JP2010063077A - Lighting line communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data bridge capable of enhancing a communication speed of a PLC MODEM through an extremely simple method and further expanding a communicable range between a plurality of PLC MODEMs. <P>SOLUTION: A lighting line communication apparatus is configured to bypass a high frequency components, between difference phases of a power distribution line, anywhere other than a power distribution panel in a lighting line communication apparatus of a single-phase three-wire, three-phase and three-wire or three-phase and four-wire power distribution line. Furthermore, the lighting line communication apparatus is configured to bypass only a high frequency component contained in a wiring line anywhere other than the power distribution panel in a lighting line communication apparatus of a power distribution line of a power system supplied from banks of different transformers. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to power line communication (or power line communication), and more particularly to a power line communication device (data bridge) for improving communication quality in power line communication.

  PLC modems for power line communication (hereinafter referred to as PLC) are currently sold by several manufacturers. In this case, communication can be performed between two or more modems by inserting the modem into an arbitrary power line outlet.

  However, the problem is that the PLC is not connected to anything, and in the worst case, communication may not be possible even in the same room. This is because the power distribution method is a single-phase three-wire system, and when different phases happen to be placed in different outlets in the same room. Hereinafter, these two different phases will be referred to as L1 phase and L2 phase. In addition, a filter or the like built in another household appliance connected to the outlet also prevents PLC communication. Therefore, communication may not be possible even with outlets of the same phase as well as outlets of different phases.

  In addition, the purpose of using these PLC modems is to think of the so-called LAN image where you want to use the Internet anywhere just by plugging it into an electrical outlet in the house. When a PLC is installed in another home appliance or a modem is installed between the different phases described above, the PLC cannot fully exhibit its performance. In the worst case, communication becomes impossible.

Recently, digital television has become common, and for this reason, video distribution via the LAN from the Internet, such as IPTV, has become a reality. At this time, the PLC may be able to achieve a speed of 100 Mbps in an ideal environment. However, in a general environment, it may be 50 Mbps to 10 Mbps, and further 2 Mbps. In moving images on digital television, if there is no data rate of at least 20 Mbps, the image becomes uncomfortable.
Currently, the PLC modems that are actually sold are far from the expected number of sales by each company. It is inferred that this cause, when actually used, has the above-mentioned problems and there was no easy way to solve it.

  Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a data bridge that improves the communication speed of a PLC modem in a very simple manner. It is another object of the present invention to provide a data bridge capable of extending the communication range between a plurality of PLC modems.

The power line communication apparatus of the present invention is a power line communication apparatus for a single-phase three-wire system, a three-phase three-wire system, or a three-phase four-wire distribution line, and distributes high-frequency components between different phases of the distribution line. It is characterized by being bypassed in other than.

  Further, the power line communication device of the present invention bypasses only the high-frequency component contained in the wiring line other than the power distribution board in the power line communication device of the distribution line of the power system supplied from different transformer banks. Features.

  The present invention provides a data bridge that improves the communication speed of a PLC modem in a very simple manner. Further, the present invention provides a data bridge that can extend the communication range between a plurality of PLC modems.

The power line communication device of the present invention is a single-phase three-wire type, three-phase three-wire type or three-phase four-wire type power line communication device. Bypass with.
Further, the power line communication device of the present invention bypasses only the high-frequency component contained in the wiring line other than the power distribution panel in the power line communication device of the distribution line of the power system supplied from different transformer banks. is there.
Example 1
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire data bridge of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the data bridge 10 includes, for example, a main body 12 having a size of about 15 mm × 50 mm × 25 mm, and a power plug 14 that is connected to both ends of the main body 12 and can be plugged into an AC outlet. In the main body 12, a small transformer and components (described later) complying with safety standards are arranged.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining how to use the data bridge of the present invention. For example, when six PLC modems are used in two rooms in two rooms, if the phases of the outlets are different, and if the data bridge 10 is not provided in the arrangement as shown in FIG. It is highly likely that the modem 16 cannot perform data communication or can only perform communication at a considerably low speed. In the room 2, the data bridge 10 is connected between outlets that cannot exchange data or are difficult to connect. Thereby, all the PLC modems in the rooms 1 to 3 can communicate or the communication speed can be improved.

  Here, in order to assist in understanding the features of the present invention, a conventional method for attaching a data probe will be briefly described. Conventionally, a dedicated data bridge has been inserted between the phases L1 and L2 of the single-phase three-wire electric wire in the switchboard. However, this had to ask an expert such as an electrician to perform the construction. The reason why the dedicated data bridge is inserted between the L1 and L2 phases of the single-phase three-wire distribution line in the switchboard is that the AC outlet in the room is the L1 or L2 phase. It depends on the fact that there was no way to distinguish. In the patent application 2007-223424 (name of the invention: phase discrimination device and phase discrimination method) of a prior application that has not been disclosed at present, the present applicant is a phase discrimination device that easily discriminates the phase of wiring in an AC outlet in a room. And a phase discrimination method, and the present invention uses a phase discrimination result easily obtained by using these phase discrimination devices and phase discrimination methods to obtain high-frequency components between different phases of a distribution line. It is possible to bypass other than the switchboard. As a result, the installer of a general power line communication modem does not need to request an expert such as an electrician to install the data bridge, and can be easily installed by himself.

