JP2008153027A - Light control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light control device capable of detecting kinds of lighting devices connected to it through signal lines. <P>SOLUTION: The lighting devices short-circuit two-wire signal lines over given short-circuiting spans of time for each of their kinds. A control part 14 of the light control device 1 detects short circuiting of the signal lines 2 based on an output of a short circuit detecting part a communicating part 12 has connected to the signal lines 2, cross-checks a continuous time of sort circuit detected with data stored in a storage part 13 to detect kinds of the lighting devices, and controls a display part 15 to have the kinds of the lighting devices displayed. A user, looking at a display on the display part 15, is notified of a wrong connection of the lighting devices to be able to take appropriate steps, so that maintenance of a whole lighting system is improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a light control device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been provided a light control device that is connected to an illumination device via a two-wire signal line (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The illumination device turns on the light source with a light output corresponding to the dimming signal transmitted from the dimming device via the signal line. When a light emitting diode or a fluorescent lamp is used as the light source, a PWM signal is often used as the dimming signal, and when an incandescent lamp is used as the light source, a phase signal is often used as the dimming signal. Further, even when a PWM signal is used as the dimming signal, the ratio of the light output when the dimming signal is input to the light output at the rated lighting (hereinafter referred to as “dimming ratio”). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, if the light source is an incandescent lamp, the relationship with the duty ratio of the PWM signal is a straight line A. If the light source is a fluorescent lamp, the relationship is a straight line B. The light source is a light emitting diode. Depending on the type of light source, such as curve C, if present.

Therefore, when a plurality of types of lighting devices having different light sources are used, as shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of lighting devices 3 each having a dimming signal that uses each lighting device 3 in common (see FIG. 6). 6 is grouped into four groups), and each group of lighting devices 3 is connected to the light control device 1 via a separate signal line 2. Each lighting device 3 is connected to the signal line 2 by multidrop connection, for example. That is, all the lighting devices 3 connected to the common signal line 2 (that is, belonging to the same group) are collectively controlled, and the lighting devices 3 are controlled in units of groups. Independent control is possible. The illumination device 3 is often arranged in different regions Z1 to Z4 for each group.
JP 2002-134280 A

  Conventionally, it has been necessary to perform in advance for each signal line 2 an operation for setting the light control device 1 so as to transmit a light control signal corresponding to the type of the lighting device 3 connected to the signal line 2. However, if the setting is incorrect, the lighting device 3 cannot be turned on with the intended light output. When the lighting device 3 does not turn on with the intended light output, the cause may be a failure of the lighting device 3 in addition to the above setting error or incorrect connection of the lighting device 3, but conventionally, any of the above causes It was difficult to identify and it took time to deal with it.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said reason, The objective is to provide the light control apparatus which can detect the classification of an illuminating device.

  The present invention is a lighting unit that is connected to a two-wire signal line and lights a light source with a light output corresponding to a dimming signal input from the signal line, and a short-circuit time determined for each type of lighting device. Control that is connected to at least one set of two-wire signal lines each connected to at least one lighting device each having a short-circuit portion that performs a short-circuit operation for short-circuiting between two lines constituting a signal line at a predetermined timing. An optical device, each of which is provided for each set of signal lines, and each of the illumination devices connected via the signal line transmits a dimming signal for instructing the light output of the light source, and a signal line A control unit that generates a dimming signal for each set and controls the transmitting unit to transmit the generated dimming signal, and a short circuit between two lines that are provided for each set of signal lines and that constitute a signal line is periodically performed Are controlled by the short-circuit detection unit and the control unit. And a notification unit that notifies the user by at least one of visual and auditory senses, and the control unit continuously detects a short circuit between the two wires constituting any one of the signal lines by the short circuit detection unit. The lighting device connected to the signal line based on the number of times that the short-circuit is continuously detected before the short-circuit is no longer detected. The type of the lighting device is detected, and the notification unit is controlled to notify the user of the type of the detected lighting device.

