JP2011221679A - Traffic signal light - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a traffic signal light by which fixed visibility is assured under any environment irrespective of daytime, nighttime, weather.SOLUTION: The traffic signal light has: display parts 20 which are provided in a main body, have three LED elements 60R, 60G, 60B which emit red, green, and blue light, respectively, and are arranged like a dot matrix; an illuminance sensor which measures illuminance of light of surrounding environment under which the main body is installed; and a control part 40 which emits one of the LED elements 60R, 60G, 60B, respectively by being associated with red, blue, and yellow, and controls luminance of the arbitrary LED elements 60R, 60G, 60B based on a measurement result of the illuminance sensor to be lit.

Description

The present invention relates to a traffic signal lamp.

There are configurations as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 as a configuration of a traffic light. In this configuration, red, blue, and yellow windows are provided for each unit.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 64-43498 Utility model registration No. 2603908

  However, since the above-described configuration includes a window for each color of red, blue, and yellow, it is necessary to increase the size of the apparatus and take a wide installation place. In addition, a large amount of power is used even when each color is not displayed. Further, such traffic signal lights need to ensure a certain level of visibility in any environment regardless of daytime, nighttime, or weather.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a main body, a display unit provided in the main body, each including three LED elements that emit red, green, and blue, and arranged in a dot matrix, and the main body. An illuminance sensor that measures the illuminance of light in the surrounding environment installed, and each LED element emits light corresponding to red, blue, and yellow, and the luminance of any LED element is adjusted based on the measurement result of the illuminance sensor And a control unit for controlling and lighting.

  Further, according to the present invention, in the above configuration, the lighting of the LED element is performed by increasing the frequency when the illuminance is high, and decreasing the frequency when the illuminance is low. Features.

  Furthermore, the lighting of the LED element is based on the measurement result of the illuminance sensor, and when the illuminance is high, the PWM signal with a large duty ratio is used to lengthen the energization time to the LED element, and when the illuminance is low, the PWM signal with a small duty ratio is used. It is characterized by shortening the energization time to the LED element.

  According to the present invention, it is not necessary to provide windows for red, blue, and yellow colors by arranging LED elements corresponding to red, blue, and yellow in a dot matrix on the display unit provided in the main body. Therefore, the installation location can be reduced.

  In addition, by providing an illuminance sensor that measures the illuminance of the surrounding environment and a controller that controls the brightness of an arbitrary LED element based on the measurement result of the illuminance sensor, it is constant in any environment Can be ensured.

  For example, the lighting of the LED element is performed by increasing the frequency when the illuminance sensor has a high illuminance, and the frequency is decreased when the illuminance is low, or the lighting of the LED element is performed by the illuminance sensor. As a result of the measurement, when the illuminance is high, the energization time to the LED element is lengthened by a PWM signal having a large duty ratio, and when the illuminance is low, the energization time to the LED element is shortened by a PWM signal having a small duty ratio. Can be realized.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is an outline of the traffic signal lamp of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of the traffic signal lamp of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, the traffic signal lamp includes a main body 10, a display unit 20, an illuminance sensor 30, and a control unit 40.

  The main body 10 is composed of a box that accommodates the display unit 20, and a cover (not shown) is provided on the upper surface of the main body 10 to protect the display unit 20 from the outside. The cover also has a lens effect that collects or scatters light from the display unit 20.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 20 has a set of three LED elements that emit red (60R), green (60G), and blue (60B) arranged in a matrix. Specifically, the LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B) have three LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B) that emit light so that the main body 10 is lit in red, blue, or yellow. This is an RGB primary color light emitting LED in which an LED chip is molded with a transparent resin.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, power is supplied to each LED element (60R, 60G, 60B) by a power supply switching means 70. Moreover, the adjustment part 80 which adjusts light emission of each LED element is provided so that each LED element (60R, 60G, 60B) may be lit in any one of color, blue, and yellow. The adjustment unit 80 is controlled by the control unit 40 described later.

  The illuminance sensor 30 measures the brightness around the body, and is provided in the vicinity of the body 10. The illuminance sensor 30 is connected to the control unit 40.

