JPH11338787A - Storage device and sunlight lighting device provided with the device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a storage device and a sunlight lighting device provided with the device with which the number of times of write into an EEPROM is reduced and the service life of the EEPROM is prolonged. SOLUTION: This storage device is provided with a solar battery 7, EEPROM 62, power failure discriminating device 64, and microcomputer 60 having a read/write function for reading/writing prescribed data to the EEPROM 62 and a reload discriminating function for discriminating whether it is necessary to reload data in the EEPROM 62 or not. When a sunlight lighting device 50 is provided with this storage device, maintenance work can be remarkably reduced and production costs can be suppressed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage device using a rewritable nonvolatile memory and a solar lighting device provided with the storage device, and more particularly to extending the life of the nonvolatile memory and performing maintenance work. The present invention relates to a storage device and a solar lighting device in which the above is reduced.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Non-volatile memories that retain their contents even when the power is turned off are classified as follows depending on the method of rewriting the stored contents. During the manufacturing process, data is written using a mask pattern. After that, the contents of the mask ROM cannot be changed. The PROM can be written only once using a dedicated writer. Possible EPRO
M, and EEPROM (ELECTRICAL ERASABLE PROGRAMABLE RE)
AD ONLY MEMORY).

Usually, this nonvolatile memory, especially EEP
The ROM is used as an evacuation in a device using a microcomputer or the like in a case where the microcomputer cannot hold data such as an operation mode of the device due to a power failure or the like.

[0004] As an example of a device provided with a microcomputer for controlling the operation mode by storing the operation mode in the EEPROM as needed, there is a solar lighting device. As shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-188959, this solar lighting device controls the position of a lighting unit such as a lighting prism or a solar reflector according to the altitude and azimuth of the sun.
Although the device is a device that can always take sunlight at a suitable angle, a sunlight lighting device using a lighting prism as a lighting unit will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of the solar lighting device 5, and FIG. 4 is a front view of the same. 3 and 4, reference numerals 20a and 20b denote daylighting prisms which are the main components of the daylighting device 5, and 30 denotes a daylighting prism 20.
a, 20b drive device, 31 is a daylighting prism 20a, 2
0b, a light distribution plate, 12 an inner frame (frame),
13 is an inner frame structure, 14 is an outer frame, and 49 is a transparent dome-shaped cover. Reference numeral 7 denotes a solar cell serving as a power supply, and the electric power generated by the solar cell 7 serves as a power source for the driving device 30 and a control device described later.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, sunlight radiated to two light-collecting prisms 20a and 20b arranged at a predetermined interval is separated from the light-collecting prisms 20a and 20b.
0b is guided into the building room via the light distribution plate 25 at a suitable angle. Driving device 3 for daylighting prisms 20a and 20b
Although 0 is not shown, it incorporates a drive roller, an electric motor, a control device for controlling the electric motor, a setting device for giving a control command to the control device, and the like. A detection output from a sunlight state detecting device (not shown) is supplied to a setting device. Next, in response to a drive command of the setting device, the drive roller is rotated via a motor by a control signal of the control device, and the lighting prism 20a,
The rotation position of 20b is adjusted so that it can always take sunlight at a suitable angle.

In this conventional solar lighting apparatus, data such as the rotational position of the lighting prism, the current date and time, the position of the sun, and the data of the operation mode for controlling the electric motor are stored in the control device in the case of a power failure. When the microcomputer also serving as a storage device can no longer hold these data, the data is written to a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM as needed.

Next, in this conventional solar lighting device, a process of writing predetermined data into the EEPROM will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of writing predetermined data to an EEPROM in a conventional solar lighting device. As shown in FIG. 5, in the solar lighting device 5 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a control device such as a microcomputer (not shown) built in the driving device 30 shows START after the operation of the solar lighting device is started. As described above, the writing of predetermined data to the EEPROM is started (ST1), the temperature is read by a temperature measurement function (not shown) provided in the control device, and the temperature data is stored in the EEPROM.
(ST2). Next, the date / time count written in the EEPROM is corrected (ST3), and the time data is similarly corrected (ST4).

By repeating the steps ST2 to ST4 shown in FIG. 5 at predetermined time intervals, these data are written into the EEPROM and used for evacuation of a control device such as a microcomputer at the time of a power failure. After the recovery from the power failure, the operation mode data and the like are restored based on the data written in the nonvolatile memory.

