Light controller suitable for LED lights

Abstract

The invention provides light controllers and systems for controlling operation of lights such as LED lights with multiple operation settings in ceiling fans. The light control system uses the combination of a coding module and a light setting module in order to send both kinds of commands to the light through just one set of wires (preferably a live wire and a neutral wire) in order to control both on / off and dimming and the colour temperature setting in smooth, gradual, continuous and stepless fashions. The system does not require an additional dedicated control signal conductor (i.e., a drive wire) for controlling operation of the light.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure broadly relates to light controllers and LED, more particularly, to a system for, and a method of, controlling operation of LED lights with multiple operation settings, preferably in ceiling fans 50 / 60 Hz. Background

[0002] LED lights provide varied functionality making them a useful and popular lighting option. LED lights can include variable colours, variable light temperatures, and variable brightness. Typically, the user controls required to make a selection between the many different options are quite complex, for example requiring an app on a mobile device, or requiring a remote control with several buttons.

[0003] Often, the light switches will be connected to the lights with an additional, dedicated control signal conductor. For example, as illustrated in Figure 7 of the drawings, a prior art ceiling fan with a light combination 700 has a power supply 702 that includes the standard live and neutral wires from the wall or ceiling 704 of the room. A remote receiver 706 receives control signals for the light 708, and then effects operation of the light 708 via the ceiling fan 710, via two conducting wires 712 that include the power supply to the light 714 and an additional dedicated control signal conductor 716 being a drive wire for the light. In such prior art systems, the additional wire 716 is required in order to send two kinds of commands to the light, namely (1) an on / off and dimming signal, and (2) a colour temperature setting.

[0004] Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application. Summary

[0005] Described herein is a light control system that uses the combination of a coding module and a light setting module in order to send both kinds of commands to the light through just one set of wires (preferably a live wire and a neutral wire only) in order to control both (1) on / off and dimming, and (2) the colour temperature setting. The system described herein does not require an additional dedicated control signal conductor (i.e., a drive wire) for controlling operation of the light.

[0006] In one aspect there is provided a light controller comprising: a coding module configured: to receive an input signal from a light switch / control device, the input signal indicative of a light setting, to determine a code associated with the light setting, and to output a modulated power supply based on the determined code; and a light setting module in communication with the coding module and configured: to determine the code from the modulated power supply, and to control operation of a light based on the determined code.

[0007] The light controller may be operatively connected to the light via a conductor pair comprising a live wire and a neutral wire.

[0008] The coding module may comprise: a switch interface configured to receive the input signal from the light switch / control device; a processor in communication with the switch interface and configured: to receive the input signal from the switch interface, to determine the code associated with the light setting, and output the determined code; and a power modulator connected to the processor to receive the determined code, and configured: to modulate a power supply based on the code, and to output the modulated power supply.

[0009] The light setting module may comprise: a light driving module; and a light setting controller, and at least one of the light driving module and the light setting controller may be configured to determine the code from the modulated power supply, and the light driving module may control operation of the light based on the determined code.

[0010] The light setting module may further comprise: a surge protection circuit; an electromagnetic interference suppression circuit; a power controller; and a light switch controller.

[0011] The light switch / control device 112 and the switch interface may be in communication via one or more of: a wired connection and a wireless connection, for example, remote control.

[0012] The light may comprises one or more light emitting diodes (LED) in various appearances, and the light controller may be an LED light controller, the light driving module may be an LED driving module, and the light setting controller may be an LED colour controller.

[0013] The light setting may comprise one or more of: a light colour, a light brightness, and a light temperature setting.

[0014] The code may be a multibit binary code comprising a first and a second symbol, and the power supply may be modulated using phase cutting and / or non phase cutting in order to represent the first and the second symbol in the code.

[0015] In another aspect there is provided a method of controlling operation of a light, the method comprising: at a coding module, receiving an input signal from a light switch / control device, the input signal indicative of a light setting; determining a code associated with the light setting; modulating a power supply based on the determined code; at a light setting module, determining the code from the modulated power supply, and controlling operation of the light based on the determined code.

[0016] Determining the code may comprise: determining one or more characteristics of the input signal based on one or more of: a pulse, a pattern, and a duration of the input signal; processing the determined one or more characteristics to ascertain the light setting; and retrieving from memory a stored code associated with the ascertained light setting.