  According to the present invention, since the type of the lighting device connected to the signal line is detected and notified to the user, the user can know the erroneous connection of the lighting device by looking at the display on the display unit, For example, it is possible to take appropriate measures such as replacement of the lighting device, so that the maintainability of the lighting system is improved.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the present embodiment includes an input unit 11 to which an external command is input, a plurality of communication units 12 that are connected to the lighting device 3 through the signal line 2, and an EEPROM, for example. Each signal line 2 based on a storage unit 13 that is configured by such a nonvolatile memory and stores data used to control the lighting device 3, and a command input to the input unit 11 and data stored in the storage unit 13. A control unit 14 for generating a dimming signal and transmitting the generated dimming signal by controlling the communication unit 12 connected to the signal line 2, and a control unit 14 including a liquid crystal panel, for example. And a display unit 15 as a notification unit for displaying the state.

  For example, the input unit 11 may include a photodiode that receives infrared light, and a command may be input by a wireless signal using infrared light as a medium, a push button that receives an operation input, a rotary switch, or the like The command may be input by an operation input.

  The storage unit 13 stores a table indicating the correspondence between the command input to the input unit 11 and the dimming ratio, and a table indicating the correspondence between the dimming ratio and the dimming signal to be generated. . As control executed for one command, in addition to individual control for transmitting a dimming signal only to one signal line 2, a control preset for each signal line 2 with respect to the command is provided. There is scene control for transmitting a dimming signal indicating the light ratio to each signal line 2.

  The signal line 2 includes a ground side line 21 (see FIG. 3) connected to the ground and a voltage side line 22 (see FIG. 3) to which a voltage corresponding to the dimming signal is applied to the ground side line 21. The dimming signal is, for example, a PWM signal.

  The illumination device 3 includes a lighting unit 31 that turns on the light source 4 as shown in FIG. The light source 4 is, for example, an incandescent lamp, a fluorescent lamp, or a light emitting diode, and the lighting unit 31 converts AC power supplied from, for example, a commercial power source into power for lighting the light source 4. Since such a light source 4 and the lighting part 31 are realizable by a well-known technique, illustration and detailed description are abbreviate | omitted.

  In addition, the lighting device 3 includes a short-circuit unit 32 including a semiconductor switch such as a transistor connected between the ground side line 21 and the voltage side line 22 constituting the signal line 2, and a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM. And a short-circuit control unit 34 that performs on / off control of the short-circuit unit 32 based on the short-circuit data stored in the storage unit 33 in advance. Specifically, for example, the short-circuit data is a time for turning on the short-circuit unit 32 (hereinafter referred to as “short-circuit time”), and the short-circuit control unit 34 elapses after the lighting device 3 is turned on. The short-circuit part 32 is turned on until the signal line 2 is short-circuited, and the short-circuit part 32 is turned off after the short-circuit time has elapsed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, each communication unit 12 of the light control device 1 is connected to the ground side line 21 in addition to the transmission unit 12a that is connected to the voltage side line 22 and transmits the light control signal. 2 is provided.

  The transmission unit 12a includes a switching element Q1 formed of, for example, a PNP transistor connected between the constant voltage source V1 and the voltage side line 22, and a drive circuit 12c that is controlled by the control unit 14 to drive the switching element Q1 on and off. Is provided.

  The short-circuit detection unit 12b includes an NPN transistor Q2 having a base connected to the ground side line 21 via a diode D1, an emitter connected to the ground, and a collector connected to the control unit 14 via a resistor R1. A connection point between the resistor R1 and the transistor Q2 is connected to the constant voltage source V2 via the resistor R2. That is, when the output of the transmission unit 12a becomes H level during a period in which the signal line 2 is short-circuited, the transistor Q2 is turned on and the output of the short-circuit detection unit 12b is L level. In contrast, when the signal line 2 is not short-circuited or when the signal line 2 is short-circuited and the output of the transmitter 12a is at L level, the transistor Q2 is turned off and the output of the short-circuit detector 12b. Becomes H level.

  The control unit 14 monitors the output of the short-circuit detection unit 12b at least during a period in which the dimming signal is at the H level. As illustrated in FIG. When it is detected (that is, when the output of the short-circuit detection unit 12b becomes L level), the short-circuit is continued without outputting the dimming signal from the normal operation for outputting the dimming signal for the signal line 2. Transition to detection operation that measures time.

