Patent Application
20190239326
The invention relates to a navigation light control system, an illumination light control system, and a switching unit.
The Act on Preventing Collisions at Sea stipulates that a vessel shall display a light provided in the Act between sunset and sunrise. Examples of the light provided in the Act, namely, a navigation light include a bow light, a side light, and a stern light. A navigation officer views the navigation light of the other vessel to determine a size and a direction of the vessel at night. Therefore, if the navigation light is turned off due to a failure or the like, the state of the vessel cannot be correctly grasped by the other vessel, which disturbs safe sea traffic. Accordingly, a control apparatus that outputs an alarm and switches the light source to a standby light source when the light source of the navigation light is turned off due to the failure, is known.
Further, although a bulb has been used as the light source of the navigation light, the bulb is replaced with an LED in recent years in order to save power, etc. Patent document 1 discloses a control apparatus that controls lighting of a navigation light using the LED.
[Patent document 1] Japanese Patent No. 5650344
In the control apparatus that controls lighting of the existing navigation light using an incandescent bulb as the light source, an incandescent bulb in an active system and an incandescent bulb in a standby system are connected through a relay, and the incandescent bulb in the standby system is turned on when the incandescent bulb in the active system fails. More specifically, a coil of the relay is connected to a power supply path to the incandescent bulb in the active system, and a B-contact of the relay is connected to a power supply path to the incandescent bulb in the standby system. In a normal state, the coil is excited by the power supplied to the incandescent bulb in the active system to keep the B-contact open. If the incandescent bulb in the active system fails and the supply of the power is interrupted, the coil is not excited and the B-contact is closed, which turns on the incandescent bulb in the standby system.
As described above, the light source of the navigation light is changed from the bulb to the LED in recent years. In a case where the navigation light is changed to a navigation light using the LED as the light source, the control apparatus and the wiring are also changed to a control apparatus and a wiring corresponding to the LED, which takes much labor, time, and cost. Therefore, the change cannot be easily performed. For example, in a case of using the LED as the light source, the power consumption becomes lower than the power consumption by the incandescent bulb. Therefore, a failure of the LED cannot be detected by the relay same as the relay for the incandescent bulb, and a dedicated control apparatus designed for the LED as disclosed in Patent document 1 performs switching based on a switching signal.
The invention is made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the invention is to provide a technology that easily controls a light adopting a light emitting diode as a light source.
To solve the issues, a navigation light control system according to the invention includes a navigation light that includes a light emitting diode as a light source, a power supply unit that supplies power to the navigation light, and a control apparatus that controls lighting of the navigation light. The control apparatus includes a light source circuit that supplies the power from the power supply unit to the light source, and a determination section that determines a failure of the light source based on a value of a current flowing through a resistor connected to the light source circuit.
As described above, the navigation light control system according to the invention can detect the failure of the light source based on the current flowing through the resistor for failure detection, can determine the failure of a light emitting diode (LED) as the light source based on the value of the current, and can output an alarm and perform switching so as to supply power to the standby light source when it is determined that the light source fails. This enables the configuration other than the determination section to be common to a configuration in an existing system adopting the bulb as the light source, and makes it possible to easily control the navigation light adopting the LED as the light source.
Further, in the navigation light control system, the navigation light includes the light source in an active system and the light source in a standby system, the light source circuit includes an active circuit that supplies power to the light source in the active system and a standby circuit that supplies power to the light source in the standby system, and the control apparatus includes a switching section that switches a state from a state where the power is not supplied to the light source in the standby system to a state where the power is supplied to the light source in the standby system in a case where the determination section determines that the light source in the active system fails.
As described above, the navigation light control system according to the invention detects the failure of the light source based on the current flowing through the resistor for failure detection, and performs switching so as to supply the power to the light source in the standby system when the current value becomes a value indicating the failure. This enables the configuration other than the determination section to be common to a configuration in an existing system adopting the bulb as the light source, and makes it possible to easily control the navigation light adopting the LED as the light source.
