JP4989388B2 - Organic EL lighting device and lighting fixture - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an organic EL lighting device capable of shortening a time until characteristics of a light-emitting module are stabilized. <P>SOLUTION: While a current of a given constant current value Is is outputted to a light-emitting module during a period after an accumulated lighting time of the light-emitting module reaches a given initial time tc1, a current of an ageing current value Ia larger than the constant current value Is is outputted to the light-emitting module intermittently at a duty ratio dt1 in which an effective value of the supply current to the light-emitting module is made to be not larger than the constant current value Is during a period until the accumulated lighting time tc of the light-emitting module reaches the initial time tc1. By setting the current value of the output current to the light-emitting module at the ageing current value Ia, an effect is obtained equivalent to the case that ageing processing is separately carried out from ordinary lighting, so that the time can be shortened until the characteristics of the light-emitting module are stabilized. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an organic EL lighting device for lighting a light emitting module using an organic EL element as a light source, and a lighting fixture using the organic EL lighting device.

Conventionally, an organic EL lighting device for lighting a light emitting module using an organic EL element as a light source has been provided (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2006-210848 A

  In general, the characteristics of the light emitting module are not stable in the initial state where the cumulative lighting time is short. For example, as indicated by curves a to c in FIG. 10, the luminous flux φ when the light emitting module is turned on by supplying a constant current decreases as the cumulative lighting time tc elapses. Especially fast in condition. Moreover, in the initial state, as shown by the curves a to c, the variation in characteristics between the light emitting modules also increases. When a plurality of light emitting modules having different characteristics as described above are used at the same time, the appearance is likely to deteriorate due to the variation in the light flux φ between the light emitting modules.

  Therefore, before shipping, until the initial state is completed (in the example of FIG. 10, until the luminous flux φ is stabilized at a substantially constant value φs), the light emitting module is lit in advance, so that the characteristics of the light emitting module are stabilized. However, if the aging process is performed before shipment, the life of the light emitting module after shipment is shortened accordingly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above reasons, and an object thereof is to provide an organic EL lighting device capable of shortening the time until the characteristics of the light emitting module are stabilized.

The invention of claim 1 includes a power supply unit that outputs a power for lighting the light emitting module to the organic EL element as a light source, a control unit for controlling the power supply unit, in an initial state where the light emitting module is not stable properties comprising a whether determining initial state determination section there, a relighting time measuring unit which supplies electric power from the power supply unit to the light emitting module measures relighting time to be resumed after being stopped, the control unit, the power supply unit so as to periods in which the light emitting module by the initial state determination unit is determined not to be the initial state and a predetermined constant current value the current value of the output current to the light emitting module while control, the period in which the light emitting module by the initial state determination section is determined to be an initial state, a large aging current der than the current value is the steady-state current value Current, and controls the power supply unit so that the effective value is output to intermittently light emitting module with a duty ratio such that following the steady-state current value of the supply current to the light emitting module, the light emitting from the power supply unit When starting the supply of power to the module, if the light emitting module is determined to be in the initial state by the initial state determining unit, the relighting time measured by the relighting time measuring unit is less than a predetermined upper limit time The power supply unit is controlled to gradually increase the aging current value from an initial aging current value equal to or greater than the steady current value to a steady aging current value larger than the initial aging current value. When the relighting time measured by the relighting time measuring unit is equal to or longer than the upper limit time, the aging current value is determined from the beginning. Characterized in that the aging current value.

According to the present invention, by supplying an aging current value larger than the steady current value to the light emitting module, the same effect as when performing the aging process separately from the normal lighting can be obtained, so the characteristics of the light emitting module are stable. The time until it can be shortened. In addition, when starting the supply of power from the power supply unit to the light emitting module, when the initial state determining unit determines that the light emitting module is in the initial state, the aging current value is always set to the steady aging current value. The electrical stress applied to the light emitting module at the start of lighting is reduced and the life of the light emitting module is extended.

