LIGHTING APPARATUS

Abstract

A lighting apparatus includes a light source, a main controller, a AC-DC converter, a dimmer signal extractor, a dimmer interface circuit and an isolating transformer. The AC-DC converter converts an external AC power to a driving current of a DC power for supplying power to the light source according to a control signal received by the main controller. The dimmer signal extractor generates the control signal supplied to the main controller according to a transformed signal. The dimmer interface circuit is connected to a dimmer. The dimmer is disposed on a wall to be operated by a user to generate a dimmer voltage. The dimmer voltage is converted to a dimmer signal. The isolating transformer has a secondary terminal connecting to the dimmer interface circuit and a first terminal connecting to the dimmer signal extractor.

Claims

1. A lighting apparatus, comprising: a light source; a main controller; a AC-DC converter for converting an external AC power to a driving current of a DC power for supplying power to the light source according to a control signal received by the main controller; a dimmer signal extractor for generating the control signal supplied to the main controller according to a transformed signal; a dimmer interface circuit connecting to a dimmer, wherein the dimmer is disposed on a wall to be operated by a user to generate a dimmer voltage, wherein the dimmer voltage is converted to a dimmer signal; and an isolating transformer with a secondary terminal connecting to the dimmer interface circuit and a first terminal connecting to the dimmer signal extractor, wherein the isolating transformer generates the transformed signal from the dimmer signal via coils on a common metal unit.

2. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein a transformer switch module is connected between the isolating transformer and the dimmer signal extractor.

3. The lighting apparatus of claim 2, wherein a direct current switch module is connected to the isolating transformer, wherein the direct current switch module and the transformer switch module are coupled to the first terminals of the isolating transformer.

4. The lighting apparatus of claim 3, wherein the direct current switch module comprises a first transistor, wherein the first transistor has a gate terminal connected to a ground via a first Zener diode, wherein a first capacitor is connected to the ground and to the gate terminal of the first transistor via a first resistor.

5. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dimmer signal extractor comprises a sampling filter circuit and a detection circuit, wherein the sampling filter circuit filters the transformed signal to a filtered signal, wherein the detector circuit comprises two resistors for moving the filtered signal to a corresponding voltage level as the control signal.

6. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dimmer interface circuit couples to the dimmer for receiving the dimmer voltage corresponding to the operation of the user to indicate a desired value in a predetermined range.

7. The lighting apparatus of claim 6, wherein the dimmer voltage is between 0V and 10V.

8. The lighting apparatus of claim 6, wherein the dimmer voltage is between 1V and 10V.

9. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control signal is converted to at least one PWM signal by the main controller to adjust the driving current supplied to the light source.

10. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light source comprises multiple LED modules with different color temperatures, wherein the main controller changes the control signal to change both a light intensity and a mixed color temperature of the multiple LED modules when the dimmer voltage is changed.

11. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dimmer voltage is used by the main controller to change a mixed color temperature of the light source.

12. The lighting apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a mode switch for indicating whether the dimmer voltage is used to adjust the mixed color temperature.

13. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main controller detects a variation pattern of the control signal to change an operation mode to interpret the dimmer voltage.

14. The lighting apparatus of claim 13, wherein the dimmer voltage is converted to different control parameters for controlling the light source under different operation modes.

15. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a manual switch for enabling or disabling the isolating transformer.

16. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main controller has a wireless interface for transmitting a value of the control signal to an external device.

17. The lighting apparatus of claim 16, wherein the external device adjusts a wireless command sent to the main controller according to the value of the control signal.

18. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main controller generates a remote control signal to a remote light device according to the control signal so that the dimmer controls the remote light device via the lighting apparatus.

19. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main controller keeps an intensity table for storing light intensity levels associated with different dimmer voltages.

20. The lighting apparatus of claim 19, wherein the main controller keeps multiple light intensity tables and selects one from the multiple light intensity tables to convert the dimmer voltage to a corresponding light intensity of the light source.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0046] FIG. 1 illustrates a lighting apparatus embodiment.

[0047] FIG. 2 illustrates a lighting apparatus embodiment with a dimmer converter.

[0048] FIG. 3 illustrates another lighting apparatus with a dimmer converter.

[0049] FIG. 4 illustrates a detailed example of a dimmer converter circuit.

[0050] FIG. 5 illustrates an architecture diagram of a lighting apparatus.

[0051] FIG. 6 illustrates another architecture diagram of a lighting apparatus.

[0052] FIG. 7 illustrates a circuit example of a lighting apparatus embodiment.

[0053] FIG. 8 illustrates a lighting apparatus example showing a dimmer control.

[0054] FIG. 9 shows an example of an isolating transformer.

[0055] FIG. 10 shows signal processing example of a dimmer signal extractor.