  The control unit 40 controls each LED element (60R, 60G, 60B) lighting timing of any one of red, blue, and yellow, the operation of the switching means 70, and the adjustment of the adjustment unit 80. The sensor 30 and the drive unit 50 are connected.

  Specifically, in the control unit 40, each LED element (60R, 60G, 60B) controls the light emission timing / irradiation time of each LED element (60R, 60G, 60B). For example, control of each LED element (60R, 60G, 60B) is made to light by intermittently supplying power from the power supply 90 based on a pulse signal of a predetermined interval transmitted from the drive unit 50. The red, blue, and yellow timing is performed at a predetermined timing, for example, a timing that is defined in a traffic light specification (a police regulation) specified by the Metropolitan Police Department.

  The control unit 40 controls the light emission of each LED element (60R, 60G, 60B) based on the red, blue, and yellow lighting timings and the measurement result of the illuminance sensor 30, and the illuminance sensor 30 and the drive unit 50 are controlled. And connected to the adjusting unit 80.

  The light emission of the LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B) is changed according to the measurement result of the illuminance sensor 30, the pulse signal of the drive unit 50 is changed at a constant frequency, or is supplied to the LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B). The switching means 70 changes the PWM power having a duty ratio.

  With the above configuration, when the illuminance of the surrounding environment is high as a result of the measurement of the sensitivity sensor 30, the frequency is increased to increase the lighting of the LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B), and When the illuminance is low, the frequency is lowered to lower the lighting of the LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B), and the luminance of any LED element to be lit is controlled.

  As a result of measurement by the illuminance sensor 30, when the illuminance is high, the energization time to the LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B) is lengthened by a PWM signal having a large duty ratio, and when the illuminance is low, the duty ratio is increased. The brightness of the arbitrary LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B) to be lit is controlled by shortening the energization time to the LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B) with a small PWM signal.

  As described above, the illuminance sensor 30 that measures the illuminance of the surrounding environment and the control unit 40 that controls the luminance of any LED element (60R, 60G, 60B) based on the measurement result of the illuminance sensor 30 to turn on. Thus, in any environment, it is possible to ensure a certain visibility of the lit traffic signal light.

  In particular, a conventional traffic signal light needs to visually recognize the lighting state under sunlight during the daytime, and the traffic signal light is designed in consideration of the maximum brightness for that purpose. For this reason, the traffic light maintains the maximum luminance even at night, and waste of power consumption occurs.

  However, with the configuration as described above, it is possible to positively reduce the power consumption of lighting of the traffic signal lamp by controlling the lighting of the traffic signal lamp according to the surrounding illuminance (brightness).

  Further, by changing the combination of light emitting LED elements (60R, 60G, 60B), it is possible to identify the lighting of the traffic light even if the color vision is abnormal.

  In the above embodiment, the traffic signal lamp according to the present invention has been described as being applied to a signal lamp used at a normal road intersection. However, the present invention is not limited to this, for example, a ship route. It can be applied to signs, aviation obstruction lights and daytime obstruction signs in aviation.

Schematic of the traffic signal lamp of the present invention. The elements on larger scale of FIG. Schematic of the configuration of the traffic signal lamp of the present invention The block diagram which shows the structure of the traffic signal light of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body 20 Display part 30 Illuminance sensor 40 Control part 50 Drive part 60R, 60G, 60B LED element 70 Switching means 80 Adjustment part 90 Power supply

Claims (3)

The body,
A display unit provided in the main body, each including three LED elements that emit red, green, and blue, and arranged in a dot matrix;
An illuminance sensor that measures the illuminance of light in the surrounding environment where the main body is installed;
A control unit that causes any one of the LED elements to emit light corresponding to red, blue, and yellow, and that controls the brightness of an arbitrary LED element based on the measurement result of the illuminance sensor to turn on the LED element. Traffic light.   2. The traffic according to claim 1, wherein the lighting of the LED element is performed by increasing the frequency when the illuminance sensor has a high illuminance, and decreasing the frequency when the illuminance is low. Signal light.   The lighting of the LED element is based on the measurement result of the illuminance sensor. When the illuminance is high, the PWM signal with a large duty ratio is used to lengthen the energization time to the LED element, and when the illuminance is low, the PWM signal with a small duty ratio. The traffic light according to claim 1, wherein the energization time to the LED element is shortened.

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