Electric power conversion systems – Current conversion – With condition responsive means to control the output...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-05
2002-07-30
Riley, Shawn (Department: 2838)
Electric power conversion systems
Current conversion
With condition responsive means to control the output...
C359S199200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06426887
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a power control device for controlling power supply to household electrical appliances, a remote control receiving device for receiving a remote control optical signal from a remote control device, and an optical communications device for performing optical communications.
Conventionally, there is known a remote control receiving device which is mounted on general household electrical appliances for implementing ON/OFF (operating/standby) control of power supply circuits thereof.
FIG. 6
is a schematic configuration diagram showing main part of an household electrical appliance using the above-stated remote control receiving device. On the primary side of a power supply transformer
7
, there are provided a rectifying and smoothing circuit
5
and a primary regulator
6
. The rectifying and smoothing circuit
5
composed of a rectifying circuit
3
and a smoothing capacitor
4
and connected to an AC (alternating current) 100V commercial power source
1
via a solid-state relay (SSR)
2
. On the secondary side of the power supply transformer
7
, there are provided a first rectifying and smoothing circuit composed of a diode
10
and a capacitor
11
, and a second rectifying and smoothing circuit composed of a diode
12
and a capacitor
13
. An output from the first rectifying and smoothing circuit is connected to an input terminal of a photocoupler
9
, and an output terminal of the photocoupler
9
is connected to the primary regulator
6
. A low power-loss voltage regulator
8
is used on the output side of the second rectifying and smoothing circuit so as to supply power at a stable power supply voltage. The solid-state relay
2
, the rectifying and smoothing circuit
5
, the primary regulator
6
, the power supply transformer
7
, the low power-loss voltage regulator
8
, the photocoupler
9
, the diode
10
, the capacitor
11
, the diode
12
, and the capacitor
13
constitute a main power circuit
20
. Further, a standby power supply transformer
109
, a rectifying and smoothing circuit
110
, and a low power-loss voltage regulator
111
constitute an auxiliary power supply circuit
112
, while a remote control light receiving unit
113
and a microcomputer
114
constitute a remote control light receiving circuit
115
.
As shown in
FIG. 6
, in a household electrical appliance which uses the above-stated remote control receiving device, the auxiliary power supply circuit
112
supplies power to the remote control light receiving circuit
115
during standby. In the standby state, the solid-state relay
2
is in an OFF state, where power supply to the main power circuit
20
is shut off.
When a user attempts to turn on power of an apparatus by remote control, the remote control light receiving unit
113
receives an optical signal transmitted from a remote control transmitting device. Upon receiving an electric signal from the remote control light receiving unit
113
, the microcomputer
114
outputs a control signal to the solid-state relay
2
to set the solid-state relay
2
to an ON state. This makes the main power circuit
20
connected to the commercial power source
1
supply power to each part of the circuit and put the household electrical appliance into an operating state.
On the other hand, when a user attempts to stop the household electrical appliance in operation, the remote control light receiving unit
113
also receives an optical signal transmitted from the remote control transmitting device. Upon receiving an electric signal requesting stop of operation detected by the remote control light receiving unit
113
, the microcomputer
114
outputs a control signal to the solid-state relay
2
so as to set the solid-state relay
2
to an OFF state. Consequently, a power supply line between the main power circuit
20
and the commercial power source
1
is intercepted, which brings the household electrical appliance into a stopped state i.e. a standby state. In the standby state, the auxiliary power supply circuit
112
supplies power to keep the microcomputer
114
and the remote control light receiving circuit
115
in operation, resulting in continuous consumption of power though small in amount.
There is another remote control receiving device, which is mounted on general household electrical appliances to implement ON/OFF (operating/standby) control of power circuits thereof. In this device, a high-capacity capacitor charged during operation is used as an auxiliary power source during standby.
FIG. 7
is a schematic configuration diagram showing main part of an household electrical appliance using the above-stated remote control receiving device. This remote control receiving device uses a high-capacity capacitor
122
, for example a high-capacity electrolytic capacitor or a super capacitor, as an auxiliary power source of a remote control light receiving circuit
215
instead of the auxiliary power supply circuit
112
shown in FIG.
6
. The high-capacity capacitor
122
is connected to an output of the low power-loss voltage regulator
8
via a diode
121
.
The remote control light receiving circuit
215
made up of a microcomputer
214
and a remote control light receiving unit
213
shown in
FIG. 7
receives an optical signal transmitted from the remote control transmitting device even during standby like the case of FIG.
6
. Therefore, the remote control light receiving circuit
215
requires continuous operation. During operation, the remote control light receiving circuit
215
is supplied with power from a DC power supply line
14
of the main power circuit
20
, while the high-capacity capacitor
122
is simultaneously charged via the DC power supply line
14
and the diode
121
.
In the above-stated remote control receiving device, when a user attempts to stop operation of the in household electrical appliance by remote control, the remote control light receiving unit
213
receives the instruction as an optical signal from the remote control transmitting device in the same way as that of FIG.
6
. The microcomputer
214
determines the contents thereof and outputs a control signal to the solid-state relay
2
to set the solid-state relay
2
to an OFF state. After the solid-state relay
2
is in the OFF state, a voltage of the DC power supply line
14
becomes zero, and so the high-capacity capacitor
122
starts discharging power. Thus, the high-capacity capacitor
122
is used as a power source of the remote control light receiving circuit
215
.
When a standby time is longer, the high-capacity capacitor
122
runs short of a charged power. To cope with this problem, the microcomputer
214
monitors a voltage supplied by the high-capacity capacitor
122
. When the voltage becomes less than a certain voltage level, the microcomputer
214
outputs a control signal to the solid-state relay
2
to set the solid-state relay
2
to an ON state for recharging the high-capacity capacitor
122
. Upon completion of recharge of the high-capacity capacitor
122
, the microcomputer
214
outputs a control signal to the solid-state relay
2
to set the solid-state relay
2
again to an OFF state. In this way, ON/OFF operation of the main power circuit
20
is regularly repeated, which causes consumption of power on the same basis.
As an optical communications device, there is a portable device implementing two-way communications. The optical communications device incorporates a battery
151
and uses it as a power source as shown in FIG.
8
. In the optical communications device implementing two-way communications, one LED executes both transmitting and receiving operations.
A CPU (Central Processing Unit)
153
mounted on the optical communications device
150
is connected via a signal bus
154
to a ROM (Read Only Memory)
155
storing programs necessary for operating the CPU
153
, a RAM (Random Access Memory)
156
for use in storing transmitted and received data, and a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter)
157
for conducting Serial/Parallel conversion. An output of the
Imai Shigeki
Nagai Tomoyuki
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