JP2005216621A - Cordless lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cordless lamp in which brightness and lighting time of the illumination are adjusted by supplying power supply of a secondary battery 2a to an inverter circuit 7 through a light control circuit 6 and lighting a fluorescent tube 3. <P>SOLUTION: This is a cordless lamp in which the fluorescent tube 3 is lighted by an inverter circuit 7 using a secondary battery 2a housed in a battery pack 2 detachable from the main body 1 as a power source. A light control circuit 6 is provided which can adjust the light volume of the fluorescent tube 3 by pushing the light control switch 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cordless lamp for lighting a lamp such as a fluorescent tube using a battery stored in a detachable battery pack or the like as a power source.

  2. Description of the Related Art A cordless lamp called a flashlight in which a dry battery is loaded and a small incandescent lamp is turned on has been widely used. Recently, a cordless lamp for lighting a fluorescent tube using a secondary battery housed in a detachable battery pack as a power source has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). And since a cordless lamp using such a fluorescent tube can illuminate in a wide range with a large amount of light and consumes little power, it is expected to be widely used in various applications as a portable lighting fixture to replace a flashlight. ing.

  However, since these cordless lamps use a battery as a power source, there is a limitation in the lighting time until the battery is replaced or charged. In addition, for example, in order to perform detailed work, this lighting time may be short, so it is not necessary to use such a bright illumination when it is used for a purpose that requires a little bright illumination or when used outdoors for a long time, for example. However, it may be used for applications where a longer lighting time is better. However, the conventional cordless lamp cannot select the usage method with priority on brightness or lighting time according to the application as described above, and selects a cordless lamp having performance and characteristics according to the application at the time of purchase. There was no other problem.

Also, such a cordless lamp is not fixed and does not always illuminate the same place, but is used in various situations, for example, to illuminate the interior of an engine room that is narrowly complicated in an automobile repair shop, Even when lighting underneath the car body from below, especially if you want brighter lighting, or if the brightness is too bright, the difference in brightness from the shadow will be too large, or the lighting will be too close and dazzled by your eyes. Sometimes it is too much. However, the conventional cordless lamp has a problem that the brightness of the illumination cannot be changed as appropriate according to the use situation.
JP 2002-15777 A

  The present invention is intended to solve the problem that the brightness and lighting time of the illumination cannot be adjusted according to the application and use situation by providing a light control circuit in the cordless lamp.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, a cordless lamp for lighting a lamp using a battery as a power source is provided with a dimming circuit for adjusting a light amount of the lamp.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the cordless lamp is provided with the light control circuit, the brightness of the illumination can be adjusted by adjusting the light quantity of the lamp. In addition, when the power consumption can be reduced by reducing the light amount of the lamp, it is possible to reduce the battery consumption and extend the lighting time.

  Note that the battery may be either a primary battery or a secondary battery. In addition to a fluorescent lamp or an incandescent lamp, a light emitting diode or the like can be used as the lamp. Further, the dimming circuit may be one that allows the user to adjust the light amount of the lamp by an operation, or may be one that automatically adjusts based on information detected by a sensor or the like.

  Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In the present embodiment, a cordless lamp using a fluorescent tube will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the cordless lamp has a battery pack 2 attached to a lower end portion of a rod-shaped main body 1 that can be grasped by hand. When the battery pack 2 is attached to a charger (not shown), the internal secondary battery is charged, and the battery pack 2 is attached to the cordless lamp by being pushed into the lower end of the main body 1 from below. A fluorescent tube 3 is attached to the upper end of the rod-shaped main body 1. Here, the fluorescent tube 3 has a shape in which two straight tubes are arranged and communicated at the upper end. A fluorescent tube cover 4 for protecting the fluorescent tube 3 is detachably mounted around the fluorescent tube 3.

  An electrical circuit inside the cordless lamp is shown in FIG. The secondary battery 2 a housed in the battery pack 2 is connected to the fluorescent tube 3 via the power switch 5, the dimming circuit 6, and the inverter circuit 7. The power switch 5 is a switch for switching on / off the fluorescent tube 3, and an operation unit is disposed on the back side of the main body 1 in FIG. 2. In the case of a conventional cordless lamp, the secondary battery 2 a is connected to the fluorescent tube 3 through the power switch 5 and the inverter circuit 7. The inverter circuit 7 is a circuit that converts the DC power source of the secondary battery 2 a into an AC power source and supplies it to the fluorescent tube 3. When the fluorescent tube 3 is directly lit by the secondary battery 2a, luminance unevenness occurs or the lamp life is shortened. Therefore, the inverter circuit 7 is used to perform high-frequency AC lighting of several tens of kHz. . Although the circuit configuration of the inverter circuit 7 is arbitrary, since the dimming circuit 6 described below is used in this embodiment, the separately excited type is preferable to the self-excited type. Also, if the tube current of the fluorescent tube 3 is interrupted, the discharge in the tube is interrupted and the tube life is shortened. Therefore, it is necessary to use a circuit system in which this tube current is not interrupted. Since unevenness occurs, it is preferable to use a circuit configuration in which positive and negative waveforms are symmetrical, such as a push-pull method.

