Patent Application
20160086474
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an electrical device equipped with indicators and, more particularly to an electrical device comprising indicators that indicate operating status and/or safe status.
Most electrical devices used in the industrial domain, such as switch boxes, switches, and converters, have indicators of lamps of different colors, such as red to indicate a fault, green to indicate normal operation and red to indicate system alert. Such indicators are monotonous and unchanging, and are neither eye-catching nor visually appealing.
Consequently there may be a need to provide intuitive and eye-catching indicators for electrical devices in the industrial domain to indicate operating status and/or safe status.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a new electrical device indicator to solve the above problems.
In order to achieve this objective, embodiments of the present invention provide an electrical device comprising indicators to indicate the operating status of the device and/or the presence of hazardous voltage within the device cabinet. The indicator comprises a lighting strip mounted on the outside of the device. The lighting strip can display different colors and/or flash according to the actual status of the electrical device.
In embodiments, the strip further comprises LED strips.
Furthermore, in embodiments, the lighting strip can display different colors and/or flash when the electrical device is operating normally and faulty respectively.
Furthermore, in embodiments, the lighting strip can display different colors or/and flash when the electrical device is at high-voltage, operating normally, faulty and has no high voltage.
Furthermore, the lighting strip may be configured to display yellow when the electrical device is at high voltage, display green when it is operating normally, display red when there is a fault, and display blue when there is no high voltage.
Furthermore, in embodiments, the lighting strip can display an image.
Furthermore, in embodiments, the image comprises a product logo.
Furthermore, in an embodiment, the lighting strip is in the shape of a horizontal wave.
Furthermore, in an embodiment, the electrical device comprises three indicator lights of different colors to indicate fault, normality, and system alert respectively.
Furthermore, in an embodiment, the lighting strip comprises a plastic board and an LED strip installed at the edge or bottom of the plastic board. The plastic board has a laser-etched image thereon, and the illumination of the LED strip enhances the image reflection.
The advantage of embodiments of the present invention is that it integrates operating and safety status indicators with industrial designs, by means of using operating and safety status indicators of large area to provide users with intuitive indications. Meanwhile, the indicator can be of any shape for convenient incorporation into the industrial design of products, resulting in more effective and visually appealing displays.
The attached drawings are used to illustrate an embodiment of the invention to facilitate understanding of the invention. In the drawings:
Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below. Unless otherwise specified, the meanings of all technological and scientific terminology used herein are as normally understood by technicians in the technical domain of the invention.
The use of “one” or “a” in the description is not intended to indicate a limited quantity but the existence of at least one of the relevant items. The use of “or” is intended to indicate any one or all of the listed components or items. The use of “include”, “comprise” or a similar term is intended to mean the component or item listed in front of the term “includes” or “comprises” the components or items listed after the term but does not exclude other components or items. The use of “connect”, “link” or similar terms is not limited to physical or mechanical connections but also includes electrical connections, whether direct or indirect.
In an embodiment, the indicator comprises at least one lighting strip 12 and the lighting strip 12 displays different colors according to the different operating statuses of the electrical device and the presence of a designated voltage level (e.g., hazardous voltage) in the cabinet. The indicator is connected to the controller (not shown) in electrical device 100, which is used to control the color displayed by the indicator, so that the different running statuses or the presence of hazardous voltage inside the cabinet can be indicated, for example, by at the least displaying different colors when the electrical device is operating normally and when it is faulty respectively. In another embodiment, the indicator comprises lighting strip 12 that can show different colors when electrical device 100 is at high voltage, when it is operating normally, when it is faulty and when it has no high voltage. For example, lighting strip 12 displays yellow when electrical device 100 carries high voltage, lighting strip 12 displays green when electrical device 100 is operating normally, lighting strip 12 displays red when electrical device 100 is faulty and lighting strip 12 displays blue when electrical device 100 has no high voltage. More particularly, the voltage on the DC bus is detected and compared with a safe voltage standard (such as 50V). When the detected voltage is higher than the safe voltage standard, it determines the electrical device is at high voltage status, and controls the lighting strip to display the relevant color to alert the high voltage status, so as to avert electric shock or other danger.
The lighting strip 12 can comprise an LED strip that displays different colors using different combinations of color LEDs, or incorporate flashing to indicate the device status. In the embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, the electrical device 100 can comprise indicator marks 16 in 3 different color lamps, indicating fault, normal operation and system alert, respectively. In an embodiment, the 3 colors are red, green and yellow. The red lamp is lit to indicate a fault in electrical device 100, the green lamp is lit to indicate normal operation of electrical device 100 and the yellow lamp is lit to indicate system alert of electrical device 100. Generally, system alert means the electrical device is running with parameters out of a specified range but has not reached fault status.
The display colors of the lighting strips 12 or 22 are not limited to the above examples and can be designed or customized according to specific requirements. Additionally, the lighting strip can be in any shape. A large-area lighting strip can be designed to integrate with the industrial design of an electrical device, to achieve an intuitive and eye-catching effect. In some embodiments, the lighting strip spans a certain proportion (such as 50% or 70%) of the horizontal or longitude dimension of the electrical device.
It should be pointed out that the lighting strip is intended to indicate the operating and safety statuses of electrical devices as an auxiliary measure, while the actual operating or safety status of the electrical device should be confirmed according to the specified series of operations for the electrical device.
This invention can be summarized using other specific formats that do not violate the principles or key features of this invention. Consequently, the above embodiments can be regarded as descriptive of this invention and not limiting thereof in any way. The scope of this invention shall be defined by the claims thereof instead of the above embodiments. Consequently any change to the meaning and scope of the claims of this invention shall be deemed to be included within the scope of the claims.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the preferred embodiments, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201420552753.9 | Sep 2014 | CN | national |