[0017] Modulating the power supply, the power supply being an AC power supply, may comprise using phase-fired control (PFC) to phase cut and / or non phase cut the AC power supply to generate different coding symbols in said phase cut power supply.

[0018] The code may be a binary code comprising two coding symbols, and the phase cut and / or non phase cut power supply may comprise a first phase cut waveform associated with a first coding symbol and a second phase cut and / or non phase cut waveform associated with a second coding symbol.

[0019] The binary code may be a multibit code and the modulated power supply may comprise a series of phase cut waveforms representative of the multibit code.

[0020] Determining the code from the modulated power supply may comprise decoding a binary code thereby determining a light setting.

[0021] Controlling operation of the light based on the determined code may comprise the light setting controller providing a control signal to the light via the light driving module.

[0022] In a further aspect, there is provided a light controller and / or a light control system including a combination of a coding module and a light setting module for sending both kinds of commands to the light through just one set of wires to control both (1) on / off and dimming, and (2) the colour temperature setting. Preferably, the set of wires includes a live wire and a neutral wire only.

[0023] Preferably, the light controller and / or light control system includes a correlated colour temperature LED (CCT LED) capable of one or more of the following: (a) effecting colour changing or transition in a smooth, gradual and continuous fashion (ie. fully CCT variable) (b) Stepless dimming in a continuous fashion, for example, 1-100%. In stark contrast, for example, existing technology with a set of a live wire and a neutral wire only allows simple operations such as: (i) pressing a button once or holding a button for stepped dimming; (ii) pressing a button once to turn the light off and pressing the button again to turn the light back on in order to switch the colour of the light, for example, from yellow to white; or (iii) pressing the button repeatedly to change the colour of the light from yellow to middle to white as a result of switching discretely between three corresponding colour temperatures.

[0024] Throughout this specification the word “comprise” or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps. Brief Description of Drawings

[0025] Embodiments of the disclosure are now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0026] Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a lighting system.

[0027] Figure 2A is a schematic representation of a light controller of the lighting system of Figure 1.

[0028] Figure 2B is an embodiment of a power controller that forms part of the light controller of Figure 2A.

[0029] Figure 3 is a circuit diagram of a light setting module of the light controller of Figure 2A.

[0030] Figure 4 is a diagram of a method of controlling operation of a light.

[0031] Figure 5A shows a first symbol waveform.

[0032] Figure 5B and 5C show a second symbol waveform.

[0033] Figure 6A illustrates an embodiment of a light and fan system.

[0034] Figure 6B illustrates another embodiment of a light and fan system.

[0035] Figure 7 is a schematic representation of a prior art system having a ceiling fan and a light combination involving (1) the operations of on / off and dimming, and (2) the setting / changing of colour temperature.

[0036] In the drawings, like reference numerals designate similar parts. Detailed Description

[0037] Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, a lighting system 100 comprises a light 106 controllable by a light switch / control device 112 via a light controller 110. The light switch / control device 112 provides an input signal 222 (refer Figure 2A) to the light controller 110. The light controller modulates an AC power supply 102 to the light 106 based on the input signal 222. The light controller 110 is operatively connected to the light 106 via a conductor pair 114 comprising a live wire and a neutral wire. In some embodiments the light includes one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs), and then the light controller is or includes an LED light controller.

[0038] In some embodiments the AC power supply 102 is provided to the system 100 via the light switch 112.

[0039] As used herein, the term “light switch” refers to a switching mechanism for controlling operation of a light. The light switch / control device may take various forms, such as one or more on / off toggle switches, one or more dials, sliders, buttons, etc. In some embodiments the light switch / control device may include a radio frequency (RF) remote control signal including a remote control transmitter and a receiver.

[0040] In prior art ceiling fan with lighting systems, being able to control operation of a light based on multiple lighting settings generally requires multiple wires such as control signal wires to the light. Advantageously, the method and system described herein require only a standard AC power supply conductor pair (a live wire and a neutral wire only).

[0041] Figure 2A of the drawings is a diagram of the light controller 110 which includes a coding module 250 and a light setting module 260. The coding module 250 is configured to receive the input signal 222 from the light switch 112, and the input signal is indicative of a light setting. The light setting is a setting selected by a user via the user interface provided by the light switch, and may be, for example, switching the light on or off, changing a colour of the light, setting a colour warmth or temperature of the light, and / or setting a brightness of the light. The user interface on the light switch / control device may include one or more buttons, dials, sliders, touch screens, etc.