  Next, the principle of the data bridge will be outlined. As shown in FIG. 3, the data bridge 10 is connected between two AC circuit networks 22, and only the signal components of the PLC modem are passed.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a specific usage of the data bridge. As shown in FIG. 4, the data is such that one of the AC plugs 14 of the data bridge 10 is connected to the L1 phase AC outlet 18 and the other of the AC plugs 14 of the data bridge 10 is connected to the L2 phase AC outlet 20. A bridge 10 is used.

  FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing wiring between components arranged in the main body of the data bridge. In FIG. 5, an AC commercial voltage having a voltage of 100 V or higher is applied to both ends of the circuit. The varistors 32 and 40 are for protecting the transformer 36 from an abnormal voltage such as lightning. The fuses 30 and 42 are used to prevent the transformer 36 from being spread or to protect the transformer 36 when an abnormality occurs in the winding of the transformer 36 or the like. XCAP (Noise Suppression Capacitors) 34 and 38 are capacitors that comply with safety standards and are for protecting the transformer 36.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the transformer in more detail. In FIG. 6, this transformer 36 often passes signals of 10 KHz to 30 MHz without passing commercial frequencies of 50 Hz and 60 Hz. Thereby, only the signal used by the power line communication can be passed. Incidentally, the low-speed PLC uses a frequency band of 10 KHz to 450 KHz, and the high-speed PLC uses a frequency band of 2 MHz to 30 MHz. The primary / secondary winding ratio of the transformer is 1: 1. However, in this transformer, both the primary winding and the secondary winding need to have sufficient insulation strength for a voltage of 100 V or higher.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the transformer. In FIG. 7, two transformers 36a and 36b are used. In each transformer, the primary winding has an insulation strength of 100V or more, and the secondary winding has an insulation strength of 24V or less. The secondary windings of these transformers 36a and 36b are used so as to be connected to each other. Thereby, the same operation as that performed by one transformer 36 shown in FIG. 6 can be performed. Since the insulation strength of the secondary winding of each transformer may be small, the price of the transformer can be kept low.
(Experimental example 1)
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining Experimental Example 1 in which no data bridge is used. An experiment was conducted to confirm the effect of data bridge at a cleaning factory. In FIG. 8, the circles indicate the positions where the PLC modems are arranged. An experiment was conducted to determine whether data could be sent to other PLC modems from ◯ indicated by numeral 100. As a result, communication was possible with five PLC modems indicated by circles 101 to 105.
(Experimental example 2)
FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining Experimental Example 2 using a data bridge. Next, as shown in FIG. 9, by using the data bridge 10, all the PLC modems in the building were able to communicate with the ◯ PLC modem. The PLC modem used here has a data repeater function, and when the signal weakens, another PLC modem supplements the data to realize communication. FIG. 9 shows a PLC modem that is not connected in FIG.

From such a field test, for example, when a person who purchased a HD-PLC modem from a manufacturer that is a consumer electronics store was worried that the communication speed was slow or there was a room that could not communicate, this data bridge was When purchased and connected between outlets where data communication was not possible until now, there is a very high possibility that communication using a PLC modem will be possible in other locations.
(Example 2)
Next, a further improved data bridge will be described. The data bridge described in the first embodiment is effective by inserting an AC plug into each of two outlets in the building. However, when the two outlets are not located nearby, an extension cable must be used for each AC plug to use the data bridge. Therefore, using the following data bridge, the communication quality of the power line communication is improved without directly connecting the L1 and L2 phases with the data bridge.

  In order to distinguish the data bridge of the second embodiment from the data bridge of the first embodiment, for convenience of explanation, it will be referred to as a data loop bridge hereinafter. FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram showing wiring between components arranged in the main body of the data loop bridge. In FIG. 10, the data loop bridge 50 is different from the data bridge of the first embodiment in that a termination resistor 44 is connected to the secondary winding of the transformer 36 instead of connecting the XCAP 38, the varistor 40, and the fuse 42. .

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the position of the data loop bridge inserted into the power line communication system. In FIG. 11, at least one data loop bridge 50 is inserted into an L1 phase AC outlet and at least one data loop bridge 50 is inserted into an L2 phase AC outlet.

  Next, the reason why the communication quality by the data loop bridge is improved will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram in consideration of the resistance value in the power line communication system (distribution system). If the termination resistance 44 of the data loop bridge 50 is R, the primary / secondary winding ratio of the transformer is 1: 1, so the impedance in the distribution system is R ohms. Here, by setting R to 100 ohms or more, it can be considered to be 100 times or more compared to the resistance of the copper wire of the distribution line.

