Remote control of electronic light ballast and other devices field of the invention

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system and device for low power consumption of an on / off control of an individual reactance or a plurality of electrical reactances that can be used for a variety of lighting functions.

BACKGROUND

Electronic gas discharge lighting reactance has become the main option for passive reactive reactance. Gas discharge lighting includes fluorescent lamps and high intensity discharge (HID) lamps. Electronic reactances are constructed with active electronic components, such as transistors that allow functional electrical control. Normal operation of lights with reactance requires that they be activated or deactivated according to the “on and off” operation. This is usually done by an external mechanical switch, which applies or interrupts electrical power to the reactance and correspondingly causes the lamp (s) to turn on or off.

The current and operating voltage of the reactance that feed the reactance must be experienced by this power switch which, for safety reasons, is under restrictions governed by wiring requirements of the construction code for safety. Due to the special knowledge associated with such power wiring, an expensive professional electrician is normally required to alter any switching control within a given construction space.

There are a number of limitations associated with this common means for on / off control. First, the control switch must withstand current requirements of all lighting in a given area, so that for large areas, the current's carrying capacity of the switch must be raised to accommodate the higher letter currents of the lighting . When this happens, the power switching arrangement becomes complex with the power switching implemented through a combination of mechanical and electrical relays (contactors) that increase hardware needs, increase expense and reduce system reliability.

Another limitation occurs if the switch is very remote and distant from lights, which requires that the lighting load current pass to and from the remote switch, causing an undesirable electrical loss corresponding to resistive voltage drops. Additionally, such a system is inflexible to alterations and modifications, which essentially require the special training and experience of the assistance of the high-cost electric contract service, to alter a switching arrangement, or to add automatic remote functions to the lights.

US 6,118,228A in the name of Pal et al. describes a complex electronic reactance comprising multiple functional subsystems for the control of low pressure fluorescent lights. The input of the converter in contracting of said reactance can be connected to an external on / off switching circuit by an optical or magnetic isolation device.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of this invention is to cause a reactance to be activated in compliance with the "on / off" control, by an ultra-high power controller that can be essentially isolated for primary power circuit or derive its switching power very low from the reactance itself. With this invention, it is possible to carry out the on / off control with the minimum voltage and current for a control means essentially almost without loss. The invention can be used with lighting reactances, but also for any device with on / off switches, such as motors, devices, heaters and the like.

Also an object of this invention is to use its on / off control means to perform other desirable functions in the electrical reactance. Such functions include, but are not limited to electronic action, which would cause the electronic reactance to operate at fractional power levels that correspond to different lighting intensities and / or with conventional occupancy sensors.

In addition, an object of this invention is to use wiring components in the on / off control that correspond to the signal or control wiring domain and that are characterized by very low power requirements and that have no restrictions associated with power wiring . Such wiring is common in the telecommunications industry and can be applied to external programmed control.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

By maintaining these and other objects that may be apparent, an electronic power on / off switching system according to claim 1 is provided.

The electronic reactance is therefore controlled by a remote localized switching function with a low amount of control current and little power loss. In some embodiments, this is done by means of a photo-isolator interface circuit within the reactance or within the electronic power module that provides high electrical isolation between an external control signal current and the power electronics of the reactance The photo-isolator is the switching interface from the control of the signal level to the control of the power level.

The on / off switching system can be used for one or more electronic ballasts for one or more lamps, of one or more lighting devices. The system includes one or more reactances that have power electronics, where the system also includes a remote switching function in each reactance, whose remote switching function is located remotely away from each reactance. The remote switching function works with a low amount of control current and little power loss. This on / off switching system also includes one or more connections that connect the remote located switch to a reactance resident in the opto-isolator circuit, with associated interface electronics within each reactance. Therefore, each reactance provides high electrical isolation between the external switching function and the reactance power electronics for each lamp.

In addition to its use with lighting reactances, the functional on / off switching system can also be used for one or more end-use device devices that can be connected electronically, which operate through on / off control. For example, the devices may include motors, heaters, appliances, industrial electrical equipment or other devices that take advantage of proportional on / off control as a means for power modulations. In these embodiments for other devices, each device has an on / off switching function, as well as power electronics, where the remote switching function is located remotely away from the power electronics residing in the device, where, in addition , the remote switching function works with a low amount of control current and little power loss. This on / off switching system also includes one or more connections that connect the remote localized switching function to an opto-isolator circuit with high electrical isolation with respect to power electronics. Power electronics provide electrical computability between the switching function and the operation of the device.

