Lighting system

Abstract

A lighting system includes at least one lighting control console for controlling lighting devices, at least two redundant data networks, at least one conversion module, and at least one lighting device actuated by the DMX control data of the conversion module. The conversion module includes at least two redundant conversion devices. At least one switch-over device is interconnected between the two conversion devices on the one side and at least one lighting device actuated by the conversion devices on the other side. The two conversion devices on the one side and the switch-over device on the other side are connected to one another via at least one monitoring data line over which monitoring signals are transmitted. The switch-over device can be switched depending on the monitoring signals.

Claims

1. A lighting system comprising: - at least one lighting control console for controlling lighting devices, the lighting control console including at least one digital processor and at least one digital memory which are suitable for generating, managing and storing digital control data for actuating lighting devices; - at least two redundant data networks on which the digital control data of the lighting control console is transmitted independently of each other; - a first conversion module connected to a first data network of the at least two redundant data networks, the first conversion module converting digital control data transmitted in the first data network into DMX control data; a second conversion module connected to a second data network of the at least two redundant data networks, the second conversion module converting digital control data transmitted in the second data network into DMX control data; - at least one lighting device actuated by DMX control data of the conversion module and the second conversion module; -at least one switch-over device interconnected between the first conversion module and the second conversion module on one side, and the at least one lighting device on an other side, wherein depending on a switching state of the at least one switch-over device, one of the DMX control data of the first conversion device and the DMX control data of the second conversion device is transmitted to the at least one lighting device; and - at least one monitoring data line connecting the first conversion module and the second conversion module on the one side and the at least one switch-over device on the other side, wherein monitoring signals describing operational availability of the first conversion module and the second conversion module are transmitted to the at least one switch-over device over the at least one monitoring data line, wherein the at least one switch-over device is switched depending on the monitoring signals.

2. The lighting system according to claim 1, in which the at least one switch-over device includes multiple switch-over devices forming a common switch-over module.

3. The lighting system according to claim 2, in which the switch-over module includes an electronic monitoring data interface receiving the monitoring signals describing the operational availability of the first conversion module and the second conversion module via at least the monitoring data line, wherein the multiple switch-over devices in the switch-over module are switched together by the monitoring data interface depending on a monitoring signal sequence.

4. The lighting system according to claim 2, in which the switch-over module includes two redundant energy supplies operating independently of each other.

5. The lighting system according to claim 2, in which via the monitoring data line, data between the first conversion module and the second conversion module on the one side and one of the at least one switch-over device and the switch-over module on the other side is bidirectionally transmitted.

6. The lighting system according to claim 1, in which the at least one switch-over device has a normal position which is automatically taken up when no monitoring signals are transmitted on the monitoring data line.

7. The lighting system according to claim 1, in which the monitoring signals describing the operational availability of the first conversion module and the second conversion module are also transmitted to the at least one lighting control console via the data networks.

8. The lighting system according to claim 1, in which the lighting system includes at least two lighting control consoles operating redundantly.

9. A switch-over module comprising: multiple switch-over devices, wherein at least two conversion devices are connected to the switch-over module, and wherein, depending on a switching state of the switch-over devices, one of DMX control data of a first conversion device of the at least two conversion devices and DMX control data of a second conversion device of the at least two conversion devices are transmitted to at least one connected lighting device; and an electronic monitoring data interface receiving monitoring signals describing operational availability of the at least two conversion devices via at least one monitoring data line.

10. The switch-over module according to claim 9, in which the multiple switch-over devices are connected together to the monitoring data interface and are synchronously switched by the monitoring data interface, depending on a monitoring signal sequence.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) One embodiment of the invention is schematically illustrated in the drawing and is exemplified in the following.

(2) In the drawing:

(3) FIG. 1 shows a lighting system according to the invention in a schematic view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

(4) In FIG. 1, a lighting system 01 comprising two lighting control consoles 02 for actuating a plurality of lighting devices 03 is schematically illustrated. Here, the two lighting control consoles 02 operate redundantly and are connected to each other via a data line 04, in order to synchronize the data processing in the two lighting control consoles 02.

