JP2018097501A - Traffic signal system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive and simple traffic signal system comprising an LED light source and a battery backup function, which eliminates the need for an inverter that converts DC of a battery output into AC or a converter that converts AC of a commercial power supply into DC.SOLUTION: Power is supplied to signalling lamps without converting AC of a commercial power supply as well as DC of a battery output by providing a power supply selection circuit 15 that switches between AC input 11 of the commercial power supply and DC of the battery 13 output, a power supply ON/OFF circuit 20 capable of flashing with either one of AC and DC, and signalling lamps 34, 35, 36 capable of turning on by either one of AC and DC.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to the configuration of a traffic signal system. In particular, the present invention relates to a traffic signal device that uses an LED as a light source and has a battery backup function.

  In general, a traffic signal system includes a lamp unit having red, yellow, and blue signal lights, and a control device that supplies currents appropriately controlled to ON / OFF to these signal lights. A commercial power source is connected to the control device from the outside, and is used as a power source for signal lights.

  Due to the nature of traffic lights, it is desirable to maintain their functions even when a commercial power supply fails. For this reason, a traffic signal system equipped with a battery and capable of continuing operation even in the event of a power failure has been put into practical use. In a traffic signal system having such a battery backup function, a battery is usually connected to a control device, and the output is supplied to a signal light in place of a conventional commercial power source in the event of a power failure (Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2). .

  At this time, the output of the control device must be the same AC as the commercial power supply in order to supply power to the existing signal lamp. However, since the battery output is direct current, it is necessary to provide an inverter for making this into alternating current. In the event of a power failure, the AC output of the inverter is switched from the AC of the commercial power supply in the control device, and power is supplied to the signal lamp.

  Conventionally, an incandescent bulb for AC 100V has been used as a light source of a signal lamp. In recent years, however, high-brightness LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) have been put into practical use, and power consumption has been reduced by changing the light source from an incandescent bulb to an LED signal lamp.

  At this time, the LED itself can be lit with a direct current, but in a conventional traffic light, the signal light is supplied with AC from a commercial power source from the control device. AC is used (Non-patent Document 1).

  As described above, in a traffic signal system that has a battery backup function and employs an LED signal light, conventionally, an alternating current system in which an alternating current is supplied from the control device to the signal light of the lamp unit is employed. However, since the inverter for converting the direct current of the battery output into an alternating current is relatively large and expensive, this causes an increase in size and cost of a traffic light system having a battery backup function, which hinders the spread of installation. It is also a factor.

For this reason, a configuration is also known in which the LED itself can be lit with direct current, and the direct current of the battery output is not converted into alternating current but is directly supplied to the LED signal lamp, thereby eliminating the need for an inverter (Patent Document 3, Patent) Reference 4). However, in such a DC system configuration, since the input to the signal lamp is DC, contrary to the conventional case, the AC of the commercial power supply must be rectified to DC by the converter on the control device side. The direct current of the converter output and the direct current of the battery output are selectively switched in the control device to supply power to the LED signal lamp of the lamp unit.

JP 09-233733 A Registered Utility Model No. 3190438 Japanese Patent No. 3854268 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-220054 JP 2011-090971 A

“Signature tips and tricks Q2. What's inside the signal lamp?”, [Online], [searched November 1, 2016], Internet <URL: http://signal-net.sakura.ne. jp / sig_all_q5-ko_led1.htm> “How to use MOSFET as an AC switch”, [online], November 23, 2015, [Search November 1, 2016], Internet <URL: http: // nw-electric.way-nifty.com/blog /2015/11/mosfet-c529.html>

  The present invention provides a traffic signal system having an LED light source and a battery backup function, and provides means for directly supplying power to a signal lamp with both commercial power AC and battery output DC. This eliminates the need for an inverter that converts the direct current of the battery output into an alternating current, and realizes a traffic signal system having a simple and inexpensive structure.

  In the traffic signal system, the present invention has two input ports of a battery and an AC of a commercial power source and a DC of the battery output as a power input port, and one input is selected by selecting one of the inputs. And a power source selection circuit for outputting to the power source.

  Also, it has one power input port and one or a plurality of power output ports, and the power input to the power input port is ON / OFF controlled regardless of AC or DC, and the one or more Each of the power supply output ports is provided with a power supply ON / OFF circuit that outputs power supplies that are ON / OFF controlled at different timings and / or at the same timing.