The remote on / off switching system can be applied to control the proportional regulation of the intensity of the light whose interface has an optimally isolated on / off function that connects to the remote circuitry, providing width modulation from the impulse to the control of the optimally isolated interface, to provide proportional regulation of the light intensity. The remote circuitry includes a fixed frequency oscillator influenced by a pulse width modulator controlled by a voltage adjustment, in which proportional pulses cause a constant current to flow remotely through a light emitting diode in an optical isolator in electronic reactance, where a constant current controller ensures a suitable predetermined current to the light emitting diode in compensation of variable cable lengths. A phototransistor / switch of the optical isolator complies with the periodically adjusted “on” duty cycle and causes the power in the reactance circuitry to be applied to the lamp with variable intensity.

A similar on / off switching system can be applied to one or more end-use electrical devices compatible with the electronic on / off control, in which a circuitry that uses a similar optical isolation interface influences the remote power control very low of the power imposed on the various end-use devices, such as motor-driven devices, electric heaters, industrial equipment and any other device that can benefit from proportional on / off control as a means of power modulation.

The individual switch can also control a plurality of reactances, which include, but are not limited to reactances applied to a plurality of HID or fluorescent lamps. This switching function can also be applied to the programmed interruption, such as in controlled intermittent functions that reuse as an attraction in luminous advertising signals.

Optionally, an external repetitive control may be applied so that the "on" periods are different from the "off" period, such that the power to the lamp is proportional to the "on" period. Said interface therefore becomes a means to regulate the intensity with individual external functional control, eliminating the expensive internal control circuitry of intensity regulation.

In addition, the external remote switching function can be provided through active electronics, such as, in part, a transistor. In addition, the remote switching function can be provided by a programmable electronic system, with or without feedback.

A plurality of lead wires connect the remote switching function, a low current power source, and a light emitting diode (LE) is available at the opto-isolator input. The low current power source can be derived from the reactance, or it can be supplied externally.

Although the connectors for reactance control can be of any type of connector, a modular telephone plug connector and the use of the 4-conductor flat cable, common to telephone systems, such as the plurality of conductive cables, facilitates installation.

Through the use of a common RJ11 3-way 4-wire telephone coupler in each ballast and a flat 4-wire telephone cable length with inverted RJ11 plugs at each end (i.e., an inverted cable network), you can connect any number of reactors in the form of a daisy chain to be controlled by an individual remote switch. The addition, reconduction and reconfiguration of switches to control a network of light fixtures can be done without the need of an electrician.

The electrically isolated photo-transistor portion of the opto-isolator is controlled by light emitted by the LED within the opto-isolator. The conduction state of its collector-emitter junction is used to electronically control the operation (in an on / off manner) of any set of standard high frequency electronic inverter circuits used to derive AC power of any frequency to fluorescent lamps or HID

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be better understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the prior art of the common method for switching a lighting reactance.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an electronic reactance of this invention with optimally isolated power control.

Figure 3 is a schematic top plan view of a common type RJ11 3-pass four-wire coupler.

Figure 4 is a schematic representation of contacts of a set of inverted 4-wire cables that is common to the telephone industry.

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of a set of inverted cables.

Figure 6 is a block diagram of multiple reactance network controlled by a switch.

Figure 7 is a physical design of an electronic reactance with electrical connection for this invention.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment that provides remote intensity proportional regulation of a simple low cost electronic reactance utilizing an isolated on / off interface optimally incorporated in the invention.

Figure 9 is a block diagram showing the use of low power external reactance control for on / off control and HID intensity fingers level regulation functions, showing control wiring with RJ11 connectors; and

Figure 10 shows a block diagram of a fully isolated remote switch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A block diagram of a lighting circuit 1 of the prior art is shown in Figure 1. A power source 2 is used to power the reactance 4 that operates two gas discharge lamps (fluorescent) 5. The on / off control of the lamps is influenced by the mechanical switch 3 which must be rated for voltage and current supply requirements of the lamp load when multiple reactances are used in parallel. A long distance from switch 3 to reactance 4 requires evaluation of the effects of the consequent voltage drop. In most jurisdictions, initial switching wiring as well as alterations can only be legally performed by a licensed electrician.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an electronic reactance 9 of this invention. A control switch 10 is wired to connector 11. A cable (not shown) connects connector 11 to connector 12; This could be a long distance. A cable length 13 of the type of 4 flat conductor telephone signal or of any corresponding signal passes from the connector 12 to connections within the reactance 9. Terminals 16 and 17 are connected to each of two lamps (not shown), while connector 18 is common to each of the lamps.

