WO2020099317A1 - System for switching a plurality of electrical devices via a single battery powered cable - Google Patents

System for switching a plurality of electrical devices via a single battery powered cable Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2020099317A1
WO2020099317A1 PCT/EP2019/080860 EP2019080860W WO2020099317A1 WO 2020099317 A1 WO2020099317 A1 WO 2020099317A1 EP 2019080860 W EP2019080860 W EP 2019080860W WO 2020099317 A1 WO2020099317 A1 WO 2020099317A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
electrical
electrical devices
control
switching
feedback
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2019/080860
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Spyros PAPANTONIOU
Original Assignee
Papantoniou Spyros
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Papantoniou Spyros filed Critical Papantoniou Spyros
Publication of WO2020099317A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020099317A1/en

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J13/00—Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network
    • H02J13/00006—Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network characterised by information or instructions transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated power network element or electrical equipment
    • H02J13/00007—Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network characterised by information or instructions transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated power network element or electrical equipment using the power network as support for the transmission
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
    • B63B—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING 
    • B63B45/00—Arrangements or adaptations of signalling or lighting devices
    • B63B45/04—Arrangements or adaptations of signalling or lighting devices the devices being intended to indicate the vessel or parts thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H05B—ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL
    • H05B47/00—Circuit arrangements for operating light sources in general, i.e. where the type of light source is not relevant
    • H05B47/10—Controlling the light source
    • H05B47/175—Controlling the light source by remote control
    • H05B47/185—Controlling the light source by remote control via power line carrier transmission
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
    • B63B—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING 
    • B63B45/00—Arrangements or adaptations of signalling or lighting devices
    • B63B2045/005—Arrangements or adaptations of signalling or lighting devices comprising particular electric circuits
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J2310/00—The network for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by its spatial reach or by the load
    • H02J2310/40—The network being an on-board power network, i.e. within a vehicle
    • H02J2310/42—The network being an on-board power network, i.e. within a vehicle for ships or vessels

