Antennas, driving devices, and LED lamps for near-field communication

Abstract

Embodiments of this disclosure relate to an antenna for near-field communication, a driving device for a light-emitting diode (LED) lamp, and an LED lamp. The antenna includes a columnar support and windings, the windings being wound around the side of the columnar support to form multiple coils; the multiple coils are electrically connected in series or parallel; and adjacent coils are spaced apart by a predetermined distance. The driving device includes a printed circuit board, a driver chip, and the antenna. The LED lamp includes an LED module and the driving device. The antenna according to embodiments of this disclosure can achieve good coupling performance in multiple directions and positions.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to an antenna for near field communication (NFC), a driving device including the antenna, and a light-emitting diode (LED) lamp including the driving device. Background Technology

[0002] NFC technology is widely used in various application areas, such as access control, transportation, and payments. The NFC antenna is the core component of an NFC device, and it largely determines the communication performance of the NFC device.

[0003] Therefore, designing high-performance NFC antennas is a goal pursued by those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This disclosure presents a high-performance NFC antenna with high coupling performance in multiple directions and locations. The high-performance NFC antenna according to this disclosure is particularly suitable for LED lighting drivers, enabling easier near-field communication between the LED lighting driver and external devices such as mobile phones, for example, facilitating on-site programming of the driver.

[0005] According to one aspect of this disclosure, an antenna for near-field communication is provided, comprising a columnar support and a winding, wherein the winding is wound around a side of the columnar support to form a plurality of coils; the plurality of coils are electrically connected in series or in parallel; and adjacent coils of the plurality of coils are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance.

[0006] In some embodiments, the columnar support is a cylinder or a prism.

[0007] In some embodiments, the columnar support is a hollow plastic column.

[0008] In some embodiments, the number of the plurality of coils is two or three.

[0009] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a driving device for a light-emitting diode lamp is provided, comprising: a printed circuit board; a driving chip mounted on the printed circuit board for driving a light-emitting diode of the light-emitting diode lamp; and an antenna according to an embodiment of this disclosure, wherein the antenna is electrically connected to the driving chip for the driving chip to exchange information with an external device via near-field communication, and the antenna is mounted on the printed circuit board by its columnar support.

[0010] In some implementations, the driver chip is a field-programmable driver chip that receives programming code from the external device via the antenna.

[0011] In some embodiments, the columnar support of the antenna is mounted vertically on the printed circuit board.

[0012] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a light-emitting diode (LED) lamp is provided, including an LED module comprising one or more LEDs; and a driving device according to an embodiment of this disclosure for driving the LED module. Attached Figure Description

[0013] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this disclosure, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative effort.

[0014] Figure 1A and Figure 1B A schematic diagram of the coupling performance of an NFC antenna based on a printed circuit board is shown.

[0015] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of an NFC antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0016] Figures 3A to 3D A schematic diagram illustrating the coupling performance of an NFC antenna according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0017] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the coupling performance of an NFC antenna with a coil is shown.

[0018] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of an NFC antenna according to another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0019] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of an NFC antenna according to another embodiment of the present disclosure is shown; and

[0020] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a light-emitting diode lamp and its driving device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0021] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this disclosure more apparent, exemplary embodiments according to this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are merely some embodiments of this disclosure, and not all embodiments of this disclosure. It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein.

[0022] In this specification and accompanying drawings, substantially the same or similar steps and elements are indicated by the same or similar reference numerals, and repeated descriptions of these steps and elements will be omitted. Furthermore, in the description of this disclosure, the terms "first," "second," etc., are used only to distinguish descriptions and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or order.

[0023] As described in the background section, NFC is widely used in various fields, and designing high-performance NFC antennas is a goal pursued by those skilled in the art. The inventors of this disclosure have discovered that, for certain applications, NFC devices need to be able to interact with peer NFC devices from different directions and / or locations. However, conventional NFC antennas struggle to maintain high coupling performance, i.e., coupling efficiency, across multiple directions or locations.

