously operating), the driving pulse width of the green LED is wide (or driving pulse). Number), narrowing the driving pulse width of the red LED (or decreasing the number of driving pulses), thereby increasing the green light emission ratio to an orange color closer to the green, and driving pulse of the green LED near the end of fan operation. Red LED with narrow width (or small number of drive pulses)
Drive pulse width is widened (or the number of drive pulses is increased) to increase the emission ratio of red to make it orange closer to red, or the width of these drive pulses (or the number of drive pulses) is made continuous. By changing to, the emission color is continuously changed from orange near the green to orange near the red, so it is possible to roughly judge how long the fan operation (rotation) continues by the emission color of the LED. This is convenient, for example, when it is desired to remove the power cord and move or store the device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a main part of an embodiment of a liquid crystal projector device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of display colors of LEDs that represent a fan operating time.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 lamp 2 LCD 3 Projection lens 4 fans 5 Operation part 6 Lamp power supply 7 Fan power supply 8 LED driver 9 LEDs (green / red) 10 Microcomputer 11 timer

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A cooling fan is provided for cooling the inside of the housing whose temperature has risen due to the heat generated by the light source lamp, and the cooling fan continues to operate for a predetermined time even after the light source lamp is powered off to cool the inside of the housing. The integrated LED including a first LED (light emitting diode) that emits a first color and a second LED that emits a second color, and an operation unit for turning on / off the light source lamp, The microcomputer includes a microcomputer that turns on / off the power of the light source lamp based on the operation of the operation unit and turns on / off each of the two LEDs of the integrated LED, and only the first LED while the power of the light source lamp is on. The first light source lamp is turned off and the first LED and the second LED are turned on until a predetermined time elapses while the power source of the light source lamp is turned off and the cooling fan is operated.
The light emission ratio of the LED is made higher than that of the second LED to emit light together, and after the elapse of the same predetermined time, the first LED and the second L
A liquid crystal projector device in which the ED is made to emit light by increasing the light emission ratio of the second LED as compared with the first LED, and only the second LED is made to emit light after the operation of the cooling fan is completed. 2. The switching of the light emission ratio of the first LED and the second LED is performed by making the ON time of one LED longer than the OFF time and turning the other LED OFF or ON when the same LED is ON or OFF. The liquid crystal projector device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The light emitting ratio of the two LEDs is changed by turning on the first and second LEDs by a drive pulse from the microcomputer and widening or narrowing the width of the drive pulse. 3. The liquid crystal projector device according to 1 or 2. 4. The liquid crystal projector device according to claim 3, wherein the width of the drive pulse from the microcomputer is continuously changed to continuously change the light emission ratio of the two LEDs. 5. The first and second LEDs are turned on by a drive pulse from the microcomputer, and the light emission ratio of the two LEDs is changed by increasing or decreasing the number of drive pulses per unit time. Item 3. A liquid crystal projector device according to item 1 or 2. 6. The liquid crystal projector device according to claim 5, wherein the number of drive pulses from the microcomputer per unit time is continuously increased or decreased, and the light emission ratio of the two LEDs is continuously changed. 7. The first LED emits green light and the second LED
The ED emits red light. The first LED emits red light while the light source lamp is powered on, and a predetermined time elapses while the light source lamp is powered off and the cooling fan is operating. Until the above, the first LED and the second LED emit an orange color near green,
After the lapse of the predetermined time, the first LED and the second LED emit an orange color closer to red, or while the cooling fan is operated while the light source lamp is powered off, the first LED and the second LED emit green light. 7. The light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the second LED emits red light after the cooling fan has finished operating, while continuously emitting light from orange near red to orange near red. Liquid crystal projector device.