Definitions

  • the disclosure relates to an electrical system for switching a plurality of electrical devices, in particular of lamps of a boat.
  • Current systems for selectively switching one or more of a plurality of electrical devices, e.g. a plurality of lamps, on or off over a battery powered system comprise for each lamp one switch, and a separate cable from the switch to the lamp, both capable to carry the current .
  • the mast has at least 5 different lights (tricolor-, anchor-, strobe-, deck- and steaming-light) , wherein each one is switched on or off via separate switches from a central switching panel .
  • N+l cables run from the central switching panel up the mast.
  • the ground return cable is often thicker than the supply cables.
  • an electrical system comprising a plurality of electrical devices, a battery, a control panel, an electric supply cable and an electric return cable.
  • the control panel comprises an input unit adapted to receive user input, an electronic power switch adapted to switch the supply voltage of the battery to the electric supply cable and a panel controller adapted to control the electronic power switch of the control panel according to a predefined switching scheme in ac cordance with the user input.
  • the electric supply cable is adapted to supply an electrical current from the con trol panel to the plurality of electrical devices.
  • the electric return cable is adapted to serve as return con ductor for the electrical current.
  • Each of the plurality of electrical devices comprises an on/off switch adapted to switch the respective electrical device on or off and a device controller configured to control the on/off switch.
  • the predefined switching scheme comprises power supply time slots during which the supply voltage is con tinuously switched on to the electric supply cable and control time slots during which the supply voltage is switched on and off according to a predefined coding scheme, in particular an on-off-keying coding scheme.
  • the predefined coding scheme encodes control information for the switching of the electrical devices.
  • the elec tric supply cable may be embodied as a single supply ca ble that serves two purposes. First, it is used to send encoded control information during the control time slots to the plurality of electrical devices, and at the same time it provides the supply voltage to the plurality of electrical devices.
  • the supply voltage is switched on and off according to the predefined coding scheme.
  • This may be denoted as (carrierless) on-off keying.
  • This allows to send the control infor ⁇ mation, e.g. in the form of codewords, to the plurality of electrical devices in an efficient and flexible manner. Compared with known systems this provides the advantage that only one single supply cable instead of N supply cables is needed for a plurality of N electrical devices. This is a very cost-efficient and material-effi cient solution.
  • the plurality of electrical devices may be in particular a plurality of lamps of a boat, in particular of a sailing yacht.
  • the electri cal system according to embodiments of the invention is in particular advantageous, as in addition to the cost- reduction, it provides a significant reduction of the in stalled weight on the mast.
  • the duration of the control time slots is short enough so that the off state of the lamps will not be visible to the human eye.
  • the switching scheme is a periodic switching scheme according to which the control time slots are repeated periodically. This increases the reliability of the switching, in particular in case of disturbances and power interruptions.
  • the power supply time slots are at least 50-times longer than the control time slots. According to preferred embodiments, the power supply time slots are at least 100-times longer than the control time slots.
  • the duration of the control time slots is less than 20 ms, in particular less than 10 ms. According to further preferred embodi ments the duration of the control time slots may be shorter than 5 ms . As a comparison, the human eye may detect the off state of the lamp if it exceeds 50ms.
  • the electrical device is a lamp. Then the small interruption of the power supply to the lamp of less than 20 ms is not visible to or in other words noticeable to a human eye.
  • the coding scheme comprises a plurality of codewords.
  • the plurality of codewords include control information for a plurality of switching configurations of the plurality of devices.
  • the control panel is configured to send during the control time slots as control information a code word which encodes a current switching configuration of the plural ity of electrical devices.
  • the device controllers of the plurality of devices are configured to receive the code word and switch the corresponding device on or off ac cording to the current switching configuration of the re ceived codeword.
  • Each codeword sent by the control panel is received by all devices connected to the same power cable simultaneously.
  • the codewords In par ticular, it is advantageous to encode the codewords as a blockcode. Furthermore, the blockcodes may encompass in addition error detection or even error correcting capa bility. This avoids erroneous detections of the code word and false switching of the electrical devices.
  • Embodiments of the invention allow to monitor and alert the user when a lamp has burned. Further embod iments of the invention allow to send further feedback information, e.g. from additional sensors of the devices, to the control panel.
  • such a monitoring may be implemented by feedback slots of the prede fined switching scheme.
  • the control panel is configured to switch the supply voltage off during the feedback slots and to receive feedback information from one or more of the plurality of electrical devices, in particular from any electrical device that is configured to send feedback.
  • Such a device may be denoted as feedback ena bled device.
  • the electrical devices that are configured to send the feedback information during the feedback slots via the electric supply cable to the control panel may comprise one or more sensors, e.g. photocells to sense the ambient light intensity, thermometers or other sensor devices.
  • the feedback information may comprise status information of the operation status of the elec trical devices and/or any other sensor information that may be provided by sensors of the electrical devices such as temperature or light intensity, wind, etc.
  • the establishment of such a feedback channel improves the reliability and user awareness of the system.
  • the control panel may display the status information and feedback information on a display of the control panel.
  • the status information may comprise e.g. the states “OFF- burned” (the lamp is burned) , “Off-normal” (the lamp is switched off) , “ON” (the lamp is on) , “overcurrent” (the lamp is operated with an overcurrent and/or "fault”
  • the predefined switching scheme comprises feedback slots and the control panel is configured to switch the supply voltage on during the feedback slots and to receive feedback information from one or more of the plurality of electrical devices. Furthermore, one or more of the plurality of electrical devices are configured to send the feedback information during the feedback slots to the control panel by varying the ohmic load of the respective elec trical device, in particular by switching the respective electrical device on and off.
  • the feedback information send to the control panel via current sensing comprises status information of the operation status of the electrical devices. Current sensing is simpler and more reli able feedback information than the on-off switching of the voltage performed by the device.
  • the system is configured to allocate a separate feedback slot to one or more of the plurality of electrical devices of the sys tem, in particular to the feedback enabled devices, in particular to each device.
  • the control panel provides during the feedback slots supply power to all electrical devices of the system.
  • the re spective feedback enabled electrical device of the system that shall provide feedback during a properly addressed short feedback slot varies the current load by switching the electrical device, e.g. the lamp, on and off, e.g. according to a codeword similar to a codeword that is sent by the control panel.
  • the control panel is config ured to detect the current fluctuation of the power sup ply, and hence may decode the information bits sent as 'current modulation' by the respective electrical device. Such a system enables a simple, reliable and efficient way to convey feedback information to the panel.
  • the feedback slot is chosen short enough so that neither the off state of all devices, nor the feed back fluctuation of lamp k is visible to the human eye.
  • the current fluctuation produced by a single device may not be so easily detected by the current sensing mechanism of the control panel, in particular if many devices are on. In such a case all de vices may be switched off during the short feedback slot, so as to allow a larger dynamic range of 'current' signal to the feedback enabled device.
  • the electrical devices may transmit information to the control panel who senses the information carrying current variation.
  • the feedback slots may be used to provide the status information (e.g. burned or intact) of lamps as mentioned above
  • another embodiment of the invention provides a way to monitor the status information without feedback slots. According to such an embodiment, the eventual failure of a lamp may be more directly detected via current sensing of the total consumed current at the control panel without the need of feedback information from the device.
  • the system com prises a measurement circuit adapted to measure a total supply current flowing towards the plurality of devices. Furthermore, the system is configured to use the measured supply current for determining a status of the plurality of devices.
  • the state of a lamp via current sensing may be determined by measuring at initialization and setup the current of each lamp, and compare the total current to correspond roughly to the sum of the initially measured lamp currents.
  • the system comprises also a measurement circuit adapted to measure the total supply current that is flowing towards the plu rality of electrical devices.
  • the system is furthermore configured to switch periodically each of the plurality of devices individually on and off.
  • the system is furthermore configured to deter mine the current difference between the off-state and the on-state of the respective device, e.g. of the respective lamp, and to derive the status of the device, e.g. of the lamp, from the measured current difference between the off-state and the on-state. With this periodic testing, the failure of a lamp maybe detected during daytime before the lamp is needed.
  • the measurement circuit may comprise e.g. a shunt resistor at the control panel which measures the total current consumed by the devices that are switched on. Switching for a short period of time each individual device off and then on again, may show the status (i.e. delta of current consumed) of the lamp (normal, burned, short circuit) to the control panel.
  • the panel con troller is configured to transmit during each control time slot a device identifier identifying each of the feedback enabled electrical devices.
  • the device controllers are configured to detect their device identifiers in the control time slot and to reply, upon detection, after a predefined delay with their feedback information.
  • Such a system allows to provide a plurality of different operational status details of the user de vices back to the control panel in an efficient way.
  • the system com prises a plurality of N electrical devices. Furthermore, the panel controller is configured to transmit a codeword of N bits and to transmit in a periodic manner an in creasing index from 1 to N during each control time slot. The respective increasing index indicates to the corre sponding electrical device a feedback request.