[0042] The coding module 250 is further configured to determine a code associated with the light setting, and then to output a modulated power supply 242 based on the determined code. In some embodiments the code may be a binary code, i.e., consisting of a series of symbols selected from two options (e.g. l’s and O’s). Each code (also called a “code word”) includes more than one symbol or bit. This type of code word consisting of multiple bits is referred to herein as a “multibit code”. So, for example, a code of “0000” may represent an “off’ setting for the light, and a code of “ 1111 ” may represent an “on” setting for the light.

[0043] The coding module 250 comprises a switch interface 220 configured to receive the input signal 222 from the light switch 112. The light switch 112 and the switch interface 220 may be in communication with one another via a wired connection and / or a wireless connection such as via radio frequency (RF), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.

[0044] The coding module 250 also has a processor 230 in communication with the switch interface 220, which can be a microcontroller, microprocessor, DSP or other similar computing device. The processor 230 includes memory with instructions that cause the processor to receive the input signal from the switch interface 220, determine the code associated with the light setting, and output the determined code to the coding module’s power modulator 240, which is connected to the processor 230 to receive the determined code. The power modulator 240 is configured to modulate the power supply 102 based on the code, and to output the modulated power supply 242.

[0045] In some embodiments the power modulator 240 comprises an AC / DC control circuit, and provide power to the light controller 110.

[0046] The light controller’s light setting module 260 is in communication with the coding module 250, and is configured to determine the code from the modulated power supply 242, and to control operation of the light 106 based on the determined code.

[0047] The light setting module 260 comprises a light driving module 208 and a light setting controller 212, and the light driving module 208 and / or the light setting controller 212 are configured to determine the code from the modulated power supply 242. The light driving module 208 controls operation of the light 106 based on the determined code.

[0048] In some embodiments, the light setting module 260 also comprises one or more of: a surge protection circuit 202, an electromagnetic interference suppression circuit 204, a power controller 206, and a light switch controller 210.

[0049] In embodiments where the light comprises one or more LEDs, the light controller 110 includes an LED light controller, the light driving module 208 includes an LED driving module, and the light setting controller 212 includes an LED colour controller.

[0050] Figure 3 shows a circuit diagram 300 of a light setting module 260. In this embodiment, the light setting module includes a circuit using a colour modulation light control chip with a state memory, such as a ORG5538 chip from Wuxi ORG Microelectronics co., Ltd. As can be seen in Figure 3, in this embodiment the ORG5538 circuit includes a first surge protection circuit 202 and a second surge protection with electromagnetic interference (EMI) suppression circuit 204. The power controller 206 is based on an ORG6621B LED driving chip, providing driving power for the LED driver and flicker control circuit 208. The LED driver and flicker control circuit 208 together with the colour controller 212 are provided by the ORG5538 colour modulation light control chip.

[0051] The functional blocks shown in Figure 2A can be seen in Figure 3, with the blocks from Figure 2A indicated in broken lines. As indicated, an ORG6621B LED driving chip 320 forms part of the power controller 206, and an ORG5538 colour modulation light control chip 310 forms part of both the LED driver and flicker control circuit 208, and the colour controller 212.

[0052] As can be understood with reference to Figure 3, the circuit 202 rectifies an incoming AC voltage to a DC voltage, and then circuit 202 provides this DC working voltage to the EMI suppression circuit 204, the power controller 206, the light driving module 208, and the light switch controller 210.

[0053] The EMI circuit 204 includes an EMI suppression filter for suppressing electromagnetic noise that would interfere with the device's functionality. The power controller 206 and the light switch controller 210 work together to provide the power management of the light controller 110. The light driving module 208 controls the colour change and the dimming function.

[0054] Figure 2B illustrates an embodiment of the power controller 260.

[0055] Referring now to Figure 4 of the drawings, a method 400 of controlling operation of a light comprises (at 402), receiving, at a coding module 250, an input signal 222 from a light switch 112, the input signal indicative of a light setting. At 404, the method includes determining a code associated with the light setting, and at 406, modulating a power supply based on the determined code. The method includes (at 408), determining, at a light setting module 260, the code from the modulated power supply 242, and then (at 410) controlling operation of the light 106 based on the determined code.

[0056] In some embodiments, the light has a wide colour temperature range, for example from 2700K to 6000K. The light can be controlled using the system and methods described herein to change seamlessly through the colour temperatures in the range 2700K-6000K.