Further, in the navigation light control system, a plurality of types of the light sources in the active system may be provided, and the resistor may have a resistance value determined for each of the types of the light sources.
As a result, the navigation light control system according to the invention can perform failure determination with an appropriate condition determined for each of the types of the light sources, and can accurately detect the failure of the light source.
Further, the determination section may determine that the light source fails in a case where the current flowing through the resistor satisfies a predetermined condition for failure determination of the light source even after a predetermined time elapses after the current satisfies the predetermined condition.
As a result, the navigation light control system according to the invention can prevent inching by the switching section and can appropriately perform switching to the light source in the standby system.
Further, to solve the issues, an illumination light control system according to the invention includes an illumination light that includes a light source in an active system and a light source in a standby system, a power supply unit that supplies power to the illumination light, and a control apparatus that controls lighting of the illumination light. The control apparatus includes an active circuit that supplies power to the light source in the active system, a standby circuit that supplies power to the light source in the standby system, a determination section that determines a failure of the light source in the active system based on a value of a current flowing through a predetermined device connected to the active circuit, and a switching section that switches a state from a state where the power is not supplied to the light source in the standby system to a state where the power is supplied to the light source in the standby system in a case where it is determined that the light source in the active system fails. A bulb or a light emitting diode is selectable as the light source. When the light source is the bulb, the light source in the standby system is turned off through excitation of a coil as the predetermined device by the power supplied to the light source in the active system in a normal state and opening of a contact of a switch as the switching section, and the light source in the standby system is turned on through non-excitation of the coil by interruption of power supply to the light source in the active system due to the failure and closing of the contact of the switch as the switching section. When the light source is the light emitting diode, the light source in the standby system is turned off through opening of the contact of the switch as the switching section in a case where the value of the current flowing through a resistor as the predetermined device becomes equal to or greater than a threshold by the power supplied to the light source in the active system in the normal state, and the light source in the standby system is turned on through closing of the contact of the switch as the switching section in a case where the value of the current flowing through the resistor becomes lower than the threshold due to the failure of the light source in the active system.
As described above, the illumination light control system according to the invention can select the bulb or the light emitting diode as the light source and can turn on the light source in the standby system when the light source in the active system fails even in a case where the bulb is selected as the light source and even in a case where the light emitting diode is selected as the light source.
In the illumination light control system, a switching unit including the determination section and the switching section may be detachably provided in the control apparatus, a bulb switching unit in which the determination section includes the coil may be mounted on the control apparatus in a case where the bulb is selected as the light source, and a light emitting diode switching unit in which the determination section includes the resistor may be mounted on the control apparatus in place of the bulb switching unit in a case where the light emitting diode is selected as the light source.
As a result, the illumination light control system according to the invention can easily control the illumination light adopting the light emitting diode as the light source by easy means of mounting the light emitting diode switching unit in place of the bulb switching unit in the case where the light emitting diode is selected as the light source.
The illumination light may be a navigation light used for signal transmission from a vessel. As described above, the illumination light control system according to the invention can easily control lighting of the navigation light even in a case where the bulb or the light emitting diode is selectable as the light source of the navigation light.
Further, to solve the issues, a switching unit according to the invention is mounted on the control apparatus when the light emitting diode is used as the light source in the illumination light control system, and includes the determination section including the resistor, and the switching section.
As a result, the switching unit according to the invention can control the light emitting diode as the light source when being mounted on the illumination light control system.
Note that the means for solving the issues can be combined and used as much as possible.
The invention makes it possible to provide a technology to easily control a light that adopts a light emitting diode as a light source.
A specific embodiment adopting the technology is described in detail below with reference to drawings.
A vessel 90 illustrated in
The navigation light 20 includes, for example, a bow range light (a front mast-light) 21, a green side light 22, a port side light 23, a rear range light (a rear mast-light) 24, and a stern light 25. Note that, in
The control apparatus 10 includes a relay unit 12, indicating lights 13 and 14, and an alarm output unit 15.
