Lighting apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10015850-B2
Application number	US-201715409730-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2017
Priority date	Feb 22, 2016
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a lighting apparatus capable of uniformly maintaining power consumed by light emitting units even in the case in which various voltages are applied, and increasing power efficiency while minimizing a heating problem by adjusting a reference voltage applied to a connection structure of the light emitting units and a distribution switch according to magnitude of the applied voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting apparatus comprising:
a power supply unit generating alternating current (AC) power;
a first light emitting unit connected in series to the power supply unit and including a plurality of light emitting groups, each light emitting group including at least one light emitting diode element that emits light according to a power supply voltage from the power supply unit, the plurality of light emitting groups each being connected to one another in series;
a second light emitting unit connected in series to the first light emitting unit and including a plurality of light emitting groups, each light emitting group including at least one light emitting diode element that emits light according to an input voltage through the power supply unit or the first light emitting unit, the plurality of light emitting groups each being connected to one another in series;
a first distribution switch unit including a plurality of switches arranged to correspond to the respective light emitting groups so as to switch on or off a current of the light emitting diode element, wherein one end of each switch is connected to a rear stage of each of the plurality of light emitting groups in the first light emitting unit and the other ends of the plurality of switches are connected in common;
a second distribution switch unit including a plurality of switches arranged to correspond to the respective light emitting groups so as to switch on or off a current of the light emitting diode element, wherein one end of each switch is connected to a rear stage of each of the plurality of light emitting groups in the second light emitting unit and the other ends of the plurality of switches are connected in common;
a voltage detecting unit connected in series to the power supply unit and measuring a power supply voltage from the power supply unit;
a switching controlling unit for determining whether to connect the first light emitting unit and the second light emitting unit in parallel or in series, based on a peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit;
a reference voltage controlling unit for selectively controlling the switches in the first distribution switch unit and the second distribution switch unit which are connected to the respective rear stages of the light emitting groups in the first light emitting unit and the second light emitting unit, according to the power supply voltage value measured by the voltage detecting unit, in such a manner as to light up the plurality of light emitting groups sequentially from the light emitting group closest to the power supply unit;
a first variable resistor unit connected between the other ends connecting the respective switches in common in the first distribution switch unit and a ground, and including a variable resistor;
a second variable resistor unit connected between the other ends connecting the respective switches in common in the second distribution switch unit and the ground, and including a variable resistor;
a power controlling unit changing resistance values of the variable resistors included in the first variable resistor unit and the second variable resistor unit, based on the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit, to constantly maintain power consumed by the first light emitting unit and the second light emitting unit; and
a switch unit connected in series between the power supply unit and the second light emitting unit and controlled by the switching controlling unit, wherein the switch unit is turned on to connect the first light emitting unit and the second light emitting unit in parallel when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is smaller than a switching control reference voltage, and the switch unit is turned off to connect the first light emitting unit and the second light emitting unit in series when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is greater than the switching control reference voltage,
wherein the power controlling unit is configured to:
change the resistance values of the variable resistor of the first variable resistor unit and the variable resistor of the second variable resistor unit to a same resistance value when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is smaller than the switching control reference voltage, and
change the resistance values of the variable resistor of the first variable resistor unit and the variable resistor of the second variable resistor unit to respectively different resistance values when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is greater than the switching control reference voltage,
wherein the reference voltage controlling unit provides a first distribution switch reference voltage to the first distribution switch unit and the second distribution switch unit when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is smaller than the switching control reference voltage, and
wherein the reference voltage controlling unit provides the first distribution switch reference voltage to the first distribution switch unit and a second distribution switch reference voltage having a value greater than the first distribution switch reference voltage to the second distribution switch unit when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is greater than the switching control reference voltage.

2. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first variable resistor unit and the second variable resistor unit include one or more variable resistors having respectively different variable resistor ranges, and
the power controlling unit selects the variable resistor having a same variable resistor range from among the variable resistor of the first variable resistor unit and the variable resistor of the second variable resistor unit to change the resistance values of the variable resistors to a same resistance value when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is smaller than the switching control reference voltage, and selects the variable resistor having respectively different variable resistor ranges from among the variable resistor of the first variable resistor unit and the variable resistor of the second variable resistor unit to change the resistance values of the variable resistors to respectively different resistance values when the peak value of the power supply voltage measured and maintained by the voltage detecting unit is greater than the switching control reference voltage.

3. The lighting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first distribution switch unit and the second distribution switch unit include one or more transistors, as the switches, which are turned on only in a specific range of voltage from among power supply voltage from the power supply unit.

4. The lighting apparatus of claim 3 , wherein a number of the transistors is equal to a number of the light emitting groups respectively included in the first light emitting unit and the second light emitting unit.

5. The lighting apparatus of claim 3 , wherein:
the first light emitting unit and the second light emitting unit each have N light emitting groups, each light emitting group including a plurality of light emitting diode elements, and
an input end of each transistor is connected to a rear stage of each of the N light emitting groups and output ends of the transistors are connected to a common, and have a same number as 2×N, which is a number of all the light emitt

Assignees

• Lumens Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Tai-Hyun
• Kim Jong-Il
• HONG Hyun-Pyo
• Lim Jun-Hyung
• Lee Tae-Kwan
• Lee Young-Jun

Classifications

• H05B45/46

  having LEDs disposed in parallel lines · CPC title

• H05B45/48

  having LEDs organised in strings and incorporating parallel shunting devices · CPC title

• H05B45/44

  with an active control inside an LED matrix · CPC title

• H05B33/083

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05B33/0809

  Electricity · mapped topic