[0057] In an exemplary embodiment, determining the code comprises determining one or more characteristics of the input signal based on one or more of: a pulse, a pattern, and a duration of the input signal. These characteristics are then processed to ascertain the light setting, and a code associated with the ascertained light setting is identified. In some embodiments, this is done by retrieving a stored code from a memory.

[0058] In one exemplary embodiment, the coding used is as follows for a light operation that includes two modes:

[0059] In a first mode, the user provides a first user input via a user interface of the light switch. The first user input may be associated with a first button, slider, icon selection, etc. In some embodiments the first user input is a long press of a button, e.g., a dimming button. A first guiding code is used, e.g. “00”, to indicate the mode of operation. In this mode, full variable dimming e.g. 1-100% is provided, enabling the light brightness, colour range, and / or temperate to be variable between 0 and 100%. Using 10 bits, for example, the full range may be achieved in 128 steps: from 00 0000 0000 to 00 1000 0000, where the first two symbols in the series are the “00” guiding code.

[0060] In a second mode, the user provides a second user input via the user interface of the light switch. The second user input may be associated with a second button, slide, icon selection, etc. In some embodiments the second user input is a series of button presses to cycle through a series of preset light settings. In one exemplary embodiment, a five setting series is associated with five colours or five light temperature settings, e.g., 3000K, 3500K, 4000K, 4500K, and 5000K. With a second guiding code of, e.g. “01”, the associated coding may be, for example, 01 0000, 01 0001, 01 0010, 01 0011, and 01 0100 respectively.

[0061] In a second mode, alternatively, in some embodiments, the second user input is a single or continuous button press to change or cycle through the range of colour temperature. In one exemplary embodiment, the single button press or the continuous button press causes the light to change the colour temperature . For example, with a guiding code of, e.g., “01”, a ten bit variable CCT code of 01 000 0000 and 01 01100100 is used to switch between 3000K and 5000K respectively (or, for example, between 2700K and 6500K) in a smooth transition fashion.

[0062] In some embodiments, modulating the AC power supply comprises using phase-fired control (PFC) to phase cut the AC power supply to generate different coding symbols in the phase cut power supply. For example, for a binary code that has two coding symbols (0 and 1), the power supply is modulated to be a phase cut power supply that includes two different phase cut waveforms. One exemplary embodiment is illustrated in Figure 5A and Figure 5B: Figure 5A shows a first phase cut waveform 502 associated with a first coding symbol (e.g., a “0”), and Figure 5B shows a second phase cut waveform 504 associated with a second coding symbol (e.g., a “1”). Alternatively, non phase cut waveform 506 of Figure 5C may be used as second waveform for faster and smoother operation.

[0063] Where the binary code is a multibit code (for example the 10 bit codes described above), the modulated power supply then comprises a series of phase cut or non phase cut waveforms representative of the multibit code. In the exemplary embodiment, the code is a multibit binary code comprising a first and a second symbol (i.e., 1 ’s and O’s), and the power supply is modulated using phase cutting in order to represent the first and the second symbol in the code. In other words, the modulated power supply will comprise a series of waveforms like those illustrated in Figures 5A, 5B and 5C, thus modulated with the binary code associated with the user-selected light setting.

[0064] The light controller 110 is configured to detect the code on the PFC AC modulated power supply 242, decode the instructions, and control the light function.

[0065] Figure 6A of the drawings shows a wall control embodiment of a light and fan system 600 that includes a fan system 610 and a light system 620. The fan system 610 includes the illustrated motor assembly 612 and a fan switch 614. The light system 620 includes a light 622 (including, e.g., LED lights), and a light switch 624. In this embodiment, control of both the light system 620 and the fan system 610 is via the wall-mounted switches 614, 624. The light switch 624 is in communication with the light 622 via a single live wire 626. The light 622 is also wired with a neutral wire 628.

[0066] Figure 6B illustrates a remote controlled embodiment of a light and fan system 660 that includes a fan system 670 and a light system 680. The light and fan system 660 includes a receiver 690, for example an RF receiver, Bluetooth receiver, or other wireless receiver configured to receive one or more control signals from a transmitter 674 (e.g., a remote control handset) with power supply 684. In addition to the transmitter 674, the fan system 670 includes a receiver 690 and a motor assembly 672. In addition to the light switch 684, the light system 680 includes a transmitter 674 (e.g. a remote control handset, a receiver 690 and a light 682 (including, e.g., LED lights). The receiver 690 is in communication with the light 682 via a single live wire 686. The light 682 is also wired with a neutral wire 688.