  In the detection operation, the transmission unit 12a is controlled at the timing when the dimming signal is transmitted in the normal operation, and the output of the transmission unit 12a is set to the H level for a shorter time than the dimming signal. If the operation of monitoring the output is periodically repeated and the output of the short circuit detection unit 12b remains at the H level while the output of the transmission unit 12a is at the H level (that is, if the short circuit time has ended), The detection operation is terminated and the normal operation is resumed. And until it returns to normal operation, the short circuit time is counted by counting the number of times the output of the short circuit detector 12b has become L level.

  Here, the short-circuiting time is varied for each type of the lighting device 3 so that the number of times counted in the detection operation is different. For example, if the lighting device 3 uses an incandescent lamp as the light source, the short circuit is detected three times. If the lighting device 3 uses the white light emitting diode as the light source, the short circuit is detected seven times. The short-circuiting time is set so that the short-circuiting is detected 10 times in the lighting device 3 and the short-circuiting is detected 14 times in the lighting device 3 using the RGB light emitting diode as the light source. Therefore, the light control device 1 can detect the type of the lighting device 3 connected to the signal line 2 based on the number of times counted in the detection operation.

  That is, the storage unit 13 of the light control device 1 stores the correspondence between the number of times counted in the detection operation and the type of the lighting device 3. At the end of the detection operation, the control unit 14 detects the type of the lighting device 3 connected to the signal line 2 that has performed the detection operation based on the correspondence relationship, and displays the result on the display unit 15.

  According to the above configuration, since the type of the lighting device 3 connected to the signal line 2 is detected and displayed on the display unit 15, the user sees the display on the display unit 15 and makes an incorrect connection of the lighting device 3. Knowing that, for example, it is possible to take appropriate measures such as replacement of the lighting device 3, so that the maintainability of the lighting system is improved.

  Also, the output of the dimming signal is stopped when a short circuit is detected, and the pulse width of the signal output from the transmitter 12a to detect the short circuit during the detection operation (the length of the period during which the output is at the H level) ) Is shorter than the dimming signal, the power consumption is reduced compared to the case where the output of the dimming signal is continued.

  Note that the notification unit is not limited to the display unit 15 that performs visual notification as described above. For example, a notification unit that has a speaker and that performs audio notification using sound is used instead of the display unit 15 or together with the display unit 15. Also good.

  The timing at which the lighting device 3 performs the short-circuit operation is not limited to immediately after the power is turned on as described above. For example, each lighting device 3 is provided with a clock unit (not shown) for detecting time, and the storage unit 33. The short-circuit control unit 32 may start the short-circuit operation at a predetermined time stored in advance.

It is a block diagram which shows embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the illuminating device connected and used for the same as the above. It is a circuit block diagram which shows the principal part same as the above. It is a wave form diagram which shows an example of the output of the transmission part in the same as the above, and the output of a short circuit detection part. It is explanatory drawing which shows the difference in the relationship between the duty ratio of the light control signal and light control ratio by the classification of an illuminating device. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the usage condition of a light modulation apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light control apparatus 2 Signal line 3 Illuminating device 12 Communication part 12a Transmission part 12b Short circuit detection part 13 Memory | storage part 14 Control part 15 Display part (Notification part in a claim)
31 lighting part 32 short circuit part

Claims (1)

A lighting unit that is connected to a two-wire signal line and turns on the light source with a light output corresponding to the dimming signal input from the signal line, and the signal line is configured over a short-circuit time determined for each type of lighting device A dimmer that is connected to at least one set of two-wire signal lines to which at least one lighting device having a short-circuit portion that performs a short-circuit operation for short-circuiting between two wires at a predetermined timing. And
A transmitter for transmitting a dimming signal for instructing the light output of the light source to each lighting device provided for each set of signal lines and connected via the signal line, and a dimming signal for each set of signal lines And a control unit that controls the transmitter to transmit the generated dimming signal, and a short-circuit detector that periodically detects a short circuit between two lines that are provided for each pair of signal lines And a notification unit that is controlled by the control unit to notify the user by at least one of visual and auditory senses,
The control unit stops transmission of the dimming signal to the signal line and detects the short circuit while the short circuit is continuously detected by the short circuit detection unit between the two lines constituting any one of the signal lines. The type of the lighting device connected to the signal line is detected based on the number of times that the short circuit is continuously detected until it is not detected, and the type of the detected lighting device is notified to the user by controlling the notification unit. A light control device characterized in that

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