[0024] For example, in the field of LED lighting fixtures, LED luminaires have a driver unit, such as a programmable switching unit (PSU), that powers and controls LED modules with one or more LEDs. This driver unit is intended to be able to set drive parameters, be programmed in the field, or collect other data via an external portable device (such as a mobile phone). However, in many cases, such as in outdoor streetlights, LED luminaires are typically not connected to wired or wireless networks. To write data to or program the driver unit, an NFC antenna can be incorporated into the driver unit to utilize NFC for data transmission. NFC allows data to be easily sent to the driver unit via a portable device that is close to it.

[0025] However, the NFC antenna of the driving device generally needs to be housed within the device's casing, which often includes metal components that affect NFC. Therefore, it is necessary to design an NFC antenna with high coupling efficiency in different directions and / or positions, so that communication can proceed from other locations or directions even when some parts of the driving device are obscured by the metal casing. Furthermore, due to the diversity of LED lighting fixture installation methods and locations, the direction and position from which a portable device can easily access the NFC antenna vary depending on the installation method or location. Therefore, designing an NFC antenna with high coupling efficiency in multiple directions and / or positions is desirable.

[0026] Traditional NFC antennas typically have high coupling efficiency in only one direction or location, while their coupling efficiency is low in other locations and directions. For example, planar antennas formed by printed conductors on a printed circuit board (PCB) have high coupling efficiency only for magnetic field lines perpendicular to the PCB, while their coupling efficiency is low for magnetic field lines parallel to the PCB. Figure 1A and Figure 1BThe diagrams show the coupling performance of the planar antenna on the PCB in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively. Figure 1A and Figure 1B In this diagram, antenna 101 is a planar antenna formed on PCB 100 via printed conductors, and antenna 102 is the counterpart antenna for near-field communication with antenna 101. Antenna 102 can be the same PCB antenna as antenna 101 or other similar antennas, such as other planar antennas commonly used in portable devices. Figure 1A In this configuration, antennas 101 and 102 are placed parallel to each other. In this case, the central magnetic field lines emitted by antenna 102 are perpendicular to antenna 101, thus allowing them to pass well through antenna 101. Figure 1A As shown by the dashed line M, similarly, the magnetic field lines emitted by antenna 101 can also pass well through antenna 102, resulting in high coupling efficiency between them. Conversely, in Figure 1B In this configuration, antennas 101 and 102 are placed vertically, with antenna 101 roughly aligned with the center of antenna 102. In this case, the central magnetic field lines emitted by antenna 102 are parallel to antenna 101 and can barely pass through antenna 101. Figure 1B As shown by the dashed line M, the edge magnetic field lines emitted by antenna 102 bend outward and can hardly pass through antenna 101, resulting in low coupling efficiency between them, making it difficult to meet communication requirements.

[0027] In view of the above problems, embodiments of this disclosure provide an NFC antenna (i.e., an antenna for near-field communication) that can achieve high coupling efficiency in different directions and positions.

[0028] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an NFC antenna 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The NFC antenna 200 includes a columnar support 201 and a winding 202. The winding 202 is wound around the side of the columnar support 201 to form a plurality of coils 202a and 202b. The winding can be any wire suitable for making coils, such as copper core enameled wire. Each coil can have multiple turns of winding. Figure 2 The exemplary embodiments show two coils 202a and 202b, but embodiments of this disclosure may also employ more coils, such as three, four, etc. Multiple coils may be electrically connected in series or parallel, the choice of which can be determined according to the specific application. When multiple coils are electrically connected in series, the potentials induced by the multiple coils can be accumulated. Those skilled in the art can design the winding directions and / or connection relationships of the multiple coils according to the needs of the actual application to achieve the required potential or current accumulation relationship. For example, in some scenarios, the winding directions of two adjacent coils may be designed to be opposite in order to accumulate the potential. Furthermore, adjacent coils in the multiple coils are spaced apart by a predetermined distance. Figure 2In the example, there are only two coils, 202a and 202b, which are adjacent coils with a predetermined distance d between them. This predetermined distance can be determined in advance according to the specific application of antenna 200, for example, according to the shape and size of the peer NFC antenna used. In the case of three or more coils, there are multiple sets of adjacent coils, and the predetermined distance between different sets of adjacent coils can be the same or different.