  • a boat in particular a sailing yacht, is provided.
  • the boat comprises an electrical system according to the first aspect.
  • the electrical devices are lamps arranged e.g. at the mast of the boat.
  • a method for selectively switching one or more electrical devices of an electrical system comprises steps of receiv ⁇ ing, by the input unit, user input concerning a switching configuration of the plurality of electrical devices and controlling the power switch of the control panel accord ing to a predefined switching scheme.
  • the method com prises further steps of switching, by the power switch, during power supply time slots the supply voltage contin uously to the electric supply cable and switching, by the power switch, during control time slots, the supply volt ⁇ age on and off according to a predefined coding scheme.
  • the predefined coding scheme encodes control information for device controllers of the electrical devices.
  • the method comprises further steps of receiving, by the device controllers of the plurality of devices, the control information and switching, by on-off switches of the plu rality of electrical devices, the electrical device on or off in accordance with the control information.
  • FIG. 1 shows an electrical system according to an embodiment of the invention
  • Fig. 2 shows a boat comprising an electrical system as illustrated in FIG. 1;
  • FIG. 3 illustrate a timing diagram of a switching scheme according to embodiments of the inven tion comprising power supply time slots and control time slots ;
  • FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of a part of the timing diagram of FIG. 3;
  • FIG. 5 illustrates a switching scheme according to another embodiment of the invention
  • FIG. 6 illustrates a switching scheme comprising feedback slots
  • FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of method steps of a method according to embodiments of the invention.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates another switching scheme with feedback slots according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates another switching scheme with feedback slots according to an embodiment of the invention .
  • FIG. 1 shows an electrical system 100 accord ing to an embodiment of the invention.
  • the electrical system 100 comprises a plurality of N electrical devices 10-1, 10-2, 10-k ..., 10-N, which are commonly referred to as electrical devices 10.
  • the electrical devices 10 may be in particular lamps or in other words lights.
  • the electrical devices 10 may be e.g. lamps of a boat, in particular of a sailing yacht.
  • the electrical system 100 comprises a battery 20 for providing electric power to the electrical system 100 and in particular the plurality of electrical devices 10.
  • the battery 20 may be in par ticular an accumulator that can be recharged.
  • the elec trical system 100 comprises furthermore a control panel 30.
  • the control panel 30 is on the one hand electrically connected to a supply voltage V s of the battery 20 and on the other hand to a single electric supply cable 40.
  • the electric supply cable 40 electrically connects the con trol panel 30 with the plurality of electrical devices 10 and accordingly can supply an electrical supply current
  • the electrical devices 10 are furthermore connected to an electric return cable 41 which serves as return path or return conductor for the current provided from the battery 20 via the control panel 30 to the elec trical devices 10.
  • the electric return cable 41 is connected to a negative voltage input denoted with of the control panel 30 in order to provide an elegant and simple detection mechanism for burned devices (lamps) .
  • the detection mechanism may com prises a shunt 38 as measurement circuit which couples the electric return cable 41 and the control panel 30 to ground/earth .
  • the detection mechanism for burned lamps will be described in more detail below.
  • the electric return cable 41 may be connected to ground/earth.
  • Each of the plurality of electrical devices 10 comprises a load 11, which may be e.g. embodied as light bulb of a lamp, and an on/off switch 12 which can switch the load 11 on or off, i.e. connect the load 11 with the electric supply cable 40 or disconnect the load
  • the on/off switch 12 is con trolled by a device controller 13.
  • the device controller 13 is coupled to or may comprise one or more sensors 14.
  • the sensor 14 may be adapted to sense a voltage state of the electric supply cable 40. According to other embodi ments the one or more sensor 14 may be e.g. temperature sensors or light intensity sensors, e.g. photodiodes.
  • the control panel 30 comprises an input unit 31 adapted to receive user input. This may be in particular user input for switching on or off one or more of the plurality of electrical devices 10.
  • the input unit 31 comprises a plurality of N input button-switches 34-1, 34-2, ..., 34-N, which are commonly referred to as input switches 34.
  • the input switches 34 may be in particular embodied as low current buttons or capacitive touch but tons. This avoids high current mechanical input switches as in prior art solutions.
  • Each of the input switches 34 is allocated to switch a corresponding electrical device 10.
  • the control panel 30 furthermore comprises a power switch 32 which is arranged between the supply voltage V s of the battery 20 and the electric supply cable 40.
  • the power switch 32 In a closed state the power switch 32 switches the supply voltage of the battery 20 to the electric supply cable 40 and in an open-state the power switch 32 disconnects the supply voltage V s from the electric supply cable 40.
  • the power switch 32 may be in particular embodied as Field Effect Transistor (FET) .
  • the control panel 30 comprises furthermore a panel controller 33.
  • the panel controller 33 controls the power switch 32. More particularly, the panel controller 33 controls the power switch 32 according to a predefined switching scheme.
  • the panel controller 33 may be in particular embodied as microcontroller.
  • the control panel 30 may further comprise a display 35 for displaying e.g. the current switching configuration of the plurality of electrical devices 10.
  • the predefined switching scheme comprises power supply time slots during which the supply voltage is continuously or in other words permanently switched to the electric supply cable. Accordingly, the power switch is closed during the whole control time slots and accordingly the supply voltage V s of the battery 20 is switched during the whole control time slot to the electric supply cable 40.
  • the switching scheme comprise con trol time slots during which the supply voltage is switched on and off according to a predefined coding scheme.
  • the control time slots are used to send control information or in other words control signals to the plurality of electrical devices 10.
  • the predefined coding scheme encodes control in formation for the switching of the electrical devices 10.
  • the panel controller 33 senses the pressed buttons and stores the corresponding state, i.e. those electrical devices 10/lamps 10 that the user has selected to be switched ON as current switching configu ration.
  • the current switching configuration is communicated to the plurality of electrical devices 10 during a subsequent control time slot.
  • the panel controller 33 switches the supply voltage Vs OFF and starts the control time slot, which is very short compared to the power supply time slot.
  • the panel con troller 33 switches the supply voltage V s of the battery 20 by means of the power switch 32 on and off according to the predefined coding scheme.
  • Fig. 2 shows a boat 200 which may be in par ticular a sailing yacht.
  • the boat 200 comprises an elec trical system 100 as illustrated with reference to FIG.
  • the lamps 10 are arranged at a mast 201 of the boat 200.
  • the lamps 10 may represent e.g. a tricolor-, anchor-, strobe-, deck- and steaming-light of the sailing yacht.
  • only two cables are required for the electrical connection of the lamps 10, namely a supply cable 40 and a return cable 41. This pro vides significant advantages in terms of weight and cost. In particular, the weight on the mast 201 may be reduced.
  • the system 100 saves cable length, from N+l down to 2
  • N is the number of lamps controlled from the control panel. Furthermore, such a system does not need mechanical power switches anymore. Furthermore, such a system allows to display the state of the lamps 10 on a display 35 of the control panel.
  • FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a switching scheme according to embodiments of the invention in more detail. More particularly, FIGS. 3 and 4 show a timing diagram of the supply voltage Vsc of the supply cable 40.
  • the y- axis denotes the supply voltage V S c and the x-axis the time.
  • FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of a part of the tim ing diagram is indicated by the dotted line 301.
  • the voltage level of the supply voltage Vsc if the panel controller 33 is switched on is 12 V corre sponding to the usual voltage of a battery of a boat.
  • V s the supply voltage Vs of the battery 20 is continuously switched to the electric supply cable 40. Accordingly, the devices 10 are supplied with the supply voltage Vs via the supply cable 40.
  • V s we set V s to the commonly used 12V, but this may be 24V or even 48V, depending on the battery type.
  • a first power supply time slot 60 starts at a time to and ends at a time ti.
  • a second power supply time slot 60 starts at a time t2 and is only partly shown.
  • a control time slot 61 is arranged between the power supply time slots 60 . More particularly, the control time slot 61 starts at a time tl and ends at a time t ⁇ .
  • the power supply time slots 60 are according to embodi ments at least 50 times longer and according to further embodiments at least 100-times longer than the control time slots 61.
  • the control time slots 61 have a duration of less than 20 ms. This is in particular ad vantageous for embodiments according to which the elec trical devices 10 are lamps. Then the small interruption of the power supply to the lamp of less than 20 ms is not visible to a human eye.
  • the control time slots have a duration of less than 10 ms and according to further embodiments a duration of less than 5 ms .
  • power supply time slots 60 may have a duration of one second. Then the power supply is switched on and off for a code word CW of some bits dur ing the control time slot 61.
  • the switching scheme applied during the control time slots 61 may also be denoted as communica tion scheme as it communicates the control information to the plurality of devices 10. As the control information is communicated via switching the supply voltage on and off, it may also be called ON-OFF keying.
  • the switching scheme is a periodic switching scheme.
  • the control time slots 61 are repeated periodically.
  • the controls slots 61 and the power supply time slots 60 are repeated periodically in an alternating manner.
  • a corresponding periodic cycle has a cycle duration T cy cie between to and t2 and this cycle is repeated periodically.
  • T cy cie can be adapted to the needs of the respective application .
  • control time slot 61 may also be only used when the switching configuration of the plurality of devices 10 has changed, i.e. when the user has entered new input to the input unit 31.
  • the con trol time slots 61 may be used only on demand.
  • the supply voltage V s is switched on and off by the power switch 32 according to the current code word CW which encodes the current switching configuration that has been entered by the user into the input unit 31.
  • the codeword CW has a length N of 5 bits that corresponds to the number N of electrical devices of the respective system.
  • the codeword comprises for each of the N devices a corresponding bit.
