JPS6129120B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a light control device for lighting lamps.

Dimming of incandescent lamps and other lighting lamps is generally achieved by using thyristors or triaxes and adjusting the ignition phase angle thereof. Conventionally, a unidirectional transistor and a variable resistor have been used to adjust the firing phase angle. Therefore, the dimming requires manual operation such as turning the knob of a variable resistor.

The object of the present invention is to dim the light by gradually increasing or decreasing the brightness over time while generating a signal using an arbitrary switch.

In this invention, the switch is mechanically turned on and off.
Any type of switch can be used, including not only switches that turn off, but also non-contact switches, and switches that operate when a human body or other object approaches or contacts them (so-called proximity or contact switches). Any type of signal that can generate a specific signal may be used. It is also a good idea to prepare two types of switches: one for brightening and one for dimming. When the switch is operated to generate a signal, during the generation period,
The brightness gradually increases and decreases over time. When the desired brightness is reached, the generation of the signal is stopped, and the illumination lamp continues to be lit at that brightness. Therefore, the brightness can be adjusted to any desired level without the need to turn a knob as in the conventional case.

Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a lighting power source (for example, a commercial AC power source), 2 is a gate circuit such as a thyristor circuit, and 3 is an illumination lamp. As described above, the lighting lamp 3 is dimmed by adjusting the firing phase angle of the thyristor of the thyristor circuit 2. 4 is a control circuit which inputs the voltage of the power supply 1 and obtains a full-wave rectified voltage A (see Fig. ₂ A) by full-wave rectifying the voltage. “H” until it crosses the level _L2 lower than ₁
A signal B (see FIG. 2B) is output. Therefore, the signal B is synchronized with the half wave of the power supply 1. Signal B is given as one input to AND circuit 5. Reference numeral 6 denotes an oscillator, and a clock pulse C (see FIG. 2C) which is emitted from the oscillator and has a period of about 5 msec, for example, is given as another input to the AND circuit 5. Therefore, the clock pulse C is output from the AND circuit 5 while the signal B is at "H", and this output is input to the counter 8. The counter 8 uses this input as a subtraction input, subtracts the input from the preset value as described later, and outputs an output when the count reaches 0, which is applied to the thyristor circuit 2 as a thyristor firing pulse. . From the time when this ignition pulse is applied, a conductive state is maintained until the voltage of the power source 1 crosses zero, and during this time, the voltage of the power source 1 is applied to the illuminating lamp 3.

9 is a timing circuit that receives the clock pulse C as an input and has a much longer period than this (for example,
(approximately 0.5 seconds). This timing pulse becomes an input to each of AND circuits 10 and 11. 12 and 13 are switches for dimming and increasing brightness, and as mentioned above, they continuously output signals while they are turned on or approached or touched. The signal from switch 12 is applied to AND circuit 10, and the signal from switch 13 is applied to each other input of AND circuit 11.
Therefore, during the period when the signal is output from the switch 12 or when the signal is output from the switch 13,
AND circuit 1 every time a timing pulse is given
A signal based on the timing pulse is output from 0 or 11. 14 is a reversible counter which counts in the forward direction when receiving the signal from the AND circuit 10, and in the reverse direction when receiving the signal from the AND circuit 11. The count value of the reversible counter 14 is given to the latch circuit 15,
Upon receiving the signal B from the control circuit 4, the count value of the reversible counter 14 at that time is latched each time while the signal B is at "L". Then, the latched count value is preset in the counter 8. The reversible counter 14 is given a preset value from the preset circuit 16 when the operating power supply voltage is applied to each circuit. For example, the dimming step
When divided into 15 steps (in this case, the maximum count value of the reversible counter 14 is set to 15), the middle 7 is given to the reversible counter 14 from the preset circuit 16.

Now, according to the previous example, the preset circuit 16
It is assumed that the reversible counter 14 is preset to 7 by . Here, assuming that the reversible counter 14 receives no input from the AND circuits 10 and 11, the latch circuit 15 receives the signal B from the control circuit 4, latches 7, and presets this in the counter 8. After signal B becomes “H”,
When the clock pulse C is input to the AND circuit 5, its output is input to the counter 8.
And when seven clock pulses C are issued,
The count value of the counter 8 becomes 0, whereby a pulse D (see D in FIG. 2) is outputted and applied to the thyristor circuit 2. From this point on, the thyristor becomes conductive, and a voltage is applied to the illuminating lamp 3 until the half-wave of the voltage of the power source 1 crosses zero and becomes non-conductive. That is, if the voltage waveform of the power source 1 is E (see E in FIG. 2), a voltage will be applied to the illumination lamp 3 within the range shown by dotted hatching. At this time, the electric power applied to the illumination lamp 3 is approximately half that of the case where voltage is directly applied to the illumination lamp 3 from the power source 1.