  Each has one power input port, and includes one or a plurality of LED signal lights that are lit regardless of whether the input from the power input port is alternating current or direct current.

  The LED signal lamp in the present invention is one that is connected to a plurality of LED elements in series and appropriately lights up with the AC voltage of the commercial power supply by appropriately selecting the number of series connections. This eliminates the need for a transformer, so that the signal lamp can be directly lit not only by alternating current but also by direct current.

  The present invention connects the one power source output port of the power source selection circuit to the one power source input port of the power source ON / OFF circuit, and the one or more power sources of the power source ON / OFF circuit. Provided is a traffic signal system characterized in that one or a plurality of signal lights blinks by connecting each output port to a power input port of each of the one or more LED signal lights. is there.

In the case of the conventional AC system, AC power is always supplied to the power input port of the signal light regardless of whether the commercial power supply is alive or when the commercial power supply is stopped. Conversely, DC power is always supplied.
On the other hand, according to the configuration of the present invention, AC or DC output from the power supply selection circuit is directly input to the signal lamp after passing through the power ON / OFF circuit. Accordingly, the commercial power supply is supplied to the power input terminal of the signal lamp of the present invention when the commercial power is alive, and the direct current power of the battery is supplied when the commercial power is stopped. It will be.

  Thus, since the direct current of the battery output can be directly supplied to the signal lamp, it is not necessary to provide an inverter in the control device for the traffic light as in the conventional alternating current system. Further, since AC of commercial power can be directly supplied to the signal lamp, it is not necessary to provide a converter in the control device of the traffic light as in the conventional DC system in order to supply power to the signal lamp.

  According to the present invention, a traffic signal system having an LED light source and a battery backup function can be realized inexpensively and simply.

Further, as another effect of the present invention, the lamp unit to which the present invention is applied allows AC and DC input, so it can be connected to a conventional AC control device or a conventional DC control device. Can be used. The same applies to the control device, and it can be used by connecting to a conventional AC lamp unit or a conventional DC lamp unit. Therefore, the device can be effectively used.

It is a block diagram of the traffic signal system of Example 1 which is embodiment of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows the circuit structural example of the power supply selection circuit in Example 1 of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows the circuit structural example of the power supply ON / OFF circuit in Example 1 of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows the circuit structural example of the signal lamp in Example 1 of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows the other circuit structural example of the signal lamp in Example 1 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, Example 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram conceptually showing the configuration of the traffic signal system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the traffic signal system includes a control device 10, a battery 13, and a lamp unit 30. Usually, the lamp unit 30 is installed on a pillar, and the control device 10 and the battery 13 are often installed on the legs of the pillar.

  Moreover, in this figure, a continuous line shows a feeder line or a control signal line. In particular, a thick solid line indicates a power supply line for lighting a signal lamp. These straight lines are actually composed of two conductive lines that form a pair.

  In the control device 10, AC of commercial power is input from the power supply lead terminal 11 through the power supply line 12 and DC output from the battery 13 is input through the power supply line 14. These alternating current and direct current are input to the power input ports 151 and 152 of the power supply selection circuit 15, and the selected power is output from the power output port 153 to the power supply line 18.

  The power supply circuit 16 converts the commercial power supply into a direct current having an appropriate voltage and outputs it to the signal line 17. The signal line 17 is connected to the power source selection circuit 15 and the power source selection circuit 23 and has a role of a signal line for controlling selection thereof. At the same time, the signal line 17 supplies a charging current to the battery 13 and also the power source selection circuit 23. It also serves as a power supply line for supplying the operating power to the ON / OFF control circuit 22 via the.

  The power source selection circuit 15 selects the alternating current of the feeder line 12 and outputs it to the feeder line 18 when current flows through the signal line 17, but selects and outputs the direct current of the feeder line 14 when current does not flow. . As a result, the current of the signal line 17 is interrupted at the time of a power failure of the commercial power supply, so that the direct current of the output of the battery 13 is automatically output to the feeder line 18. A specific circuit example of the power supply selection circuit 15 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The alternating current or direct current fed from the feeder line 18 to the power input port 21 of the power ON / OFF circuit 20 is switched at different timings in the switches 24, 25 and 26 corresponding to the three signal lights of red, yellow and blue. Or / and ON / OFF so as to blink at the same timing, and output to the power output ports 27, 28, 29.

