KR20010106107A - Switch cover plate providing automatic emergency lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

The wall mounting cover plate 40 covers the electrical socket circuit or electrical circuit 50 capable of sensing the field provided by the switch 30. When power is lost in the wall circuit, the electrical circuit 50 senses the power loss and activates one or more LEDs 90A to emergency ignition. The electrical circuit 50 is a standalone device and does not require extra energy to keep the battery 58 long.

Description

Switch cover plate with automatic emergency light {SWITCH COVER PLATE PROVIDING AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY LIGHTING}

What is described below defines the current state of the art.

Nicholl et al., U.S. 4,177,500 describe power failures to monitor power lines and illuminate when power is interrupted. The present invention provides an incandescent bulb, a rechargeable battery, a power source for charging the current to the battery, a pair of diodes connecting the battery across the power source, connecting the bulb to the base-emitter junction across the battery. It includes a pair of series transistors.

Chiu, U.S. 4,461,974 describes a composite lamp device for use with a fiber optic light guide to automatically convert from a main lamp to a spare lamp when an abnormality occurs in the main lamp. The solenoid is applied with an inductor in the circuit of the main lamp to overcome the bias of the switch in the spare lamp circuit to keep it open. When the main lamp fails and cuts off the current, the switch closes to allow power to the spare lamp. An indicator is provided to show which lamp is working.

Jester's U.S. 4,514, 789 describes an optical switch plate with a back opening housing for keeping the AA battery detachable. The invention can be detachably mounted to a 110 volt AC optical switch mounted on a conventional wall. The LED mounted on the front of the housing is connected to the battery via an integrated circuit oscillator illuminating the LED.

U.S., McCue et al. 4,631,649 describe an emergency light fixture that can be permanently mounted in a conventional power dispensing box having a fixed bore with a slot for accommodating an electrical plug and a threaded bore for accommodating a screw for a surface plate. The emergency light fixture includes a housing, an electrical plug extending from the rear wall of the housing, a battery, a battery charger, and a lamp wired and mounted to the housing to illuminate during a power outage.

U.S., Bavaro et al. 4,977,351 describes an emergency light device capable of forming a battery when no AC signal is present and operating at least one gas discharge lamp from an AC power source when an AC current is present. The circuit also responds to intruder detection and has the ability to turn on the lamp under other selected emergency conditions in response to detection of smoke, heat, water or other emergency conditions.

Walter et al., U.S. 5,132,596 describes an outdoor light control including an AC relay having a pair of contacts that can move between the forming position and the breaking position and an optical sensor sensitive to the outdoor. The relay includes a contact actuating device responsive to the optical sensor and an alternating current biasing the contact to the forming position and electromagnetically moving the contact to the breaking position. The contact actuating device is sensitive to alternating current and rigid enough to limit cracking at the contact for 15 milliseconds passing from the forming position to the breaking position when the light sensor detects a transition between dark and bright. Advantageously, this crackle is limited in the range of 1 to 10 milliseconds.

Of Li, U.S. 5,336,977 describes an emergency light comprising a hollow casing, a magnetic field sensing unit, a lamp unit and a drive unit. The casing is arranged adjacent to the electrical outlet. The magnetic field sensing unit is disposed inside the casing and senses the absence of the magnetic field from the electrical outlet. The lamp unit is operably mounted to the casing. The drive unit is arranged inside the casing and is electrically connected with the lamp unit and the sensing unit. The drive unit includes a light-sensing switch unit and is sensitive to the sensing unit to operate the lamp unit only when there is no magnetic field from the electrical outlet and there is weak ambient light.

Blackman, U.S. 5,473,517 describes a housing for an emergency light source that can be electrically connected to a conventional light switch. This housing replaces a conventional switch plate and has at least one opening to receive the switch plate and at least one opening to receive the switch actuator of the optical switch. The replacement housing includes a wire for electrical connection with the optical switch and is divided into an upper and lower housing portions, the upper housing portion including an battery portion, a printed circuit board portion and an opening to receive the switch actuator. The lower housing portion includes a portion for receiving a compact fluorescent light, reflector and diffuser cover.