[0029] Figure 2 The NFC antenna 200 shown is a three-dimensional (3D) coil antenna (hereinafter also referred to as a "three-dimensional antenna"). Its columnar support 201 can be a columnar body of any shape, such as a cylinder or a prism. The prism can be a prism with any cross-sectional shape, such as a prism with a square cross-section. Furthermore, the columnar support 201 can be made of a hollow structure and / or lightweight materials to reduce the weight of the NFC antenna 200; for example, the columnar support 201 can be a hollow plastic column. The multi-coil three-dimensional structure of the NFC antenna 200 allows for a richer variety of magnetic field coupling patterns, thereby enabling the antenna to have high coupling efficiency in different directions and positions.

[0030] The following reference Figures 3A to 3D This describes the coupling performance of the NFC antenna according to embodiments of the present disclosure in different directions and positions. Figures 3A to 3D by Figure 2 The following explanation uses a three-dimensional antenna 200 with two coils as an example. Figures 3A to 3D The coupling performance between the stereo antenna 200 as the receiving antenna and the planar antenna 102 shown in FIG. 1 as the transmitting antenna is illustrated; those skilled in the art will understand that the coupling performance of using the stereo antenna 200 as the transmitting antenna and the planar antenna 102 as the receiving antenna is similar. The reason for choosing the planar antenna 102 as the opposite antenna of the stereo antenna 200 in the embodiments of this disclosure is that the NFC antenna in portable devices is usually a planar antenna.

[0031] exist Figure 3A In this configuration, the planar antenna 102 is located at the top of the stereo antenna 200, and the planar antenna 102 is perpendicular to the columnar support of the stereo antenna 200 (i.e., perpendicular to the axis of the columnar support). In this case, the central magnetic field line emitted by the planar antenna 102 is approximately perpendicular to the coil of the stereo antenna 200 (i.e., parallel to the axis of the columnar support), thereby passing through the coil of the stereo antenna 200 and achieving high coupling efficiency.

[0032] exist Figure 3BIn this configuration, the planar antenna 102 is located on the side of the stereo antenna 200 and parallel to the columnar support of the stereo antenna 200. Furthermore, the center of the planar antenna 102 is approximately aligned with the midpoint of the two coils 202a and 202b of the stereo antenna 200. In this case, neither coil 202a nor coil 202b is aligned with the center of the planar antenna 102; therefore, the magnetic field lines emitted by the planar antenna 102 towards coils 202a and 202b are not parallel to their respective coils, thus achieving better coupling. Figure 3B As shown, the magnetic field line M1 corresponding to coil 202a is not parallel to coil 202a, thus it can pass through coil 202a; the magnetic field line M2 corresponding to coil 202b is not parallel to coil 202b, thus it can pass through coil 202b. Therefore, a high coupling efficiency is formed between the stereo antenna 200 and the planar antenna 102.

[0033] exist Figure 3C In this configuration, the planar antenna 102 is also located on the side of the stereo antenna 200 and parallel to the columnar support of the stereo antenna 200, but the center of the planar antenna 102 is roughly aligned with the center of the coil 202a of the stereo antenna 200. In this case, the magnetic field line M1 emitted by the planar antenna 102 towards the center of the coil 202a is roughly parallel to the coil 202a (i.e., perpendicular to the columnar support), thus it cannot effectively pass through the coil 202a and couple with it. However, the center of the coil 202b is not aligned with the center of the planar antenna 102; therefore, the magnetic field line M2 emitted by the planar antenna 102 towards the coil 202b is not parallel to the coil 202b and can pass through the coil 202b to achieve better coupling. Therefore, the stereo antenna 200 can still achieve high coupling efficiency with the planar antenna 102.

[0034] exist Figure 3D In this configuration, the planar antenna 102 is also located to the side of the stereo antenna 200 and parallel to the columnar support of the stereo antenna 200, but the center of the planar antenna 102 is roughly aligned with the center of the coil 202b of the stereo antenna 200. In this case, the magnetic field line M2 emitted by the planar antenna 102 towards the center of the coil 202b is roughly parallel to the coil 202b (i.e., perpendicular to the columnar support), thus it cannot effectively pass through the coil 202b and couple with it. However, the center of the coil 202a is not aligned with the center of the planar antenna 102; therefore, the magnetic field line M1 emitted by the planar antenna 102 towards the coil 202a is not parallel to the coil 202a and can pass through the coil 202a to achieve better coupling. Therefore, the stereo antenna 200 can still achieve high coupling efficiency with the planar antenna 102.