Counting of the invention of claim 2, in the invention of claim 1, comprising a lighting time measuring unit for measuring the cumulative lighting time of the connected light emitting module to the power supply unit, the initial state determination section, by the lighting time count part cumulative lighting time is determined and the light emitting module when it is more than a predetermined initial hours is not in the initial state, the light emitting module when the accumulated lighting time counted by the lighting time count part is less than the initial time Is determined to be in the initial state.

The invention of claim 3 is the invention of claim 1, comprising a lighting counting unit for counting the number of lighting times of the connected light emitting module to the power supply unit, the initial state determination section is counted by the lighting counter lighting count and determines that the light emitting module is not in the initial state when the predetermined initial number of times or more, the light emitting module is the initial state when the lighting frequency counted by said lighting counting unit is less than the initial count It is determined that it is.

The invention of claim 4 is the invention of claim 1, comprising a voltage detection unit for detecting an output voltage from the power supply unit to the light emitting module, the initial state determination section, detected by the voltage detecting unit outputs determines that the light emitting module is not in the initial state when the voltage is above a predetermined initial voltage, the light emitting module is in the initial state when the output voltage said detected by the voltage detection unit is less than the initial voltage It is characterized by determining.

A fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control unit, the re-lighting the shorter the relight time measured by the time measuring unit the initial aging current value to the steady-state current value It is characterized by being close.

The invention of claim 6 is the invention of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, when starting the supply of power to the light emitting module from the power supply unit, from the power supply unit to the light emitting module and performing a starting operation of controlling the power supply unit to gradually increase the effective value of the output current from 0.

  According to the present invention, compared with the case where the starting operation is not performed, the electrical stress applied to the light emitting module at the start of lighting is reduced, and the life of the light emitting module is extended.

The light emitting module invention of claim 7, which is supplied with the organic EL lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 the current by the power supply unit of the organic EL lighting device and the organic EL lighting device And an instrument main body for holding each of them.

  According to the present invention, even when a plurality of light emitting modules are used side by side, variations in characteristics among the light emitting modules are reduced in a relatively short time, so that the appearance is unlikely to deteriorate.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by supplying an aging current value larger than the steady current value to the light emitting module, the same effect as the aging process can be obtained separately from the normal lighting. The time until the characteristics are stabilized can be shortened. In addition, when the control unit starts supplying power from the power source unit to the light emitting module, if the initial state determining unit determines that the light emitting module is in the initial state, the relighting timed by the relighting timing unit When the time is less than the predetermined upper limit time, the power supply unit gradually increases the aging current value from an initial aging current value that is equal to or greater than the steady current value to a steady aging current value that is greater than the initial aging current value. Therefore, the electrical stress applied to the light emitting module at the start of lighting is reduced and the life of the light emitting module is extended.

According to the invention of 請 Motomeko 6, so that the control unit is, when starting the supply of power to the light emitting module from the power supply unit, gradually increases the effective value of the output current to the light emitting module from 0 from the power supply unit Since the starting operation for controlling the power supply unit is performed, the electrical stress applied to the light emitting module at the start of lighting is reduced and the life of the light emitting module is extended.

According to the invention of claim 7 , even when a plurality of the organic EL lighting devices are used side by side, variation in characteristics among the light emitting modules is relatively short by using the organic EL lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. Since it is reduced over time, it does not easily deteriorate in appearance.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, power is supplied from a DC power source E, and power is supplied to the light emitting module 5 using an organic EL element as a light source. A power supply unit 2 that steps down the voltage and supplies the light emitting module 5 and a control unit 3 that controls the power supply unit 2 are provided. A terminal connected to the negative electrode of the DC power supply E is set to the same potential as the ground. As the DC power supply E, a well-known DC power supply circuit that supplies power from an AC power supply and outputs DC power of a predetermined voltage, or a battery can be used.

  The power supply unit 2 includes an input-side capacitor C1 connected between output terminals of the DC power supply E, a series circuit of a switching element Q1, an inductor L1, and an output-side capacitor C2 connected in series between both ends of the input-side capacitor. A diode D1 having an anode connected to the ground and a cathode connected to a connection point between the switching element Q1 and the inductor L1, and a drive circuit 21 for driving the switching element Q1 on and off with a duty ratio according to the control of the control unit 3; And a well-known step-down converter in which both ends of the output-side capacitor C2 are output ends.