  • each of the N bits 1 to 5 indicates whether the corresponding device 1 to 5 shall be switched on or off.
  • a "1" of the respective bit may indicate that the corresponding device shall be switched on and a "0" of the respective bit that it shall be switched off.
  • codeword CW is "11001". This codeword encodes as switching configuration that the first, the second and the fifth electrical device shall be switched on, while the third and the fourth electrical device shall be switched off.
  • control time slots 61 may start according to embodi ments with one or more start bits or a start period 61a. During such a start period 61a the power on the supply cable 40 may e.g. be switched off. This may be used to indicate to the electrical devices 10 as receivers of the control information that a control time slot with a code word will now be transmitted.
  • Such an asynchronous operation mode facilitates a cost-efficient implementation of the communication between the control panel 30 and the plurality of electrical devices 10 via the supply cable 40.
  • the codeword CW is transmitted as control information during a control in formation period 61b.
  • a suitable block code may be used to encode the N bits of information.
  • an error detecting code may be used. This can ensure the reliability of the communication by means of the control time slot in case the codeword CW is exposed to noise, such e.g. as electromagnetic noise from lightning.
  • the con trol time slot is repeated periodically, a plain text transmission may be sufficiently reliable, instead of a more complicated error detecting or even error correcting coding. The repetition of the control data, say every second or so, is a reliable way to remedy eventual noise or transmission errors.
  • the sensors 14 detect during the control time slot 61 the voltage level/voltage state of the supply cable 40 and the corresponding codewords CW that have been sent from the control panel 30. If the respective device detects that it shall change its status (on or off) according to the switching configuration encoded by the received code word CW, it will switch the device on or off accordingly. The on-switching will occur after the power is restored by the control panel 30 in the next power supply time slot 60.
  • control panel 30 may control N individual devices, e.g. lamps, with N bits of information transmitted during a control time slot 60, e.g. every second, with a speed of over 4800 baud. According to embodiments, speeds up to 100 kbaud may be reached.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates a switching scheme according to another embodiment of the invention in more detail. More particularly, FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram of the supply voltage Vsc of the supply cable 40.
  • the y- axis denotes the supply voltage Vsc and the x-axis the time t.
  • control time slot 61 starts at a time ti and ends at a time t3.
  • the control time slots 61 may start again with a start period 61a during which the power on the supply cable 40 is switched off to indicate to the device controllers 13 the start of the control time slot 61.
  • one or more start bits may be used during the start period 61a.
  • the supply voltage Vs is switched on and off by the power switch 32 according to the current code word CW.
  • the codeword CW has a length N of 4 bits that corresponds to 4 electrical devices of the re spective system.
  • the codeword CW is
  • This codeword encodes as switching configuration that the first and the third electrical device shall be switched on, while the second and the fourth electrical device shall be switched off. Then during a feedback re quest period 61c, the control panel 30 transmits a device identifier D-ID which identifies one of the plurality of electrical devices 10.
  • the device identifier D-ID is also encoded by the switching of the supply voltage Vs. Ac cording to this example during the feedback request pe riod 61c a device identifier code "10" is transmitted. This may correspond e.g. to the third device of the four devices and indicates to the third device that it shall send feedback information in a next feedback slot to the control panel 30.
  • the panel control ler 30 may ask the electrical devices 10 in a periodic manner one after the other for feedback.
  • the panel controller 33 may transmit in a periodic manner an increasing index from 1 to N during each control time slot. The increasing index corresponds to a device identifier and indicates to the corresponding electrical device a feedback request.
  • control panel 30 may transmit e.g. during 4 subsequent control time slots 61 in the respective feedback request periods 61c the codes 00, 01, 10 and 11 which correspond to device identifiers D-ID of the first, the second, the third and the fourth device respectively.
  • the control panel 30 may sense the total supply current Isc which the lamps 10 consume. Such a sensing or detection mechanism may be implemented e.g. by the shunt 38 as shown in FIG. 1.
  • the control panel 30 is configured to assume that the k-th lamp is ok. If the current difference between the on-state and the off-state is above a predefined limit/threshold, then a short circuit occurred, and the lamp is permanently switched off. The user may be notified via a message, such as e.g. rapid blinking of the k-th lamp indicator on the control panel.
  • the respective lamp 10 is considered to be burned, and the corresponding indicator at the control panel 30 stays e.g. after a short blinking period OFF.
  • the predefined switching scheme of the control panel 30 comprises feed back slots during which the electrical devices 10 may send feedback about their status to the control panel 30.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates such a switching scheme with feedback slots. More particularly, FIG. 6 shows a timing diagram of the supply voltage Vsc of the supply cable 40.
  • the y-axis denotes the supply voltage V sc and the x-axis the time t.
  • control time slots 61 and feedback slots 62 are used in an alternating manner, wherein between the con trol time slots 61 and the feedback slots 62 power supply time slots 60 are provided.
  • the control panel 30 switches the supply voltage off during the feedback slots 62 in order to receive feedback information FI from the elec trical devices 10.
  • the electrical devices 10 send the feedback information FI during the feedback slots 62 via the electric supply cable 40 to the control panel 30.
  • separate feedback slots 62 may be used in an alternating manner for each electrical device 10 of the system.
  • the illustrated feedback slot 62 starts at a time t « and ends at a time ts.
  • a device con troller 13 if a device con troller 13 detects its device identifier D-ID in a con trol time slot 61, it will reply after a predefined delay with its feedback information FI. As an example, accord ing to the embodiment of FIG. 6, it may respond during the feedback slot 62 that follows the control time slot 61 with the respective device identifier D-ID with its feedback information FI.
  • the feedback information is also encoded.
  • the voltage level of the encoded feedback signal may be in the same range as the voltage level of the control sig nal/codewords of the control time slots and may be provided e.g. by capacitors of the electrical devices 10.
  • the control panel 30 and more particularly the panel controller 33 receives the feedback information during the feedback slots 62, e.g. the lamp state, and displays it on the display 35 of the control panel 30.
  • FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of method steps of a method according to embodiments of the invention. The method may be e.g. performed by a system 100 as described with reference to FIG. 1.
  • the input unit 31 of the con trol panel 30 receives a user input concerning a new switching configuration of the plurality of devices 10.
  • the control panel 30 switches the supply voltage of the battery 20 during a power sup ply time slot 60 continuously to the supply cable 40.
  • the control panel 30 switches the supply voltage on and off during a control time slot 61 according to encoded control information.
  • the encoded control information comprises a codeword that encodes the current/latest switching configuration as received by the input unit 31.
  • the device controllers 13 of the plurality of devices 10 receive the encoded control information and switch, at a step 750, the plurality of electrical devices 10 on or off in accordance with the control information and hence the latest switching configuration .
  • FIG . 8 illustrates a switching scheme with feedback slots according to another embodiment of the in vention. More particularly, FI G . 8 shows a timing diagram of the supply current Isc that flows via the supply cable 40, the plurality of electrical devices and the return cable 41 to the shunt 38 of a measurement circuit (see FIG. 1) .
  • the y-axis denotes the supply current Isc and the x-axis the time t.
  • control time slots 61 and feedback slots 62 are used in an alternating manner, wherein between the con trol time slots 61 and the feedback slots 62 power supply time slots 60 are provided.
  • the electrical devices 10 may send the feedback information FI during the feedback slots 62 as current signals to the measurement circuit 38 which is embodied as shunt.
  • the measurement circuit 38 measures the total supply current ( Isc ) flowing via the plurality of devices 10 to the shunt 38.
  • Isc total supply current
  • separate feedback slots 62 may be used in an alternating manner for each electrical device 10 of the system.
  • the illustrated feedback slot 62 starts at a time 14 and ends at a time ts. More particularly, in this exam ple it is assumed that between to and ti only one lamp is switched on as electrical device. Then during the subsequent control slot another lamp is switched on and the total current increases e.g. from 1 A to 2A. Between t4 and 15 a feedback slot is provided.
  • the feedback slot shall provide the status of one of the two lamps to the measurement circuit 38.
  • the respective lamp is switched on to an on-state and off to an off-state. Accordingly, the total supply current Isc changes between 2A and 1A.
  • the measurement circuit 38 de termines or in other words senses the current difference between the off-state and the on-state and derives from this the status of the respective device/lamp. In this example it indicates to the control panel 30 that the corresponding lamp is on and OK.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a switching scheme with feedback slots according to another embodiment of the in vention. More particularly, FIG. 9 shows a timing diagram of the supply current Isc that flows via the supply cable 40, the plurality of electrical devices and the return cable 41 to the shunt 38 of a measurement circuit.
  • the y- axis denotes the supply current Isc and the x-axis the time t.
  • control time slots 61 and feedback slots 62 are used in an alternating manner, wherein between the con trol time slots 61 and the feedback slots 62 power supply time slots 60 are provided.
  • the feedback slots 62 are used to send feedback information FI as cur rent signals from one or more sensors 14 of the electri cal devices 10 to the measurement circuit 38 (see FIG.
  • the sensors may be e.g. temperature sensors or light intensity sensors, e.g. photodiodes.
  • the respective sensor 14 may comprise e.g. a small switchable shunt/shunt resistor or shunt circuit. Then during an assigned feedback slot the respective sen sor 14 may switch the shunt on and off, thereby bypassing the sensor 14 and increasing the total current Isc. In the illustrated example the additional current is in a range of app. 200 mA.
  • the respective switching scheme of the sensor 14 may be used to encode status information of the sensor 14 to the measurement circuit 38 and the control panel 30 in an elegant and simple way.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Ocean & Marine Engineering (AREA)
  • Circuit Arrangement For Electric Light Sources In General (AREA)

