JPH04296492A - House lighting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a house lighting device in which the lighting level by an all-night light is changed according to the dark adaptation characteristic of man from the moment when a main lighting is switched to the all-night light so that a feeling of uneasiness or displeasure resulted from the pitch darkness within the visual field is never given to a user at the time of switching to the all-night light. CONSTITUTION:The all-night light of a house lighting device is constituted so as to have a change-over switch 1 for switching a main lighting to the all- night light, a memory arithmetic part 2 for measuring the time from the switching of the main lighting to the all-night light according to the signal from the change-over switch 1 and the clock signal from a clock generating part 5 and storing and computing the relation between the dark adaptation characteristic of man and a required illuminance, a dimming control part A3, and a light source part 4. The lighting level of the all-night light is controlled according to the dark adaptation characteristic of a user from the moment when the main lighting is switched to the all-night light.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a home lighting system that prevents anxiety and discomfort caused by a sudden drop in brightness when lights are turned off, such as when going to bed.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, residential lighting equipment is equipped with a night light in addition to a light source for main illumination. Users operated the light source of the main lighting and the blinking of the night light using a changeover switch. In this case, the light source for the main lighting is 60-70W.
About 5W fluorescent lights were used, and night lights used were about 5W light bulbs. For this reason, conventional residential lighting equipment
When the main lighting is on, the direct illuminance is approximately 1
00 to 300 lux is obtained, but the night light is 0.00 to 300 lux.
The illuminance was only about 2 lux.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] For this reason, when switching from the main light to the night light, such as when going to sleep, the field of vision appears dark at that moment, causing a sense of anxiety or discomfort. Also, if you go to bed with a night light on and wake up in the middle of the night, the brightness may be too bright for some people, increasing your alertness level and making it difficult to fall back asleep.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a residential lighting device that controls the dimming of night lights in accordance with the dark adaptation characteristics of the human eye.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the first means of the present invention includes a clock generator and a clock signal from the clock generator to measure the time from when the main lighting is turned off. 10cd/m2~50 based on memory data
A residential lighting device is equipped with a night light having a memory calculation unit that calculates the temporal characteristics of dimming corresponding to the dark adaptation characteristics of the human eye after front adaptation to a luminance of cd/m2, and a dimming control unit. This is what I did.

[0006] A second means of the present invention takes into consideration individual differences in visual characteristics and differences in preferences, and provides a night light that has a selection switch that allows the user to select the brightness of the night light, and a dimming control section. It is designed to be included in residential lighting equipment.

Furthermore, the third means of the present invention is to perform dimming in three or more steps corresponding to dark adaptation characteristics, and to perform dimming in steps to the extent that the user does not feel uneasy or uncomfortable. In addition, in place of the clock generation section and memory calculation section, the residential lighting system is equipped with a timer that measures the time since switching from the main lighting to the night light and a dimming control section, thereby simplifying the system. This is what I did.

[0008]

[Operation] By the first means described above, the present invention provides an illuminance level that corresponds to human dark adaptation characteristics when switching from main lighting to night light, and does not cause the user to feel anxious or uncomfortable. , it is possible to create a lighting environment using night lights.

[0009] Furthermore, the second means described above makes it possible to provide an appropriate illumination level of the night light depending on the visual characteristics and individual differences in preferences of the user.

Furthermore, the third means described above makes it possible to simplify the dimming control device.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A night light according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Example 1) As one of the studies on visual characteristics, dark adaptation characteristics have been studied under various pre-adaptation conditions for central vision and peripheral vision (for example, Hecht , S., et al.; The i
nfluence of light adapter
ion on subsequent dark ad
aptation of the eye. J. Gen. P
hysiol. , Vol. 20 (1937) p. 831
). These studies have revealed the temporal changes in light perception threshold during the dark adaptation process. However, these results are changes in the visual threshold, and the illumination level from a night light is too dark. For this reason, after actually turning on the residential lighting equipment and allowing sufficient adaptation to the lighting, immediately after turning it off, another light source is turned on to set various illumination levels, and the progress of dark adaptation is measured. The relationship between time and required illumination level was determined through observational experiments. The results are shown in FIG.