  The light control circuit 6 is a circuit that adjusts the light quantity of the fluorescent tube 3 and controls the output voltage and output current of the inverter circuit 7 to increase and decrease the light quantity. The circuit configuration of the dimmer circuit 6 is also arbitrary depending on the circuit configuration of the inverter circuit 7. For example, the tube current of the fluorescent tube 3 is fed back to control the input voltage supplied to the inverter circuit 7. Alternatively, the duty ratio may be adjusted by intermittently connecting a DC power source supplied to the inverter circuit 7 using a DC-DC converter or the like.

  A dimming switch 8 is connected to the dimming circuit 6. The dimming switch 8 is a toggle switch that is switched ON / OFF each time it is pressed, and the dimming amount can be adjusted by changing, for example, the resistance value of the resistor in the dimming circuit 6 by this ON / OFF switching. It has become. As shown in FIG. 2, the dimming switch 8 has operation buttons arranged on the front side of the main body 1. When the dimming switch 8 is OFF, the dimming circuit 6 supplies the DC power of the secondary battery 2a to the inverter circuit 7 as it is to turn on the fluorescent tube 3 with the maximum light amount. When is turned on, the dimming circuit 6 controls the direct current power supplied to the inverter circuit 7 so as to reduce the light amount (luminous intensity) of the fluorescent tube 3 by a certain amount.

  According to the cordless lamp having the above configuration, the light amount of the fluorescent tube 3 can be increased or decreased each time the dimming switch 8 is pressed. Therefore, when the dimming switch 8 is turned on and the fluorescent tube 3 is lit with the maximum light amount. In the case where the illumination becomes brighter, the lighting time until the secondary battery 2a of the battery pack 2 completes the discharge is shortened, and the light amount of the fluorescent tube 3 is reduced by turning off the dimming switch 8. The lighting is a little darker, but the lighting time is longer. For example, in the case of the cordless lamp of this embodiment, when the work space is illuminated very brightly with an illuminance of 3100 lux, the secondary battery 2a of the battery pack 2 has been discharged in 80 minutes, but this illumination is 1800 lux. When the brightness is lowered, it takes 130 minutes for the secondary battery 2a to complete the discharge, and the work can be continued for a long time. Therefore, when the cordless lamp is used for lighting brightness priority applications, the dimming switch 8 should be turned on, and when used for lighting time priority applications, the dimming switch 8 should be turned off. Further, when the cordless lamp is too bright and dazzling or the shadowed part is too dark and difficult to see, the dimming switch 8 may be turned off to reduce the light quantity of the fluorescent tube 3.

  In the above embodiment, the dimming circuit 6 performs the dimming in two steps by the dimming switch 8. However, it is possible to perform dimming in more steps, and the stepless dimming is possible. You can also do light. When the light control circuit 6 performs multi-level light control, the light amount of the fluorescent tube 3 is decreased every time the light control switch 8 is pressed, and even when the light amount reaches the minimum light amount, it is further pressed to return to the maximum light amount. Alternatively, the light amount may be adjusted according to the rotational position using a rotary switch. When the dimming circuit 6 performs stepless dimming, a rotary or slide variable resistor can be used instead of the dimming switch 8. Further, the light control circuit 6 can perform light control by consuming a part of the power supplied to the inverter circuit 7 by a variable resistor or the like. Even if it is decreased, the effect of lengthening the lighting time cannot be obtained.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the user of the cordless lamp adjusts the light amount of the fluorescent tube 3 by operation is shown. However, the adjustment of the light amount can be automatically performed. That is, for example, a light sensor is provided in a cordless lamp, and the light quantity of the fluorescent tube 3 can be automatically adjusted according to the ambient brightness detected by the light sensor.

  Moreover, although the case where the fluorescent tube 3 of the shape which arranged two straight tubes was used was shown in the said embodiment, the shape of this fluorescent tube 3 is not restricted to this, Arbitrary things can be used. Furthermore, in place of such a fluorescent tube 3, other lamps such as other discharge lamps, incandescent lamps, and light emitting diodes can be used. For example, in the case of a cordless lamp using an incandescent lamp as the lamp, it is not necessary to use the inverter circuit 7 as shown in FIG. 1, and it can be directly lit by the DC power source of the secondary battery 2a. Further, in the case of a discharge lamp such as the fluorescent tube 3, since the lamp life is shortened, it was not possible to perform dimming by intermittently supplying the tube current. By supplying the power of the battery 2a intermittently at high speed using a DC-DC converter or the like, it is possible to perform dimming with the duty ratio.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the case where the secondary battery 2a was accommodated in the battery pack 2 and made removable with respect to the main body 1 was shown, this secondary battery 2a may be built in the main body 1, and a battery A single unit may be attached to the main body 1. Furthermore, although the rechargeable cordless lamp using the secondary battery 2a has been described in the above embodiment, a cordless lamp that is used while replacing the primary battery such as a dry battery may be used.

1 is a circuit block diagram illustrating an electric circuit of a cordless lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an appearance of a cordless lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

2 Battery pack 2a Secondary battery 3 Fluorescent tube 6 Dimming circuit 8 Dimming switch

Claims (1)

In cordless lamps that use a battery as a power source to light the lamp,
A cordless lamp comprising a light control circuit for adjusting a light amount of the lamp.

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