  A control power supply unit 4 that generates a power supply voltage (hereinafter referred to as “control voltage”) Vcc of the control unit 3 is provided between the terminal connected to the DC power supply E and the power supply unit 2. . The control power supply unit 4 includes voltage dividing resistors R1 and R2 that generate a control voltage Vcc by dividing the output voltage of the DC power supply E, and a Zener diode ZD1 connected in parallel to the voltage dividing resistor R2 on the low voltage side. Become.

  The control unit 3 includes an integrated circuit 31 having eight pins from No. 1 to No. 8. In the integrated circuit 31, the control voltage Vcc is input to the first pin, the eighth pin is connected to the ground, and the output voltage of the power supply unit 2 is divided and input to the seventh pin by the voltage dividing resistors R4 and R5. Is done. A voltage input from the seventh pin to the integrated circuit 31 is A / D converted in the integrated circuit 31. The integrated circuit 31 switches the output from the 2nd to 4th pins to either the H level or the L level, respectively, according to the voltage input to the 7th pin. As such an integrated circuit 31, for example, PIC12F625 manufactured by Microchip Corporation can be used.

  The control unit 3 also includes a resistor R6 having one end connected to a connection point between the light emitting module 5 and the resistor R3 connected between the negative electrode of the light emitting module 5 and the power source unit 2, and the other end of the resistor R6 and the ground. And an operational amplifier OP1 whose inverting input terminal is connected to the connection point between the resistor R6 and the capacitor C3 via the resistor R10 and connected to the output terminal via the resistor R11, The comparator CP1 has an input terminal connected to the output terminal of the operational amplifier OP1, the output terminal of the comparator CP1 is connected to one input terminal, the fourth input terminal of the integrated circuit 31 is connected to the other input terminal, and the output terminal An AND gate AND connected to the drive circuit 21 is provided. That is, the output voltage of the operational amplifier OP1 decreases as the charging voltage of the capacitor C3 connected to the inverting input terminal via the resistor R10 increases, and increases as the charging voltage of the capacitor C5 connected to the non-inverting input terminal increases. . The non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier OP1 is connected to the ground via the capacitor C5 and is connected to the third pin of the integrated circuit 31 via the resistor R12. Further, the negative input terminal of the comparator CP1 is connected to the one end of the parallel circuit of the capacitor C4 and the switching element Q8, one end of which is connected to the control voltage Vcc via the resistor R14 and the other end is connected to the ground. Yes. The switching element Q8 connected between the inverting input terminal of the comparator CP1 and the ground is driven on and off by the output from the second pin of the integrated circuit 31. Note that the operational amplifier OP1 and the comparator CP1 that are made into one chip are available on the market at a low cost.

  The operation of this embodiment will be described. The integrated circuit 31 periodically turns on the switching element Q8 for a short period of time as shown in FIG. The capacitor C4 is charged while the switching element Q8 is turned off and discharged during the period when the switching element Q8 is turned on, so that the waveform of the voltage input to the negative input terminal of the comparator CP1 is As shown in FIG. 3B, the waveform is a waveform in which a gradual increase during charging and a rapid decrease during discharging are alternately repeated. That is, when the input voltage to the positive input terminal of the comparator CP1 is constant as shown in FIG. 3C, the output voltage of the comparator CP1 is applied to the positive input terminal as shown in FIG. It becomes a rectangular wave in which the duty ratio increases as the input voltage increases. During the period in which the light emitting module 5 is continuously turned on, the output of the 4th pin of the integrated circuit 31 is maintained at the H level, so that the output of the comparator CP1 is directly input to the drive circuit 21 from the AND gate AND. The drive circuit 21 increases the ON / OFF duty ratio of the switching element Q1 to increase the output voltage of the power supply unit 2 as the duty ratio of the input rectangular wave increases, that is, the current value of the current supplied to the light emitting module 5 is increased. Enlarge.