There are several safety, emergency lights according to the prior art. Blackman describes an alternate switch plate with optical switches and wire connections. This switch plate includes a lighting device. Walters describes a lighting control with an optical sensor response. Jester describes a light emitting switch plate. Li describes magnetic field sensors that respond to the absence of power at adjacent AC outlets, which cannot work with the switch because no magnetic field is formed without current flow. However, the prior art does not describe a small switch plate with field sensing capability to illuminate exit signs and lights and eliminate the need for rigid wiring. The present invention fulfills this need and provides other related advantages as described below.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to emergency lights, such as preliminary automatic lamps, and more particularly to emergency lights with sensors and light sources for determining the moment at which AC power is lost to an electrical switch covered with a plate and assembled with a general switch cover plate. will be.

The accompanying drawings show the invention.

1 is a front view showing a wall switch cover plate according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view along the cut line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing a switch box and a wall switch; FIG.

3 is a block diagram showing an electrical circuit of the present invention;

4 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; And

5 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, the power discharging cover plate.

The present invention describes structures and advantages in use to achieve the following objects.

The present invention provides a wall mounting plate comprising an electrical circuit that can sense an electrostatic field coupled with the electrical circuit inside or behind the wall. The electrical circuit uses an antenna to detect the loss of field energy and then allows the ignition circuit to make an emergency exit ignition.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a proximity circuit capable of emergency ignition when an abnormality in power occurs, which has the advantage that the prior art does not provide.

Another object is to provide a circuit inside the switch plate which is mounted to the switch box by a typical screwing method used for the same switch plate.

Another object is to provide a circuit that does not require the use of household currents because it is operated over a long period of time by a small battery.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a switch plate which is made relatively flat and compact in order to give a general switch plate shape, which gives an advantage of emergency ignition and automatic operation when an abnormality occurs in power.

Another object is to provide a wall plate that is made relatively flat and compact to give the shape of a typical AC outlet cover, giving the advantage of emergency ignition and automatic operation in the event of a power failure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wall plate made relatively flat and compact to give a general wall cover plate shape, which gives the advantage of emergency ignition and automatic operation when a power failure occurs.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate the principles of the invention.

The accompanying drawings described above show an emergency ignition device that can illuminate a closed space in the event of a general power failure. A first embodiment of the invention, an emergency ignition device for covering a wall switch electrical box 10 mounted inside or behind a wall 20 is shown in FIGS. 1-4. The electrical box 10 includes an electrical wall switch 30 having a switch arm 32 extending outward from the wall 20 to be manually adjustable to turn on and off the room lighting.

In order to cover the wall switch electrical box 10, the present invention includes a switch plate 40 as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, which has an electrical circuit mounting surface 42, Switch plate mounting element 44, generally a pair of spaced holes, and switch arm connecting means 46, generally rectangular holes. Advantageously, the switch plate 40 provides a central portion 40A comprising a switch arm connecting means 46 and a switch plate mounting means 44. The plane is preferred so that the center portion 40A is placed in contact with the wall surface. The switch plate 40 comprises a periphery 40B having enclosure means 40C for enclosing the electrical circuit 50. The enclosure means 40C provides a space for containing the components of the electrical circuit 50. This space is enclosed between the wall 20 and the switch plate 40 so that the electrical circuit components and support elements are not visible from the front of the switch plate 40. The central portion 40A cooperates with the wall switch 30 and the peripheral portion 40B cooperates with the peripheral wall and the central portion to surround the electric circuit 50. This is considered to be an important point of the invention because the device is simple in its entirety and has a common wall switch cover shape, adjacent wall portion 40A for connecting with the switch arm 32, and the circuit housing inside the electrostatic field of the wall switch. This is because it has a peripheral enclosure portion 40B with means for or an electrostatic field generating electrical device as described below.

