Patent Publication Number: US-6211632-B1

Title: Direction control device for a ceiling fan

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the field of ceiling fan, more particularly, to a direction control device for a ceiling fan. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     The ceiling fan has been widely used to provide cooling function as well as decorative effect. Because the ceiling fan is secured to ceiling and suspended therefrom, it may have remote control capability so that a user can conveniently control the operation of the ceiling fan. Such a remote control operation is accomplished by using a remote controller to transmit wireless signal to the ceiling, which is received by the receiver of the ceiling to control the operation states thereof. 
     FIG. 3 shows a ceiling fan which has a canopy ( 83 ), a motor ( 80 ), a hanger rod ( 82 ) suspended from the canopy ( 83 ) and extended through the motor ( 80 ), a plurality of blades ( 81 ) connected to the motor ( 80 ) and a switch box ( 84 ) secured to the bottom of the hanger rod ( 82 ). The switch box ( 84 ) has a pull chain ( 85 ) to be used to manually control the operation of the ceiling fan. 
     In case that such a ceiling fan is provided with remote control and rotation direction control capabilities, a remote receiver and a direction control device are both installed in the canopy ( 83 ). Although the space inside the canopy ( 83 ) is large enough to accommodate the receiver and the direction device, the process to install is difficult. As the direction control to the motor ( 80 ) is accomplished by switching the power connection lines thereof, the connection lines of the motor ( 80 ) have to be connected to the switch box ( 84 ) such that the operation of the motor ( 80 ) can be controlled by the pull chain ( 85 ), and then redirected to the switch box ( 84 ) via the hanger rod ( 82 ). The hanger rod ( 82 ) is hollow to receive electrical wires or the like. However, the inner diameter of the hanger rod ( 82 ) is usually so small such that the connection wires of the motor ( 80 ) are difficult to extended therethrough. Particularly, the connection wires have to be manually extended through the hanger rod ( 82 ), which results in difficulty in assembly of a ceiling fan. Therefore, there is a need for the above ceiling fan control device to be improved. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to provide a direction control device which can be easily installed into a ceiling fan. 
     To achieve the object, a direction control device is provided to have a remote receiver arranged inside a canopy of the ceiling fan and a direction control circuit unit arranged in a switch box of the ceiling fan. The conducting wires of the remote receiver and the connection lines of the fan motor are both electrically connected to the direction control circuit unit via a hanger rod of the ceiling fan without being redirected and the rotation direction of the ceiling fan can be remotely controlled. 
     Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partially exploded view of a ceiling fan that is installed with a direction control device in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the circuit arrangement of the direction control device in accordance with the present invention; and 
     FIG. 3 is a plain view of a conventional ceiling fan. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1 is a partially exploded view of a ceiling fan that is installed with a direction control device in accordance with the present invention, wherein only the parts of a ceiling fan related to the direction control, such as the switch box ( 84 ), canopy ( 83 ) and hanger rod ( 82 ), are illustrated. The switch box ( 84 ) has a manually operated direction controller ( 102 ) and a manually operated switch device ( 101 ) activated by a pull chain to manually control the operation of the ceiling fan. A direction control circuit unit ( 10 ) is provided to electrically connect with the manually operated direction controller ( 102 ) and switch device ( 101 ). Further, the direction control circuit unit ( 10 ) is electrically connected with the connection lines of the motor and conducting wires of the remote receiver ( 20 ), both extended through the hanger rod ( 82 ). In this preferred embodiment, the direction control circuit unit ( 10 ) is connected to a female connector ( 12 ) and a male connector ( 11 ), respectively. The manually operated direction controller ( 102 ) and switch device ( 101 ) are both connected to a female connector ( 110 ). The connection lines of the motor and conducting wires of the remote receiver ( 20 ) are extended from the canopy ( 83 ) and connected to a male connector ( 120 ). With the arrangement of such connectors ( 11 ,  12 ,  120 ,  110 ), the male connectors  120  and  11  are plugged into the female connectors  12  and  110 , respectively, to implement the circuit connection of the ceiling fan for controlling the operation thereof, in which the direction control circuit unit ( 10 ) is connected to the manually operated switch device ( 101 ), the manually operated direction controller ( 102 ), and the conducting wires and connection lines extended from the hanger rod ( 82 ). 
     With reference to FIG. 2, the direction control circuit unit ( 10 ) has a power circuit ( 13 ) for supplying power thereto via the female connector ( 12 ), a detect circuit ( 14 ) for sensing signal received by the remote receiver ( 20 ), a microprocessor ( 15 ) connected to the detect circuit ( 14 ) for receiving control signal therefrom, and a relay drive circuit ( 16 ) controlled by the microprocessor ( 15 ). 
     The female connector ( 12 ) has multiple sockets (numbered from  1  to  9 ) for receiving the pins (also numbered from  1  to  9 ) of the male connector ( 120 ), respectively, such that signals, including the power lines and the control signals from the remote receiver ( 20 ) in the canopy ( 83 ), can be directed to the female connector ( 12 ) and transferred to other components. 
     The power circuit ( 13 ) is capable of voltage rectifying and regulating to provide a working voltage to the direction control circuit unit ( 10 ). 
     The detect circuit ( 14 ) is used to sense the signals sent out by the remote receiver ( 20 ), including an acknowledgement signal periodically generated in normal condition and the received control signal, which are sent to the microprocessor ( 15 ) to activate the relay drive circuit ( 16 ). 
     The relay drive circuit ( 16 ) is provided to control a switch circuit ( 160 ) having two relay switches operated synchronously. The two relay switches are connected to the two coils of the motor ( 80 ), input power, manually operated switch device ( 101 ) and direction controller ( 102 ) via the male and female connectors ( 11 ,  12 ,  120 ,  110 ), respectively. When the relay drive circuit ( 16 ) is activated, the two relay switches make changes in switching states at the same time to change the direction of the current in the coils of the motor ( 80 ) thereby making a change in the rotation direction of the motor ( 80 ). 
     With the structure of the ceiling fan as described above, a user can always control the operation of the motor ( 80 ) by the manually operated switch device ( 101 ). In addition, when the user makes a change to the rotation direction of the ceiling fan by a remote control, the remote receiver ( 20 ) in the canopy ( 83 ) receives the control signal and sends it to the direction control circuit unit ( 10 ). Accordingly, the microprocessor ( 15 ) of the direction control circuit unit ( 10 ) is operated to activate the relay drive circuit ( 16 ) to synchronously change the states of the two relay switches of the switch circuit ( 160 ) thereby changing the power line connection of the motor ( 80 ) such that the rotation direction of the motor is changed. 
     Because of the direction control device in accordance with the present invention and the remote receiver ( 20 ) are respectively installed in the switch box ( 84 ) and the canopy ( 83 ), instead of being installed together, the motor connection is not required to be redirected to the canopy ( 83 ) to provide the ceiling fan with both of the remote control and rotation direction control capabilities. Therefore, the assembly process for the ceiling fan is easier. 
     Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.