  Here, the input voltage to the positive input terminal of the comparator CP1 is the output voltage of the operational amplifier OP1. As described above, this is the voltage of the capacitor C3 connected to the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier OP1 through the resistor R10. The lower the charging voltage, the higher the charging voltage of the capacitor C5 connected to the non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier OP1. The charging voltage of the former capacitor C3 increases as the current supplied to the light emitting module 5 increases, and the charging voltage of the latter capacitor C5 increases as the duty ratio of the output from the third pin of the integrated circuit 31 increases. That is, the greater the current supplied to the light emitting module 5 with respect to the duty ratio of the output from the third pin of the integrated circuit 31, the lower the input voltage to the comparator CP1, and the output of the output from the comparator CP1 to the drive circuit 21. As the duty ratio decreases, the current supplied to the light emitting module 5 decreases. That is, feedback control is performed so that the current value supplied to the light emitting module 5 is a constant value corresponding to the duty ratio of the output from the third pin of the integrated circuit 31.

  The integrated circuit 31 detects a no-load state or a short circuit in the light emitting module 5 based on the input voltage to the 7th pin. When a no-load state or a short circuit is detected, for example, the drive circuit 21 is stopped by setting the output of the 4th pin to L level.

  Here, the integrated circuit 31 includes a timer circuit and a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, and the lighting of the light emitting module 5 connected to the power supply unit 2 is based on the input to the seventh pin. At the same time, the accumulated lighting time is counted, the counted accumulated lighting time is held, and it is further determined whether or not the light emitting module 5 is in the initial state based on the accumulated lighting time. That is, the integrated circuit 31 is both a lighting timing unit and an initial state determination unit. The accumulated lighting time is initialized when, for example, a no-load state is detected based on an input to the 7th pin.

  Hereinafter, the operation according to the cumulative lighting time, which is the main point of the present invention, will be described.

  As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the integrated circuit 31 determines that the light emitting module 5 is not in the initial state when the cumulative lighting time tc is equal to or longer than the predetermined initial time tc1, and determines from the third pin. A normal operation is performed in which the current value Io of the output current of the power supply unit 2 specified by the output duty ratio is set to a predetermined steady-state current value Is. During normal operation, the output from the 4th pin is maintained at the H level (in other words, the duty ratio of the output from the 4th pin is set to 100%).

  On the other hand, when the cumulative lighting time tc is less than the predetermined initial time tc1, the integrated circuit 31 determines that the light emitting module 5 is in the initial state, and the power supply unit 2 specified by the duty ratio of the output from the third pin The current value Io of the output current is set to an aging current value Ia that is larger than the steady current value Is, and the effective value of the current supplied to the light emitting module 5 becomes equal to or less than the steady current value Is by the output from the fourth pin. An aging operation is performed to control the power supply unit 2 so as to intermittently output to the light emitting module 5 at such a duty ratio dt1. Here, the frequency of the output from the 4th pin is set to a sufficiently high frequency (for example, 100 Hz or more) such that blinking of the light emitting module 5 cannot be recognized by human eyes. In other words, the increase in luminous flux due to the output from the third pin canceling out the increase in luminous flux by setting the current value Io of the output current of the power supply unit 2 to the aging current value Ia is canceled by the PWM control by the output from the fourth pin. The luminous flux is substantially constant. The initial time tc1 and the aging current value Ia may be appropriately selected according to the light emitting module 5 to be used. The initial time tc1 is, for example, several minutes to several hundred hours, and the aging current value Ia is, for example, several times relative to the steady current value Is. The value is about 10% to 100% larger.

  According to the above configuration, the aging operation for supplying the aging current value Ia larger than the steady current value Is to the light emitting module 5 is performed until the characteristics of the light emitting module 5 are stabilized as compared with the case where the aging operation is not performed. Time can be shortened.