The electrical circuit 50 is shown in FIG. In this circuit, the antenna 80 is exposed to a local electrostatic field generated by an electrostatic field generator, such as a building AC wiring or wall switch 30. Electrostatic field strength, coupling capacitance generated by antenna 80, ground return, and input impedance of amplifier 82 all determine the signal voltage level generated by antenna 80. U.L. The safety requirement is that two large value safety resistors 84 inserted in series with the antenna 80 must generate an electrical short between the antenna 80 and the building AC power wiring to limit current flow. Since the two elements do not contact in the present invention, this phenomenon does not easily occur.

Amplifier 80 raises the sensed signal voltage to drive steering logic circuit 88 and maximum sense circuit 86 as shown in FIG. The peak sensing circuit 86 once generates a DC voltage proportional to the amplified antenna voltage once the first threshold is exceeded. Although the AC field strength may increase further, if the second threshold is exceeded, the peak sensing circuit 86 will saturate, causing no further DC voltage rise. Fast charge and slow discharge characteristics are appropriately selected to avoid all unnecessary delays and triggering of false LEDs 90 in operation.

Steering logic circuit 88 accepts input from test / reset device 87 and peak sensing circuit 86, described herein as buttons. This input is regulated in the steering logic circuit 88 by a schmidtt trigger for logic conversion. This steering logic circuit 88 determines whether the LED 90 is on or off according to the following conditions, where AC power is considered equivalent to the presence of an electrostatic field and the loss of AC power is associated with the loss of the electrostatic field. It should be understood that they are the same:

1) The LED 90 will move away when there is AC power with sufficient field strength. The momentary actuation of the test / reset button 87 will momentarily activate the LED 90. When released from test / reset button 87, LED 90 automatically turns off to prevent unnecessary consumption of battery 58 (see FIG. 2).

2) When AC power is suddenly dissipated, LED 90 will remain on until one of the following occurs:

a) The battery 58 is discharged to such an extent that it cannot be reused.

b) AC power is restored.

c) The test / reset button 87 momentarily pushes to reset the LED 90 to the off state.

The next cycling of the test / reset button 87 will alternately cause the 'ON' and 'OFF' states of the LED 90 when there is no AC power present. The LED drive circuit 89 senses the logic level generated by the steering logic circuit 88 and supplies sufficient current to drive the LED 90 when commanded. The LED 90 is in the form of a top flux that can suitably ignite in a small room during an AC power emergency. The test / reset device 87 and the steering logic circuit 88 are suitable for automatic placement into the active state after electrostatic field loss of the electrostatic field generating device and manual shutdown of the lighting device 56, so that the return of the electrostatic field and electrostatic Intestinal loss can ignite the lighting device 56 without human intervention.

The low battery test circuit 92 senses when the battery 58 has discharged below the level necessary to provide a continuous emergency light. This ignites one of the LEDs 90A with a cycle pulse having a low utilization rate that is repeated to provide a visual alert. The low battery test circuit 92 is designed to test the battery 58 while minimizing battery current loss during testing. The pulse generator circuit 94 operates at a very low usage cycle and supplies battery power to the comparator circuit 96. The comparator circuit 96 and the voltage reference circuit 98 are turned on momentarily during each cycle of the pulse generator circuit 94. The battery voltage sample is compared with the voltage reference of the voltage reference circuit 98. Thereafter, if the sampled battery voltage is too low, the comparison circuit 96 momentarily ignites the LED driver 89B. From the detailed description of the operation of each circuit element, those skilled in the field of electrical engineering will understand how to make and operate the respective circuit components. The detailed description of the above circuits and FIG. 3 allows one to see how known elements are assembled and interconnected to make an operating device capable of achieving the object of the invention.

The switch plate 40 is provided with the lighting device observation means 48. The lighting device observing means 48 comprises at least one hole 48A in the switch plate 40, which hole 48A is engaged with the lighting device 56 to directly observe the lighting device 56. do. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, the hole 48A is one or more rectangular holes in the switch plate 40 through which the lighting device 56 elements protrude and are visible. In addition, the illuminating device observing means 48 comprises at least one light transmitting portion 48B at the switch plate 40, where at least one light transmitting portion 48B is disposed and observes the lighting device 56. By observing light from the lighting device 56 without being coupled with at least one element of the lighting device 56 for indirect viewing of the lighting device 56. This viewing device 48B is the colored portion of the switch plate 40 overlying the lighting element of the lighting device 56 as shown in FIG. 1.

