JPH07134564A - Power source device for neon sign lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the construction of a neon sign lamp by incorporating a means for controlling electric power of a secondary side of a transformer in accordance with the pattern data into a power source device. CONSTITUTION:The transformer 13 for supplying a secondary high voltage to a neon tube 14 is incorporated into the power source device 21, and when a commercial AC voltage is applied, a control part 25 constituted of a micro computer is operated, and the pattern data are read out from a holding means 33 therein, and the flickering of a photodiode 37 is controlled and a phototriac 22 connected in series to a commercial power source is controlled intermittently to control the flickering of the neon tube 14. The data holding means 33 is provided with plural patterns, and the pattern data to be read out are switched by a signal due to magnetic combination, for example, from the outside.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention receives a commercial AC voltage and directly converts it into a high voltage by a transformer, or converts it into a high frequency by an inverter and makes it a high voltage by a transformer, and the high voltage is converted into a high voltage. Lighting by applying to a discharge tube such as a neon tube or argon tube connected to the secondary side of the transformer, turning off or controlling the lighting, or gradually changing the lighting brightness, so-called dimming The present invention relates to a power supply device for a sign light that displays.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 12 shows a conventional blinking control device or a light control device for a discharge lamp of this type. The commercial AC voltage from the commercial AC power supply 11 is supplied to the drum switch device 12,
Although not shown in the figure, the drum switch device 12 has a plurality of band-shaped contacts mounted in parallel on the drum, and the band-shaped contacts are each configured to be intermittent in the longitudinal direction. The voltage is turned on and off, that is, each switch 12 _{1 to} 12 _n of the drum switch device 12 is
It is turned on and off according to the strip contact pattern. Each of the switches 12 _{1 to} 12 _n is connected to a primary side of a transformer, so-called neon transformer 13 _{1 to} 13 _n , and a high voltage is generated on each secondary side of the transformer 13 _{1 to} 13 _n . This high voltage blinks and controls the discharge tubes 14 _{1 to} 14 _n such as neon tubes and argon tubes connected to the secondary side of these transformers 13 _{1 to} 13 _n . In the light control device, a thyristor is provided in place of each of the switches 12 _{1 to} 12 _n instead of the drum switch device 12, and the phase angle at which the thyristor turns on during one cycle of the commercial AC voltage is gradually controlled. Thus, the brightness of the discharge tubes 14 _{1 to} 14 _n such as a neon tube is controlled, and the brightness is gradually increased or decreased to perform dimming display.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 13, a transformer 13 ₁
To 13 power controller 15 ₁ to 15 _n to the primary side of the _n are respectively provided, the commercial AC power source 11 is connected to the power supply controller 15 ₁ to 15 _n, also, each flashing dimming controller 16 The power supply controllers 15 _{1 to} 15 _n are connected to the power supply controllers _{1 1 to} 15 _n by separate signal lines 17 _{1 to} 17 _n.
5 _{1 to} 15 _n intermittently supply the input commercial AC voltage to the transformers 13 _{1 to} 13 _n according to the input blinking and dimming control signal. Therefore transformer 1
The discharge tubes 14 _{1 to} 14 _n respectively connected to 3 _{1 to} 13 _n are controlled to blink or dimmed.

[0004]

When wiring is performed for each transformer by the individual wiring shown in FIG. 12, an enormous amount of wiring is required as the number of transformers increases, and a great deal of time is required for construction work. There was a problem. On the other hand, in the method shown in FIG. 13 in which the signal line is separately provided, noise may be superimposed on the signal line, and it is necessary to eliminate the influence.
In addition, wiring the signal lines individually requires a lot of work, though not so much as the power supply lines.

[0005]

According to the present invention, data holding means for holding pattern data is built-in, and
There is built-in means for reading out the pattern data of the data holding means and controlling the electric power on the secondary side of the transformer according to the pattern data, that is, on / off control, phase angle control (circulation phase angle control) or current control. ing.