Abstract

The disclosure relates to an electrical system comprising a plurality of electrical devices (10), a battery (20), a control panel (30), an electric supply cable (40) and an electric return cable (41). The control panel (30) comprises an input unit (31) adapted to receive user input, a power switch (32) adapted to switch a supply voltage of the battery (20) to the electric supply cable (40) and a panel controller (33) adapted to control the power switch (32) of the control panel according to a predefined switching scheme. The electric supply cable (40) is adapted to supply an electrical current from the control panel (30) to the plurality of electrical devices (10). The electric return cable (41) is adapted to serve as return conductor for the electrical current. Each of the plurality of electrical devices (10) comprises an on/off switch (12) adapted to switch the respective electrical device on or off and a device controller (13) configured to control the on/off switch (12). The predefined switching scheme comprises power supply time slots (60) during which the supply voltage is continuously switched on to the electric supply cable (40) and control time slots (61) during which the supply voltage is switched on and off according to a predefined on-off-keying coding scheme, wherein the predefined coding scheme encodes control information for switching the electrical devices on or off (10). According to embodiments, the control panel may measure the current consumption in order to monitor the correct functioning of the devices, and also allow each device to switch its load on and off during a short feedback slot. This way, the otherwise passive devices, may send independent information to the panel.

Description

SYSTEM FOR SWITCHING A PLURALITY OF
ELECTRICAL DEVICES VIA A SINGLE BATTERY POWERED CABLE
Technical Field
The disclosure relates to an electrical system for switching a plurality of electrical devices, in particular of lamps of a boat.
Further aspects relate to a boat, in particu lar a sailing yacht comprising such an electrical system, a related method for switching the electrical devices of such a system, a control panel and an electrical device of such a system.
Background Art
Current systems for selectively switching one or more of a plurality of electrical devices, e.g. a plurality of lamps, on or off over a battery powered system comprise for each lamp one switch, and a separate cable from the switch to the lamp, both capable to carry the current .
For example, in a sailing yacht, the mast has at least 5 different lights (tricolor-, anchor-, strobe-, deck- and steaming-light) , wherein each one is switched on or off via separate switches from a central switching panel .
For the return current one may use a single common cable for all lamps. Hence such a known infrastructure needs N+l cables and N separate switches to switch N lamps/consumers. Thus N+l cables run from the central switching panel up the mast. The ground return cable is often thicker than the supply cables.
In view of the plurality of cables, such systems are rather expensive. Moreover, in particular for racing yachts, such systems add significant undesired weight to the mast.
Disclosure of the Invention
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide alternative solutions.
According to an embodiment of a first as pect of the invention an electrical system is provided comprising a plurality of electrical devices, a battery, a control panel, an electric supply cable and an electric return cable. The control panel comprises an input unit adapted to receive user input, an electronic power switch adapted to switch the supply voltage of the battery to the electric supply cable and a panel controller adapted to control the electronic power switch of the control panel according to a predefined switching scheme in ac cordance with the user input. The electric supply cable is adapted to supply an electrical current from the con trol panel to the plurality of electrical devices. The electric return cable is adapted to serve as return con ductor for the electrical current. Each of the plurality of electrical devices comprises an on/off switch adapted to switch the respective electrical device on or off and a device controller configured to control the on/off switch. The predefined switching scheme comprises power supply time slots during which the supply voltage is con tinuously switched on to the electric supply cable and control time slots during which the supply voltage is switched on and off according to a predefined coding scheme, in particular an on-off-keying coding scheme. The predefined coding scheme encodes control information for the switching of the electrical devices. According to such an embodiment the elec tric supply cable may be embodied as a single supply ca ble that serves two purposes. First, it is used to send encoded control information during the control time slots to the plurality of electrical devices, and at the same time it provides the supply voltage to the plurality of electrical devices.
During the control time slots the supply voltage is switched on and off according to the predefined coding scheme. This may be denoted as (carrierless) on-off keying. This allows to send the control infor¬ mation, e.g. in the form of codewords, to the plurality of electrical devices in an efficient and flexible manner. Compared with known systems this provides the advantage that only one single supply cable instead of N supply cables is needed for a plurality of N electrical devices. This is a very cost-efficient and material-effi cient solution.
Furthermore, such a solution may save mechan ical power switches.
The plurality of electrical devices may be in particular a plurality of lamps of a boat, in particular of a sailing yacht. For such an application, the electri cal system according to embodiments of the invention is in particular advantageous, as in addition to the cost- reduction, it provides a significant reduction of the in stalled weight on the mast.
The duration of the control time slots is short enough so that the off state of the lamps will not be visible to the human eye.
According to an embodiment, the switching scheme is a periodic switching scheme according to which the control time slots are repeated periodically. This increases the reliability of the switching, in particular in case of disturbances and power interruptions.
According to an embodiment, the power supply time slots are at least 50-times longer than the control time slots. According to preferred embodiments, the power supply time slots are at least 100-times longer than the control time slots.
According to an embodiment, the duration of the control time slots is less than 20 ms, in particular less than 10 ms. According to further preferred embodi ments the duration of the control time slots may be shorter than 5 ms . As a comparison, the human eye may detect the off state of the lamp if it exceeds 50ms.
This is in particular advantageous for embodiments according to which the electrical device is a lamp. Then the small interruption of the power supply to the lamp of less than 20 ms is not visible to or in other words noticeable to a human eye.
According to an embodiment, the coding scheme comprises a plurality of codewords. The plurality of codewords include control information for a plurality of switching configurations of the plurality of devices. The control panel is configured to send during the control time slots as control information a code word which encodes a current switching configuration of the plural ity of electrical devices. The device controllers of the plurality of devices are configured to receive the code word and switch the corresponding device on or off ac cording to the current switching configuration of the re ceived codeword. Each codeword sent by the control panel is received by all devices connected to the same power cable simultaneously. Such use of codewords as control information is an efficient, flexible and reliable way to provide the control information to the plurality of devices. In par ticular, it is advantageous to encode the codewords as a blockcode. Furthermore, the blockcodes may encompass in addition error detection or even error correcting capa bility. This avoids erroneous detections of the code word and false switching of the electrical devices.
Embodiments of the invention allow to monitor and alert the user when a lamp has burned. Further embod iments of the invention allow to send further feedback information, e.g. from additional sensors of the devices, to the control panel.
According to an embodiment, such a monitoring may be implemented by feedback slots of the prede fined switching scheme. The control panel is configured to switch the supply voltage off during the feedback slots and to receive feedback information from one or more of the plurality of electrical devices, in particular from any electrical device that is configured to send feedback. Such a device may be denoted as feedback ena bled device. The electrical devices that are configured to send the feedback information during the feedback slots via the electric supply cable to the control panel may comprise one or more sensors, e.g. photocells to sense the ambient light intensity, thermometers or other sensor devices. The feedback information may comprise status information of the operation status of the elec trical devices and/or any other sensor information that may be provided by sensors of the electrical devices such as temperature or light intensity, wind, etc. The establishment of such a feedback channel improves the reliability and user awareness of the system. In particular, the control panel may display the status information and feedback information on a display of the control panel.
In case of lamps as electrical devices, the status information may comprise e.g. the states "OFF- burned" (the lamp is burned) , "Off-normal" (the lamp is switched off) , "ON" (the lamp is on) , "overcurrent" (the lamp is operated with an overcurrent and/or "fault"
(there is a fault in the operation of the lamp) .
According to another embodiment, the predefined switching scheme comprises feedback slots and the control panel is configured to switch the supply voltage on during the feedback slots and to receive feedback information from one or more of the plurality of electrical devices. Furthermore, one or more of the plurality of electrical devices are configured to send the feedback information during the feedback slots to the control panel by varying the ohmic load of the respective elec trical device, in particular by switching the respective electrical device on and off. The feedback information send to the control panel via current sensing comprises status information of the operation status of the electrical devices. Current sensing is simpler and more reli able feedback information than the on-off switching of the voltage performed by the device.
According to an embodiment, the system is configured to allocate a separate feedback slot to one or more of the plurality of electrical devices of the sys tem, in particular to the feedback enabled devices, in particular to each device. According to such an embodiment, the control panel provides during the feedback slots supply power to all electrical devices of the system. The re spective feedback enabled electrical device of the system that shall provide feedback during a properly addressed short feedback slot varies the current load by switching the electrical device, e.g. the lamp, on and off, e.g. according to a codeword similar to a codeword that is sent by the control panel. The control panel is config ured to detect the current fluctuation of the power sup ply, and hence may decode the information bits sent as 'current modulation' by the respective electrical device. Such a system enables a simple, reliable and efficient way to convey feedback information to the panel.
The feedback slot is chosen short enough so that neither the off state of all devices, nor the feed back fluctuation of lamp k is visible to the human eye. According to embodiments the current fluctuation produced by a single device may not be so easily detected by the current sensing mechanism of the control panel, in particular if many devices are on. In such a case all de vices may be switched off during the short feedback slot, so as to allow a larger dynamic range of 'current' signal to the feedback enabled device.
According to such embodiments the electrical devices may transmit information to the control panel who senses the information carrying current variation.
While according to embodiments the feedback slots may be used to provide the status information (e.g. burned or intact) of lamps as mentioned above, another embodiment of the invention provides a way to monitor the status information without feedback slots. According to such an embodiment, the eventual failure of a lamp may be more directly detected via current sensing of the total consumed current at the control panel without the need of feedback information from the device.
According to an embodiment the system com prises a measurement circuit adapted to measure a total supply current flowing towards the plurality of devices. Furthermore, the system is configured to use the measured supply current for determining a status of the plurality of devices.
According to an embodiment, the state of a lamp via current sensing may be determined by measuring at initialization and setup the current of each lamp, and compare the total current to correspond roughly to the sum of the initially measured lamp currents.
According to another embodiment, the system comprises also a measurement circuit adapted to measure the total supply current that is flowing towards the plu rality of electrical devices. The system is furthermore configured to switch periodically each of the plurality of devices individually on and off. According to such an embodiment the system is furthermore configured to deter mine the current difference between the off-state and the on-state of the respective device, e.g. of the respective lamp, and to derive the status of the device, e.g. of the lamp, from the measured current difference between the off-state and the on-state. With this periodic testing, the failure of a lamp maybe detected during daytime before the lamp is needed.
More particularly, by measuring the current consumed by each device, the control panel may determine whether device k, k=l,2,..N, is functioning correctly, or has failed (burned, or short circuited) . This may be per formed by switching on and off the device periodically in a way not detectable to the human eye. The current dif ference between the off-state and the on-state determines the status of the lamp. If the current difference for a device k is above a minimum threshold current and below a maximum current, then the device (lamp) is assumed to be ok. However, if the current difference is below that min imum threshold, or above the maximum current, then that device (lamp) is considered failed.