  These ON / OFF operations are controlled by transmitting ON / OFF control signals generated by the ON / OFF control circuit 22 to the above three switches via signal lines 221, 222, and 223. The three switches can turn on and off both alternating current and direct current. A specific circuit example will be described later with reference to FIG. Since a specific method for generating the ON / OFF control signal in the ON / OFF control circuit 22 is not a subject of the present invention, description thereof is omitted.

  The power source selection circuit 23 selects a power source for operating the ON / OFF control circuit 22 and supplies power. When current is flowing through the signal line 17, the direct current of the signal line 17 is selected, and when current is not flowing through the signal line 17, the direct current of the feeder line 14 is selected and output. As a result, it is possible to automatically supply the direct current of the battery output to the ON / OFF control circuit 22 at the time of a power failure of the commercial power source and continue the operation. Since the internal configuration of the power source selection circuit 23 is the same as that of the power source selection circuit 15, refer to the description of FIG.

  In the lamp unit 30, the power input ports 31, 32, and 33 are connected to the power output ports 27, 28, and 29 in the control device 10, respectively. From here, alternating current or direct current is converted into a red signal lamp 34 and a yellow signal lamp 35, respectively. The blue signal lamp 36 is supplied with power, and each signal lamp blinks. Here, each of the signal lamps can be turned on by directly connecting both AC and DC, as a feature of the present invention. Specific examples of each signal lamp will be described later with reference to FIGS.

As described above, Example 1 which is one embodiment of the present invention has a configuration in which AC of a commercial power supply and DC of a battery are supplied to an LED signal lamp without using an inverter or a converter.

Hereinafter, specific configuration examples of the power supply selection circuit 15, the power supply ON / OFF circuit 20, and the signal lamps 31, 32, and 33 in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Needless to say, these configuration examples are merely examples for carrying out the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is a specific circuit configuration example of the power supply selection circuit 15.

  The power supply selection circuit 15 is a relay device. A contact 155 to which the feeder 12 is connected via the power input port 151 is a normally open contact. The contact point 155 is connected to the contact point 157 when a current flows through the excitation coil 154, but is otherwise separated. A contact 156 to which the feeder 14 is connected via the power input port 152 is a normally closed contact. The contact 156 is separated from the contact 157 when a current is flowing through the excitation coil 154, but is connected otherwise.

A pair of conductive wires of the signal line 17 is connected to the exciting coil 154 of this relay device. Since a current flows through the signal line 17 at normal times, the contact 157 is connected to the contact 155. As a result, the AC of the commercial power is output from the power output port 153 to the feeder line 18. At the time of a power failure of the commercial power supply, no current flows through the signal line 17, so that the contact 157 is separated from the contact 155 and connected to the contact 156, and outputs a direct current of the battery output to the power supply line 18.

  FIG. 3 is a specific circuit configuration example of the power ON / OFF circuit 20. Since the three switches 24, 25, and 26 constituting the circuit 20 have the same internal configuration, only the switch 24 related to the red signal lamp is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 3, the commercial power AC or the battery DC input from the feeder 18 to the switch 24 via the power input port 21 is output to the power output port 27 via the nMOS transistor 241 and the nMOS transistor 242. The

  In this circuit, in order to turn on / off alternating current, two nMOS transistors are connected in series in opposite directions so that the S (sword) terminals of both transistors are connected. However, in an nMOS transistor, a current flows in the direction from the S (sword) terminal to the D (drain) terminal due to a built-in diode regardless of whether the transistor is on or off. Utilizing this fact, in this embodiment, this circuit is also used as a DC switch, and ON / OFF in both cases of AC and DC is performed only by the two nMOS transistors.

  In the pair of signal lines 221a and 221b constituting the signal line 221, when the ON / OFF control circuit 22 (FIG. 1) should turn on the red signal lamp, the potential of the signal line 221a with respect to the signal line 221b is The potential is high enough to turn on the two nMOS transistors. When the red signal lamp is to be extinguished, the above-mentioned two nMOS transistors are set to a low potential enough to be turned off.