In a second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the electrical appliance covered by the switch plate is an electrical discharge device such as a double socket known in most household products. This device includes an electrical socket usable in the present invention. The electrical box connection device in this case is an electrical plug 70, such as the double plug shown in the figure, for connection with an electrical socket of an electrical appliance. Thus, in this embodiment, the present invention is mounted and placed adjacent to the wall discharge box. The invention also provides a double socket 72 for receiving a plug which is inserted into the socket of the electrical discharge device in this embodiment. This embodiment shows that the present invention can be used with electrical socket outlets as well as wall switches for the same purpose. Clearly, the present invention can be applied for other purposes beside wall switches and AC outlets. Any situation where an AC voltage change occurs, with or without current flow within 2-3 cm of the wall surface, indicates that the AC voltage no longer exists and is suitable for mounting the invention to an exterior wall surface for emergency ignition. . One important use is to install inside an elevator for emergency ignition in case of power failure. In many applications of the present invention, it is clear that no physical or electrical interconnection is required between the wiring or AC device monitored by the present invention and the present invention. In this case, the enclosure means 40 is a smooth plate with a mounting device. The mounting device is an adhesive plate or a magnet or other component.

Although the invention has been described with reference to at least one preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will understand that the invention is not limited to the embodiments herein. The scope of the invention is only understood in connection with the appended claims.

Claims (15)

An emergency ignition device for placing on a wall adjacent to an electrostatic field of an electrostatic field generating device, A wall plate suitable for mounting into a wall adjacent to the electrostatic field generating device and surrounding the electrical circuit means; An electrical circuit, including a variable electrostatic field sensing device, an emergency switch device, a lighting device and a power supply, covered by a wall plate; Wall plates that mesh with lighting devices; An emergency switch interconnecting the power supply with the lighting device when the field sensing device does not detect the electrostatic field to emergency ignite when power is lost in the electrostatic field generating device; And a reset device adapted to automatically place the electrical circuit into an operational state after the electrostatic field loss of the electrostatic field generating device and the manual shutdown of the lighting device such that the return of the electrostatic field and the second loss of the electrostatic field ignite the lighting device. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electrostatic field generating device is a wall switch having an outwardly extending power switch, and the wall plate is provided with a hole for receiving a power switch of the electrostatic field generating device. The device of claim 2, wherein the wall plate comprises one or more open portions arranged to directly observe the lighting device and engage with the lighting device. The device of claim 2, wherein the wall plate comprises one or more light transmitting portions arranged to indirectly view the lighting device and engage with the lighting device. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the wall plate has a central portion comprising a perimeter and a periphery around the hole for enclosing the electrical circuit. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, including a test switch interconnected with the electrical circuit for testing the circuit by manual operation. 3. The device of claim 2, comprising a low battery sensor interconnected with electrical circuitry to operate the lighting device to indicate a low battery condition and to sense the low battery condition. The device according to claim 2, wherein the electrostatic field sensing means is an antenna, the emergency switch device is a transistor driven by an amplified signal provided by the antenna, the lighting device is a plurality of LED devices, and the power source is a battery. . 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the electrostatic field generator is an electrical outlet having an electrical socket, the electrostatic field generator being an electrical plug suitable for coupling with the electrical socket of the electrical outlet. 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the wall plate comprises one or more open portions arranged to directly observe the lighting device and engaged with the lighting device. 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the wall plate comprises at least one light transmitting portion arranged to indirectly view the lighting device and engaged with the lighting device. 10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the wall plate has a central portion comprising switch coupling means and a peripheral portion for enclosing the electrical circuit. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, including a test switch interconnected with the electrical circuit for testing the circuit by manual operation. 10. The device of claim 9, comprising a low battery sensor interconnected with electrical circuitry to operate a lighting device to indicate a low battery condition and to sense a low battery condition. 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the electrostatic field sensing means is an antenna, the emergency switch device is a transistor driven by an amplified signal provided by the antenna, the lighting device is a plurality of LED devices, and the power supply device is a battery. Device.