[0010]

By the way, other than the above-mentioned solar lighting device, there is a device using a non-volatile memory to protect data at the time of a power failure. There is a problem that frequent writing is required and the life of the nonvolatile memory is shortened. Further, in a device that rewrites data in a non-volatile memory at predetermined time intervals, there is no function of determining whether or not data needs to be rewritten, so that unnecessary data rewriting may be performed. This also causes a reduction in the life of the nonvolatile memory. In particular, in an apparatus that uses a solar cell as a power supply, the power supplied to the solar cell greatly changes due to weather conditions such as the weather, and the power is frequently shut down. Therefore, it is necessary to rewrite data in a short cycle. The problem that the life of the nonvolatile memory is shortened becomes serious.

Further, if the non-volatile memory is frequently accessed, there is a problem that the danger that the control microcomputer or the like goes out of control increases. Furthermore,
If the life of the non-volatile memory is short, maintenance of a device using this memory becomes excessive. In particular, in a solar lighting device mounted on a roof or the like of a building, this maintenance work becomes a heavy burden, and a problem that maintenance costs increase. Also, frequent writing to a non-volatile memory increases the power consumption of a device using this memory, and particularly when a solar cell is used as a power source, the area of the solar cell must be increased. Without
There is also a problem that the manufacturing cost increases.

An object of the present invention is to provide a storage device in which the number of times of writing to a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM is reduced and the life of the non-volatile memory is extended, and a solar lighting device provided with the storage device. It is.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage device according to the first aspect.
A nonvolatile memory, a power failure determination device, a read / write function of reading / writing predetermined data from / to the nonvolatile memory,
A microcomputer having a rewrite determination function of determining whether or not the non-volatile memory needs to rewrite data. With this configuration, it is possible to perform writing to the nonvolatile memory only when it is determined that rewriting is necessary by the rewriting determination function of the microcomputer, thereby preventing unnecessary writing. However, the number of times of writing can be reduced as compared with a device using a conventional nonvolatile memory, the life of the nonvolatile memory can be extended, and a storage device with reduced maintenance work can be provided. Further, since the number of times of accessing the non-volatile memory can be reduced, the danger that a control microcomputer or the like goes out of control can be reduced, and an increase in power consumption can be prevented.

In the storage device according to the second aspect, the EEPR
An OM, a power failure determination device, a read / write function for reading / writing predetermined data from / to the EEPROM,
And a microcomputer having a rewrite determination function of determining whether or not data needs to be rewritten. EEPRO as a specific example of the nonvolatile memory used in the storage device according to claim 1
M, and with this configuration, EEPRO
It is possible to provide a storage device in which the life of M is extended and maintenance work is reduced. Further, as in the case of the first aspect, the danger that the control microcomputer or the like goes out of control can be reduced, and an increase in power consumption can be prevented.

In the storage device according to the third aspect, a solar cell is used as a power supply source of the storage device. With such a configuration, a suitable storage device can be obtained even when a solar cell whose power supply amount varies greatly depending on weather conditions is used.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a daylighting device for lighting a daylight, a driving device for driving the daylighting portion, and a position where the daylighting portion is properly positioned in accordance with the position of the sun. A solar lighting device including a control device for controlling the driving device, a nonvolatile memory, a power failure determination device, a read / write function of reading / writing predetermined data from / to the nonvolatile memory, and data from / to the nonvolatile memory. And a storage device having a microcomputer having a function of determining whether rewriting is necessary or not. With this configuration, the above-described rewriting determination function allows writing to the nonvolatile memory only when needed, so that the number of times of writing can be reduced as compared with the conventional one, and the life of the nonvolatile memory can be extended. In addition, it can be a solar lighting device. In addition, the solar lighting device is often installed in a place where maintenance is difficult, such as a roof of a building, and the life of the nonvolatile memory is extended, so that the burden of maintenance work on the solar lighting device can be reduced. . Furthermore, the danger that the control microcomputer or the like may run away can be reduced, an increase in power consumption can be prevented, and manufacturing costs can be reduced.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a daylighting device for lighting a daylight, a driving device for driving the daylighting portion, and a position where the daylighting portion is properly positioned in accordance with the position of the sun. It is necessary to rewrite data in the EEPROM, a sunlight lighting device having a control device for controlling the driving device, an EEPROM, a power failure determination device, a read / write function of reading / writing predetermined data in the EEPROM, And a storage device having a microcomputer having a rewrite determination function of determining whether or not there is a rewrite. With this configuration, the life of the EEPROM can be extended, the burden of maintenance work can be reduced, and the danger of the control microcomputer running out of control can be reduced, as in the fourth embodiment. A solar lighting device in which an increase in power consumption is prevented can be provided.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a solar cell is used as a power source of the sunlight collecting apparatus. With this configuration, it is possible to provide a suitable sunlight collecting device even when using a solar cell in which the amount of power supply changes drastically depending on weather conditions.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a solar lighting device provided with a storage device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a solar lighting device provided with a storage device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation principle of the solar lighting device. In FIG. 1, the same components as those of the conventional solar lighting device 5 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 1, a solar lighting device 50 having a storage device according to the present embodiment is
0, a solar cell 7 serving as a power supply source, a driving device 52 for a daylighting prism such as a stepping motor,
60 as a non-volatile memory used for saving the operation mode data of the sunlight collecting device 50 stored in the microcomputer 60 when the power of the solar cell 7 is interrupted.
2. A configuration including a power failure determination device 64 that determines a power failure of the solar cell 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, the solar cell 7 includes a microcomputer 60, a driving device 52, and a power failure judging device 64.
Power. The microcomputer 60
As described above, in addition to controlling the driving device 52, EE
The PROM 62 has a writing function of writing predetermined data described later and a reading function of reading data written in the EEPROM 62. The microcomputer 60 compares the data written in the EEPROM 62 with the data stored in the CPU or the like of the microcomputer 60 for the operation mode data such as the position of the lighting prism described above.
A rewrite determination function is provided for determining whether the data of M62 needs to be rewritten.

