Patent Publication Number: US-2006012317-A1

Title: RF remote dimmer controller

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Present Invention  
      The present invention relates to a remote dimmer controller, more particularly to a RF remote dimmer controller for controlling the brightness of a lamp.  
      2. Description of Prior Act  
      At present, most of the traditional dimmer circuits used for lamps adopt a TRIAC together with a phase-controlled circuit and a variable resistor to change the conduction angle of a lamp and thus achieve the purpose of controlling and adjusting the brightness of a lamp.  
      However, such prior-art dimmer circuits are manual circuits that require users to manually operate the dimmer switch on the lamp to control the variable resistor of the dimmer circuit and adjust the brightness of the lamp.  
      Therefore, it is very useful to users if there is a remote dimmer controller that uses a wireless signal to control the brightness of a lamp.  
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION  
      It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a RF remote dimmer controller that comprises a wireless transmitter and a remote dimmer control circuit; wherein the remote dimmer control circuit is used in a general lamp, and allows users to control the wireless transmitter to adjust the brightness of a lamp from a remote end.  
      The second objective of the present invention is to provide a remote dimmer control circuit that comprises a wireless transmitter and a remote control dimmer circuit; wherein the remote control dimmer circuit comprises a receiver, a microcontroller, an optical coupler, a phase control microcontroller and a power driver. When a user controls the transmitter to transmit a radio frequency signal, the signal is received by the remote control dimmer circuit and then identified and decoded by the microcontroller. A corresponding control signal is transmitted from a corresponding transmitter to the input end of an optical coupler and drives the output end of the optical coupler to receive the light signal activation at the input end in order to output the corresponding control signal to the input end of a phase control microcontroller. A CTC timer of the phase control microcontroller is used to compute the pulse wave width of the control signal inputted from the optical coupler to control the phase of the corresponding conduction angle of the power driver according to the pulse wave width of the inputted signal in order to change the phase of the conduction angle of the lamp and achieve the effect of controlling and adjusting the brightness of a lamp at a remote end. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic circuit diagram of the remote dimmer controller according to the present invention for depicting the relation between components and the position of each component.  
       FIG. 2  is an illustrative view of the remote dimmer controller with its remote dimmer control circuit being installed inside a lamp such as a floor lamp according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is an illustrative view of the remote dimmer controller with its remote dimmer control circuit being installed outside a lamp such as a ceiling lamp according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Referring to FIGS.  1  to  3 , a preferred embodiment of remote dimmer controller  10  of the present invention comprises a wireless transmitter  20  and a remote dimmer control circuit  30 ; wherein the remote dimmer control circuit  30  may be installed inside or outside the base of a general lamp  40  such as a floor lamp or an illumination lamp, and users can use a press button  21  on the wireless transmitter  20  to adjust the brightness of every light bulb  38  of the lamp  40 .  
      The wireless transmitter  20  comprises a plurality of press buttons  21 , an encoder  22  and a signal transmitting unit  23 . When a user presses the press button  21  of the transmitter  20 , the press button  21  is to control the encoder  22  of the wireless transmitter  20  to generate an identification code with corresponding radio frequency RF signal information, and transmits the identification code and the RF signal from the signal transmitting unit  23  by surface acoustic waves SAW.  
      Therefore, the wireless transmitter  20  capable of sending out the RF control signal comprises a Power On/Off signal, a desired lamp  40  dimmer target signal, a desired independent bulb  38  dimmer target signal and a lamp dimmer signal etc.  
      The remote dimmer control circuit  30  comprises a receiver  31 , a microcontroller (MCU)  32 , an optical coupler module  33 , a phase control module  34  and a power circuit  37 . Besides supplying the alternate current power for the light bulb  38 , the power circuit  37  also supplies the power required by the receiver  81 , the microcontroller (MCU)  32 , and the phase control module  34  after a transformer converts the alternate current into a 5V direct current.  
      The function of the receiver  31  is to receive the identification code and the RF signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter  20  and send the received identification code and RF signal to the input port of the microcontroller (MCU)  32 .  
      The microcontroller (MCU)  32  is an IC component that independently carries out specific control functions and integrates the related circuits for the central processing unit (CPU), read-on memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-on memory (EEPROM), random access memory, I/O control circuit and CTC timer on a single chip.  
      Since the ROM or EEPROM of the microcontroller (MCU)  32  contains the information of the identification code and the RF signal of the corresponding decoding, therefore after the identification code received by the receiver is confirmed, the microcontroller (MCU)  32  will input the corresponding RF signal and the corresponding decoded control signal, and then output these signals from the output port of the microcontroller (MCU)  32  to the input port of the optical coupler module  33 .  
      In the meantime, the microcontroller (MCU)  32  can add a learning circuit with a learning function, so that if the original wireless transmitter  20  is missing or lost, then the identification code can be inputted for a new wireless transmitter  20  to replace the original wireless transmitter  20 .  
      The optical coupler module  33  comprises an optical coupler  33   a , and each optical coupler  33   a  is coupled to different output ports of the microcontroller (MCU)  32 . Therefore, the microcontroller (MCU)  32  can carry out the multitasking function while simultaneously controlling the working sequence of every optical coupler  33   a  of the optical coupler module  33  and transmitting the corresponding control signals individually.  
      After the input port of every optical coupler  33   a  has received the control signal transmitted from the microcontroller (MCU)  32 , an optical signal is initialized to drive the output port of the optical coupler  33   a  to output the corresponding control signal to a phase control module  34  after the output port has received the optical signal.  
      Further, the optical coupler  33   a  has an insulating property and is connected between a low-voltage microcontroller (MCU)  32  and a high-voltage power driver  36  for disconnecting the circuits of the microcontroller (MCU)  32  and the phase control module  34  with the high voltage of the power circuit  37  to protect the microcontroller (MCU)  32  and the phase control module  34 .  
      The phase control module  34  comprises a group of phase control microcontrollers (MCU)  35  and power driver  36  connected in a series and the input port of each phase control microcontroller (MCU)  35  is connected with the output port of each corresponding optical coupler  33   a . Therefore, the control signal outputted from each optical coupler  33   a  can be transmitted to the input port of the corresponding phase control microcontroller (MCU)  35 .  
      Each phase control microcontroller (MCU)  35  is an independent IC component for carrying out specific control functions, more particularly for computing the pulse wave width of the control signal inputted by the optical coupler  33   a  by a CTC timer, and controlling the corresponding conduction angle of each power driver  36  according to the pulse wave width of the inputted control signal.  
      In the meantime, each phase control microcontroller (MCU)  35  can add a manual button for manually setting the phase of a conduction angle, such that the remote dimmer controller according to the present invention can have such function.  
      Each power driver  36  is composed of AC silicon control transistors (TRIAC) and is connected to the output port of the phase control microcontroller (MCU)  35  in a series for connecting the gate of the TRIAC, and the other two poles of each TRIAC are connected individually to the light bulb  38  and the fire wire.  
      Therefore, the time for a user to press the press button  21  of the wireless transmitter  20  can be used to control the pulse wave width of different control signals corresponding to different outputs for the phase control microcontroller (MCU)  35  and produce different gate currents for different timing for the gates of the TRIAC and further change and control the phase of the conduction angle of the TRIAC, so that the light bulb  38  can change the brightness of the lamp according to the phase of the conduction angle.  
      The remote dimmer control circuit  30  of the present invention as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3  is installed inside or outside a general lamp  40  such as a floor lamp or an illumination lamp to let users use a wireless transmitter  20  to adjust the brightness of each light bulb  38  of the lamp  40 .  
      While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.