KR20160027946A - wide using illumination device capable of controlling dimming level based on controlling of power switch existing LED lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a lighting device can perform a dimming function and a default setting function with respect to an initial light emitting level when a switch is turned on based on an operation of a switch which controls the supply of AC power. In addition, the lighting device has a simple manufacturing process, has low costs, and can include a dimming means capable of being universally used in various light emitting diode (LED) lighting devices which are conventionally installed. The lighting device of the present invention comprises: an LED light emitting module including at least one light emitting device; a converter for converting AC power into DC power to supply the same; a sensing unit for sensing whether an external switch is turned on or off, and rotates or not; a control unit for generating a pulse signal; and a light emitting control unit including a current driving unit which supplies driving current to the light emitting module.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lighting device,

The present invention relates to a lighting apparatus, and more particularly, to a lighting apparatus capable of controlling the degree of light emission based on an operation of a switch for controlling the supply of AC power (that is, capable of performing dimming function) will be.

LEDs are becoming popular in next-generation lighting, and LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting devices are increasingly being used in homes, factories and roads. The LED lighting device has the advantage of excellent power saving performance and easy control of illumination. However, it has a characteristic that it suddenly becomes bright when the minimum operating voltage is exceeded, and there is a limit to precise brightness operation.

In recent years, along with the development of emotional engineering and ergonomics, in addition to the comfort of the human vision for the LED lighting device and simultaneously increasing the work efficiency, the function of sequentially controlling the brightness and color temperature of the LED lighting device to a desired level There is a growing demand for

To realize this function, a dimming function has been developed. Such a dimming control technique has a problem that a separate circuit composed of a combination of a DC variable IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, a diode, a coil, and a FET (Field Effect Transistor) must be added. to be.

For example, a dimming circuit and a converter with a dimming function are expensive because they include various devices, and the configuration is complicated, so that the number of assembling fixtures is high and the possibility of occurrence of defects due to a complicated assembling process is increased. And, since the conventional dimming circuit is generally embedded in the converter, the possibility of being used for general purpose in a lighting apparatus including LED illumination is very low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a lighting apparatus including a dimming unit that is simple in manufacturing process and low in cost.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a lighting apparatus including dimming means which are universally usable in various lighting apparatuses.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lighting device capable of adjusting a dimming level simply based on an operation of an external switch for supplying AC power.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not intended to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Other objects, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, It will be possible.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lighting apparatus comprising: a light emitting module including at least one light emitting element; A converter for converting an AC power supplied in an on state of an external switch into a DC power and supplying the AC power; And a controller for generating a driving current of the light emitting module based on the DC power supplied from the converter and supplying the generated driving current to the light emitting module and controlling whether the external switch is turned off / And a light emission control unit for sensing the intensity of the driving current based on the number of off / on switching times of the external switch to be sensed. Meanwhile, when the operation of the external switch for setting a default value at a specific light emission level adjusted based on the external switch operation is sensed, the controller sets the intensity of the drive current corresponding to the specific light emission level to a default value , And when the external switch is turned on for a long time, the light emission operation of the light emitting module can be started based on the drive current set to the default value.

Wherein the light emission control unit comprises: a sensing unit for sensing whether the external switch is switched off / on; A control unit for generating a pulse signal whose pulse width is variable based on the number of times the external switch is turned on / off; And a current driver for supplying the driving current to the light emitting module, the current intensity of which is varied based on the variation of the width of the pulse signal. Meanwhile, the external switch may be a push and rotary type switch. In this case, the sensing unit may sense whether the external switch is turned on / off and rotated. When the external switch is rotated, a pulse signal whose pulse width increases or decreases in accordance with the rotation direction of the external switch And the current driving unit may supply a driving current to the light emitting module, the intensity of which varies depending on the variation of the pulse width of the pulse signal.

The lighting device may further include a charging unit charging the power based on the DC power supply while the external switch is turned on. At this time, when the external switch is switched from an on state to an off state, the light emission control unit generates the drive current based on electric power charged in the charging unit for a predetermined time, Can supply.

Wherein the light emission control unit is configured to turn on the light emitting unit based on the electric power charged in the charging unit when the external switch is switched from the on state to the off state and thereafter is not switched on for the predetermined time, The generation of the current can be stopped.

The light emitting module may be a light emitting diode (LED) module.

The lighting apparatus according to the present invention has an advantage that a dimming function can be provided through a dimming unit that is simple in manufacturing process, low in cost, and universally usable in various lighting apparatuses.

Further, the lighting apparatus according to the present invention has an advantage that the dimming level can be simply adjusted based on the operation of the external switch for supplying the AC power.