Further, in the invention of claim 2, the pattern data holding means is electrically rewritable, and means for receiving a signal from the outside and writing the pattern data into the data holding means is provided. It is provided. In the invention of claim 3, the means for holding the pattern data is attached so as to be exchangeable from the outside.

[0007]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. The power supply device 21 according to the present invention has a transformer 13 built in its case, and the primary side of the transformer 13 is connected to power supply input terminals 23a, 23b through a semiconductor switch element 22 such as a triac.
The secondary side of the transformer 13 is connected to the output terminals 24a, 2
4b is connected. The power supply unit 21 has a transformer 13
It may be the case itself. Input terminals 23a, 23b
Is connected to a commercial AC power source 11 via a switch, and output terminals 24a and 24b are connected to a discharge tube 14 such as a neon tube.

A control unit 25 composed of a one-chip microcomputer is provided in the power supply device 21, and an input terminal 23 is provided.
The transformer 26 is connected to a and 23b, the full-wave rectifier 27 is connected to the secondary side of the transformer 26, and the rectified output thereof is supplied to the constant voltage circuit 29 at the same time as charging the capacitor 28, and the output side of the constant voltage circuit 29. The capacitor 31 is connected to. The voltage across the capacitor 31, that is, the output of the constant voltage circuit 29 is applied to the operating power supply terminal of the controller 25. Further, when the reset circuit 32 is connected to the output side of the constant voltage circuit 29 and the commercial AC power supply voltage is first applied,
The rising edge is detected and the control unit 25 is reset to the initial state.

In the present invention, data holding means 33 for holding pattern data, for example, ROM is provided,
When the discharge tube is controlled to blink, the ROM 33 stores 1 as data indicating lighting and 0 as data indicating turning off. This data holding means 33 is provided at regular intervals,
For example, it is read out every 1 second, and a fixed time indicating the reading cycle is provided with, for example, a timer 34, and reading is performed each time the timer 34 times out, and the timer 34 is reset. The polarity of the generated data is inverted by the inverter 35 and latched by the latch circuit 36, and the triac, that is, the semiconductor switch element 22 is controlled by the output of the latch circuit 36. In this example, a phototriac is used as the semiconductor switch element 22, and the latch circuit 36 thereof is used.
The output side of is connected to the output side of the constant voltage circuit 29 through the light emitting element 37, and the phototriac 22 is turned on by the light emission of the light emitting element 37. The light emitting element 37 and the photo triac 22 form a photo coupler. Therefore, the discharge tube 14 is controlled to blink according to the contents of the pattern data held in the data holding means 33.

On the other hand, as the data holding means 33, a ROM dedicated to reading data is provided, and a ROM in which desired externally created pattern data is written is provided in the control section 25 and is incorporated in the power supply device 21. Good. The data holding means 33 is electrically rewritable, but retains stored contents even when the power is cut off. For example, an EEPROM is used, and an external signal is received so that the pattern data can be stored in the data holding means 33. It is also possible to write or rewrite. As the data holding means 33, a RAM which requires a power source for holding a memory may be used.

In this example, a signal from the outside is taken in (received) by magnetic coupling and the received data is written in the data holding means 33. In the power supply device 21, a magnetic core 38 is provided. A receiving section having a coil 39 wound therein is provided, the output of the coil 39 is detected by a diode 41, the waveform thereof is adjusted by a time constant circuit 42 thereof, and the result is input to an AD converter 43 in the control section 25.

On the other hand, as a writing device, for example, the keyboard 45 is operated on the personal computer 44 to input a desired blinking pattern, and the pattern is displayed on the display unit 46 for confirmation while inputting. The personal computer edits the input pattern data into each data of the data holding means 33, that is, sets it as a pattern of 1, 0, and every eight data in that order, a start bit at the beginning and a stop at the end. Bits are added respectively and output as serial data. The serial data is supplied to the gate 47, and the carrier signal of the carrier generator 48 is input to the gate 47, so that the carrier signal is intermittently controlled by the serial data signal 1 or 0 from the personal computer 44, and the gate thereof is controlled. The output of 47 is supplied to the base of the transistor 51 through the tuning transformer 49 to drive the transistor 51. A tuning circuit is connected to the output side of the transistor 51, that is, the collector. The tuning coil 52 of the tuning circuit is a transmission coil and is wound around the magnetic core 53.