(5) The control data generated in the lighting control console 02a are transmitted via a first digital data network 05, for instance an internet data network. The digital control data generated in the lighting control console 02b, however, are transmitted via a second digital data network 06. The two data networks 05 and 06 thus form a redundant data structure, such that, in case of an outage of one of the two data networks, its activity can be taken over by the other data network. The digital control data generated by the lighting control consoles 02 and transmitted in the data networks 05 and 06 cannot be processed directly in the lighting devices 03 since the lighting devices 03 can only process DMX control data. For this reason, a conversion module 07 is interconnected between the data networks 05 and 06, respectively, on the one side and the lighting devices 03 on the other side. Here, said conversion module 07 comprises two conversion devices 08 and 09, wherein the digital control data from the data network 05 are converted into DMX control data in the conversion device 08 and the digital control data from the data network 06 are converted into DMX control data in the conversion device 06. The two conversion devices 08 and 09 can be installed in a common housing or rack for forming the conversion module 07. In the illustrated variant, the two conversion devices 08 and 09 each have a separate housing, wherein the conversion module 07 is formed without a physical connection between said two housings.

(6) Here, each of the two conversion devices 08 and 09 has four outputs and can thus transmit DMX control data to four lighting devices 03. Between the four lighting devices 03 on the one side and the two conversion devices 08 and 09 in the conversion module 07 on the other side, a switch-over module 10 is interconnected in which the four switch-over devices 11 are provided. Each output of the four switch-over devices 11 is connected to one of the four lighting devices 03. The outputs of the conversion devices 08 and 09, which are assigned to one of the four lighting devices 03, respectively, are connected to the two inputsin each caseof each switch-over device 11. During normal operation of the lighting system 01, at both inputs, a switch-over device 11 receives the same DMX control data which are envisaged for the lighting devices connected to the output in each case. During normal operation of the lighting system 01, the switching state of the switch-over device 11 is thus irrelevant in principle. In the switch-over module 10, a monitoring data interface 12 is provided which is connected to two monitoring data interfaces 14 in the two conversion devices 08 and 09 via a monitoring data line 13. In the monitoring data interfaces 14, monitoring data are generated which characterize the operational availability of the respective conversion device 08 and 09, respectively. Said monitoring data are subsequently transmitted to the monitoring data interface 12 in the switch-over module 10 via the monitoring data line 13.

(7) If the operational availability of one of the two conversion devices 08 and 09 is limited, the monitoring signal sequence is correspondingly changed by the monitoring data interfaces 14. If, for instance, one of the two conversion devices 08 or 09 fails, this is communicated to the monitoring data interface 12 in the switch-over module by a change in the monitoring data signal sequence. By evaluating the monitoring data, in the monitoring data interface 12 of the switch-over module 10, the operational availability of the two conversion devices 08 and 09 can thus be assessed. Depending on the operational availability, the switch-over devices 11 are subsequently either switched over to the first input or to the second input. In FIG. 1, for instance, the switching state in the normal state of the switch-over devices 11 is illustrated, with which the switch-over devices 11 are respectively switched to the output of the conversion device 08. If the conversion device 08 now fails, this is communicated to the monitoring data interface 12 in the switch-over module 10 by the monitoring data interface 14 of the switch-over device 11, and subsequently, the switch-over devices 11 are automatically switched over to the inputs which are connected to the conversion device 09. In this way, the lighting devices 03 still receive the required DMX control data although the conversion device 08 has failed.

(8) Here, the data transmission in the monitoring data line 13 should be bidirectional if possible, such that data can also be transmitted from the switch-over module 10 toward the conversion module 07. Additionally, the monitoring data for characterizing the operational availability of the conversion devices 08 and 09 should also be transmitted to the two lighting control consoles 02 via the two data networks 05 and 06, such that, if one of the two conversion devices fails, a corresponding reaction can be triggered.

(9) For improving the security and availability of the switch-over module 10, it is additionally envisaged that the switch-over module 10 comprises two separate power adapters 15 which redundantly provide the switch-over module 10 with the required supply energy.