1 is a use state diagram of a lighting apparatus according to the present invention.
2 is a block diagram of a lighting device according to the present invention.
3 is a flowchart showing an example of a method of driving a lighting apparatus according to the present invention.
Fig. 4 shows that the width of the light emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled according to the lighting device driving method shown in Fig.
5 shows an example in which the operating state of some components of the lighting apparatus according to the present invention changes depending on the on / off state of the external switch for controlling the supply of the AC power.
6 conceptually shows an example in which the width of the emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled when the external switch for supplying AC power to the illumination device according to the present invention is implemented as a rotary switch.
7 is a flowchart showing another example of a lighting device driving method according to the present invention.
8 shows that the width of the light emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled according to the lighting device driving method shown in Fig.
Fig. 9 conceptually shows another example in which the width of the emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled when the external switch for supplying AC power to the illumination device according to the present invention is implemented as a rotary switch.
10 conceptually shows an example in which the width of the emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled when the external switch for supplying AC power to the illumination device according to the present invention is implemented by a push button and a rotation type switch.
11 is a flowchart showing still another example of the lighting device driving method according to the present invention.

The foregoing objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.

Hereinafter, a lighting apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The suffix "module" and " part "for the components used in the following description are given or mixed in consideration of ease of specification, and do not have their own meaning or role.

The illumination device according to the present invention is capable of performing a dimming function capable of simply adjusting the light emission level based on the operation of an external switch for supplying AC power. The dimming function usually means a function of reducing the light emission level of the illumination device. However, the dimming function of the illumination device may further include a function of increasing the light emission level of the illumination device. The lighting apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by including a dimming unit which is simple in manufacturing process, low in unit price, and usable in general for various lighting apparatuses.

1 is a use state diagram of a lighting apparatus 100 according to the present invention. The illumination device 100 may be driven by alternating current power supplied through the alternating current power lines 10 and 20. Whether or not the AC power is supplied to the illumination device 100 can be controlled by the external switch 110. In FIG. 1, an external switch having only an on / off function is shown. However, the application range of the illumination device 100 according to the present invention is not limited thereto.

2 is a block diagram of a lighting device 100 according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the lighting apparatus 100 includes a converter 120 connected to an external switch 110, a light emission control unit 130, and a light emitting module 140. The components shown in FIG. 1 are not essential, so that the lighting device 100 may have more or fewer components. Hereinafter, the components will be described in order.

The converter 120 may convert AC power supplied from the on-state of the external switch to DC power and supply the AC power. The light emission control unit 130 may generate a driving current of the light emitting module 140 and supply the generated driving current to the light emitting module 140 based on the DC power supplied from the converter 120.

The light emission control unit 130 may sense whether the external switch 110 is turned on or off. The light emission control unit 130 senses whether the external switch 110 is turned off or on in a state in which the light emitting module 140 is emitting light and senses whether the external switch 110 is turned on / The intensity of the driving current can be controlled based on the number of times of off / on switching. The off / on switching of the external switch 110 in an on state means that when the user operates the external switch 110 in a state in which the external switch 110 is turned on, Off and then on again.

As described above, the light emission control unit 130 performs the light emission level control function (i.e., dimming function) of the illumination device 100 by controlling the intensity of the driving current based on the operation of the external switch 110 can do. From the viewpoint of the user, the user can easily adjust the light emission level of the illumination device 100 by simply operating the external switch 110.

The light emitting module 140 may perform a light emitting operation based on a driving current supplied by the light emitting control unit 130. The light emitting module 140 may include at least one light emitting device. The light emitting module 140 may be an LED module including at least one LED. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

2, the light emission control unit 130 may be implemented as a sensing unit 132, a control unit 134, and a current driving unit 136. Referring to FIG. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The sensing unit 132 may sense whether the external switch 110 is turned on or off. For example, the sensing unit 132 may quantify and sense the current supplied through the converter 120, and sense whether the external switch 110 is switched off / on.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the sensing unit 132 can perform only the sensing operation of the current supplied through the converter 120. [ Then, the controller 134 may determine whether the external switch 110 is turned off / on based on the sensed current.

The controller 134 may generate a pulse signal that varies at least one of a pulse width or a frequency based on the number of times the external switch 110 is turned on or off. Here, the width of the pulse signal may mean a ratio of a high period of the pulse signal to one period of the pulse signal. The pulse signal is an emission control pulse of the light emitting module 140.

The controller 134 may be implemented as a microprocessor. At this time, the microprocessor generates a pulse signal whose width varies according to the number of times of off / on switching of the external switch 110 according to a program embedded (or stored in an external memory) Module 140 as shown in FIG. In some cases, the circuit for generating the pulse signal may be implemented separately from the microprocessor.