Therefore, when the magnetic lines of force generated in the magnetic core 53 are magnetically coupled to the receiving coil 39, the signal received by the receiving coil 39 is subjected to envelope detection by the diode 41 and the time constant circuit 42, and the modulated data, that is, An output data signal of the personal computer 44 is obtained. This is input into the control unit 25, and eight data between the start bit and the stop bit are taken out from the output of the AD converter 43 according to each communication format described above and written in the data holding means 33. In this way, the eight data sent one after another are sequentially written in the data holding means 33, or the data written before that is rewritten.

A structural example of writing by such magnetic coupling will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B. For example, an E-shaped magnetic core 38 is provided on the inner surface of the upper plate of the case 55 of the power supply device 21.
However, the end face sides of the three legs are arranged close to the upper plate side, and the receiving coil 39 is wound around the center leg. The case 55 is made of a non-magnetic material. On the other hand, the magnetic core 53 on the transmitting side is also similarly E-shaped, and the transmitting coil 52 is wound around the central leg portion thereof. Therefore, as shown in the figure,
The E-shaped magnetic cores 38 and 53 are magnetically coupled to each other when the end surfaces of both leg portions are butted against each other via the upper plate of the case 55.

In this case, the magnetic core 53 including the transmitting coil 52
Is mounted in the cap-shaped mounting member 56, and the mounting member 56 is fitted to cover the upper part of the case 55, the transmitting coil 52 and the receiving coil 39 are positioned and magnetically coupled to each other. It is convenient.
Alternatively, without attaching such a fitting, as shown in FIG.
The receiving coil 39 on the upper surface of the case 55 as shown in FIG.
A coil position mark 57 is attached to a portion of the magnetic core which faces the end face of the magnetic core leg, and the end face of the magnetic core leg around which the transmission coil 52 is wound is arranged on the coil position mark 57. As a result, a reliable magnetic coupling between the transmitting coil 52 and the receiving coil 39 can be easily performed.

As shown in FIG. 2C, when a slit 58 is formed in the case 55 and the transmission coil 52 is inserted into the slit 58, the transmission coil 5 is inserted into the space of the ring-shaped magnetic core 38.
2 may be located and magnetically coupled with the receiving coil 39. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2D, a small hole 59 is formed in the case 55, and a small rod-shaped magnetic core 53 is inserted,
The magnetic core 53 may be located between both legs of the U-shaped magnetic core 38. In the configurations shown in FIGS. 2C and 2D, the case 55 may be made of a magnetic material.