  For this reason, the two N lines shown in FIG. 12 can be equivalently regarded as one as shown by the arrows in FIG. Therefore, when at least one data loop bridge 50 is arranged in the L1 phase and one or more data loop bridges 50 are arranged in the L2 phase, the signal is transmitted in a loop as shown in FIG. 14, and the PLC modem from the L1 phase to the L2 phase is transmitted. Communication is easier.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a housing of the data loop bridge. As shown in Fig. 15, by creating a product with a power loop and a power outlet with a built-in data loop bridge, installing it in several places in the building, or installing it properly in the L1 phase and L2 phase, The quality of power line communication is improved. The power outlet is prepared to make use of the outlet blocked by using the data loop bridge.
Example 3
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating the housing of the data bridge according to the third embodiment. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a circuit configuration inside the housing. As shown in FIG. 16, the data bridge 10 has a first main body 12a and a second main body 12b connected by a connection means 15 such as a telephone line or a category 5 LAN cable, for example. Power plugs 14a and 14b to be plugged into an AC outlet are connected to the main body 12a and the second main body 12b. The connection means 15 is preferably a LAN cable that allows only signal components of power line communication to pass over a long distance, but may be a simple electric wire that allows a wide range of frequency components to pass.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the first main body 12a and the second main body 12b have the same circuit configuration and the same circuit configuration as the data loop bridge 50 described with reference to FIG. That is, the first main body 12a and the second main body 12b are each provided with a fuse 30, a varistor 32, an XCAP 34, a transformer 36, and a termination resistor.

  The advantage that the first main body 12a and the second main body 12b have the same circuit configuration as the data loop bridge 50 is that the main body of the data bridge described in the first embodiment and the main body of the data loop bridge described in the second embodiment are manufactured in the same way. This is suitable for mass production, and there is no need to prepare different products for the data bridge and the data loop bridge.

It is a schematic perspective view which shows the whole data bridge. It is a figure for demonstrating how to use a data bridge. It is a figure for demonstrating the principle of a data bridge. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific usage of a data bridge. It is a circuit diagram which shows the wiring between the components arrange | positioned in the main body of a data bridge. It is a figure for demonstrating a transformer further in detail. It is a figure which shows the other Example of a transformer. It is a figure for demonstrating Experimental example 1 which does not use a data bridge. It is a figure for demonstrating Experimental example 2 using a data bridge. It is a circuit diagram which shows the wiring between the components arrange | positioned in the main body of a data loop bridge. It is a figure for demonstrating the position of the data loop bridge inserted in a power line communication system. It is a circuit diagram which considered the resistance value in a power line communication system. FIG. 13 is a circuit diagram illustrating an equivalent circuit of FIG. 12. It is a figure for demonstrating transmission of a signal. It is a figure which shows the housing | casing of a data loop bridge. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the whole other data bridge. It is a circuit diagram of another data bridge.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Data bridge 12 Main body 12a 1st main body 12b 2nd main body 14 Power plug 15 Connection means 16 PLC modem 18 Outlet (L1)
20 Outlet (L2)
36 Transformer 36a, 36b Transformer 44 Terminating resistor 50 Data loop bridge

Claims (8)

  A single-phase three-wire, three-phase three-wire, or three-phase four-wire distribution line power line communication device, wherein the high-frequency components between different phases of the distribution line are bypassed outside the switchboard Line communication equipment.   An apparatus for power line communication in a power line communication apparatus for a distribution line of an electric power system supplied from a bank of a different transformer, wherein only a high-frequency component contained in the wiring line is bypassed by a part other than the distribution board.   The power line communication device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a main body having high-frequency component passing means for passing high-frequency components; and an AC plug for connecting to a power outlet of a different phase. Characteristic power line communication device.   The power line communication device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a first body and a second body containing a transformer which is a high-frequency component passing means for passing a high-frequency component and a resistor for terminating a secondary side of the transformer; A power line communication comprising: a connecting means for connecting the first main body and the second main body; and an AC plug connected to the first main body and the second main body for connecting to power outlets of different phases. Equipment.   5. The apparatus for power line communication according to claim 3, wherein the high-frequency component passing means is a transformer that allows high-frequency components in a band of 10 KHz to 30 MHz to pass.   6. The apparatus for power line communication according to claim 5, wherein a carrier for power line communication is included in a high frequency band of 10 KHz to 30 MHz.   The power line communication device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a main body containing a transformer which is a high-frequency component passing means for passing a high-frequency component and a resistor which terminates the secondary side of the transformer is connected to a power outlet. A power line communication device, comprising: an AC plug for performing the operation.   8. The apparatus for power line communication according to claim 7, further comprising one power outlet.