The controller 134 may be implemented as one integrated circuit (IC) chip including a plurality of modules that internally perform corresponding functions. For example, the control unit 134 may include a calculation module for controlling the operation of the illumination device 100, a memory module for storing software and data necessary for the operation of the illumination device 100, a pulse signal generation module, And the like.

The current driver 136 may supply a driving current to the light emitting module 140 based on the pulse signal. When the width or frequency of the pulse signal varies, the current driver 136 may supply the driving current to the light emitting module 140 whose intensity is variable.

Although not shown in the drawing, the current driver 136 may include a field effect transistor (FET) driven based on the pulse signal. At this time, a current flowing between a source and a drain of the FET based on the pulse signal applied to the gate of the FET may be a driving current of the light emitting module 140, It may be the basis of current. Meanwhile, the current driver 136 may be implemented as a current driver integrated circuit (IC) including an FET.

As shown in FIG. 2, the light emission control unit 130 may be implemented separately from the converter 120. This is different from conventional lighting devices having a dimming circuit built into the converter. Therefore, the lighting apparatus 100 according to the present invention can simultaneously solve the problem of high cost due to use of the expensive dimming converter, the production time and the defect problem due to the complicated assembling process.

The light emission control unit 130 may be arbitrarily connected between the DC supply lines supplied to the converter 120, as shown in FIG. Therefore, the light emission control unit 130 can be used for various lighting apparatuses as an independent component.

In the lighting apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2, the light emission control unit 130 and the light emitting module 140 are basically driven based on the DC power supplied from the converter 120. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, at least one component of the light emission control unit 130 and the light emitting module 140 may be supplied with driving power through a separate element that operates based on the direct current power.

3 is a flowchart showing an example of a method of driving a lighting apparatus according to the present invention. Hereinafter, the lighting device driving method will be described with reference to necessary drawings.

First, an external switch 110 for determining whether AC power is supplied to the illumination device 100 is turned on to supply AC power to the illumination device 100. Based on the AC power, (140) starts emitting light (S100).

The operation of turning off and then turning on the external switch 110 in the on state by the sensing unit 132 during the emission of light is performed such that the external switch 110 is turned off On / off switching is sensed (S110). Then, the controller 134 decreases the width of the light emission control pulse for the light emitting module 140 to correspond to the number of times the external switch 110 is turned on / off (S120).

For example, when 8 bits are allocated to the reduction of the width of the emission control pulse, the controller 134 may gradually decrease the width of the emission control pulse with a resolution of 8th power of 2. In other words, in the lighting apparatus 100 according to the present invention, the dimming level can be controlled very precisely in accordance with the memory to which the dimming level included in the conventional lighting apparatus is controlled in percentage. This may be the case in other embodiments to be discussed later.

When the width of the light emission control pulse is decreased, the intensity of the light emitting module driving current generated by the current driving unit 136 driven by the light emission control pulse is weakened (S130). Then, the light emission level of the light emitting module 140 is lowered (S140).

If the illumination device 100 is an LED illumination device, the illumination device 100 according to the present invention controls the light emission level of the LED module through the drive current control of the LED module, so that when the minimum operation voltage is exceeded, It is possible to compensate for the disadvantages of the LED lighting apparatus which is increased in size. This may be the case in other embodiments to be discussed later.

3, when the external switch 110 is turned on, light emission is started at a high light emission level and the user attempts to gradually lower the light emission level through the operation of the external switch 110 It is desirable to utilize it. For example, the illuminating device driving method may be utilized in a case where the light emitting level can be stepwise adjusted to 5% based on the operation of the external switch 110 in a state where light emission is started with the initial light emitting level set at 100% .

Fig. 4 shows that the width of the light emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled according to the lighting device driving method shown in Fig.

4A shows an emission control pulse in a state where the ON state of the external switch 110 for supplying AC power is maintained (i.e., a steady state), and FIG. 4B shows the emission control pulse 4C shows an emission control pulse when the off / on switching of the external switch 110 is performed once, and FIG. 4C shows the off / on switching is performed two times.

Referring to FIG. 4, it can be seen that the width of the emission control pulse gradually decreases as the number of off / on switching times for the external switch 110 increases. This means that the driving current of the light emitting module 140 is reduced by decreasing the width of the light emission control pulse, and as a result, the light emitting level of the light emitting module 140 is lowered.

5 shows an example in which the operating state of some components of the lighting apparatus according to the present invention changes depending on the on / off state of the external switch for controlling the supply of the AC power.