  Thus, when the signal line 221a becomes a high potential, the nMOS transistor 241 and the nMOS transistor 242 are turned on, and the alternating current or direct current input from the power supply line 18 is output to the output port 27. When the signal line 221a becomes a low potential, the two nMOS transistors are turned off, so that neither AC nor DC is output to the output port 27.

As described above, in the power ON / OFF circuit 20, it is clarified that the AC or DC of the power supply line 18 is turned ON / OFF by the ON / OFF control signal of the signal line 221 and output to the power output port 27. .

  FIG. 4 is a specific circuit configuration example of the signal lamps 34, 35, 36 in the lamp unit 30. Since these three signal lamps have the same configuration, only the red signal lamp 34 is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, AC or DC input from a pair of power input ports 31 is connected to the LED set 342 via a diode bridge 341 for full-wave rectification. A plurality of LED sets 342 can be connected in parallel as shown by the broken line in FIG. 4, whereby the amount of light as a whole signal lamp can be adjusted. The diode bridge 341 is not essential in the present invention, and FIG. 5 described later shows an embodiment of an LED signal lamp that does not have a diode bridge.

  Inside the LED set 342, a resistor 343 which is a current limiting resistor and M LED elements 3441 to 344M which are light sources of signal lights are connected in series.

  In the conventional AC traffic signal apparatus, as shown in Non-Patent Document 1, the AC input to the LED signal lamp is used to obtain an appropriate voltage for the LED element. It is common to connect to a transformer. However, if a transformer is interposed, direct current cannot be input, so that the signal lamp cannot be turned on either by alternating current or direct current, and cannot be applied to the present invention.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, M LED elements 3441 to 344M appropriately determined in the LED set 342 are connected in series so that the voltage of the commercial power source can be directly applied. Accordingly, since no transformer is interposed between the power input port 31 and the LED set 342, the signal lamp 34 can be lit by feeding not only alternating current but also direct current.

  In addition, the structure which supplies and supplies the alternating current of a commercial power supply to the LED element connected in series without passing through a transformer is shown by patent document 5. FIG.

  In the configuration of the signal lamp 34 described above, there is a problem that when the input is AC 100 V of commercial power, the LED element does not emit light. That is, the waveform after full-wave rectification via the diode bridge 341 is a waveform in which only the upper half of the sine curve is continuous, and the LED element cannot emit light during a period when the input voltage is below a certain value. However, this problem can actually be dealt with as follows.

The input voltage from the input port 31 is Vin (V), the forward voltage when one LED element to be used emits light is Vf (V), the voltage drop in the diode bridge 341 and the resistor 343 is Vr (V), When the number of LED elements connected in series is M, these are the following inequalities:
Vf ・ M <Vin − Vr
If there is a relationship satisfying the above, these M LED elements emit light.

  Here, if the number M of LED elements is appropriately selected, the minimum value of the input voltage Vin that can emit light becomes small, and the light emission period becomes long in one cycle of input alternating current. As a result, it is possible to prevent the human eye from blinking.

  Further, if a capacitor is inserted into the output of the diode bridge 341 to smooth the waveform, the fluctuation of Vin can be reduced and the light emission time can be extended.

  Further, by increasing or decreasing the number of LED sets 342 connected in parallel, the amount of light as the entire signal lamp 34 can be appropriately determined.

  Moreover, if the direct current voltage from the battery is appropriately set, the LED luminance can be kept the same as in the case of alternating current even when the power source is switched to direct current.

From the above, it has been clarified that the signal lamp of FIG. 4 can be lit by directly inputting alternating current and direct current.

  FIG. 5 shows another circuit configuration example of the signal lamps 34, 35, and 36 in the lamp unit 30. Since these have the same configuration, FIG. 5 shows only the red signal lamp 37, which is another configuration example of the red signal lamp 34, as in FIG.

  This example is obtained by removing the diode bridge 341 from the circuit configuration of the signal lamp of FIG. 4, and the other components are the same as those in FIG.

  This configuration also constitutes a signal lamp that can directly input AC and DC of a commercial power supply, as in the embodiment of FIG. However, in the configuration of FIG. 5, when alternating current is input, the half cycle in which the reverse voltage is applied to the LED element does not emit light at all, so the light emission period is halved compared to the configuration of FIG. 4.

