Multiple location load control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11094353-B2
Application number	US-202016811226-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2020
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

A load control device may include a semiconductor switch, a control circuit, and first and second terminals adapted to be coupled to a remote device. The load control device may include a first switching circuit coupled to the second terminal, and a second switching circuit coupled between the first terminal and the second terminal. The control circuit may be configured to render the first switching circuit conductive to conduct a charging current from an AC power source to a power supply of the remote device during a first time period of a half-cycle of the AC power source, and further configured to render the first and second switching circuits conductive and non-conductive to communicate with the remote device via the second terminal during a second time period of the half-cycle of the AC power source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multiple location load control system for controlling an amount of power delivered to an electrical load from an AC power source, the multiple location load control system comprising:
a main load control device adapted to be coupled in series electrical connection between the AC power source and the electrical load to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load; and
a remote load control device adapted to be coupled to the main load control device, the remote load control device comprising a power supply;
wherein the main load control device comprises a first switching circuit, a second switching circuit, a semiconductor switch, and a control circuit, the control circuit configured to control the semiconductor switch to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load, the control circuit further configured to render the first switching circuit conductive to conduct a charging current to the remote load control device during a first time period of a present half-cycle of the AC power source, the control circuit further configured to render the first and second switching circuits conductive and non-conductive on a complementary basis to communicate with the remote load control device during a second time period of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

2. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to render the first switching circuit conductive and the second switching circuit non-conductive in an active pull-up state to transmit a first bit during the second time period of the present half-cycle of the AC power source, and to render the first switching circuit non-conductive and the second switching circuit conductive in an active pulldown state to transmit a second bit during the second time period of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

3. The multiple location load control system of claim 2 , wherein the main load control device further comprises a first terminal and a second terminal, the remote load control device adapted to be coupled to the first and second terminals; and
wherein the control circuit of the main load control device is configured to render the first and second switching circuits non-conductive to generate a high impedance state at the second terminal after the second time period.

4. The multiple location load control system of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit is configured to generate the high impedance state at the second terminal during a third time period before a zero-crossing at an end of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

5. The multiple location load control system of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit is configured to render the first switching circuit conductive and the second switching circuit non-conductive to conduct the charging current to the remote load control device through the second terminal during the first time period of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

6. The multiple location load control system of claim 5 , wherein the control circuit is configured to render the first switching circuit conductive and the second switching circuit non-conductive to start the first time period following a zero-crossing at the beginning of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

7. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the first time period occurs after a zero-crossing at the beginning of the present half-cycle of the AC power source, and the second time period occurs after the first time period during the present half-cycle.

8. The multiple location load control system of claim 7 , wherein the control circuit is configured to render the first and second switching circuits non-conductive to generate a high impedance state during a buffer time period between the first and second time periods.

9. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second time periods occur during each positive half-cycle of the AC power source.

10. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second time periods occur during each negative half-cycle of the AC power source.

11. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the main load control device further comprises a first terminal, a second terminal and a third terminal, the first terminal adapted to be coupled to the AC power source, the second terminal adapted to be coupled to the remote load control device, and the third terminal adapted to be coupled to the electrical load.

12. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to receive a power control command from the remote load control device during the second time period of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

13. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the remote load control device is adapted to be coupled to the main load control device via an accessory wiring and the control circuit is configured to enable a charging path to allow the power supply of the remote load control device to charge through the accessory wiring during the first time period of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

14. The multiple location load control system of claim 13 , wherein the control circuit is configured to render the first switching circuit conductive and the second switching circuit non-conductive to enable the charging path to allow the power supply of the remote load control device to charge through the accessory wiring during the first time period.

15. The multiple location load control system of claim 13 , wherein the main load control device and the remote load control device are configured to communicate with each other via the accessory wiring during the second time period of the present half-cycle of the AC power source.

16. The multiple location load control system of claim 13 , wherein the main load control device is configured to control the accessory wiring using tri-state logic.

17. The multiple location load control system of claim 16 , wherein the main load control device is adapted to communication using the tri-state logic by actively pulling up the accessory wiring and actively pulling down the accessory wiring.

18. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the main load control device is adapted to be located on either a line-side or a load-side of the multiple location load control system.

19. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the main load control device and the remote load control device form a communication path that does not pass through either the AC power source or the electrical load.

20. The multiple location load control system of claim 1 , wherein the electrical load comprises a lighting load and the main load control device comprises a dimmer.

Assignees

• Lutron Tech Co Llc

Inventors

• Weightman Russell
• Lenz Jonathan T
• Shukla Jaykrishna A
• Raneri Daniel Curtis

Classifications

• H05B47/196

  characterised by user interface arrangements · CPC title

• H05B47/17

  Operational modes, e.g. switching from manual to automatic mode or prohibiting specific operations · CPC title

• H05B47/185

  via power line carrier transmission · CPC title

• H05B47/10

  Controlling the light source · CPC title

• H05B39/086 Primary

  with possibility of remote control · CPC title