Writing to the data holding means 33 can be performed by various means other than the above magnetic coupling. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A by attaching the same reference numerals to the portions corresponding to the above description, the output of the gate 47 is supplied to the light emitting element 61, and the light generated by the light emitting element 61 or the light emitting element 61 itself. Is put into the case 55 through a small hole formed in the case 55, and the light generation of the light emitting element 61 is controlled by the high frequency signal modulated by the pattern data, and the light is received by the light receiving element 62 provided in the case 55.
The light is received by and converted into an electric signal according to the light intensity, the envelope of which is detected by the time constant circuit 63, and the electric signal is supplied to the AD converter 43 in the control unit 25.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3B, the transmitter 6 can be operated by a serial data signal from the personal computer 44.
4 is, for example, amplitude-modulated, transmitted from the antenna as a radio wave, received by the antenna provided in the case 55, amplified and detected by the receiver 65, and the detected output is AD.
It is supplied to the converter 43. In this case, radio waves are used for coupling, and it is possible to couple from a considerably distant place. Further, as shown in FIG. 3C, a tuning transformer 67 is connected to the output side of the output drive transistor 51 in the previous magnetic coupling, an electrode plate 68 is connected to the secondary side of this transformer 67, and it is provided on the inner surface of the case 55. The electrode plates 68 and 69 are electrostatically coupled to each other by being closely opposed to the electrode plate 69 so that the output of the electrode plate 69 is output to the detection diode 41 via the tuning transformer 71. In this way, it is also possible to supply the data signal by electrostatic coupling.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4A, the carrier generator 4
8 is provided with a sound wave frequency oscillator, and the drive transistor 51 is replaced by an electroacoustic transducer instead of the transmission coil.
For example, a speaker 72 is connected, and an acoustic signal from the speaker 72 is provided in the case 55 by an acoustoelectric converter,
For example, the sound may be received by the microphone 73, and the output thereof may be detected by the diode 41 and the time constant circuit 42 and supplied to the AD converter 43. Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, the output from the gate 47 is supplied from the tuning transformer 49 to the amplifier 74, and the amplified output is supplied to the tuning transformer 75.
Through the commercial AC power supply 11 and the input terminals 23a, 23b
Is supplied to the power supply line 76 connected between the input terminal 23a and the input terminal 23a, and is superimposed on the commercial AC voltage.
The serial data signal of the transmitted high frequency signal may be taken out by the tuning transformer 77 connected between a and 23b and detected by the diode 41. In this case, a choke coil 78 for preventing a high frequency signal from being input to the commercial AC power supply 11 is provided, and the tuning transformer 7 is also provided.
A low frequency blocking capacitor 79 is inserted in series at 5 and 77.

The transmission of such write data may be performed by intermittently controlling the commercial AC voltage itself. FIG. 5A shows an example in which this interruption is performed in synchronization with the commercial AC voltage. That is, the serial data from the personal computer 44 is
For example, it is input to the on / off control unit 81 including a microcomputer. The transformer 82 is branched and connected to the power line 76 of the commercial AC power supply 11, the output of the transformer 82 is full-wave rectified by the rectifier 83, and the rectified output is input to the A / D converter in the intermittent control unit 81, and digitally converted. Converted to a signal. Input data from the personal computer 44 is 1
In this case, the intermittent control unit 81 outputs an AC signal of, for example, 1 KHz in synchronization with the commercial AC voltage for one cycle, and the pulse signal is applied to the gate of the triac 85 via the pulse transformer 84 as a pulse. The triac 85 is inserted in series with the power supply line 76.

For example, when the commercial AC voltage is as shown in FIG. 5Ba, the output of the rectifier 83 is as shown in FIG. 5Bb.
The zero crossing point of the full-wave rectified voltage is detected by the intermittent control unit 81 as shown in FIG. 5Bc.
When the data input from the personal computer 44 is as shown in FIG. 5Bd, a 1 KHz pulse is output as shown in FIG. 5Be from the interrupt control unit 81 at the high level 1, and a 1 KHz pulse is output at the low level 0. Not done. The 1 KHz pulse drives the triac 85, and the 1 KHz interruption is synchronized with the input commercial AC voltage and is performed in units of 1 Hz. Therefore, the intermittent output of the commercial AC voltage is as shown in FIG. 5Bf. That is, when the output data of the personal computer 44 is high level, the commercial AC voltage is output for one cycle, and when the data is low level 0, the commercial AC voltage is not output.

To detect such transmission data, as shown in FIG. 1, one end of the full-wave rectifier 27 is grounded through a resistor 86 ', a capacitor 87 is connected in parallel with the resistor 86', and a capacitor 87 'is connected. The voltage across 87 is the control unit 2
Input to 5. The time constant of the capacitor 87 and the resistor 86 is sufficiently short for a half cycle of the commercial AC voltage,
For example, select 1 millisecond. The voltage across the capacitor 87 input to the control unit 25 is converted into a digital signal by the AD converter 88. For example, as shown in FIG. 5Bg, the full-wave rectified waveform of the commercial AC voltage is obtained in the unit of one cycle of AC during the power reception period, becomes 0 when the power is not received, and the period in which the rectified voltage exists in the control unit 25 is high. Leveled, FIG. 5B
The transmission data is reproduced as shown in h.