[0035] Based on the above, Figures 3A to 3DAs can be seen from the description, the NFC antenna according to the embodiments of this disclosure can achieve high coupling efficiency in different directions and positions, which is a significant advantage over the planar antenna shown in FIG1, which only has good coupling efficiency when the opposite antenna is parallel to it. Moreover, the NFC antenna according to the embodiments of this disclosure has multiple spaced coils, which allows the opposite antenna to have good coupling efficiency at multiple positions located on its side. This is because the multiple spaced coils can prevent the magnetic field lines emitted by the opposite antenna at all coils from being perpendicular to the magnetic field receiving direction of the coil, thus preventing the NFC antenna from effectively receiving the magnetic field transmitted by the opposite antenna. In contrast, if the stereo antenna has only one coil, when the planar antenna 102 is located on its side and the center of the planar antenna 102 is approximately aligned with the middle of the coil, the central magnetic field line emitted by the planar antenna 102 is parallel to the coil (i.e., perpendicular to the receiving direction of the coil), and the stereo antenna has poor coupling performance in this case.

[0036] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the coupling performance between a three-dimensional antenna 400 with only one coil and a planar antenna 102 at the opposite end is shown. Figure 4 The stereo antenna 400 and Figure 2 The only difference between the stereo antenna 200 and the stereo antenna 400 is that the stereo antenna 400 has only one coil 402, while Figure 2 The stereo antenna 200 has two coils 202a and 202b spaced apart from each other. Figures 3A to 3D similar, Figure 4 A stereo antenna 400 is used as the receiving antenna, and a planar antenna 102 is used as the transmitting antenna. Figure 4 In this configuration, the planar antenna 102 is located on the side of the stereo antenna 400 and parallel to the columnar support of the stereo antenna 400, with the center of the planar antenna 102 approximately aligned with the center of the coil 402 of the stereo antenna 400. In this case, the central magnetic field lines emitted by the antenna 102 are essentially parallel to the coil 402, making it difficult for them to pass through the coil 402 to achieve better coupling. (Comparison) Figures 3B to 3D According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the three-dimensional antenna with multiple spaced coils will not have the center of the opposite planar antenna 102 aligned with all the coils. Therefore, compared with a three-dimensional antenna with only one coil, the three-dimensional antenna with multiple coils can make the opposite coil have higher coupling efficiency at more locations.

[0037] It should be noted that, as described above, the NFC antenna according to the embodiments of this disclosure is not limited to having only two coils, but may also have three or more coils. More coils allow for more locations with higher coupling efficiency, making the antenna easier to use. Figure 5An NFC antenna 500 is shown with three spaced-apart coils 502a, 502b, and 502c. Two sets of coils are adjacent: coils 502a and 502b, and coils 502b and 502c. The distance d1 between coils 502a and 502b and the distance d2 between coils 502b and 502c can be the same or different. Furthermore, the columnar support of the NFC antenna according to embodiments of this disclosure is not limited to a cylinder, but can also be a prism with any cross-sectional shape. Figure 6 An NFC antenna 600 with a square cross-section prism as a columnar support is shown, which has two coils 602a and 602b. The distance between coils 602a and 602b is d.

[0038] The NFC antenna according to embodiments of this disclosure can be used in various NFC-enabled devices to facilitate good NFC interaction between a user's portable device (e.g., a mobile phone) and the device from different directions and positions. In particular, embodiments of this disclosure provide a driving device for an LED lamp utilizing this NFC antenna.

