Patent Application
20180206308
This application claims priority to German Utility Model Application No. 20 2017 100 247.0 filed on Jan. 18, 2017. The contents of the priority application are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein.
Generic lighting control consoles serve for controlling lighting systems, as they are used for concert stages, for example. These lighting systems regularly comprise a plurality of lighting devices, such as stage lights, said lighting devices in their own right often being able to be switched between a plurality of lighting conditions, such as different colors. These different lighting conditions of the lighting devices connected to the respective lighting control console can be controlled via preprogrammed parameters in the lighting program of the lighting control console. For this purpose, common lighting systems can comprise up to several thousand lighting devices. In order to be able to control such complex lighting systems, the generic lighting control consoles are equipped with a digital processor which enables digital data and signal processing. In order to store the control data, a digital memory is commonly provided which enables in particular storing or archiving lighting programs. For protecting the electric and electronic components of the lighting control console, the corresponding components are installed in a console housing which shields the electric and electronic components of the lighting control console towards the exterior.
For programming the lighting program or rather for controlling the lighting program during operation, the user has to input operating commands as input values. These operating commands can be a selection of a specific lighting device or the setting of a specific parameter, for example. In order to be able to input these operating commands, mechanical operating elements, such as buttons, rotary controls (encoders) or slide controls, are provided in known lighting control consoles, said operating elements being arranged in an operating panel on the upper side of the console housing. The operating commands allocated to the individual operating elements can be altered by adequately switching the menu in order to be able to program and control correspondingly complex lighting programs.
The slide controls, in particular, are immensely important when programming the lighting programs. The slide controls comprise a control knob which protrudes from the console housing on the upper side of the lighting control console and which can be linearly displaced by the user for setting certain programming parameters. A slit is provided in the console housing itself for each slide control, the control knob on the outer side of the console housing being connected to the slide control, which is installed in the housing itself, via said slit. In the known lighting control consoles, the slide controls are fastened to the inner side of the wall of the console housing. For this purpose, the wall of the console housing can comprise two bores for each slide control, for example, through which the slide control can then be screwed onto the inner side of the wall of the console housing. This type of fastening the slide control on the wall of the console housing has the disadvantage that the wall of the console housing has to comprise a plurality of holes in order to enable fastening the slide controls on the wall. Such holes in the wall of the console housing are, however, generally undesirable since they absolutely must be covered in order to prevent dust from getting into the interior of the console housing and moreover to provide an adequate visual appearance in the operating panel of the console housing.
Starting from this state of the art, it is therefore the object of the invention at hand to propose a new lighting control console which avoids the problems described above.
The object is attained by a lighting control console according to the teachings of claim 1.
Advantageous embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.
The lighting control console according to the invention is based on the fundamental idea that it is not the wall of the console housing that is used for fastening the slide controls but rather at least one electronic circuit board provided in the interior of the console housing is used. The slide controls are fastened to the electronic circuit board for this purpose and do not comprise any fastening points on the console housing at all so that in particular fastening holes for fastening the slide controls in the wall of the console housing can be omitted. The electronic circuit board itself is then suitably fastened in the interior of the console housing and thus provides a sufficient mechanical fastening for the slide controls on the console housing. The console housing itself then merely comprises the slits in order to be able to connect the control knobs of the slide controls, which are to be mounted on the outer side of the console housing, to the slide control itself.
In order to be able to exactly position the slide controls with as little play as possible on the electronic circuit board in a simple manner, it is particularly advantageous if the electronic circuit board comprises at least one hole into which the slide control is inserted. For this purpose, either a large hole can be provided for all slide controls together or a hole complementary in form can be provided for each slide control individually. Via this form fit between the cutout in the electronic circuit board on the one hand and the circumference of the slide control on the other hand, an exact positioning of the slide control on the electronic circuit board and thus an exact positioning of the slide control in the console housing can be guaranteed without further ado.
In which manner the mechanical connection between the slide control on the one hand and the electronic circuit board on the other hand is realized is generally arbitrary. According to a preferred embodiment, it is intended that the slide control comprises a fastening tab at least on a front side, which enables fastening the slide control to the electronic circuit board. Insofar as the electronic circuit board for receiving the slide controls comprises holes, it is advantageous in this context if the fastening tab overlaps the hole from the side.
For fixing the fastening tabs to the electronic circuit board, a hole can be provided in the fastening tab. In this manner, the fastening tab can be easily screwed on when mounting the slide control to the electronic circuit board.
In order to be able to set the insertion depth of the slide controls when mounting the same in the hole of the electronic circuit board in such a manner that the slide control protrudes somewhat on the upper side as well as on the lower side of the electronic circuit board, it is particularly advantageous if the fastening tab comprises an offset.
Which type of slide control is fastened to the electronic circuit board of the lighting control console in the manner according to the invention is generally arbitrary. In particular for slide controls having an electric drive motor, by means of which the slide control can also be motor-driven and can thus be remote-controlled, the type of fastening according to the invention is advantageous since these slide controls require a high mechanical strength of fixation in the lighting control console.
With regard to preventing disruptions of the lighting control console, it is of great significance to prevent impurities and dust from penetrating the housing of the slide control as much as possible. In particular for slide controls containing a sliding contact, dust presents a great hazard to the functionality of the slide control. In order to be able to translate the movements of the control knob onto the sliding contact, the housing of the slide control must comprise a slit through which a coupling element, which connects the control knob to the sliding contact, is passed. In order to minimize the risk of dust and impurities getting into the interior of the housing of the slide control as much as possible, it is therefore particularly advantageous if the opening formed in the housing of the slide control by the slit is oriented horizontally to the side of the lighting control console or vertically to the bottom of the lighting control console. By this horizontal or downward orientation of the opening in the housing of the slide control, it is prevented that dust and impurities penetrate the housing of the slide control via the opening due to the effects of gravity.
With regard to enabling easy electric contacting of the slide control to the other electronic components of the lighting control console, it is particularly advantageous if the slide control comprises a plug connection having several contact elements. A plug complementary in function can then be plugged onto this plug contact in order to electrically connect the entire slide control in the lighting control console in a single assembly movement in this manner.
With regard to the electric functionality, it is particularly advantageous if the plug contact is fastened on an electronic circuit board of the slide control.
Insofar as the slide control comprises an electronic circuit board having a plug contact, the drive motor of the slide control should preferably be electrically contacted via the electronic circuit board.
An embodiment of the invention is schematically illustrated in the drawings and is further described in an exemplary manner in the following.
In the drawings,
The electronic circuit board 10 comprises three holes 11 and one hole 12, which each form a fastening panel for fastening five and two slide controls 06, respectively. When mounting the slide controls 06 in the holes 11 and 12, respectively, the slide controls 06 are inserted into the holes 11 from the bottom and are subsequently screwed onto the electronic circuit board from the bottom.
The slide control 06 is equipped with a drive motor 15 which can drive the coupling element 09 via a drive belt 16. In this manner, the slide control 06 can be displaced not only manually but can also be displaced via remote control of the drive motor 15.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 2017 100 247.0 | Jan 2017 | DE | national |
