External assessment device for a lighting system and method of assessing a lighting system
AssigneeOSRAM GmbH
InventorsMarijan Kostrun, Anant Aggarwal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An assessment device for a lighting system, the device comprising: an input terminal which corresponds to an output terminal of a driver; an output terminal which corresponds to an input terminal of a light engine; a voltage regulator configured to provide power to the microcontroller, wherein the microcontroller is configured to sample an LED+ line voltage and an LED− line voltage with respect to a ground; and wherein the device is independent of the driver and the light engine.
Claims18
An assessment device for a lighting system, wherein the assessment device comprises:
- an input terminal which corresponds to an output terminal of a driver;
- an output terminal which corresponds to an input terminal of a light engine;
- a voltage regulator configured to provide power to a microcontroller,
- wherein the microcontroller is configured to sample an LED+ line voltage and an LED− line voltage with respect to a ground;
- and
- wherein the assessment device is independent of the driver and the light engine;
- and wherein the assessment device further comprises a memory configured to store a zero-state LED+ line voltage and a zero-state LED− line voltage therein;
- wherein the microcontroller is configured to sample the LED+ line voltage and the LED− line voltage with respect to ground a second time after a predetermined amount of time;
- wherein the microcontroller is configured to extract a sample mean of the voltages and a maximal difference of the voltages;
- and wherein the microcontroller is configured to compare the sample mean of the voltages and the maximal difference of the voltages to the zero-state voltages.
A method for assessing the condition of a light engine and a driver for the light engine using an assessment device, the method comprising:
- connecting the assessment device to the driver in a zero-state, wherein the assessment device comprises:
- an input terminal which corresponds to an output terminal of the driver;
- an output terminal which corresponds to an input terminal of the light engine;
- a voltage regulator configured to provide power to a microcontroller,
- wherein the microcontroller is configured to sample an LED+ line voltage and an LED− line voltage with respect to a ground;
- entering an acquisition state in which the driver is in the zero-state wherein the microcontroller initiates a burst and samples the voltages on an LED+ line and an LED− line with respect to the ground;
- storing a zero-state LED+ line voltage and a zero-state LED− line voltage in a local non-volatile memory;
- reentering the acquisition state after a predetermined amount of time;
- extracting a sample mean of the voltages and a maximal difference of the voltages;
- comparing the sample mean of the voltages and the maximal difference of the voltages to the zero-state voltages.
A lighting system comprising:
- a light engine;
- a driver for operating the light engine;
- an assessment device independent of the driver, the assessment device comprising:
- an input terminal which corresponds to an output terminal of the driver;
- an output terminal which corresponds to an input terminal of the light engine;
- a voltage regulator configured to provide power to a microcontroller,
- wherein the microcontroller is configured to sample an LED+ line voltage and an LED− line voltage with respect to a ground;
- and
- wherein the assessment device is independent from the driver and the light engine;
- and wherein the assessment device further comprises a memory configured to store a zero-state LED+ line voltage and a zero-state LED− line voltage therein;
- wherein the microcontroller is configured to sample the LED+ line voltage and the LED− line voltage with respect to ground a second time after a predetermined amount of time;
- wherein the microcontroller is configured to extract a sample mean of the voltages and a maximal difference of the voltages;
- and wherein the microcontroller is configured to compare the sample mean of the voltages and the maximal difference of the voltages to the zero-state voltages.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.