With the above configuration, the operation of the sunlight collecting apparatus 50 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, each step is represented by SP1, SP2, SA1 to SA6, and SB1 to SB3. First, in the microcomputer 60 of FIG. 1, after the operation of the sunlight collecting device 50 is started, FIG.
As shown by T, an EEPROM which is a non-volatile memory
62 is started to determine whether the predetermined data is rewritten to the predetermined data 62 (SP
1). Next, the power failure determination device 64 shown in FIG. 1 determines whether the power supply from the solar cell 7 has stopped or is in a power failure state in which the power becomes equal to or less than a predetermined power (SP).
2).

At this time, in the case of a power failure state, a power failure timer (not shown) built in the microcomputer 60
Is turned on to start counting the length of the power failure time (S
A1). Next, the rewriting determination function of the microcomputer 60 compares the position of the lighting prism written in the EEPROM 62 with the position of the lighting prism at the time of the power failure to determine whether the prism position needs to be rewritten (SA2). ).

If it is determined in SA2 that the prism position needs to be rewritten, the prism position at the time of the power failure is written in the EEPROM (SA3), and thereafter, the process proceeds to SA4. On the other hand, if it is determined in SA2 that the prism position does not need to be rewritten,
Proceed to 4.

Next, after recovery from the power failure, the microcomputer 60 determines in SA4 whether the power failure time is one hour or more or less than one hour, and if less than one hour, returns directly to the START of SP1. . If it is determined in SA4 that the power outage time is one hour or longer, the EE
Write the date and time data to the PROM (SA5), and then
Clears the power failure counter (SA6), and the STAR of SP1
Return to T and prepare for the next power failure. Although not shown in the drawings, the power required for these operations at the time of a power failure of the solar cell 7 is an auxiliary battery or power from a power storage device that stores excess power from the solar cell 7 or the like. You.

On the other hand, if it is determined in SP2 that the power failure has not occurred, the process proceeds to SB1, the power failure timer is turned off, and the power failure counter is cleared. Next, the EEPROM 6
It is determined whether the operation mode such as the position of the daylighting prism written in 2 has changed (SB2). If the operation mode has not changed, it is determined that rewriting is not necessary by the rewriting determination function of the microcomputer 60. , Directly S
It returns to START of P1. On the other hand, when the operation mode has changed, it is determined that rewriting is necessary by this determination function, and the operation load is written in the EEPROM 62 (S
B3) Return to START of SP1 to prepare for a power failure of the solar cell 7.

As described above, the EEPROM is used only when necessary.
Since the predetermined data such as the operation mode of the sunlight collecting device 50 is written in the 62, the number of times of writing the data in the EEPROM 62 can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional solar lighting device. Life can be extended. In addition, the solar lighting device 50 is often installed in a place where maintenance is difficult, such as a roof of a building, and the life of a nonvolatile memory such as the EEPROM 62 is extended. Can be reduced.

Further, since the number of times of accessing the EEPROM 62 can be reduced, the danger that the control microcomputer or the like goes out of control can be reduced, so that the maintenance work of the sunlight collecting device 50 can be further reduced. As a result, the reliability of the sunlight collecting device 50 can be improved. In addition, since the number of times of accessing the EEPROM 62 is reduced, it is possible to prevent an increase in the power consumption of the solar lighting device 50. Therefore, a small solar cell can be used, and the manufacturing cost and maintenance of the solar lighting device 50 can be reduced. Costs can also be reduced.