The solid line in FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the elapsed time of dark adaptation and the required illuminance for an average observer. In addition, the broken line shows the relationship between the elapsed time of dark adaptation and the required illuminance for users who prefer brighter night lights, and the dashed line shows the relationship between the elapsed time of dark adaptation and the required illuminance for users who prefer darker lighting. Each is shown below. Therefore, by changing the illuminance of the night light immediately after the main light is turned off in accordance with the relationship shown in the curve in FIG. 4, dimming control that corresponds to the dark adaptation characteristics of the human eye becomes possible.

A first embodiment of the present invention of a night light constituting a residential lighting device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, 1 is a changeover switch, 2 is a storage calculation section, 3 is a dimming control section A, 4 is a light source section, and 5 is a clock generation section. The changeover switch 1 is a switch for switching the lighting state of the lighting equipment to any one of the following states: main lighting, nightlight lighting, and lighting off. The memory calculation unit 2 inputs signals from the changeover switch and the clock generation unit 5, measures the elapsed time from the moment when the main lighting is switched on and the night light is switched on, and
The required illuminance corresponding to the elapsed time is calculated and output as a signal. The dimming control unit A3 inputs the signal from the storage calculation unit 2 and outputs a signal for dimming corresponding to the time characteristic shown by the solid line in FIG. The light source section 4 inputs the signal from the dimming control section A3 and performs illumination with the required illuminance shown by the solid line in FIG. With this configuration, when switching from the main light to the night light,
This solves the problem of the user feeling anxious or uncomfortable due to sudden darkness.

(Embodiment 2) Visual characteristics generally vary from person to person, and dark adaptation characteristics also vary from person to person. In addition, there are individual differences in the level of brightness that is considered optimal for the lighting environment using night lights, such as those who prefer bright conditions and those who prefer dark conditions. By being able to adjust the illuminance level according to these individual differences, a more appropriate lighting environment can be realized.

A second embodiment of the present invention of a night light constituting a residential lighting device will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, 1 is a changeover switch, 2 is a storage calculation section, 4 is a light source section, 5 is a clock generation section, 6 is a selection switch, and 7 is a dimming control section B. The changeover switch 1 is a switch for switching the lighting state of the lighting equipment to any one of the following states: main lighting, nightlight lighting, and lighting off. The selection switch 6 can be set to "bright" according to the user's preference.
, "Normal", or "Dark", and outputs a signal corresponding to the result selected by the user to the storage calculation section 2. The memory operation section 2 inputs signals from the changeover switch 1, the clock generation section 5, and the selection switch 6,
The elapsed time from the moment when the main lighting is switched to the night light is measured, and the required illuminance corresponding to that time is calculated and output as a signal to the dimming control section B7.

The dimming control unit B7 inputs the signal from the storage calculation unit 2 and outputs a dimming signal corresponding to the time characteristic shown in the solid line, broken line, or dashed-dotted line in FIG. . In this case, when the user selects "Bright", the dashed line curve, when the user selects "Normal", the solid line curve, and when the user selects "Dark", the corresponding dot-dashed curve corresponds to the dimming control. Outputs the signal. The light source section 4 inputs the signal from the dimming control section B7 and performs illumination with a required illuminance. With this configuration, it is possible to solve the problem of the user feeling anxious or uncomfortable due to the sudden darkness when switching from the main light to the night light by matching the dark adaptation characteristics of the user. .

(Third Embodiment) As explained above, by continuously adjusting the illumination level of the night light according to the dark adaptation characteristics, a more detailed environment can be realized. However, in order to realize continuous light control, the structure of the light control device becomes complicated and expensive.