[0056] FIG. 11 shows light intensity table examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0057] In FIG. 8, a lighting apparatus includes a light source 601, a main controller 602, a AC-DC converter 603, a dimmer signal extractor 607, a dimmer interface circuit 609 and an isolating transformer 615.

[0058] The AC-DC converter 603 converts an external AC power 604 to a driving current 605 of a DC power for supplying power to the light source 601 according to a control signal 606 received by the main controller 602.

[0059] The dimmer signal extractor 609 generates the control signal 606 supplied to the main controller 602 according to a transformed signal 608.

[0060] The dimmer interface circuit 609 is connected to a dimmer 610.

[0061] The dimmer 610 is disposed on a wall 611 to be operated by a user 612 to generate a dimmer voltage 613.

[0062] For example, the dimmer 610 may include a rotation button or an adjusting bar for setting a value by changing a relative position or a relative angle by the user 612.

[0063] The dimmer voltage 613 is converted to a dimmer signal 614.

[0064] The isolating transformer 614 has a secondary terminal 616 connecting to the dimmer interface circuit 609 and a first terminal 617 connecting to the dimmer signal extractor 607.

[0065] The isolating transformer 615 generates the transformed signal 608 from the dimmer signal 614 via coils on a common metal unit.

[0066] FIG. 9 shows two coils 618, 619 mounted on the same metal unit 620, which is a common transformer design using electro-magnetic theory. A signal on one coil 619 may be transformed to another signal on another coil 618.

[0067] In FIG. 9, a transformer switch module 622 is connected between the isolating transformer and the dimmer signal extractor 624.

[0068] In FIG. 9, a direct current switch module 621 is connected to the isolating transformer.

[0069] The direct current switch module 621 and the transformer switch module 622 are coupled to the first terminals of the isolating transformer.

[0070] In FIG. 4, the direct current switch module 260 includes a first transistor Q3.

[0071] In the example of FIG. 4, the first transistor Q3 has a gate terminal connected to a ground via a first Zener diode D9.

[0072] A first capacitor C4 is connected to the ground and to the gate terminal of the first transistor Q3 via a first resistor R9.

[0073] In FIG. 10, the dimmer signal extractor includes a sampling filter circuit 631 and a detection circuit 633.

[0074] The sampling filter circuit 631 filters the transformed signal 632 to a filtered signal 634.

[0075] The detector circuit 633 includes two resistors for moving the filtered signal 634 to a corresponding voltage level 636 as the control signal.

[0076] In FIG. 4, the sampling filter circuit 240 filters the transformed signal obtained from the isolating transformer 210. The filtered signal is then detected with two resistors R4, R5 to adjust to a desired voltage level 103.

[0077] The sampling filter circuit 240 has two Zenor diodes D5, D6, a capacitor C3 and a diode D4. The isolating transformer 210 has coils and a diode D3 and a resistor R3.

[0078] The direct current switch module 260 receives a direct current source 101 and has a resistor R8, a diode D7, a transistor Q3, a diode D8 connected in series.

[0079] In FIG. 4, the dimmer interface circuit 220 couples to the dimmer for receiving the dimmer voltage corresponding to the operation of the user to indicate a desired value in a predetermined range.

[0080] The dimmer interface circuit 220 in FIG. 4 includes a diode D1, a Zenor diode D2, two capacitors C1, C2, two resistors R1, R2 and a transistor 0V couple to 0-10V+ and 0-10V− terminals.

[0081] In some embodiments, the dimmer voltage is between 0V and 10V. In such case, the dimmer voltage may be selected by a user to be set between 0V and 10V for tuning a rotation button or a bar.

[0082] In some embodiments, the dimmer voltage is between 1V and 10V. In such case, the dimmer voltage may be selected by a user to be set between 1V and 10V for tuning a rotation button or a bar.

[0083] In FIG. 8, the control signal 606 is converted to at least one PWM signal 6061 by the main controller 606 to adjust the driving current 605 supplied to the light source 601.

[0084] PWM refers to Pulse Width Modulation, which uses a duty ratio turning-on time periods to adjust a current value or other parameters.

[0085] In some embodiments, the light source 601 includes multiple LED modules 6011 with different color temperatures. By controlling a relative ration among driving currents supplied to the LED modules 6011, a different mixed color temperature may be obtained.

[0086] In other words, the control signal 606 may be converted to corresponding one or multiple PWM signals for adjusting driving currents supplied to different LED modules to obtain a desired light parameter like color temperature.

[0087] In some embodiments, the main controller changes the control signal to change both a light intensity and a mixed color temperature of the multiple LED modules when the dimmer voltage is changed.

[0088] For example, the main controller controls the multiple LED modules to emit mixed lights by reducing the color temperature (CCT) of the light when it is dimmed, from 2800K at 100% light intensity to 2000 K as the light intensity approaches 0%.

[0089] In some embodiments, the dimmer voltage is used by the main controller to change a mixed color temperature of the light source.