[0067] Advantageously, the lighting control described herein supports very fast signalling due to the electronic design, and this means that a smooth colour and / or brightness change is possible by stepless and / or stepping through several small increments in change.

[0068] Advantageously, the lighting control described herein does not require the light to be switched off and on in order to change colours, but can change colours while remaining on. The specially designed controller and its coding system can enable stepless dimming of the light and change in the colour of the CCT LED in a smooth transition, without the need to turn the light off and on.

[0069] Advantageously, the lighting control described herein can be implemented with a simple user interface, for example a one-button switch.

[0070] Advantageously, the lighting control described herein does not require any additional control wiring to the light, as the light setting selection is communicated to the light via the AC power supply that is already provided to the light.

[0071] It will be appreciated that at least in some embodiments the specially designed coding and controlling method and specially designed LED provide the ability to achieve fully CCT variable colour changing and transition in smooth, gradual and continuous fashions (e.g. 1100%) and stepless dimming in a continuous fashion (e.g. 1-100%) through just one set of wires (a live wire and a neutral wire) only.

[0072] It will be understood to persons skilled in the art of the invention that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A light controller comprising:a coding module configured:to receive an input signal from a light switch / control device), the input signal indicative of a light setting,to determine a code associated with the light setting, andto output a modulated power supply based on the determined code; anda light setting module in communication with the coding module and configured: to determine the code from the modulated power supply, andto control operation of a light based on the determined code.

2. The light controller of claim 1, wherein the light controller is operatively connected to the light via a conductor pair comprising a live wire and a neutral wire only.

3. The light controller of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the coding module comprises: a switch interface configured to receive the input signal from the light switch; a processor in communication with the switch interface and configured:to receive the input signal from the switch interface,to determine the code associated with the light setting, andoutput the determined code; anda power modulator connected to the processor to receive the determined code, and configured:to modulate a power supply based on the code, and to output the modulated power supply.

4. The light controller of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the light setting module comprises:a light driving module; anda light setting controller,wherein at least one of the light driving module and the light setting controller is configured to determine the code from the modulated power supply, andwherein the light driving module controls operation of the light based on the determinedcode.

5. The light controller of claim 4, wherein the light setting module further comprises:a surge protection circuit;an electromagnetic interference suppression circuit;a power controller; anda light switch controller.

6. The light controller of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the light switch / control device and the switch interface are in communication via one or more of: a wired connection and a wireless connection.

7. The light controller of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the light comprises one or more light emitting diodes (LED), and wherein:the light controller is an LED light controller,the light driving module is an LED driving module, andthe light setting controller is an LED colour controller.

8. The light controller of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the light setting comprises one or more of: a light colour, a light brightness, and a light temperature setting.

9. The light controller of any one of the preceding claims,wherein the code is a multibit binary code comprising a first and a second symbol, and wherein the power supply is modulated using phase cutting in order to represent the first and the second symbol in the code.

10. A method of controlling operation of a light, the method comprising:at a coding module, receiving an input signal from a light switch, the input signal indicative of a light setting;determining a code associated with the light setting; andmodulating a power supply based on the determined code;at a light setting module, determining the code from the modulated power supply, and controlling operation of the light based on the determined code.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the code comprises:determining one or more characteristics of the input signal based on one or more of: a pulse, a pattern, and a duration of the input signal;processing the determined one or more characteristics to ascertain the light setting; and retrieving from memory a stored code associated with the ascertained light setting.

12. The method of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein modulating the power supply, the power supply being an AC power supply, comprises using phase-fired control (PFC) to phase cut and / or non phase cut the AC power supply to generate different coding symbols in said phase cut power supply.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the code is a binaiy code comprising two coding symbols, and wherein the phase cut power supply comprises a first phase cut waveform associated with a first coding symbol and a second phase cut and / or non phase cut waveform associated with a second coding symbol.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the binary code is a multibit code and wherein the modulated power supply comprises a series of phase cut waveforms representative of the multibit code.

15. The method of any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein determining the code from the modulated power supply comprises decoding a binary code thereby determining a light setting.

16. The method of any one of claims 10 to 15, wherein controlling operation of the light based on the determined code comprises the light setting controller providing a control signal to the light via the light driving module.

Images