That is, for example, if the high level continues during the power supply confirmation time of 50 cycles, it is determined as the power supply probability, and when the power supply 0 period occurs thereafter, this is recognized as a start bit, and every one cycle from the next onwards. Is recognized as one data each, and the next one cycle of such eight data is recognized as a parity bit and the last one cycle is recognized as a stop bit.
In this case, there are 11 bits of 8-bit data, parity bit and stop bit, each one cycle is used, and one data is sent in 11 cycles, and such data is sent one after another. The control unit 25 detects reception. In this case, the start bit is the start bit when it occurs in 0.5 seconds or more and 1 second or less, and each normal cycle is shorter than 1.05 cycle,
Those longer than 0.95 cycle are treated as data. As described above, when one bit of each data is used as one cycle of the commercial AC voltage, there is no fear that the magnetic core of the transformer 13 or the like connected to this power supply will be demagnetized. From this point of view, one data can have a length that is an integral multiple of one cycle.
Further, in the inverter type power supply device described later, it is not particularly necessary to make the 1-bit data length an integral multiple of 1 cycle. The same applies to the various data writing methods described above, but the same data is transmitted a plurality of times, for example, two times, and if the two data match, the data is adopted and writing to the memory 33 is performed. , If they do not match, the data will not be adopted. Although the method without a signal line has been described above, a signal can also be sent by a conventional wiring method in which a dedicated signal terminal is provided and two lines or one signal line in which the other line is a power line or ground is provided. be able to.

Next, data creation in the personal computer 44 when writing the above pattern data will be described with reference to FIG. That is, first, the keyboard 45 of the personal computer 44 is operated to display the numbers 1, 2, 3, of the power supply devices 21 on the display surface of the display 46, for example, on the first line as shown in FIG. 6A.
4 is displayed and blinks in the first column Step numbers 0, 1,
2, 3, 4, ... Are displayed, and in the 0th step, it is displayed whether each power supply device is turned on or turned off. For those that are turned on, for example, ○ is displayed and those turned off Causes-to be displayed. Number 0 in the figure
In the step, only the number 1 power supply device is turned on. In the next first step, similarly, turn on only the power supply devices of number 1 and number 2 and
Is displayed, and in the same manner, enter whether to turn on or turn off each power supply unit for each step, and in the corresponding part on the display unit depending on the state, ○ for those that turn on,
− Is displayed for those that do not light.

In this way, the blinking map is created while being displayed as shown in FIG. 6A. Next, blinking data corresponding to the display in the blinking map is created as pattern data for each power supply device. In other words, 1 in the case of ◯ and 0 in the case of −, therefore, as shown in FIG. 6B corresponding to FIG. 6A, the pattern data is 11100 ... The pattern data is 01100 ... And the number 3 power supply device is 00100.

The pattern data thus created is stored in the memory in the personal computer 44 for each power supply device. For example, as shown in FIG. 6C, the power supply device of No. 1 is sequentially arranged by 8 bits and stored in the memory. After the data is stored in the memory as 8-bit units in this manner, the stored memory is taken out in parallel for each power supply device by the method shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. Personal computer 4 edited as communication format and serial data
I will send it from 4.