The measurement circuit may comprise e.g. a shunt resistor at the control panel which measures the total current consumed by the devices that are switched on. Switching for a short period of time each individual device off and then on again, may show the status (i.e. delta of current consumed) of the lamp (normal, burned, short circuit) to the control panel.
According to an embodiment, the panel con troller is configured to transmit during each control time slot a device identifier identifying each of the feedback enabled electrical devices. The device controllers are configured to detect their device identifiers in the control time slot and to reply, upon detection, after a predefined delay with their feedback information.
Such a system allows to provide a plurality of different operational status details of the user de vices back to the control panel in an efficient way.
According to an embodiment, the system com prises a plurality of N electrical devices. Furthermore, the panel controller is configured to transmit a codeword of N bits and to transmit in a periodic manner an in creasing index from 1 to N during each control time slot. The respective increasing index indicates to the corre sponding electrical device a feedback request.
According to another aspect of the invention a boat, in particular a sailing yacht, is provided. The boat comprises an electrical system according to the first aspect. The electrical devices are lamps arranged e.g. at the mast of the boat.
According to another aspect of the invention a method for selectively switching one or more electrical devices of an electrical system according to the first aspect is provided. The method comprises steps of receiv¬ ing, by the input unit, user input concerning a switching configuration of the plurality of electrical devices and controlling the power switch of the control panel accord ing to a predefined switching scheme. The method com prises further steps of switching, by the power switch, during power supply time slots the supply voltage contin uously to the electric supply cable and switching, by the power switch, during control time slots, the supply volt¬ age on and off according to a predefined coding scheme. The predefined coding scheme encodes control information for device controllers of the electrical devices. The method comprises further steps of receiving, by the device controllers of the plurality of devices, the control information and switching, by on-off switches of the plu rality of electrical devices, the electrical device on or off in accordance with the control information.
Advantages of features of one aspect of the invention may apply to corresponding features of another aspect of the invention.
Other advantageous embodiments are listed in the dependent claims as well as in the description below.
Embodiments of the invention will be de scribed in more detail below, by way of illustrative and non-limiting examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings . Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 shows an electrical system according to an embodiment of the invention;
Fig. 2 shows a boat comprising an electrical system as illustrated in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 illustrate a timing diagram of a switching scheme according to embodiments of the inven tion comprising power supply time slots and control time slots ;
FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of a part of the timing diagram of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 illustrates a switching scheme according to another embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 6 illustrates a switching scheme comprising feedback slots;
FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of method steps of a method according to embodiments of the invention;
FIG. 8 illustrates another switching scheme with feedback slots according to an embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 9 illustrates another switching scheme with feedback slots according to an embodiment of the invention .
Modes for Carrying Out the Invention
The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become ap parent from the following detailed description thereof.
FIG. 1 shows an electrical system 100 accord ing to an embodiment of the invention. The electrical system 100 comprises a plurality of N electrical devices 10-1, 10-2, 10-k ..., 10-N, which are commonly referred to as electrical devices 10. The electrical devices 10 may be in particular lamps or in other words lights. The electrical devices 10 may be e.g. lamps of a boat, in particular of a sailing yacht. The electrical system 100 comprises a battery 20 for providing electric power to the electrical system 100 and in particular the plurality of electrical devices 10. The battery 20 may be in par ticular an accumulator that can be recharged. The elec trical system 100 comprises furthermore a control panel 30. The control panel 30 is on the one hand electrically connected to a supply voltage Vs of the battery 20 and on the other hand to a single electric supply cable 40. The electric supply cable 40 electrically connects the con trol panel 30 with the plurality of electrical devices 10 and accordingly can supply an electrical supply current
Isc from the control panel 30 to the plurality of electri cal devices 10. The electrical devices 10 are furthermore connected to an electric return cable 41 which serves as return path or return conductor for the current provided from the battery 20 via the control panel 30 to the elec trical devices 10. According to this embodiment the electric return cable 41 is connected to a negative voltage input denoted with
Figure imgf000014_0001
of the control panel 30 in order to provide an elegant and simple detection mechanism for burned devices (lamps) . The detection mechanism may com prises a shunt 38 as measurement circuit which couples the electric return cable 41 and the control panel 30 to ground/earth . The detection mechanism for burned lamps will be described in more detail below. According to other embodiments, the electric return cable 41 may be connected to ground/earth.
Each of the plurality of electrical devices 10 comprises a load 11, which may be e.g. embodied as light bulb of a lamp, and an on/off switch 12 which can switch the load 11 on or off, i.e. connect the load 11 with the electric supply cable 40 or disconnect the load
II from the supply cable 40. The on/off switch 12 is con trolled by a device controller 13. The device controller 13 is coupled to or may comprise one or more sensors 14. The sensor 14 may be adapted to sense a voltage state of the electric supply cable 40. According to other embodi ments the one or more sensor 14 may be e.g. temperature sensors or light intensity sensors, e.g. photodiodes.
The control panel 30 comprises an input unit 31 adapted to receive user input. This may be in particular user input for switching on or off one or more of the plurality of electrical devices 10. The input unit 31 comprises a plurality of N input button-switches 34-1, 34-2, ..., 34-N, which are commonly referred to as input switches 34. The input switches 34 may be in particular embodied as low current buttons or capacitive touch but tons. This avoids high current mechanical input switches as in prior art solutions. Each of the input switches 34 is allocated to switch a corresponding electrical device 10. The control panel 30 furthermore comprises a power switch 32 which is arranged between the supply voltage Vs of the battery 20 and the electric supply cable 40. In a closed state the power switch 32 switches the supply voltage of the battery 20 to the electric supply cable 40 and in an open-state the power switch 32 disconnects the supply voltage Vs from the electric supply cable 40. The power switch 32 may be in particular embodied as Field Effect Transistor (FET) .
The control panel 30 comprises furthermore a panel controller 33. The panel controller 33 controls the power switch 32. More particularly, the panel controller 33 controls the power switch 32 according to a predefined switching scheme. The panel controller 33 may be in particular embodied as microcontroller. The control panel 30 may further comprise a display 35 for displaying e.g. the current switching configuration of the plurality of electrical devices 10. The predefined switching scheme comprises power supply time slots during which the supply voltage is continuously or in other words permanently switched to the electric supply cable. Accordingly, the power switch is closed during the whole control time slots and accordingly the supply voltage Vs of the battery 20 is switched during the whole control time slot to the electric supply cable 40. Furthermore, the switching scheme comprise con trol time slots during which the supply voltage is switched on and off according to a predefined coding scheme. Hence the control time slots are used to send control information or in other words control signals to the plurality of electrical devices 10. More particu larly, the predefined coding scheme encodes control in formation for the switching of the electrical devices 10.
If a user wants to switch on or off one or more of the plurality of electrical devices 10, she pushes one or more of the corresponding input
switches/buttons 34. The panel controller 33 senses the pressed buttons and stores the corresponding state, i.e. those electrical devices 10/lamps 10 that the user has selected to be switched ON as current switching configu ration. The current switching configuration is communicated to the plurality of electrical devices 10 during a subsequent control time slot.
Accordingly, the panel controller 33 switches the supply voltage Vs OFF and starts the control time slot, which is very short compared to the power supply time slot. During the control time slot, the panel con troller 33 switches the supply voltage Vs of the battery 20 by means of the power switch 32 on and off according to the predefined coding scheme.
Fig. 2 shows a boat 200 which may be in par ticular a sailing yacht. The boat 200 comprises an elec trical system 100 as illustrated with reference to FIG.
1, in particular a battery 20, a control panel 30 and a plurality of lamps 10. The lamps 10 are arranged at a mast 201 of the boat 200. The lamps 10 may represent e.g. a tricolor-, anchor-, strobe-, deck- and steaming-light of the sailing yacht. As can be seen, only two cables are required for the electrical connection of the lamps 10, namely a supply cable 40 and a return cable 41. This pro vides significant advantages in terms of weight and cost. In particular, the weight on the mast 201 may be reduced.
Compared with known systems of yachts, the system 100 saves cable length, from N+l down to 2
lengths, wherein N is the number of lamps controlled from the control panel. Furthermore, such a system does not need mechanical power switches anymore. Furthermore, such a system allows to display the state of the lamps 10 on a display 35 of the control panel.
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a switching scheme according to embodiments of the invention in more detail. More particularly, FIGS. 3 and 4 show a timing diagram of the supply voltage Vsc of the supply cable 40. The y- axis denotes the supply voltage VSc and the x-axis the time. FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of a part of the tim ing diagram is indicated by the dotted line 301.
The voltage level of the supply voltage Vsc if the panel controller 33 is switched on is 12 V corre sponding to the usual voltage of a battery of a boat.
During power supply time slots 60 the supply voltage Vs of the battery 20 is continuously switched to the electric supply cable 40. Accordingly, the devices 10 are supplied with the supply voltage Vs via the supply cable 40. As an illustration, we set Vs to the commonly used 12V, but this may be 24V or even 48V, depending on the battery type. A first power supply time slot 60 starts at a time to and ends at a time ti. A second power supply time slot 60 starts at a time t2 and is only partly shown. Between the power supply time slots 60 a control time slot 61 is arranged. More particularly, the control time slot 61 starts at a time tl and ends at a time tå. The power supply time slots 60 are according to embodi ments at least 50 times longer and according to further embodiments at least 100-times longer than the control time slots 61. Preferably the control time slots 61 have a duration of less than 20 ms. This is in particular ad vantageous for embodiments according to which the elec trical devices 10 are lamps. Then the small interruption of the power supply to the lamp of less than 20 ms is not visible to a human eye. According to further embodiments, the control time slots have a duration of less than 10 ms and according to further embodiments a duration of less than 5 ms .
As an example, power supply time slots 60 may have a duration of one second. Then the power supply is switched on and off for a code word CW of some bits dur ing the control time slot 61. The bits of the codeword CW may have a duration Tbit, e.g. of Tbit=100ps. After that the switching scheme continues again with a power supply time slot 60. The switching scheme applied during the control time slots 61 may also be denoted as communica tion scheme as it communicates the control information to the plurality of devices 10. As the control information is communicated via switching the supply voltage on and off, it may also be called ON-OFF keying.
According to preferred embodiments, the switching scheme is a periodic switching scheme. Hence the control time slots 61 are repeated periodically. Ac cordingly, the controls slots 61 and the power supply time slots 60 are repeated periodically in an alternating manner. According to such an embodiment, a corresponding periodic cycle has a cycle duration Tcycie between to and t2 and this cycle is repeated periodically. Such a peri odic switching scheme increases the reliability of the communication of the switching configurations to the electrical devices 10 and keeps the electrical devices regularly, e.g. every second, up to date. The cycle duration Tcycie can be adapted to the needs of the respective application .
However, according to embodiments, the control time slot 61 may also be only used when the switching configuration of the plurality of devices 10 has changed, i.e. when the user has entered new input to the input unit 31. According to such an embodiment the con trol time slots 61 may be used only on demand.