The alarm output unit 15 includes a buzzer, and can emit buzzer sound (example of alarm) when receiving supply of power. The alarm output unit 15 is not limited to the buzzer, and may perform optional operation such as output of bell sound from a bell, output of an audio message, lighting of a warning light, display of a warning message on a display, and transmission of a message to the other computer or a manager terminal as long as the alarm can be notified to a crew.
The indicating lights 13 and 14 respectively represent operation states of the light sources L1 and L2. The indicating light 13 is turned on when the light source L1 is turned on, and the indicating light 14 is turned on when the light source L2 is turned on.
A connector 16 is connected with the light source L1 in the active system. Therefore, a wiring 161 that connects the connector 16 and the relay unit 12 and a wiring 162 that connects the connector 16 and the power supply unit 30 serve as a power supply path (active circuit) to the light source L1 in the active system.
A connector 17 is connected with the light source L2 in the standby system. Therefore, a wiring 171 that connects the connector 17 and the relay unit 12 and a wiring 172 that connects the connector 17 and the power supply unit 30 serve as a power supply path (standby circuit) to the light source L2 in the standby system.
The relay unit 12 is connected to the light source L1 in the active system and the light source L2 in the standby system, and performs switching so as to turn on the light source L2 in the standby system when the light source L1 in the active system fails. Further, the relay unit 12 is connected to the indicating lights 13 and 14 and the alarm output unit 51. When the light source L1 in the active system fails, the relay unit 12 turns off the indicating light 13 and turns on the indicating light 14, and operates the alarm output unit 51. The relay unit 12 is one form of a switching unit according to the embodiment.
The relay unit 12 is connected to the control apparatus 10 through a socket 11. More specifically, the socket 11 is fixed to a substrate of the control apparatus 10, and the relay unit 12 is detachably attached to the socket 11.
The relay unit 12 according to the embodiment includes a bulb relay unit 12A that is used in a case where a bulb is adopted for each of the light sources L1 and L2 of the navigation light 20, and an LED relay unit 12B that is used in a case where an LED is adopted for each of the light sources L1 and L2. The bulb relay unit 12A and the LED relay unit 12B are switchable depending on the type of the light sources L1 and L2.
As illustrated in
In contrast, when the light source L1 in the active system fails due to burnout or the like and the power is not supplied to the power supply path (wiring 161), the coil 121 is not excited, the contact between the terminals P2 and P3 and the contact between the terminals P6 and P7 are opened, and the contact between the terminals P3 and P4 and the contact between the terminals P5 and P6 are closed. As a result, the light source L2 in the standby system connected to the terminal T5 of the socket 11 and the indicating light 14 connected to the terminal T3 are turned on, and the alarm output unit 15 outputs buzzer sound. Further, the indicating light 13 connected to the terminal T7 is turned off.
As described above, in a case where a bulb such as an incandescent bulb is adopted as each of the lithe sources L1 and L2, the navigation light control system 100 according to the embodiment can turn on the light source L2 in the standby system with use of the bulb relay unit 12A when the light source L1 in the active system fails. Further, in a case where an LED is adopted as each of the light sources L1 and L2, the navigation light control system 100 according to the embodiment can turn on the light source L2 in the standby system with use of the LED relay unit 12B when the light source L1 in the active system fails.
As illustrated in
The determination circuit (determination section) 212 determines a failure based on the current (hereinafter, also referred to as LED current) that flows to the light source L1 through the current detection resistor 129. In a case where a failure condition is satisfied, namely, in a case where the LED current becomes lower than a threshold in the embodiment, the determination circuit 212 outputs a signal indicating the failure as a determination result.