In the above, the pattern data holding means 3
Although the rewriting of the pattern data in 3 was performed from the outside, the pattern data can be changed by attaching the pattern data holding means 33 to the power supply device 21 in a detachable manner, and if necessary, another pattern data holding means. It may be replaced. For example, FIG. 7 shows the appearance of this power supply device as A,
B and C are bottom views of A, respectively, and a part of A is enlarged to D and a part of the case is broken away.
A board 91 on which the control unit 25 and the like are mounted is provided in the case 55, and a connector 92 is attached to the board 91. A so-called ROM card 93 is attached to the connector 92 from below the case 55. It is detachably attached. The ROM card 93 is the above-mentioned data holding means 33, and the pattern data is written in this. An elongated hole 94 is formed in the bottom plate 55b of the case 55, and the ROM card 93 is inserted into the case 55 through the hole 94 and attached to the connector 92. In this case, a guide 92a for guiding the ROM card 93 is integrally attached to the connector 92. In addition, after installing the ROM card 93, the cap 9
5 is attached so as to close the hole 94. The ROM card 93 is connected to the control unit 25 via the connector 92 through an external bus. The ROM card has been described as a connector type, but a non-contact card may be used.

As shown in FIG. 8, in the area 33a in the data holding means 33, for example, pattern data for summer, area 3
A plurality of pattern data different from each other such as pattern data for winter in 3b and pattern data for Christmas in the area 33c are stored, and one of them is selected from the outside,
It is also possible to control the lighting of the neon tube with the selected one pattern data. In this case, a switching signal or a selection signal is input from the outside by the method as described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, and the signal is received by the AD converter 43, and the received data is stored in the data holding means 33.
Select one pattern data and read the pattern data repeatedly. The pattern data may be selected by directly controlling the commercial AC voltage shown in FIG. 5 and selecting it according to the control state. Further, the selection of the pattern data can also be made by manually and easily controlling the commercial AC voltage directly on / off, for example by controlling the power supply line 76 on / off by an electromagnetic switch.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9Aa, after applying a power supply voltage and turning on for an appropriate time, for example, about 10 seconds,
The commercial AC voltage is turned on / off in 1 second or less. On the power supply device 21 side, the time constant of the circuit including the capacitor 87 in FIG. 1 is set to 1 second or more, and the time constant of the circuit including the capacitor 28 is set to be 10 to 20 times the time constant of the circuit including the capacitor 31. Use a large value. At this time, when the power supply voltage shown in FIG. 9Aa is applied to the power supply device 21, the voltage of the capacitor 28 becomes as shown in FIG. 9Ab, and the constant voltage circuit 29
Operates, the output is held at a constant voltage as shown in FIG. 9Ac, and the control unit 25 operates sufficiently. That is, even if the commercial AC voltage is turned on / off, the control unit 25 continues to operate without being affected by this for about 1 second or less.

On the other hand, the voltage of the capacitor 28 has a waveform which turns on and off in response to the on / off of the commercial AC voltage as shown in FIG. 9Ad. This voltage is taken into the control unit 25 and the AD converter 88 converts the commercial AC voltage into a digital signal. When the on state and the off state are detected as a high level signal and a low level signal, respectively, data as shown in FIG. 9Ae is obtained.

For example, when the signal shown in FIG. 9Ae is detected, the control section 25 obtains the pattern data number to be selected by the processing shown in FIG. 9B. That is, first, when the commercial AC voltage arrives and the rising of the power source is detected (S ₁ ), it is checked whether the time t ₁ during which the commercial AC voltage continues is 5 seconds or more (S ₂ ).
For 5 seconds or less switched to the normal operation mode by clearing the counter (S _3). On the other hand, when the time t ₁ from when the rise of the power supply voltage is detected to when it is next cut off is 5 seconds or more, the off time t ₂ from when the rise is detected to the next rise is 0.1 second to 1 second. Second, that is, a normal off section is determined (S ₄ ), and if it is within that range, the on period t from when the switch is turned on next to when it is turned off next
It is determined whether ₃ is 0.1 second to 1 second, that is, a normal ON section (S ₅ ), and if this is satisfied, the counter is incremented by 1 (S ₆ ). After that, returning to step S ₄ , it is checked whether the next off period is within 0.1 to 1 second. If it is a normal off period, at step S _5, whether the next on period is 0.1 to 1 second. That is, it is judged whether it is a normal ON section, and if it is normal, the counter is +
Do 1 This is repeated below.

