Calibration of a load control device for a light-emitting diode light source

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9954435-B2
Application number	US-201514975560-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2015
Priority date	Dec 19, 2014
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A load regulation device for controlling the amount of power delivered to an electrical load may be able to calibrate the magnitude of an output voltage of the load regulation device in order to control the magnitude of a load voltage across the electrical load to a predetermined level. The load regulation device may receive the feedback from a calibration device adapted to be coupled to load wiring near the electrical load. The feedback may indicate when the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached a predetermined level. The load regulation device may gradually adjust the magnitude of the output voltage, receive the feedback from the calibration device, and then use the feedback to determine the magnitude of the output voltage corresponding to when the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached the predetermined level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A load regulation device for controlling an amount of power delivered to an electrical load, the load regulation device comprising:
a first terminal and a second terminal configured to be connected to the electrical load;
a load regulation circuit configured to generate an output voltage on the first and second terminals for producing a load voltage across the electrical load; and
a control circuit configured to:
receive feedback from a device coupled to the first and second terminals in parallel electrical connection between the load regulation circuit and the electrical load, the device configured to sense a magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load, and the feedback indicating the magnitude of the load voltage sensed by the device across the electrical load;
determine from the feedback whether the magnitude of the load voltage sensed across the electrical load has reached a predetermined level; and
adjust a magnitude of the output voltage of the load regulation circuit based on the determination of whether the magnitude of the load voltage sensed across the electrical load has reached the predetermined level.

2. The load regulation device of claim 1 , wherein the feedback indicates whether the magnitude of the load voltage has exceeded the predetermined level.

3. The load regulation device of claim 2 , wherein the control circuit is configured to gradually increase the magnitude of the output voltage until the feedback indicates that the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached or exceeded the predetermined level.

4. The load regulation device of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit is configured to gradually increase the magnitude of the output voltage through a plurality of periodic steps.

5. The load regulation device of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit is configured to decrease the magnitude of the output voltage to a final magnitude after receiving the feedback that the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has exceeded the predetermined level.

6. The load regulation device of claim 5 , wherein the load regulation device further comprises a memory and wherein the control circuit is configured to store the final magnitude of the output voltage in the memory for use during normal operation of the load regulation device.

7. The load regulation device of claim 1 , wherein the load regulation device is coupled to the electrical load via load wiring, the load wiring characterized by an impedance that causes the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load to be different than the magnitude of the output voltage generated by the load regulation circuit.

8. The load regulation device of claim 7 , wherein the control circuit is configured to receive the feedback via the load wiring.

9. The load regulation device of claim 8 , wherein the feedback comprises a current spike and the load regulation device is configured to gradually increase the magnitude of the output voltage until sensing the current spike.

10. The load regulation device of claim 9 , wherein the load regulation device is configured to gradually increase the magnitude of the output voltage through a plurality of periodic steps.

11. The load regulation device of claim 8 , wherein the feedback comprises regular-interval current spikes and the load regulation device is configured to gradually increase the magnitude of the output voltage until no current spike is sensed for a period longer than the regular interval.

12. The load regulation device of claim 11 , wherein the load regulation device is configured to gradually increase the magnitude of the output voltage through a plurality of periodic steps.

13. The load regulation device of claim 8 , wherein the feedback comprises a digital message.

14. The load regulation device of claim 7 , wherein the device comprises a calibration device, the calibration device coupled to the load wiring near the electrical load.

15. The load regulation device of claim 7 , wherein the device comprises a calibration device, and wherein the load regulation device further comprises:
a communication circuit configured to receive a digital message from the calibration device coupled to the load wiring near the electrical load, wherein the digital message indicates whether the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached the predetermined level.

16. The load regulation device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a communication circuit configured to receive a digital message indicating whether the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached the predetermined level.

17. The load regulation device of claim 16 , wherein the communication circuit comprises a wireless communication circuit.

18. The load regulation device of claim 16 , wherein the communication circuit is configured to wirelessly receive the digital message from the device.

19. The load regulation device of claim 17 , wherein the device comprises a calibration device, and wherein the communication circuit is configured to wirelessly receive the digital message from the calibration device.

20. The load regulation device of claim 16 , wherein the control circuit is configured to start gradually adjusting the magnitude of the output voltage in response to receiving a digital message via the communication circuit in order to determine the magnitude of the output voltage at which the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached the predetermined level.

21. The load regulation device of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to automatically determine the magnitude of the output voltage at which the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached the predetermined level.

22. The load regulation device of claim 21 , wherein the automatic determination occurs when the load regulation device is powered up.

23. The load regulation device of claim 22 , wherein the automatic determination occurs when the load regulation device is first powered up.

24. The load regulation device of claim 22 , wherein the automatic determination occurs each time that the load regulation device is powered up.

25. The load regulation device of claim 1 , wherein the electrical load comprises an LED light source, and the load regulation circuit comprises an LED driver for controlling the magnitude of the output voltage to adjust the intensity of the LED light source.

26. The load regulation device of claim 25 , wherein the predetermined level is a rated voltage of the LED light source.

27. The load regulation device of claim 25 , further comprising a circuit for controlling the light intensity of the LED light source via pulse width modulation (PWM) or pulse frequency modulation (PFM).

28. The load regulation device of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to start gradually adjusting the magnitude of the output voltage in response to an actuation of a button on the load regulation device in order to determine the magnitude of the output voltage at which the magnitude of the load voltage across the electrical load has reached the predetermined level.

29. A load regulation device for controlling an amount of power delivered to an electrical load, the load regulation device comprising:
a first terminal and a seco

Assignees

• Lutron Electronics Co

Inventors

• Knauss Matthew
• Nuhfer Matthew W
• Udall Christopher G

Classifications

• H05B47/19

  via wireless transmission · CPC title

• H05B45/37 Primary

  Converter circuits · CPC title

• G01R19/16538

  in AC or DC supplies (G01R19/16519 and G01R19/16528 take precedence) · CPC title

• H02M3/04 Primary

  by static converters · CPC title

• H05B33/089

  Electricity · mapped topic