During the control time slots 61 the supply voltage Vs is switched on and off by the power switch 32 according to the current code word CW which encodes the current switching configuration that has been entered by the user into the input unit 31.
According to the example illustrated in FIGS.
3 and 4, the codeword CW has a length N of 5 bits that corresponds to the number N of electrical devices of the respective system. In other words, the codeword comprises for each of the N devices a corresponding bit. Hence ac cording to this example there are 5 electrical devices and each of the N bits 1 to 5 indicates whether the corresponding device 1 to 5 shall be switched on or off. As an example, a "1" of the respective bit may indicate that the corresponding device shall be switched on and a "0" of the respective bit that it shall be switched off.
In this example the codeword CW is "11001". This codeword encodes as switching configuration that the first, the second and the fifth electrical device shall be switched on, while the third and the fourth electrical device shall be switched off.
To facilitate an asynchronous operation mode, the control time slots 61 may start according to embodi ments with one or more start bits or a start period 61a. During such a start period 61a the power on the supply cable 40 may e.g. be switched off. This may be used to indicate to the electrical devices 10 as receivers of the control information that a control time slot with a code word will now be transmitted. Such an asynchronous operation mode facilitates a cost-efficient implementation of the communication between the control panel 30 and the plurality of electrical devices 10 via the supply cable 40.
After the start period 61a the codeword CW is transmitted as control information during a control in formation period 61b.
In order to enhance the reliability of the codewords CW, a suitable block code may be used to encode the N bits of information. Preferably an error detecting code may be used. This can ensure the reliability of the communication by means of the control time slot in case the codeword CW is exposed to noise, such e.g. as electromagnetic noise from lightning. As preferably the con trol time slot is repeated periodically, a plain text transmission may be sufficiently reliable, instead of a more complicated error detecting or even error correcting coding. The repetition of the control data, say every second or so, is a reliable way to remedy eventual noise or transmission errors.
At the side of the electrical devices 10, the sensors 14 detect during the control time slot 61 the voltage level/voltage state of the supply cable 40 and the corresponding codewords CW that have been sent from the control panel 30. If the respective device detects that it shall change its status (on or off) according to the switching configuration encoded by the received code word CW, it will switch the device on or off accordingly. The on-switching will occur after the power is restored by the control panel 30 in the next power supply time slot 60.
Hence according to embodiments, the control panel 30 may control N individual devices, e.g. lamps, with N bits of information transmitted during a control time slot 60, e.g. every second, with a speed of over 4800 baud. According to embodiments, speeds up to 100 kbaud may be reached.
FIG. 5 illustrates a switching scheme according to another embodiment of the invention in more detail. More particularly, FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram of the supply voltage Vsc of the supply cable 40. The y- axis denotes the supply voltage Vsc and the x-axis the time t.
During power supply time slots 60 the supply voltage Vs of the battery 20 is continuously switched to the electric supply cable 40 as described above. Between the power supply time slots 60 a control time slot 61 is arranged. More particularly, the control time slot 61 starts at a time ti and ends at a time t3.
The control time slots 61 may start again with a start period 61a during which the power on the supply cable 40 is switched off to indicate to the device controllers 13 the start of the control time slot 61. According to other embodiments, one or more start bits may be used during the start period 61a. Then during a control information period 61b the supply voltage Vs is switched on and off by the power switch 32 according to the current code word CW. According to the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the codeword CW has a length N of 4 bits that corresponds to 4 electrical devices of the re spective system. In this example the codeword CW is
"1010". This codeword encodes as switching configuration that the first and the third electrical device shall be switched on, while the second and the fourth electrical device shall be switched off. Then during a feedback re quest period 61c, the control panel 30 transmits a device identifier D-ID which identifies one of the plurality of electrical devices 10. The device identifier D-ID is also encoded by the switching of the supply voltage Vs. Ac cording to this example during the feedback request pe riod 61c a device identifier code "10" is transmitted. This may correspond e.g. to the third device of the four devices and indicates to the third device that it shall send feedback information in a next feedback slot to the control panel 30.
According to embodiments, the panel control ler 30 may ask the electrical devices 10 in a periodic manner one after the other for feedback. According to an embodiment, the panel controller 33 may transmit in a periodic manner an increasing index from 1 to N during each control time slot. The increasing index corresponds to a device identifier and indicates to the corresponding electrical device a feedback request.
In the above example, the control panel 30 may transmit e.g. during 4 subsequent control time slots 61 in the respective feedback request periods 61c the codes 00, 01, 10 and 11 which correspond to device identifiers D-ID of the first, the second, the third and the fourth device respectively.
In order to detect whether a lamp 10 has burned, the control panel 30 may sense the total supply current Isc which the lamps 10 consume. Such a sensing or detection mechanism may be implemented e.g. by the shunt 38 as shown in FIG. 1. When the k-th lamp 10 is switched on, and the current difference due to the k-th lamp been on, is within certain/predefined limits, the control panel 30 is configured to assume that the k-th lamp is ok. If the current difference between the on-state and the off-state is above a predefined limit/threshold, then a short circuit occurred, and the lamp is permanently switched off. The user may be notified via a message, such as e.g. rapid blinking of the k-th lamp indicator on the control panel. If the current difference between the on-state and the off-state of the k-th lamp is below a predefined threshold, then the respective lamp 10 is considered to be burned, and the corresponding indicator at the control panel 30 stays e.g. after a short blinking period OFF.
According to embodiments, the predefined switching scheme of the control panel 30 comprises feed back slots during which the electrical devices 10 may send feedback about their status to the control panel 30.
FIG. 6 illustrates such a switching scheme with feedback slots. More particularly, FIG. 6 shows a timing diagram of the supply voltage Vsc of the supply cable 40. The y-axis denotes the supply voltage Vsc and the x-axis the time t.
According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, control time slots 61 and feedback slots 62 are used in an alternating manner, wherein between the con trol time slots 61 and the feedback slots 62 power supply time slots 60 are provided. The control panel 30 switches the supply voltage off during the feedback slots 62 in order to receive feedback information FI from the elec trical devices 10. The electrical devices 10 send the feedback information FI during the feedback slots 62 via the electric supply cable 40 to the control panel 30. According to preferred embodiments, separate feedback slots 62 may be used in an alternating manner for each electrical device 10 of the system. The illustrated feedback slot 62 starts at a time t« and ends at a time ts.
According to one embodiment, if a device con troller 13 detects its device identifier D-ID in a con trol time slot 61, it will reply after a predefined delay with its feedback information FI. As an example, accord ing to the embodiment of FIG. 6, it may respond during the feedback slot 62 that follows the control time slot 61 with the respective device identifier D-ID with its feedback information FI.
The feedback information is also encoded. The voltage level of the encoded feedback signal may be in the same range as the voltage level of the control sig nal/codewords of the control time slots and may be provided e.g. by capacitors of the electrical devices 10.
The control panel 30 and more particularly the panel controller 33 receives the feedback information during the feedback slots 62, e.g. the lamp state, and displays it on the display 35 of the control panel 30.
FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of method steps of a method according to embodiments of the invention. The method may be e.g. performed by a system 100 as described with reference to FIG. 1.
At a step 710, the input unit 31 of the con trol panel 30 receives a user input concerning a new switching configuration of the plurality of devices 10.
At a step 720, the control panel 30 switches the supply voltage of the battery 20 during a power sup ply time slot 60 continuously to the supply cable 40.
At a step 730, the control panel 30 switches the supply voltage on and off during a control time slot 61 according to encoded control information. The encoded control information comprises a codeword that encodes the current/latest switching configuration as received by the input unit 31.
At a step 740, the device controllers 13 of the plurality of devices 10 receive the encoded control information and switch, at a step 750, the plurality of electrical devices 10 on or off in accordance with the control information and hence the latest switching configuration .
The steps 720 to 750 are repeated as a loop in a periodic manner. FIG . 8 illustrates a switching scheme with feedback slots according to another embodiment of the in vention. More particularly, FI G . 8 shows a timing diagram of the supply current Isc that flows via the supply cable 40, the plurality of electrical devices and the return cable 41 to the shunt 38 of a measurement circuit (see FIG. 1) . The y-axis denotes the supply current Isc and the x-axis the time t.
According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, control time slots 61 and feedback slots 62 are used in an alternating manner, wherein between the con trol time slots 61 and the feedback slots 62 power supply time slots 60 are provided.
The electrical devices 10 may send the feedback information FI during the feedback slots 62 as current signals to the measurement circuit 38 which is embodied as shunt. The measurement circuit 38 measures the total supply current ( Isc ) flowing via the plurality of devices 10 to the shunt 38. According to preferred em bodiments, separate feedback slots 62 may be used in an alternating manner for each electrical device 10 of the system. The illustrated feedback slot 62 starts at a time 14 and ends at a time ts. More particularly, in this exam ple it is assumed that between to and ti only one lamp is switched on as electrical device. Then during the subsequent control slot another lamp is switched on and the total current increases e.g. from 1 A to 2A. Between t4 and 15 a feedback slot is provided. The feedback slot shall provide the status of one of the two lamps to the measurement circuit 38. During the feedback slot 62 the respective lamp is switched on to an on-state and off to an off-state. Accordingly, the total supply current Isc changes between 2A and 1A. The measurement circuit 38 de termines or in other words senses the current difference between the off-state and the on-state and derives from this the status of the respective device/lamp. In this example it indicates to the control panel 30 that the corresponding lamp is on and OK.
FIG. 9 illustrates a switching scheme with feedback slots according to another embodiment of the in vention. More particularly, FIG. 9 shows a timing diagram of the supply current Isc that flows via the supply cable 40, the plurality of electrical devices and the return cable 41 to the shunt 38 of a measurement circuit. The y- axis denotes the supply current Isc and the x-axis the time t.
According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, control time slots 61 and feedback slots 62 are used in an alternating manner, wherein between the con trol time slots 61 and the feedback slots 62 power supply time slots 60 are provided.
According to this embodiment, the feedback slots 62 are used to send feedback information FI as cur rent signals from one or more sensors 14 of the electri cal devices 10 to the measurement circuit 38 (see FIG.
1) . The sensors may be e.g. temperature sensors or light intensity sensors, e.g. photodiodes. In order to provide feedback, the respective sensor 14 may comprise e.g. a small switchable shunt/shunt resistor or shunt circuit. Then during an assigned feedback slot the respective sen sor 14 may switch the shunt on and off, thereby bypassing the sensor 14 and increasing the total current Isc. In the illustrated example the additional current is in a range of app. 200 mA. The respective switching scheme of the sensor 14 may be used to encode status information of the sensor 14 to the measurement circuit 38 and the control panel 30 in an elegant and simple way. While the present invention has been de- scribed with reference to a limited number of embodiments, variants and the accompanying drawings, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the present inven- tion. In particular, a feature (device-like or methodlike) recited in a given embodiment, variant or shown in a drawing may be combined with or replace another feature in another embodiment, variant or drawing, without de parting from the scope of the present invention. Various combinations of the features described in respect of any of the above embodiments or variants may accordingly be contemplated, that remain within the scope of the ap pended claims. In addition, many minor modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the pre sent invention is not limited to the particular embodi ments disclosed, but that the present invention will in clude all embodiments falling within the scope of the ap- pended claims. In addition, many other variants than ex plicitly touched above can be contemplated.