  In addition, since the aging operation is performed only during a period in which it is determined that the light emitting module 5 is in the initial state, the shortening of the life of the light emitting module 5 can be suppressed as compared with the case where the aging operation is perpetuated.

  Note that the criterion for determining whether or not the light emitting module 5 is in the initial state is not limited to the cumulative lighting time tc as described above. For example, the integrated circuit 31 is based on the input from the 7th pin. When the lighting start is detected and the number of times (hereinafter referred to as “the number of lighting”) is counted, it is determined that the light emitting module 5 is not in the initial state when the lighting number becomes equal to or more than a predetermined initial number. On the other hand, if the number of lighting is less than the initial number, the light emitting module 5 may be determined to be in the initial state and the aging operation may be performed. In this case, the integrated circuit 31 is a lighting counting unit in the claims.

  Alternatively, the integrated circuit 31 determines whether the output voltage from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5 is equal to or higher than a predetermined initial voltage based on the input voltage to the 7th pin, and the output voltage is determined to be a predetermined initial voltage. When it is determined that the voltage is equal to or higher than the voltage, the light emitting module 5 is determined not to be in the initial state and performs normal operation. On the other hand, when the output voltage is determined to be less than the initial voltage, the light emitting module 5 is in the initial state. It may be determined that there is an aging operation. In this case, the voltage dividing resistors R4 and R5 that divide the output of the power supply unit 2 serve as the voltage detection unit in the claims.

  The initial number of times and the initial voltage may be appropriately selected according to the light emitting module 5 used, similarly to the initial time tc1.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, when the integrated circuit 31 starts to supply power from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5, the effective value | Io | of the output current from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5 is set to 0. A starting operation for controlling the power supply unit 2 so as to gradually increase over a predetermined time ts0 may be performed. In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis represents the time (hereinafter referred to as “lighting duration”) ts during which power supply from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5 is continued. The starting operation may be performed by control based on the output from the third pin, or may be performed by gradually increasing the duty ratio of the output from the fourth pin from 0%. By adopting this configuration, the electrical stress applied to the light emitting module 5 when the supply of power from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5 is started is reduced, and the life of the light emitting module 5 is extended.

(Embodiment 2)
Since the basic configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, detailed description and illustration of common portions are omitted.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the time from when power supply from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5 is once stopped until it is restarted (hereinafter referred to as “relighting time”) is counted. A relighting timing circuit 32 is provided in the control unit 3.

  More specifically, the relighting timing circuit 32 includes a parallel circuit of a capacitor C6 and a resistor R7, one end of which is connected to the 6th pin of the integrated circuit 31 and the other end is connected to the ground. The one end of the parallel circuit is connected to the 5th pin of the integrated circuit 31 via a diode D2 with the anode facing the integrated circuit 31 side.

  The operation of the integrated circuit 31 of this embodiment will be described. The integrated circuit 31 outputs a voltage of 5V, which is the same as the control voltage Vcc, from the 5th pin during the period when the lighting state of the light emitting module 5 is detected based on the input to the 7th pin. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 6, the charging voltage VT of the capacitor C6 becomes a constant voltage V1. When the supply of power from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5 is stopped, that is, when the light emitting module 5 is turned off, the output from the 5th pin becomes 0V, so that the capacitor C6 is discharged through the resistor R7, The charging voltage VT of the capacitor C6 decreases as the relighting time tr increases.

  When the integrated circuit 31 starts supplying power from the power supply unit 2 to the light emitting module 5, if the light emitting module 5 is determined to be in the initial state, the input voltage from the 6th pin is A / D converted and read. Thus, the relighting time tr is obtained. If the relighting time tr is less than the predetermined upper limit time tr1, the integrated circuit 31 changes the aging current value Ia from the initial aging current value Ia1 that is equal to or greater than the steady current value Is as shown in FIG. The constant aging current value Ia2 that is larger than the initial aging current value Ia1 is gradually increased over a certain rise time ts1. Further, if the relighting time tr is equal to or longer than the upper limit time tr1, the same operation as that in the first embodiment is performed. The aging current value Ia at this time is the same value as the steady aging current value Ia2.