When receiving the determination result indicating the failure of the light source L1 in the active system from the determination circuit 212, the output circuit 213 excites the coil 214, and drives the contact of each of the switches 124 and 125 to close the contact between the terminals P3 and P4 and the contact between the terminals P5 and P6 and to open the contact between the terminals P6 and P7. In contrast, when not receiving the determination result indicating the failure, the output circuit 213 does not excite the coil 214. Therefore, the contact of each of the switches 124 and 125 is in the normal state, namely, the contact between the terminals P3 and P4 and the contact between the terminals P5 and P6 are opened and the contact between the terminals P6 and P7 is closed. In the embodiment, the output circuit 213 and the switches 124 and 125 are one form of a switching section. Note that, although the example adopting a movable contact relay that drives the contact of each of the switches 124 and 125 by the coil 214 has been described in the embodiment, the relay is not limited thereto, and a solid-state relay that adopts a semiconductor switching device such as a thyristor and a triac may be adopted.
As described above, in the case where an LED is adopted as each of the light sources L1 and L2, the navigation light control system 100 according to the embodiment can determine the failure of the light source L1 in the active system based on the LED current flowing through the resistor 129 and turn on the light source L2 in the standby system, with use of the LED relay unit 12B.
Note that, in the case where an LED is adopted as each of the light sources L1 and L2, each of the light sources L1 and L2 may include not only the LED but also a drive circuit driving the LED. The drive circuit converts a voltage supplied to the light sources L1 and L2 from the power supply unit 30 into a voltage for the LED, for example, in a case where the voltage supplied to the light sources L1 and L2 from the power supply unit 30 is a voltage for an existing bulb such as voltage of AC 100 V to 200 V or DC 24 V. Further, the drive circuit may include a circuit that reduces the LED current to a threshold or lower in a case where a light emitting time of the LED is accumulated and an accumulated time reaches a predetermined accumulated time, for example, a time in which it is estimated that a light amount of the LED becomes 70% or lower of an initial light amount, namely, a time set as a service life of the LED. As a result, the LED drive circuit enables the control apparatus 10 to detect that the LED reaches its service life as a failure.
A resistance value of the resistor 129 is set such that the voltage applied to the resistor 129 when the LED current flows through the light source L1 in the normal state is coincident with a reference voltage compared by the determination circuit 212. Note that the navigation light control system according to the embodiment includes a plurality of types of the light sources L1. Therefore, the resistance value of the resistor 129 may be set for each of the types of the light source L1. For example, since the power consumption of the light source L1 is varied depending on a necessary visible distance and a color of the LED, the resistance value of the resistor 129 may be set based on the power consumption of each of the light sources L1. Moreover, the resistance value of the resistor 129 may be set based on a length of the wiring to each of the light sources L1 and a difference of the drive circuit.
The determination circuit 212 compares the voltage applied to the resistor 129 with the reference voltage by a comparator OP1 when the LED current flows through the resistor 129, and outputs the voltage corresponding to a difference therebetween as the determination result. In other words, a voltage of a predetermined value is output when the voltage applied to the resistor 129 is different from the reference voltage, to output the signal indicating the failure of the light source L1 as the determination result.
The output circuit 213 supplies power to the coil 214 based on the output of the determination circuit 212, and drives the contact of each of the switches 124 and 125. Further, the output circuit 213 includes a capacitor C2, and the output of the determination circuit 212 is accumulated in the capacitor C2 and is then provided to a comparator OP2. Thus, the output of the comparator OP2 is delayed as compared with the output of the determination circuit 212. In other words, the capacitor C2 and the comparator OP2 configure a timer circuit to prevent chattering of contact switching by the coil 214.
As described above, according to the navigation light control system 100 of the embodiment, even when each of the light sources L1 and L2 of the navigation light 20 is replaced from a bulb to an LED, it is unnecessary to replace the whole of the control apparatus 10, and it is possible to detect the failure of the light source L1 in the active system and to turn on the light source L2 in the standby system only by replacing the bulb relay unit 12A with the LED relay unit 12B and adding the wiring 131. In other words, it is possible to easily replace the bulb with the LED as the light source of the navigation light.
The navigation light control system 100, etc. illustrated in the embodiment are not limited to those described in the embodiment, and the configuration, the operation, the operation method, etc. thereof can be appropriately modified within the technical scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-243334 | Dec 2016 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2017/038686 | 10/26/2017 | WO | 00 |