Claims

Claims
1. An electrical system, comprising:
a plurality of electrical devices (10); a battery (20) ;
a control panel (30) ;
an electric supply cable (40); and
an electric return cable (41); wherein the control panel ( 30 ) comprises
an input unit (31) adapted to receive user input;
a power switch (32) adapted to switch a supply voltage of the battery (20) to the electric sup ply cable (40); and
a panel controller (33) adapted to control the power switch (32) of the control panel ac cording to a predefined switching scheme;
the electric supply cable (40) is adapted to supply an electrical current from the control panel (30) to the plurality of electrical devices (10);
the electric return cable (41) is adapted to serve as return conductor for the electrical current;
each of the plurality of electrical devices
(10) comprises
an on/off switch (12) adapted to switch the respective electrical device on or off; and
a device controller (13) configured to control the on/off switch (12) ;
wherein the predefined switching scheme comprises
power supply time slots (60) during which the supply voltage is continuously switched on to the electric supply cable (40); and control time slots (61) during which the supply voltage is switched on and off according to a pre defined coding scheme, wherein the predefined coding scheme encodes control information for switching of the electrical devices (10) .
2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the switching scheme is a periodic switching scheme according to which the control time slots (61) are repeated periodically.
3. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the duration of the control time slots (61) is less than 20 ms, in particular less than
10 ms .
4. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein
the coding scheme comprises a plurality of codewords, wherein
the plurality of codewords include control information for a plurality of switching configurations of the plurality of devices (10);
the control panel (30) is configured to send during the control time slots control information in form of a code word which encodes a current switching configuration of the plurality of electrical devices (10) ;
the device controllers (13) of the plural ity of devices (10) are configured to receive the codeword and to switch the corresponding device on or off ac cording to the current switching configuration of the re ceived codeword.
5. A system according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of codewords are encoded as a blockcode .
6. A system according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the plurality of codewords comprise plain text, an error detecting code or an error correcting code.
7. A system according to any of the pre ceding claims, the system comprising
a measurement circuit adapted to measure a total supply current (Isc) flowing towards the plurality of devices (10); wherein the system is configured to use the measured total supply current for determining a sta tus of the plurality of devices.
8. A system according to any of the preceding claims, the system comprising
a measurement circuit adapted to measure a total supply current (Isc) flowing towards the plurality of devices (10); wherein the system is configured to
switch periodically each of the plurality of devices individually on to an on-state and off to an off-state;
determine the current difference between the off-state and the on-state; and
derive the status of the respective device from the current difference between the off-state and the on-state .
9. A system according to any of the preced ing claims, wherein
the predefined switching scheme comprises feedback slots (62);
the control panel (30) is configured to switch the supply voltage off during the feedback slots (62) and to receive feedback information from one or more of the plurality of electrical devices (10); and one or more of the plurality of electrical devices (10) are configured to send the feedback infor mation during the feedback slots to the control panel (30), the feedback information comprising status infor mation of the operation status of the electrical devices (10) and/or sensor information of the electrical devices.
10. A system according to any of the pre ceding claims 1 to 8, wherein
the predefined switching scheme comprises feedback slots (62);
the control panel (30) is configured to switch the supply voltage on during the feedback slots (62) and to receive feedback information from one or more of the plurality of electrical devices (10); and
one or more of the plurality of electrical devices (10) are configured to send the feedback infor mation during the feedback slots to the control panel (30) by varying the ohmic load of the respective electrical device, in particular by switching the respective electrical device on and off, the feedback information comprising status information of the operation status of the electrical devices (10).
11. A system according to claims 9 or 10, wherein the system is configured to allocate a separate feedback slot (62) to one or more of the plurality of electrical devices (10) of the system.
12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the system is configured to
vary the ohmic load of a respective electri cal device during a separate feedback slot assigned to the respective electrical device; and switch other electrical devices off during the feedback slot.
13. A system according to any of the preceding claims 9 to 12, wherein
the panel controller (33) is configured to transmit during each control time slot (61) a device identifier identifying one of the plurality of electrical devices ( 10 ) ;
the device controllers (13) are configured to detect their device identifiers in the control time slot (61) ; and
to reply, upon detection, after a predefined delay with their feedback information.
14. A system according to any of the preceding claims 9 to 13, wherein
the system comprises a plurality of N elec trical devices (10) ; and
the panel controller (33) is configured to transmit a codeword of N bits; and transmit in a periodic manner an increasing index from 1 to N during each control time slot (61), wherein the respective increasing index indicates to the corresponding electrical device (10) a feedback request .
15. A system according to any of the pre ceding claims, wherein
one or more of the electrical devices com prise a sensor and/or one or more of the plurality of electrical devices are embodied as a sensor;
the predefined switching scheme comprises feedback slots (62) ; and
the sensor is configured to send feedback information during the feedback slots to the control panel (30) by switching a shunt of the sensor on and off during an assigned feedback slot of the sensor.
16. A system according to any of the preced ing claims, wherein the plurality of electrical devices (10) are a plurality of lamps of a boat (200), in partic ular of a sailing yacht.
17. A boat, in particular a sailing yacht, wherein the boat (200) comprises an electrical system (100) according to any of the preceding claims and wherein the electrical devices (10) are lamps arranged at the mast (201) of the boat.
18. A method for selectively switching one or more electrical devices (10) of an electrical system (100) , the system comprising:
a battery (20) ;
a control panel (30) ;
an electric supply cable (40); and
an electric return cable (41);
the control panel (30) comprising
an input unit (31);
a power switch (32); and
a panel controller (33) ;
the method comprising
receiving, by the input unit (31), user input concerning a switching configuration of the plurality of electrical devices (10) ;
controlling the power switch (32) of the control panel (30) according to a predefined switch ing scheme;
switching, by the power switch (32), during power supply time slots (60) the supply voltage continuously to the electric supply cable (40) ;
switching, by the power switch (32) , during control time slots (61) , the supply voltage on and off according to a predefined coding scheme, wherein the predefined coding scheme encodes control information for device controllers (13) of the electrical devices (10);
receiving, by the device controllers (13) of the plurality of devices (10), the control infor mation ;
switching, by on-off switches (12) of the plurality of electrical devices, the electrical de vice (10) on or off in accordance with the control infor mation .
19. A control panel (30) for an electrical system according to any of the claims 1 to 16, the control panel comprising
an input unit (31) adapted to receive user input;
a power switch (32) adapted to switch a supply voltage of a battery (20) to an electric supply cable (40) ; and
a panel controller (33) adapted to control the power switch (32) of the control panel ac cording to a predefined switching scheme;
wherein the predefined switching scheme comprises
power supply time slots (60) during which the supply voltage is continuously switched on to the electric supply cable (40); and
control time slots (61) during which the supply voltage is switched on and off according to a pre defined coding scheme, wherein the predefined coding scheme encodes control information for switching of a plurality of electrical devices (10) .
20. An electrical device for an electrical system according to any of the claims 1 to 16.
PCT/EP2019/080860 2018-11-12 2019-11-11 System for switching a plurality of electrical devices via a single battery powered cable WO2020099317A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP18205717 2018-11-12
EP18205717.4 2018-11-12

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2020099317A1 true WO2020099317A1 (en) 2020-05-22

Family

ID=64277599

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/EP2019/080860 WO2020099317A1 (en) 2018-11-12 2019-11-11 System for switching a plurality of electrical devices via a single battery powered cable

Country Status (1)

Country Link
WO (1) WO2020099317A1 (en)

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20110089852A1 (en) * 2008-05-09 2011-04-21 M.H. Segan & Company, Inc. Addressable LED Light String
US20120299480A1 (en) * 2009-11-06 2012-11-29 Neofocal Systems, Inc. System And Method For Current Modulated Data Transmission
US20130134891A1 (en) * 2011-07-26 2013-05-30 Hunter Industries, Inc. Systems and methods for providing power and data to lighting devices
CN106132013A (en) * 2016-07-14 2016-11-16 深圳市菉华半导体有限公司 A kind of Power Carrier communication LED control method
US20180049299A1 (en) * 2015-12-07 2018-02-15 Pentair Water Pool And Spa, Inc. Systems and Methods for Controlling Aquatic Lighting Using Power Line Communication
KR20180082247A (en) * 2017-01-10 2018-07-18 대양전기공업 주식회사 Method and apparatus for operation of marine interior light and exterior light control panel

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20110089852A1 (en) * 2008-05-09 2011-04-21 M.H. Segan & Company, Inc. Addressable LED Light String
US20120299480A1 (en) * 2009-11-06 2012-11-29 Neofocal Systems, Inc. System And Method For Current Modulated Data Transmission
US20130134891A1 (en) * 2011-07-26 2013-05-30 Hunter Industries, Inc. Systems and methods for providing power and data to lighting devices
US20180049299A1 (en) * 2015-12-07 2018-02-15 Pentair Water Pool And Spa, Inc. Systems and Methods for Controlling Aquatic Lighting Using Power Line Communication
CN106132013A (en) * 2016-07-14 2016-11-16 深圳市菉华半导体有限公司 A kind of Power Carrier communication LED control method
KR20180082247A (en) * 2017-01-10 2018-07-18 대양전기공업 주식회사 Method and apparatus for operation of marine interior light and exterior light control panel

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
"AC and/or DC-supplied electronic controlgear for discharge lamps (excluding fluorescent lamps) - Performance requirements for low frequency square wave operation", IEC 62811:2015, IEC, 3, RUE DE VAREMBÉ, PO BOX 131, CH-1211 GENEVA 20, SWITZERLAND, 9 April 2015 (2015-04-09), pages 1 - 67, XP082003059 *

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
EP3501240B1 (en) Lighting device for powering from a main power supply and an auxiliary power supply
DK175367B1 (en) Technical building management system with a two-wire data and energy transmission line
US20060038661A1 (en) Data transfer on a current supply line
US8049509B2 (en) Battery information acquiring apparatus
US11758624B2 (en) Lighting control system with emergency mode
US20190334740A1 (en) Energy harvesting from fire panel
US10769937B2 (en) System and method for charging supplemental power units for alarm notification devices
US9825704B2 (en) Modulation device and lighting device
US9693434B2 (en) Dimming device and illumination system using same
GB2224183A (en) Radio transponder apparatus
WO2020099317A1 (en) System for switching a plurality of electrical devices via a single battery powered cable
US20090322526A1 (en) Arrangement and method for communicating with notification appliances
JP3349602B2 (en) Transmission line condition detector
CN104521098B (en) DC power distribution system with power saving functionality
CN104956600A (en) Communication via a power waveform
CN112055440B (en) Light-emitting diode lamp string system with sequencing function and sequencing method
CN114665522A (en) Multi-power Ethernet power supply system and control device thereof
CN217048449U (en) Bus getting-off reminding system
JP2007173078A (en) Lighting controller
US11057980B2 (en) Extended signaling capacity in a DALI system
WO2013111279A1 (en) Disconnection detecting scheme and slave terminal used with said method
JP6846999B2 (en) Communication system, communication equipment, and miswiring detection method
JP4976150B2 (en) Dimming control system
KR101182410B1 (en) Time division communication device
JP5159675B2 (en) Alarm

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application

Ref document number: 19798114

Country of ref document: EP

Kind code of ref document: A1

NENP Non-entry into the national phase

Ref country code: DE

122 Ep: pct application non-entry in european phase

Ref document number: 19798114

Country of ref document: EP

Kind code of ref document: A1