In addition, when an alternating current is directly input, a reverse voltage is applied to the LED element, so consideration must be given to the withstand voltage of the LED element. However, in general, the withstand voltage with respect to the reverse voltage of the LED element is larger than the forward voltage when the LED element emits light. Therefore, if the number of LED elements connected in series and the value of the current limiting resistor are appropriately selected, the withstand voltage It is possible to emit light within the range.

  From the above, it is apparent that Example 1, which is an embodiment of the present invention, is a traffic light system that supplies commercial signal AC and battery DC to an LED signal lamp without using an inverter or converter, and blinks the LED signal lamp. became.

  Note that the converter does not require a rectifying function at all in the present invention, and also in the first embodiment, the power supply device 16 and the signal lamp 34 have a rectifying circuit therein. However, according to the present invention, in the control device for the traffic light, it is not necessary to insert a converter in the middle of the feeder line for lighting the signal lamp. Therefore, it becomes easy to mount the feeder line, and there is an effect that the control device of the traffic light has a simple structure. Furthermore, if the signal lamp 37 of FIG. 5 is employed, a rectifier circuit inside the signal lamp is not required.

  Further, the circuit configuration of the power supply selection circuit 15 in FIG. 2 and the circuit configuration of the power supply ON / OFF circuit 20 in FIG. 3 are not limited to those shown in the figure, and both circuits are mechanical relay devices, MOS transistors, etc. It is obvious that these semiconductor devices can be realized and are also objects of the present invention.

  Further, when actually realizing the circuits of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, in addition to the illustrated circuit, it is assumed that a circuit for removing spike voltage generated when the current is turned on / off is added. Obviously, this is also an object of the present invention.

  In this embodiment, the power source selection circuit 15 is controlled by the current from the commercial power source and is switched only at the time of power failure. However, the power source selection circuit 15 is controlled by a direct current from the battery, or the switching factor is only at the time of power failure. There are things that are not limited. It is clear that these variations are not factors that limit the application of the present invention, and are all the objects of the present invention.

In the first embodiment, the present invention has been described by taking a red, yellow, and blue three-light traffic signal as an example. However, since the present invention does not depend on the number of lights, the application of the present invention is not limited to the three-light system. The present invention can also be applied to a two-lamp pedestrian traffic signal, a single-lamp traffic signal, or the like. It is also apparent that the present invention can be used not only for traffic signal systems but also for other systems similar to traffic signals such as railway traffic signal systems.

The present invention realizes an inexpensive and simple traffic signal system, and its applicability is clear.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control apparatus 11 Power supply lead-in terminal 12 Power supply line 13 Battery 14 Power supply line 15 Power supply selection circuit 151 Power supply input port 152 Power supply input port 153 Power supply output port 154 Excitation coil 155 Contact 156 Contact 157 Contact 16 Power supply circuit 17 Signal line 18 Power supply line 20 Power ON / OFF circuit 21 Power input port 22 ON / OFF control circuit 221 Signal line 221a Signal line 221b Signal line 222 Signal line 223 Signal line 23 Power source selection circuit 24 Switch 241 nMOS transistor 242 nMOS transistor 25 Switch 26 Switch 27 Power source output port 28 Power source output port 29 Power source output port 30 Lamp unit 31 Power source input port 32 Power source input port 33 Power source input port 34 Red signal lamp 341 Diode bridge 342 LED set 343 Resistor 34 1 LED element 344M LED element 35 yellow signal lamp 36 blue signal lamp 37 red signal lamp

Claims (2)

Battery,
A power source selection circuit that has two input ports of AC of commercial power and DC of the battery output as power source input ports, and selects one of the inputs and outputs it to one power source output port;
It has one power input port and one or more power output ports, and the power input to the power input port is ON / OFF controlled regardless of whether it is AC or DC. A power ON / OFF circuit that outputs power that is ON / OFF controlled at different timing and / or at the same timing to each of the power output ports of
One or more LED signal lamps each having one power input port, the input from the power input port being lit regardless of AC or DC,
The one power output port of the power selection circuit is connected to the one power input port of the power ON / OFF circuit, and each of the one or more power output ports of the power ON / OFF circuit is connected. Is connected to the power input port of each of the one or more LED signal lights,
Traffic signal system characterized by blinking the one or a plurality of signal lights 2. The traffic signal system according to claim 1, wherein the number of the power output ports of the power ON / OFF circuit is three, and the number of the LED signal lights is three of red, yellow and blue.

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