[0020] On the other hand, human visual characteristics vary even among the same person. For example, even in the case of visual thresholds such as light perception thresholds and luminance difference discrimination thresholds, which are the most accurately determined sensory quantities, there is a variation of about 10%. Furthermore, in the case of judgment of brightness above the threshold, such as under illumination by a night light, even if there is a variation of about 20% or more, it is unlikely to be perceived. Based on these facts, it is thought that even larger variations in psychological reactions such as anxiety and discomfort caused by nightlight illumination will not cause any negative effects. Therefore, we conducted an observational experiment to determine the range of variation within which the effects on anxiety and discomfort can be tolerated. As a result, it has become clear that the influence of variations can be tolerated as long as the illuminance is within a range of about 1/3 to 3 times the required illuminance shown in FIG. Considering this result,
It is determined that it is possible to change the illumination level caused by a night light not by continuous dimming but by stepwise dimming. Further, by using stepwise dimming, the dimming device can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

A third embodiment of the present invention of a night light constituting a residential lighting device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, 1 is a changeover switch, 4 is a light source section, 6 is a selection switch, 8 is a timer, and 9 is a dimming control section C. The changeover switch 1 is a switch for switching the lighting state of the lighting equipment to any one of the following states: main lighting, nightlight lighting, and lighting off. The timer 8 inputs the signal from the changeover switch 1, measures the elapsed time from the moment when the main lighting is switched on and the night light is switched on, and outputs a required illuminance signal corresponding to that time to the dimming control unit C9. do. Selection switch 6
can be set to ``bright'', ``normal'', or ``dark'' depending on the user's preference.
This is a switch for selecting one of these, and outputs a signal corresponding to the result of the user's selection to the dimming control unit C9. The dimming control unit C9 inputs the signal from the timer 8 and the signal from the selection switch 6, and outputs a dimming signal corresponding to the time characteristics shown in the solid line, broken line, or dashed-dotted line in FIG. Output. In this case, when the user selects "Bright", the broken line, when the user selects "Normal", the solid line, and when the user selects "Dark", the dashed line corresponds to the dimming line. Outputs the signal. Light source section 4
inputs the signal from the dimming control unit C9 and performs illumination with the required illuminance. This configuration solves the problem of users feeling uneasy or uncomfortable due to the sudden darkness when switching from the main lighting to the night light, and makes it compatible with the user's dark adaptation characteristics. This can be solved by a dimmer.

[0022]

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above embodiments, the present invention prevents the user from feeling anxious or uncomfortable when switching the lighting from the main lighting to the night light, such as when going to bed. To provide a home lighting device that realizes a lighting environment that allows a quick transition to sleep.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a night light with a dimming function that constitutes a residential lighting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing another embodiment of a night light with a dimming function that constitutes the residential lighting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram showing still another embodiment of a night light with a dimming function that constitutes the residential lighting device of the present invention.

[Figure 4] Relationship diagram between required illuminance and elapsed dark adaptation time corresponding to the dark adaptation characteristics of the human eye

[Figure 5] Relationship diagram between required illuminance and elapsed dark adaptation time corresponding to the dark adaptation characteristics of the average human eye

[Figure 6] Relationship diagram between required illuminance and dark adaptation elapsed time in case of step dimming

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Selector switch 2 Memory operation section 3 Dimming control part A (dimmer control part) 5 Clock generation section

Claims (3)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A changeover switch, a clock generation section, a clock signal from the clock generation section, and a signal from the changeover switch measure the time from when the main lighting is turned off, and based on the stored data, the time is measured at 10cd/cm2 to 50cd/cm2. A residential lighting device comprising a night light having a memory calculation unit that calculates the temporal characteristics of dimming corresponding to the dark adaptation characteristics of the human eye after forward adaptation to a luminance of m2, and a dimming control unit. . 2. The computer according to claim 1, further comprising a night light which has three types of time characteristics as the time characteristics of the memory calculation section and whose dimming is controlled according to the different time characteristics according to the user's selection. Residential lighting equipment. 3. A night light having a timer in place of the clock generation section and the memory calculation section, and having three or more step dimming levels corresponding to dark adaptation characteristics. Or the residential lighting device described in 2.