Figure 2 also shows that the key element that distinguishes this reactance from other electronic reactances is the use of an electronic optical insulator component 19 that includes an adapted wall of light emitting diode (LED) 20 and photo transistor 21. An internal low voltage and low current power supply for supplying the LED 20 can optionally be derived from resistors R5 and R6 that are connected in the reactance internally to the power input supply terminals 14 and 15. When the internal power source is used, LED 20 is activated when remote switch 10 is closed, causing limited power supply current to flow through terminals 14 and 15, resistor R1 and LED 20, causing LED 20 deflects transistor 21 to conduction. Conduction transistor 21 causes transistor Q3 to stop conduction, which leads diodes D1 and D2 to conduction, allowing transistor gates in the power oscillator portion of circuitry 23 in reactance 9 to function in an unaffected mode or "on" power mode.

Schematic section 23 (indicated by a dashed line box) serves to typify a standard high frequency inverter circuit used to power a fluorescent lamp. A similar circuit can be applied to the operation of an HID lamp with emphasis applied to the essential functions of this invention.

Schematic section 22 (also indicated by a dashed line box) is a new set of circuits related to remote on / off switching, control of one or more reactances, except for subcircuit 19, which is illustrated within the confines of the Schematic section 22, which is a reverse polarity protector.

Reactance 9 is designed for use with power input ED at terminals 14 and 15.

The reference number 19 is a commercial photo-insulator integrated circuit that is capable of providing high electrical isolation between an external control signal and the power electronics in the reactance 9.

To connect the reactance 9, a voltage is applied, which is either generated internally (as shown) or supplied externally (shown here in the drawing of Figure 8), to the LED 20 of the insulator 19 and limited in current by the resistance (R1); The light is emitted by the LED 20 that excites the photo transistor 21 to be driven (that is, to reduce the resistance). This causes current to flow in the R2 resistor. With the resistor R2 and the insulating transistor 21 forming a voltage divider, the transistor 21 of the conductive opto-isolator 19 causes the base emitter voltage and the transistor Q3 to run low, causing the collector-emitter connection become highly resistive (not conductive). When transistor Q3 is non-conductive, there is no current path for diodes D45 and D5 until the return of power supply, allowing transistor doors Q1 and Q2 to remain in a high impedance state and therefore , function without hindrance as part of the self-excited power swing inverter that serves the gas discharge lamps. A typical example of a transistor, such as transistor Q1 and transistor Q2 is a field effect transistor.

Alternatively, the absence of voltage at the input of the opto-insulator 19 reverses the process described above and causes the doors of transistors Q1 and Q2 to be set to the potential of the power supply return.

This effectively causes transistors Q1 and Q2 to be placed in a non-conductive state. This action interrupts the oscillator / power inverter, causing the lamp to go out.

Therefore, you can see that you can use a

Low voltage, low current interface controlled by a remote-mounted wall-mounted controller 10 to control the operation of an electronic ballast to connect or disconnect lamps. Since each LED 20 just takes a few milliamps of current, the long distance to a remote switch is irrelevant, since any voltage drop is insignificant.

Although any low voltage connector cable can be used, for convenience and low cost, the use of modular connectors and light weight 4-conductor cable from the telephone industry is part of the preferred embodiment of this invention. For example, Figure 3 shows a standard 3-wire RJ11 3-wire coupler 30. It has an input port 31 and two identical output ports 32 and 33 internally wired to maintain the correspondence of terminals for each of the four terminals of each port.