If the off section continues in step S ₄ instead of the normal off section, the process proceeds to step S ₃ .
In step S ₅ , it is checked whether the count value N of the counter is larger than 3 when the ON section is continuous instead of the normal ON section (S ₇ ), and if it is larger than 3, the pattern of the number of the counter value N-3 After switching to read from data, the process proceeds to step S ₃ (S ₈ ). Here, setting the count value of the counter to 3 or more means that once, 2
This is to prevent the pattern data from being switched even if the data is switched on and off once and twice by mistake.
Therefore, for example, in FIG. 9Ae, the count value N becomes 5, and the mode is switched to the reading of the pattern data stored in the area 33b of the pattern number 2 (5-3). The count value N of the counter is 3 or less, and the signal is, for example, 10
If it does not continue for a second, the switching is stopped and the operation is started with the previous pattern data selected.

By disposing such power supply devices 21 in a distributed manner,
When a large number of neon tubes 14 are controlled to blink and displayed as a whole, the plurality of power supply devices 21 are activated synchronously,
It is necessary to perform the flashing control of the neon tubes by these power supply devices 21 in synchronization. For this synchronization, the control units 25 of these power supply devices may be connected to each other by a signal line for synchronization. Alternatively, this synchronization can be performed by applying a commercial AC voltage to the power supply device 21 and utilizing the rising of the power supply. That is, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the power switch is turned on at the time point t ₀ to apply the commercial AC voltage, as shown in FIG.
On the secondary side of the transformer 26 of the power supply device 21 inside,
As shown in B, the capacitors 28 and 31 are, for example, 100
The battery is charged in about μ seconds, and the rising edge of the voltage is determined at time t ₂ . This is detected by the reset circuit 32, and a reset signal is output for a certain period of time, for example, 200 μs, from the time t ₂ when the established level of the power supply voltage is reached, and the inside of the control unit 25 is reset to the initial state. The reset is shown in Figure 10.
When the control unit 25 is released at time t ₃ as shown in C, the control unit 25 starts its operation and the internal time counter is activated. The activation of the time counter is time t ₄ which is 10 to 100 μsec after time t ₃ as shown in FIG. 10D, and this is determined by the initialization software program. At this time t
Voltage waveform on capacitor 87 after ₄ (Fig. 10E)
The first 0-intersection is detected, and from this point, a time-counting clock is created for each 0-intersection as shown in FIG. 10F. The flashing control of the neon tube is started from the start of generation of the clock of this time count.

In this case, after turning on the power switch,
Until the im count starts, that is, the clock generation starts
It takes about 310 to 400 microseconds until the beginning, but at time t₂No
To t ₃Reset time between 200 μs and t₃To t_Four
The initialization time up to this point is fixed and does not involve variable factors. Major changes
The movement is only about 100 microseconds of the rising speed of the power supply voltage.
On the other hand, the actual blinking control of the neon tube 14 is 0.
Since it is on the order of 3 seconds, the power supply voltage rises
Ripples are 20 to 30% of 100 μs, that is, 20 μ and 30 μ
It is only about a second, which is the fastest flashing operation.
You can ignore it enough. Therefore, the neon tube of multiple power supplies
The blinking can be operated in synchronization. Power monitoring
Tat, that is, time t_FourAnd 0 cross point of commercial AC voltage
Occurs almost simultaneously, depending on the power supply device 21,
The first 0 crossing is counted as one clock
Some clocks do not count, and there is one clock
There is a chance This deviation is due to commercial AC voltage of 50Hz
In this case, it is only 10 milliseconds, and this gap will increase.
There is no such thing, compared to the maximum flashing speed of 0.3 seconds for neon tubes.
It is sufficiently small, and it is not a practical problem to ignore this deviation.
Yes.