Next, suppose that in the above state, the dimming switch 12 is operated in order to dim the light. As a result of this operation, a signal from the dimming switch 12 is generated and input to the AND circuit 10 while this operation continues. Assuming that the first timing pulse is output from the timing circuit 9 from this point on, the reversible counter 14 counts forward by 1 and its count value becomes 8. The period of the timing pulse is clock pulse C.
Since this is much longer than the voltage cycle of the power supply 1, the signal B from the control circuit 4 becomes "L" before the next timing pulse is output, and the count value 8 of the reversible counter 14 at this time is set to the latch circuit 15. latches and presets the counter 8. Then, in the case described above, the signal D was output from the counter 8 every time 7 clock pulses C were issued after the signal B became "H", but from now on, the signal D is output every time 8 clock pulses C are issued. Signal D will appear. As a result, the firing phase angle of the thyristor becomes larger than in the previous case, and the time during which voltage is applied to the illumination lamp 3 becomes shorter, resulting in dimming.
If the dimming switch 12 is subsequently operated, the count value of the reversible counter 14 will become 9 when the next timing pulse is output, and the preset value of the counter 8 will also become 9.
Thereafter, after the signal B becomes "H", the signal D will be output every nine clock pulses, and the illumination lamp 3 will further dim. When you stop operating the dimming switch 12 when you see that the desired brightness has been reached, the reversible counter 14 continues to maintain the count value at that time, so the lighting lamp 3 maintains the brightness at that time. It will continue to be lit.

Next, the reversible counter 14 is connected to the preset circuit 16.
Therefore, when the brightness is preset to 7, the brightness increase switch 13 is turned on to increase the brightness.
To explain the case where the brightness increase switch 13 is operated, future signals are input to the AND circuit 11 while the brightness increase switch 13 continues to be operated. If the first timing pulse is output from the timing circuit 9 at this time, this will cause the reversible counter 14 to
counts in the opposite direction by 1, and the count value becomes 6. Thereafter, when the signal B from the control circuit 4 becomes "L", the latch circuit 15 latches the count value 6 of the reversible counter 14 at this time and presets it into the counter 8. Then signal B becomes “H”
After that, signal D will be output every six clock pulses. As a result, the firing phase angle of the thyristor becomes smaller than before, and the time for applying voltage to the illumination lamp 3 increases accordingly, increasing the brightness. It becomes like this. If the brightness increase switch 13 is subsequently operated, the count value of the reversible counter 14 will be 5 when the next timing pulse is output, and the preset value of the counter 8 will also be 5. Thereafter, after signal B becomes "H", signal D is output every five clock pulses, and the illumination lamp 3 further increases in brightness. When the desired brightness is reached, the operation of the brightness increasing switch 13 is stopped. From then on, the reversible counter 14 continues to maintain the count value at that time, so the lighting lamp 3 maintains the brightness at that time. It will continue to be lit.

The above explanation has been given for the case where dimming is started when the count value of the reversible counter 14 is preset to 7, but dimming is possible even when the preset value is at any value. Needless to say. Also, as can be understood from the above description, the period of the timing pulse from the timing circuit 9 determines the period of the dimming step. In other words, in the process of dimming, when one timing pulse is emitted, the illumination lamp 3 is lit with a brightness according to the count value of the reversible counter 14 at that time, and that brightness is changed to the next one. This is because it continues until the timing pulse is emitted. As an actual example, as mentioned above, the period of the timing pulse is 0.5
About a second would be appropriate.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, as long as the switch for increasing or decreasing the brightness is operated continuously, the brightness will gradually increase or decrease as time passes, and the operation of turning the knob as in the conventional method will be possible. is not necessary at all. In particular, if the light increase/decrease switch is a contact switch, the dimming operation will proceed simply by touching it, and furthermore, the dimming operation can be processed digitally, and the mechanical movement of the rotating body or other It has the effect of not requiring any.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a time chart for explaining the operation. 1...Power supply for lighting, 2...Gate circuit, 3...
Illumination light, 4... Control circuit, 8... Counter, 9...
...Timing circuit, 12...Dimming switch, 1
3... Brightness increase switch, 14... Reversible counter,
15...Latch circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A switch for brightening and dimming, an oscillator that generates a clock pulse with a cycle shorter than the power supply cycle,
a timing circuit that generates a timing pulse with a cycle longer than the power supply cycle; and a timing circuit that generates a timing pulse with a cycle longer than the power supply cycle;
a control circuit that outputs a pulse having a period of , a latch circuit that receives the count value of the reversible counter and latches the input value in response to the output of the control circuit; and a latch circuit that presets the value latched by the latch circuit, and that counts the clock pulses. An illumination device comprising: a counter that outputs a pulse when the number of clock pulses reached reaches the preset value; and a gate circuit comprising a thyristor that becomes conductive in response to the output pulse of the counter. Light control device.