  The steady aging current value Ia2 does not depend on the relighting time tr, but the initial aging current value Ia1 is determined according to the relighting time tr. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, the longer the relighting time tr (that is, the closer to the upper limit time tr1), the closer the initial aging current value Ia1 is to the steady aging current value Ia2, and the shorter the relighting time tr is. If the initial aging current value Ia1 is close to the steady current value Is and the relighting time tr is 0, the initial aging current value Ia1 is set to the steady current value Is. Increase

  According to the above configuration, compared to the case where the aging current value Ia is always set to the steady aging current value Ia2, the electrical stress applied to the light emitting module 5 is reduced and the life of the light emitting module 5 is extended.

  Embodiment 1 and the organic EL lighting device 1 of the present embodiment can be used in a lighting fixture 6 as shown in FIGS. The lighting fixture 6 includes a fixture body 7 including a body 71 having an open bottom surface and a cover 72 that is coupled to the body 71 and closes the bottom surface of the body 71. In the appliance main body 7, each circuit component constituting the power supply unit 2, each circuit component constituting the control unit 3, and each circuit component constituting the control power supply unit 4 are respectively mounted on the printed wiring board P. The EL lighting device 1 and the light emitting module 5 are held. A window hole 71a through which the light emitting module 5 is exposed is provided through the bottom surface of the body 71 (upper surface in FIG. 9B). The light emitting module 5 is provided so as to overlap the glass plate 51, the first electrode layer 52 provided on one surface of the glass plate 51 (the lower surface in FIG. 9B), and the first electrode layer 52. A light emitting layer 53 that emits light when energized in the thickness direction, a second electrode layer 54 that is provided to overlap the light emitting layer 53 and sandwiches the light emitting layer 53 between the first electrode layer 52, and a glass plate 51. In addition, a cover 55 that covers the first electrode layer 52, the light emitting layer 53, and the second electrode layer 54 is provided. The first electrode layer 52 is made of a material having translucency and conductivity, such as indium tin oxide (ITO). The second electrode layer 54 is made of a conductive material such as aluminum. The cover 55 is made of glass, for example. The first electrode layer 52, the light emitting layer 53, and the second electrode layer 54 constitute an organic EL element in the claims. Each of the first electrode layer 52 and the second electrode layer 54 is provided with a terminal portion (not shown) connected to the output end of the power source portion 2 of the organic EL lighting device 1. When energized, the light emitting layer 53 emits light, and this light is emitted through the first electrode layer 52 and the glass plate 51. The light emitting module 5 is fixed to the body 71 so as to close the window hole 71a with the surface of the glass plate 51 on which the first electrode layer 52 is provided facing inward. In the case of the lighting fixture 6 as described above, even when a plurality of lighting fixtures 6 are used side by side, the variation in characteristics among the light emitting modules 5 is reduced in a relatively short time due to the aging operation of the organic EL lighting device 1. Is hard to get worse.

(A) (b) is explanatory drawing which respectively shows operation | movement of Embodiment 1 of this invention, (a) took the accumulated lighting time on the horizontal axis, and took the electric current value of the output current of a power supply part on the vertical axis | shaft. (B) shows the cumulative lighting time on the horizontal axis and the duty ratio of the output of the power supply unit on the vertical axis. It is a circuit diagram which shows the same as the above. (A)-(d) is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement same as the above, taking time on a horizontal axis, respectively, The vertical axis | shaft of (a) shows the on-off state of a switching element, and the vertical axis | shaft of (b) is a comparator. , The vertical axis of (c) indicates the input voltage to the positive input terminal of the comparator, and the vertical axis of (d) indicates the output voltage of the comparator. It is explanatory drawing which showed the operation | movement of another form same as the above, and took the lighting continuous time on the horizontal axis, and took the effective value of the output current of a power supply part on the vertical axis | shaft. It is a circuit diagram which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement of the relighting timing circuit in the same as the above. It is explanatory drawing which showed operation | movement same as the above, and took the lighting continuation time on the horizontal axis | shaft, and took the aging current value on the vertical axis | shaft. It is explanatory drawing which showed operation | movement same as the above, and took the relighting time on the horizontal axis, and took the initial aging current value on the vertical axis. (A) (b) shows the lighting fixture which used the same as the above, respectively (a) is a perspective view, (b) is sectional drawing which shows the principal part of the AA cross section of (a). It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the cumulative lighting time of a light emitting module, and the light beam in the case of supplying a fixed electric current, and the curves a-c show the said relationship in a different light emitting module, respectively.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Organic EL lighting device 2 Power supply part 3 Control part 5 Light emitting module 31 Integrated circuit (Lighting time measuring part in a claim, lighting counting part)
32 Relighting timing circuit R3, R4 Voltage dividing resistor (Voltage detecting section in claims)