In the above, the commercial AC voltage is applied to the transformer 1.
Although the voltage is directly boosted in step 3, the present invention can be applied to an inverter type power supply device that once converts it into a high frequency signal to generate a high voltage. For example, as shown in FIG. 11 by assigning the same reference numerals to the parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1, the input terminals 23a and 23b are rectified by the full-wave rectifier circuit 91 and further smoothed by the smoothing circuit 92 to be DC. This smoothing circuit 9
One output side of 2 is connected to the middle point of the transformer 93, and the other output side is connected to both ends of the transformer 93 through switching elements 94 and 95, respectively. Transformer 9
The secondary side of 3 is connected to the output terminals 24a and 24b. The switching elements 94 and 95 are alternately switched by the control unit 25, and the transformer 93 is switched to, for example, 10 to 30K.
A high frequency signal of Hz is generated and is boosted to a high voltage and applied to the output terminals 24a and 24b. In this case, the blinking control for the neon tube 14 is performed by stopping the on / off control of the switching elements 94 and 95 or performing the switching operation according to the data read from the data holding means 33. That is, when the read data is 1, the switching operation is performed, but when the read data is 0, the control unit 25 operates so as to stop the switching operation. With respect to the other points, all that has been described above with reference to FIG. 1 can be applied to this case as well.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, blinking pattern data is incorporated in the power supply together with the transformer, and the blinking pattern data is read out to perform the blinking operation. For this reason, only two of the power supply lines can be wired between a plurality of power supply devices, and a large number of power supply devices are used to construct a complicated blinking system using a large number of neon tubes by simple construction. can do.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the pattern data can be easily rewritten from the outside, and in the case of contactless operation, it is not necessary to provide a write signal terminal, and a contact failure due to corrosion of the terminal occurs. There is no
Further, in the case of a method other than the optical coupling method, it is possible to rewrite the pattern data with high reliability even when there is a risk of contamination in a bad outdoor environment.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the pattern data package can be easily exchanged as needed. Data transfer is performed, the communication port or the input / output port of the microcomputer of the control unit 25 of each power supply device is connected by a signal line, pattern data is transferred from the signal line, and the data holding means 33 is rewritten. You can go. Alternatively, the intermittent control unit 81 of FIG. 5A may be remotely controlled by a multi-frequency signal from a telephone through a telephone line.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a connection diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a perspective view showing an example of the appearance of a power supply device of the present invention, B is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, C is a sectional view showing a part of a modified example thereof, and D is a part of still another example. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a connection diagram showing another example of writing pattern data from the outside.

FIG. 4 is a connection diagram showing still another example of writing pattern data from the outside.

FIG. 5A is a connection diagram showing an example in which external writing is performed by controlling a commercial AC voltage, and B is a waveform diagram showing an example of the operation.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram when pattern data is created by a personal computer.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example in which a plurality of pattern data is stored in a data holding unit 33.

8A and 8B show an example in which the data holding means 33 is detachable, where A is a front view thereof, B is a side view thereof, C is a bottom view of A, and D.
[Fig. 3] is an enlarged cutaway view of a main part of A.

FIG. 9A is a time chart showing an operation example in the case of manually switching the pattern data for ON / OFF control of the commercial AC voltage, and B is a flow chart showing the processing of the signal.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a synchronous operation in which the AC power supplies are turned on to perform simultaneous operation.

FIG. 11 is a connection diagram showing an example in which the present invention is applied to an inverter type power supply.

FIG. 12 is a connection diagram showing a conventional neon tube lighting control device.

FIG. 13 is a connection diagram showing another example of conventional lighting control of a neon tube.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Data for holding pattern data in a power supply device for a sign light, which receives a commercial AC voltage, converts it into a high voltage by a transformer, and lights a discharge tube connected to the secondary side of the transformer. A power supply device for a sign light, comprising: holding means and means for reading the pattern data and controlling output power on the secondary side of the transformer. 2. The data holding means is a memory capable of electrically rewriting data, and has a built-in means for receiving a signal from the outside and writing the pattern data in the memory. The power supply device for sign light according to claim 1. 3. The power supply device for a sign light according to claim 1, wherein the data holding means is replaceable from the outside.