The illumination apparatus shown in FIG. 5 further includes a charging unit 150 in the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and it can be seen that the controller 134 shown in FIG. 2 is implemented by a microcontroller. In FIG. 5, the charging unit 150 is implemented by a simple RC circuit, but the configuration of the charging unit included in the lighting device 100 according to the present invention is not limited thereto.

The charging unit 150 charges power based on the DC power supplied through the converter 120 in a state where the external switch 110 is turned on and the microcontroller 134 receives the driving power (Fig. 5 (a)). Although not shown in the drawing, the sensing unit 132 and the current driving unit 136 may also be driven based on the DC power supplied through the converter 120 in a state in which the external switch 110 is turned on .

On the other hand, when the external switch 110 is switched from the on state to the off state, the microcontroller 134 controls the microcontroller 134 based on the discharge of the electric power charged in the charger 150 for a predetermined time (Fig. 5 (b)). Although not shown in the drawing, when the external switch 110 is switched from an on state to an off state, the sensing unit 132 and the current driving unit 136 are also driven from the charging unit 150 Power can be supplied.

That is, in the lighting apparatus 100 according to the present invention, when the external switch 110 is switched from the on state to the off state, the light emission control unit 130 controls the charging unit 150 The driving current of the light emitting module 140 can be generated and supplied to the light emitting module 140 based on the electric power charged in the light emitting module 140. [

The light emission of the illumination device can be prevented from being interrupted when the external switch 110 is switched to the off state based on the electric power charged in the charging part 150. [ If the off / on switching of the external switch 110 is performed quickly, the user may not feel a large change in the light emission level.

If the external switch 110 is not turned on for a predetermined period of time after the external switch 110 is switched from the on state to the off state, 150 to stop generating the drive current based on the electric power charged in the drive circuit.

6 is a conceptual example in which, when the external switch 112 for supplying AC power to the lighting apparatus according to the present invention is implemented as a rotary type switch, the width of the light emission control pulse of the lighting apparatus is controlled. .

When the user rotates the lever 114 of the rotary switch 112 to a certain degree in the clockwise direction, the rotary switch 112 is turned on and the AC power starts to be supplied to the lighting apparatus (Fig. 6 (a) ).

6 (b) and 6 (c)), the illumination device can gradually reduce the width of the light emission control pulse for controlling the light emission level. As a result, the driving current of the light emitting module is reduced, and as a result, the light emitting level of the lighting device can be lowered. Such a mechanism may be the same as or similar to the one previously described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

7 is a flowchart showing another example of a lighting device driving method according to the present invention. Hereinafter, the lighting device driving method will be described with reference to necessary drawings.

First, an external switch 110 for determining whether or not AC power is supplied to the lighting apparatus 100 is turned on, and AC power is supplied to the lighting apparatus 100. On the basis of the AC power, The light emitting module 140 of FIG. 1 starts emitting light (S200).

The operation of turning off and then turning on the external switch 110 in the on state by the sensing unit 132 during the emission of light is performed such that the external switch 110 is turned off On / off switching is sensed (S210). The control unit 134 increases the width of the light emission control pulse for the light emitting module 140 to correspond to the number of times the external switch 110 is turned on / off (S220).

Then, the driving current generated by the current driver 136 driven by the emission control pulse is increased (S230). Then, the light emission level of the light emitting module 140 is increased (S240).

7, when the external switch 110 is turned on, light emission is started at a low light emission level and when the user turns on the external switch 110 It is desirable to utilize the light emitting diode in the case where the light emitting level is to be gradually increased through the operation of the light emitting diode (LED) 110. For example, the illuminating device driving method may be utilized when the light emitting level can be stepwise adjusted to 100% based on the operation of the external switch 110 in a state where light emission is started with the initial light emitting level set to 5% .

8 shows that the width of the light emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled according to the lighting device driving method shown in Fig.

8A shows the light emission control pulse in a state where the on state of the external switch 110 for supplying the AC power is maintained (i.e., the steady state), and FIG. 8B shows the light emission control pulse in the state 8C shows an emission control pulse when the off / on switching of the external switch 110 is performed once. FIG. 8C shows the off / on switching is performed two times.

Referring to FIG. 8, it can be seen that the width of the emission control pulse gradually increases as the number of off / on switching times for the external switch 110 increases. This means that the driving current of the light emitting module 140 increases due to the increase of the width of the light emission control pulse, and consequently the light emitting level of the light emitting module 140 increases.

Fig. 9 conceptually shows another example in which the width of the emission control pulse of the illumination device is controlled when the external switch for supplying AC power to the illumination device according to the present invention is implemented as a rotary switch.