Claims (7)

A power supply unit that outputs electric power for lighting a light emitting module that uses an organic EL element as a light source;
A control unit for controlling the power supply unit,
An initial state determination unit for determining whether or not the light emitting module is in an initial state where characteristics are not stable ;
A relighting timing unit that counts the relighting time from when the supply of power to the light emitting module from the power supply unit is stopped to when it is restarted ,
Wherein the control unit, the initial state determination unit by the light-emitting module is the power supply unit to the electric current value with a predetermined constant current value of the output current to the light emitting module in a period that is determined not to be the initial state while controlling, during a period in which the light emitting module by the initial state determination section is determined to be the initial state, the current current value is greater aging current value than the steady-state current value, into the light emitting module and it controls the power supply unit to output the intermittent light emitting module in such a duty ratio effective value is equal to or less than the steady-state current value of the supply current,
When starting the supply of power from the power supply unit to the light emitting module, if the light emitting module is determined to be in the initial state by the initial state determining unit,
When the relighting time measured by the relighting time measuring unit is less than a predetermined upper limit time, the aging current value is changed from the initial aging current value equal to or greater than the steady current value to the initial aging current value. Control the power supply unit to gradually increase to a large steady aging current value,
When the relighting time counted by the relighting time measuring unit is equal to or longer than the upper limit time, the aging current value is set to the steady aging current value from the beginning . Comprising a lighting time measuring unit for measuring the cumulative lighting time of the light emitting module connected to the power supply unit,
The initial state determination section, the light emitting module is determined not to be in the initial state when the accumulated lighting time counted by the lighting timer unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined initial hour, the accumulated lighting that is counted by the lighting time count part time organic EL lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting module when less than the initial time and judging that the initial state. Comprising a lighting counting unit for counting the number of lighting times of the light emitting module connected to the power supply unit,
The initial state determination unit, the lighting frequency counted by the lighting count unit determines that the light emitting module is not in the initial state when the predetermined initial number of times or more, the lighting frequency counted by the lighting counter the organic EL lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting module when the less than the initial number and judging that the initial state. Comprising a voltage detector for detecting the output voltage to the light emitting module from the power supply unit,
The initial state determination section determines that the voltage output voltage detected by the detection unit is not in the initial state the light emitting module when it is more than a predetermined initial voltage, the detected output voltage by the voltage detecting section 2. The organic EL lighting device according to claim 1, wherein when the voltage is less than the initial voltage, the light emitting module is determined to be in an initial state. The said control part makes the said initial stage aging current value near the said steady-state current value, so that the relighting time timed by the said relighting time measuring part is short , The any one of Claims 1-4 characterized by the above-mentioned. Organic EL lighting device. The control unit controls the power supply unit so that an effective value of an output current from the power supply unit to the light emitting module is gradually increased from 0 when power supply from the power supply unit to the light emitting module is started. The organic EL lighting device according to claim 1, wherein a starting operation is performed . The fixture main body which hold | maintains the organic EL lighting device of any one of Claims 1-6, and the said light emitting module to which an electric current is supplied by the said power supply part of the said organic EL lighting device and the said organic EL lighting device, respectively. an illumination fixture comprising: a and.

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