ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND LUMINAIRE

• US 20160205742A1
• Filed: 01/05/2016
• Published: 07/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: SEKI, Keisuke, HIRAMATSU, Akinori, KIDO, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,585,223 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/14 using electrical feedback from LEDs or from LED modules
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/24 using electrical feedback from LEDs or from LED modules
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/31 Phase-control circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/345 Current stabilisation; Maintaining constant current
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/46 having LEDs disposed in parallel lines

Abstract

An illumination system includes: a first light-emitting element column in which one or more first light-emitting elements are serially connected; a second light-emitting element column connected in parallel with the first light-emitting element column, and in which one or more second light-emitting elements are serially connected; a constant current supply that supplies constant current to a light source unit including the first and second light-emitting element columns; a resistor that is connected in series with the first light-emitting element column, and detects magnitude of current flowing through at least the first light-emitting element column; a bypass circuit that passes, to the resistor, at least part of current flowing through the second light-emitting element column, when a predetermined condition is satisfied; and a current adjuster circuit that adjusts the magnitude of the current flowing through the first light-emitting element column, according to the magnitude of the current detected by the resistor.

Claims

1. An illumination system comprising:

a first light-emitting element column including one of a single first light-emitting element or a plurality of first light-emitting elements connected in series;

a second light-emitting element column connected in parallel with the first light-emitting element column, and including one of a single first light-emitting element or a plurality of second light-emitting elements connected in series;

a constant current supply that supplies a constant current to a light source unit that includes the first light-emitting element column and the second light-emitting element column;

a first detector circuit that is connected in series with the first light-emitting element column, and detects a magnitude of current flowing through at least the first light-emitting element column;

a current adjuster circuit that adjusts the magnitude of the current flowing through the first light-emitting element column, according to the magnitude of the current detected by the first detector circuit; and

a bypass circuit that passes, to one of the first detector circuit or the current adjuster circuit, at least part of current flowing through the second light-emitting element column, when a predetermined condition is satisfied.

2. The illumination system according to claim 1,

wherein a sum of forward voltages of the one of the single second light-emitting element or the plurality of second light-emitting elements included in the second light-emitting element column is greater than a sum of forward voltages of the one of the single first light-emitting element or the plurality of first light-emitting elements included in the first light-emitting element column.

3. The illumination system according to claim 1,

wherein the current adjuster circuit changes the magnitude of the current flowing through the first light-emitting element column to set a magnitude of the current flowing through the second light-emitting element column to zero, when a magnitude of the constant current is less than or equal to a first threshold value.

4. The illumination system according to claim 3,

wherein the current adjuster circuit sets the magnitude of the current flowing through the first light-emitting element column to zero, when the magnitude of the constant current is greater than or equal to a second threshold value which is greater than the first threshold value.

5. The illumination system according to claim 1,

wherein the bypass circuit passes, to the first detector circuit, the at least part of the current flowing through the second light-emitting element column,

the illumination system further comprises

a second detector circuit that is connected in series with the second light-emitting element column, and detects a magnitude of at least another part of the current flowing through the second light-emitting element column, and

the current adjuster circuit changes the magnitude of the current flowing through the first light-emitting element column, according to the magnitude of the current detected by the second detector circuit, in addition to the magnitude of the current detected by the first detector circuit.

6. The illumination system according to claim 5,

wherein the current adjuster circuit compares the magnitude of the current detected by the first detector circuit with a reference value, and changes the magnitude of the current flowing through the first light-emitting element column according to a result of the comparison.

7. The illumination system according to claim 6,

wherein the bypass circuit changes the reference value according to a result of detection by the second detector circuit, by passing, to the current adjuster circuit, the at least part of the current flowing through the second light-emitting element column.

8. The illumination system according to claim 1,

wherein a color temperature of the one of the single first light-emitting element or the plurality of first light-emitting elements is lower than a color temperature of the one of the single second light-emitting element or the plurality of second light-emitting elements.

9. The illumination system according to claim 1,

wherein light distribution characteristics of the first light-emitting element column and light distribution characteristics of the second light-emitting element column are different.

10. The illumination system according to claim 1,

wherein the bypass circuit passes, to one of the first detector circuit or the current adjuster circuit, the at least part of the current flowing through the second light-emitting element column, when, as the predetermined condition, a voltage drop in the second light-emitting element column is smaller than a voltage drop in the first light-emitting element column.

11. The illumination system according to claim 1,

wherein the bypass circuit passes, to the current adjuster circuit, the at least part of the current flowing through the second light-emitting element column, when, as the predetermined condition, a voltage at one end of the bypass circuit which is connected to the second light-emitting element column is higher than a predetermined reference voltage at an other end of the bypass circuit.

12. A luminaire comprising:

the illumination system according to claim 1; and

a dimmer that adjusts a magnitude of the constant current of the constant current supply.