[0039] Figure 7 A driving device 701 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure and an LED lamp 700 having the driving device 701 are illustrated. As shown, the LED lamp 700 includes a driving device 701 and an LED module 702. The driving device 701 is used to drive the LED module 702, for example, to supply power to the LED module 702, and / or to control the switching, brightness, color, etc. of the LED module 702. The LED module 702 may include one or more LEDs. The driving device 701 includes a printed circuit board 7011 on which a driving chip 7012 and an antenna 7013 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are mounted. The driving chip 7012 is used to drive the LEDs in the LED lamp 700. The antenna 7013 is electrically connected to the driving chip 7012 for the driving chip 7012 to interact with external devices (e.g., portable devices) via NFC. The interaction between the driver chip 7012 and external devices includes, for example, obtaining drive parameters or other data from the external device, or, if the driver chip 7012 is a field-programmable driver chip, receiving programming code from the external device via the antenna 7013 to achieve field programming. Furthermore, when needed, the driver chip 7012 can also send data to portable devices via NFC, such as sending LED light fixture status data to a portable device. The antenna 7012 is mounted on the printed circuit board 7011 via its columnar support, for example, as shown in the image. Figure 7The LED module 701 is shown to be vertically mounted on a printed circuit board 7011. It should be noted that, according to embodiments of this disclosure, the driving device 701 can be integrated with the LED module 702 into a single housing, or it can be a separate component located in its respective housing. Furthermore, the driving device 701 and the LED luminaire 700 according to embodiments of this disclosure may also include other components not shown in the figures.

[0040] The drive device 701 according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be conveniently programmed on the production line and in the field. When the drive device 701 is on the production line, the printed circuit board 7011 of the drive device 701 is typically parallel to the conveyor belt, and the external device for programming is typically located on the side of the conveyor belt. In this case, the antenna of the external device can be coupled to the side of the antenna 7012 of the drive device. When the drive device 701 is used in the field, although the position and orientation for user access to the drive device 701 may vary due to the diversity of its installation location and method, the NFC antenna of the drive device 701 according to the present disclosure has high coupling performance in multiple directions and positions. Therefore, the user can couple with the antenna in multiple different positions and directions using a portable device, thereby greatly improving the convenience of on-site programming or data transmission.

[0041] Those skilled in the art should understand that the specific embodiments described above are merely examples and not limitations. Various modifications, combinations, partial combinations, and substitutions can be made to the embodiments of this disclosure according to design requirements and other factors, as long as they are within the scope of the appended claims or their equivalents, and thus fall within the scope of the rights to be protected by this disclosure.

[0042] The block diagrams of circuits, units, devices, apparatuses, devices, and systems disclosed herein are merely illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that connections, arrangements, or configurations must be made in the manner shown in the block diagrams. As those skilled in the art will recognize, these circuits, units, devices, apparatuses, devices, and systems can be connected, arranged, and configured in any manner that achieves the desired purpose. The circuits, units, devices, and apparatuses disclosed herein can be implemented in any suitable manner, such as using application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or using general-purpose processors in conjunction with programs.

Claims

1. An antenna for near-field communication, comprising a columnar support and a winding, wherein... The winding is wound around the side of the columnar support to form multiple coils, wherein... Each coil has multiple turns of winding; The plurality of coils are electrically connected in series or parallel; and Adjacent coils in the plurality of coils are spaced apart by a predetermined distance; The predetermined distance is determined based on the shape and size of the antenna at the opposite end of the antenna. The columnar support is a hollow plastic column.

2. The antenna according to claim 1, wherein The columnar support is a cylinder or a prism.

3. The antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein The number of the plurality of coils is 2 or 3.

4. A driving device for a light-emitting diode lamp, comprising: Printed circuit boards; A driver chip, mounted on the printed circuit board, is used to drive the light-emitting diodes of the LED lamp. as well as The antenna as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The antenna is electrically connected to the driver chip, enabling the driver chip to exchange information with external devices via near-field communication. The antenna is mounted on the printed circuit board via its columnar support.

5. The driving device according to claim 4, wherein, The driver chip is a field-programmable driver chip, which receives programming code from the external device through the antenna.

6. The driving device according to claim 4, wherein, The columnar support of the antenna is vertically mounted on the printed circuit board.

7. A light-emitting diode lamp, comprising: A light-emitting diode module, comprising one or more light-emitting diodes; as well as The driving device as described in any one of claims 4 to 6 is used to drive the light-emitting diode module.

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