When the user rotates the lever 114 of the rotary switch 112 by a predetermined amount in the clockwise direction, the rotary switch 112 is turned on and the AC power starts to be supplied to the lighting apparatus (Fig. 9 (a) ).

Then, when the user further causes the lever 114 (Figs. 9 (b) and 9 (c)), the lighting apparatus can gradually increase the width of the light emission control pulse for controlling the light emission level. As a result, the driving current of the light emitting module increases, and as a result, the light emitting level of the lighting device can be increased. Such a mechanism is contrary to the one previously described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, and can be easily obtained by a person having ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

10 is a graph showing the relationship between the width of the light emission control pulse of the illumination device and the width of the light emission control pulse when the external switch 119 for supplying AC power to the illumination device according to the present invention is implemented by a push button and a rotary type switch A concept of control is shown.

When the user pushes the lever 119A of the switch 119, the switch 119 is turned on to start supplying AC power to the illumination device. When the user rotates the lever 119A clockwise in a state where the switch 119 is turned on, the illumination device can gradually increase the width of the light emission control pulse for controlling the light emission level. As a result, the driving current of the light emitting module increases, and as a result, the light emitting level of the lighting device can be increased.

On the contrary, when the user rotates the lever 119A in the counterclockwise direction with the switch 119 turned on, the illumination device gradually decreases the width of the light emission control pulse for controlling the light emission level . As a result, the driving current of the light emitting module is reduced, and as a result, the light emitting level of the lighting device can be lowered.

11 is a flowchart showing still another example of the lighting device driving method according to the present invention. Hereinafter, the lighting device driving method will be described with reference to necessary drawings.

AC power is supplied to the lighting apparatus 100 in a state in which the external switch 110 is turned on and the light emitting module 140 of the lighting apparatus 100 starts emitting light based on the AC power, (S300).

The operation of turning off and then on the external switch 110 in the on state by the sensing unit 132 during the light emission is maintained, Is switched on / off (S310).

Then, the controller 134 decreases the intensity of the driving current of the light emitting module step by step in a predetermined order (S320). The resolution at which the driving current of the light emitting module is reduced can be determined by the number of bits allocated to the dimming level.

The ON / OFF switching of the external switch 110 is sensed again by the sensing unit 132 (S340) when the intensity of the driving current of the light emitting module is gradually decreased to reach a specific intensity, . Then, the sensing unit 132 senses the intensity of the driving current of the light emitting module (S340), and sets the sensed driving current of the light emitting module to a default value (S350). Meanwhile, the sensing of the strength of the driving current of the light emitting module can not be performed only by the sensing unit 132.

When the default value of the light emitting module driving current is set, the lighting device can maintain the intensity of the light emitting module driving current at the default value. Then, when the external switch 110 is turned on again after a lapse of a long time, the illumination device may start light emission based on the default value. That is, the user selects a desired light emission level based on the off / on operation of the external switch 110. [ On the other hand, the operation of the external switch 110 for the user to select a desired light emission level is not limited to the off / on switching operation.

11, when the intensity of the driving current of the light emitting module gradually decreases to reach a specific intensity, the sensing unit 132 turns off / on the external switch 110, When the switching is sensed again, the width of the light emission control pulse in that state can be sensed. The sensed width may be set to a default value. Then, the lighting apparatus can continue the light emission operation with the light emission control pulse having the width set to the default value, and can start the light emission in the future.

At least some of each of the lighting device driving methods discussed above may be implemented by separate software modules that perform one function or operation. Such software code may be implemented by a software application written in a suitable programming language. Also, the software code may be stored in a separate memory separate from the control unit 134, or may be executed by the control unit 134.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. This is possible.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined by the equivalents of the claims, as well as the claims.

100: illumination device 110: external switch
120: converter 130:
140: Light emitting module

Claims (1)

An LED (Light Emitting Diode) light emitting module including at least one light emitting element;
A converter for converting an AC power supplied in an on state of a push and rotary type external switch into a DC power and supplying the AC power; And
A sensing unit for sensing on / off and rotation of the external switch; A controller for generating a pulse signal whose pulse width increases or decreases according to a rotation direction of the external switch when the external switch is rotated; And a current driver for supplying a driving current to the light emitting module, the current of which is varied based on a variation of a pulse width of the pulse signal,
Wherein,
When the operation for the external switch for sensing a default value is sensed at a specific light emission level adjusted based on the external switch operation, the intensity of the drive current corresponding to the specific light emission level is set to a default value, Is turned on for a long time, the light emission operation of the light emitting module is started based on the drive current set to the default value.

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