[0090] In FIG. 8, the lighting apparatus may also include a mode switch 641 for indicating whether the dimmer voltage is used to adjust the mixed color temperature.

[0091] In some embodiments, the main controller detects a variation pattern of the control signal to change an operation mode to interpret the dimmer voltage.

[0092] For example, when the user turns the 0-10V dimmer from zero to 100% for three times within 3 seconds, the main controller interprets such operation as a mode switch operation. In such case, the main controller changes its working mode accordingly, e.g. determine how to interpret the 0-10V dimmer adjustment.

[0093] In some embodiments, the dimmer voltage is converted to different control parameters for controlling the light source under different operation modes.

[0094] In FIG. 8, the lighting apparatus may also include a manual switch 642 for enabling or disabling the isolating transformer. In such case, the lighting apparatus may have multiple sets of circuit paths. The circuit path of the isolating transformer may be disabled or enanbled depending on users requirements.

[0095] In FIG. 8, the main controller has a wireless interface 643 for transmitting a value of the control signal to an external device 644.

[0096] In some embodiments, the external device 644 adjusts a wireless command sent to the main controller 602 according to the value of the control signal.

[0097] In FIG. 8, the main controller generates a remote control signal to a remote light device 645 according to the control signal so that the dimmer controls the remote light device 645 via the lighting apparatus. In other words, when the user operates a dimmer, two light devices are controlled at the same time, even the remote light device is not directly connected to the operated dimmer.

[0098] In some embodiments, the main controller keeps an intensity table for storing light intensity levels associated with different dimmer voltages.

[0099] In some embodiments, the main controller keeps multiple light intensity tables and selects one from the multiple light intensity tables to convert the dimmer voltage to a corresponding light intensity of the light source.

[0100] FIG. 11 shows two light intensity tables 665, 666. The two light intensity tables records different mapping relations between 0-10V dimmer voltages 661, 663 to light intensities 662, 664.

[0101] FIG. 1 shows a lighting apparatus embodiment.

[0102] In FIG. 1, the lighting apparatus includes a direct current terminal 101 for receiving a direct current. The isolating transformer 210 is disposed between the dimmer interface 220 and the conversion switch module 230. The dimmer interface 220 is connected to a dimmer 300.

[0103] The switch signal terminal 102 is connected to the conversion switch 230.

[0104] FIG. 2 shows another lighting apparatus embodiment. The same reference numerals refer to the same components. There are some elements not disclosed in FIG. 1.

[0105] In FIG. 2, the isolating transformer 210 converts a dimmer signal from the dimmer interface 220. The dimmer interface 220 converts the dimmer voltage to the dimmer signal. The dimmer signal is further converted to a transformed signal that is processed by the sampling filter circuit 240 and the detector circuit 250 as mentioned above.

[0106] FIG. 3 shows another embodiment similar to the examples in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 with some different element arrangement.

[0107] In FIG. 3, there is a direct current switch module 260 for converting the direct current received from the direct current terminal 101.

[0108] FIG. 4 shows a detailed circuit example for the examples in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

[0109] In FIG. 4, the same reference numerals refer to the same components or examples in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3.

[0110] FIG. 5 shows a lighting apparatus example.

[0111] In FIG. 5, the rectifier 410 may includes a transformer bridge to convert an AC power to a DC power. The power transformer 430 further filters and processes the power to generate corresponding driving currents to the light source 500. There are a power switch 440 that is controlled by a main controller 450. The dimmer voltage may be processed by a signal converter 200 as mentioned above to be embedded and transmitted to the main controller 450.

[0112] FIG. 6 shows another lighting apparatus embodiment similar to the example in FIG. 5. In FIG. 6, in addition to the elements illustrated in FIG. 5, there are a filter 420 for filtering the power, an absorb module to remove unwanted noise, and a current relay disposed between the light source 500 and the power transformer 430.

[0113] FIG. 7 shows a detailed circuit example illustrating an example to implement each block shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. The same reference numerals refer to the same components or examples in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

[0114] In FIG. 7, the rectifier 410 has a bridge circuit. The filter 420 includes a PI filter. The absorb circuit 470 includes a capacitor, multiple resistors and a diode to remove unwanted signals.

[0115] The power transformer 430 includes a transformer that includes coils and metals. The direct current terminals 101, 102 may refer to the examples in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.

[0116] The current relay 460 includes diodes, capacitors and resistors for supplying power to the light source.

[0117] The power switch 440 has a transistor Q4 for converting power. The main controller includes a control chip U1 to handle PWM signals and the transformed signal to control the light source.

[0118] The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings.

[0119] The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the techniques and their practical applications. Others skilled in the art are thereby enabled to best utilize the techniques and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

[0120] Although the disclosure and examples have been fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included within the scope of the disclosure and examples as defined by the claims.