The cable 13 extends between the cable terminal connectors 45 and 46, together forming the inverted cable 47 of Figure 5. The inverted cable 47 includes the four-wire flat cable 13 with opposite terminal connectors 45 and 46, wired as shown in Figure 4, such that reference numbers 40 and 41 refer to the physical order of the connections 40 of correspondingly colored wires in the cable terminal connector 45, and in the reverse order of connections 41 of colored wires in the cable terminal connector 46, of the reverse cable 47 of Figure 5. For example, Figure 4 shows the connection configurations 40 and 41 of opposite terminal contact wires of the four colored wires of the reverse cable 47, labeled "Black", "Red", "Green" and "Yellow", in such a way that the physical order shown in the contact connections 40 is used in the cable terminal connector 45, while the reverse order shown in the contact connections 41, labeled "Yellow", "Green", “Red” and “Black” are used in cable terminal connector 46. Other wire patterns can be used.

The reverse cable 47 is shown in Figure 5 (a reversing telephone cable is common and used here, but is not required to carry out this invention), while the terminal wiring is shown schematically in Figure 4. The connectors RJ11 cable terminals 45 and 46 are attached to the four-wire cable 13 in opposite orientation (see Figure 5) to maintain the integrity of the conductor / Terminal shown in the figure

4.

Figure 6 shows a diagram of multiple reactance connections 9 controlled by an individual remote switch 10. A modular telephone board 50 is wired locally to the wall switch 10 that is fixed to the red and green wires. A long cable 52 with RJ11 cable terminal connectors fixes the telephone board 50 to the first 3-step coupler 30. A short single Terminal 13 cable is plugged into any output port of coupler 30, while the other Terminal is wired to reactance 9 as shown in Figure 2. The other output port of coupler 30 is used for connection to a second reactance through the reverse cable 47 and a second coupler 30, as shown.

Additional reactances in the form of a "daisy chain" are similarly added, as shown in Figure 6. The network is extensible to a large number of individual reactances, since only the load experienced by the switch 10 and the long cable 52 it is that of the parallel charge of the LED 20 in each of the opto-insulators 19 in each reactance 9. In this manner, 3-step couplers 30 are used in the vicinity of each reactance as extension elements to create an easy connection with the next reactance in the chain.

Figure 7 shows a physical design of a lighting apparatus using the reactance 9 that feeds the lamps 5. Short individual terminal cable 13 with RJ-11 connector 60 extends from the casing of the reactance 9; Red and black power input cables 61 also extend from the ballast 9. As shown in Figure 6, the cable 13 is plugged into the three-pass coupler 30 through the RJ-11 connector

60.

The block diagram of Figure 8 is an alternative embodiment using the improved electronic reactance 9 of Figure 2 with optimally isolated ON / OFF control interface with remote circuit assembly that provides pulse width modulation to the interface Optimally isolated reactance for proportional control of light intensity. Figure 8 also shows a device 75 controlled by the circuit assembly of Figure 10.

A fixed frequency oscillator 103 feeds the pulse width modulator 102 which is controlled by a regulation of the voltage provided by the cursor 101 on the potentiometer 100.

By varying the setting, work cycles can be derived from about 0% to almost 100%. These pulses are fed to the constant current controller 104 which is remotely connected to the light emitting diode in the optical isolator 19, which is part of the electronic reactance 9. This is the same optical isolator that is used for the ON / control. Remote OFF described above.

The constant current controller 104 for a control system connected in series ensures adequate current to the interface 19 of the remote reactance and any voltage drop in the long control cable. The output of the phototransistor of the optical isolator 19 then complies with the work cycle established at a distance and varies the average power to the reactance circuitry, resulting in proportional changes in the intensity of the light.

Figure 9 shows the wiring of a reactance network 66. In this case, switch 68 is used to regulate the light intensity and switch 69 is used for on / off control, while using the same cable system of 4-wire signals.

Figure 10 shows a block diagram of a fully isolated remote switch 78 with remote battery 77 and current limiting resistor 76 that selectively supplies power to control a device 75 with function 84 there. Long cables 85 and 86 of low power / voltage activate the light emitting diode (LED) 81 through the additional current limiting resistor 79. The resistor 76 may be replaced by any electronic means of current limitation. The phototransistor 82 is controlled by LED light 81 or in a conductive or non-conductive state to control the function. The device 75 is supplied with DC power by the positive (+) terminal 87 and the negative (-) terminal 88. Current limiting resistors 80 and 83 may be used to support any low power remote equipment (not shown) that may not require fully isolated power.