The storage device of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made. In the above embodiment, the example of the solar lighting device including the storage device of the present invention has been described. However, as a single storage device, this may be a storage device of another device other than the solar lighting device. It goes without saying that a storage device of such a use form is also included in the present invention. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the EEPROM is used as an example of the nonvolatile memory has been described. However, the nonvolatile memory can be replaced with another type of nonvolatile memory that can read and write.

[0030]

The storage device according to the present invention has the following excellent effects because it is configured as described above. (1) With the configuration as described in claim 1, the rewriting determination function of the microcomputer enables writing to the nonvolatile memory only when it is determined that rewriting is necessary. In addition, unnecessary writing can be prevented, the number of times of writing can be reduced as compared with a conventional device using a nonvolatile memory, the life of the nonvolatile memory can be extended, and a storage device with reduced maintenance work can be provided. (2) Further, since the number of times of accessing the non-volatile memory can be reduced, the danger that a control microcomputer or the like goes out of control can be reduced, and an increase in power consumption can be prevented.

(3) With the configuration as described in claim 2, it is possible to extend the life of the EEPROM and reduce the maintenance work. (4) As in the case of the first aspect, it is possible to reduce the danger that the control microcomputer or the like goes out of control, and to prevent an increase in power consumption.

(5) As described in the third aspect, when a solar cell is used as a power supply source of the storage device, even when a solar cell whose power supply changes drastically due to weather conditions is used, A suitable storage device can be obtained.

On the other hand, the sunlight collecting device provided with the storage device of the present invention has the following excellent effects because it is configured as described above. (6) With the configuration as described in claim 4, since the rewriting determination function allows writing to the nonvolatile memory only when needed, the number of times of writing can be reduced as compared with the conventional one, A solar lighting device in which the life of the nonvolatile memory is extended can be provided. (7) In addition, the solar lighting device is often installed in a place where maintenance is difficult, such as a building roof, and the life of the nonvolatile memory is extended, thereby reducing the burden of maintenance work on the solar lighting device. be able to. (8) Further, the danger that the control microcomputer or the like goes out of control can be reduced, an increase in power consumption can be prevented, and maintenance costs and manufacturing costs can be reduced.

(9) When configured as described in claim 5, as in the case of claim 4, an EEPROM is provided.
, The burden on maintenance work is reduced, the danger of a control microcomputer or the like running out of control is reduced, and an increase in power consumption can be prevented.

(10) As described in claim 6, as a power source of the solar lighting device provided with the storage device of the present invention,
When configured to use solar cells, even when using solar cells whose power supply changes drastically due to weather conditions,
A suitable sunlight collecting device can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a solar lighting device including a storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a solar lighting device including the storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a configuration of a conventional solar lighting device.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a configuration of a conventional solar lighting device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a process of writing data into an EEPROM of a conventional solar lighting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7: Solar cell 20a, 20b: Daylighting prism 50: Sunlight daylighting device 52: Driving device 60: Microcomputer 62: EEPROM 64: Power failure judgment device

Claims (6)

[Claims] A nonvolatile memory; a power failure determining device; a read / write function for reading / writing predetermined data from / to the nonvolatile memory; and determining whether data needs to be rewritten to / from the nonvolatile memory. And a microcomputer having a rewrite discriminating function to perform the rewriting. 2. An EEPROM, a power failure judging device, a read / write function for reading / writing predetermined data in the EEPROM, and a rewriting judgment function for judging whether or not the EEPROM needs to rewrite data. And a microcomputer having the same. 3. The storage device according to claim 1, wherein a solar cell is used as a power supply source of the storage device. 4. A lighting unit for lighting sunlight, a driving device for driving the lighting unit, and a control device for controlling the driving device so that the lighting unit is at an appropriate position corresponding to the position of the sun. A non-volatile memory, a power failure determination device, a read / write function of reading / writing predetermined data from / to the non-volatile memory,
A storage device comprising: a microcomputer having a rewrite determination function of determining whether or not it is necessary to rewrite data in the non-volatile memory. . 5. A lighting unit for lighting sunlight, a driving device for driving the lighting unit, and a control device for controlling the driving device so that the lighting unit is at an appropriate position according to the position of the sun. A daylighting device comprising: an EEPROM; a power failure determination device; a read / write function of reading / writing predetermined data from / to the EEPROM;
A storage device comprising: a microcomputer having a rewrite determination function of determining whether or not data needs to be rewritten in a PROM. 6. The solar daylighting device according to claim 4, wherein a solar cell is used as a power source of the solar daylighting device.