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Title:
AN OFF-MAINS DEVICE FOR ELECTRICAL APPARATUSES
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2004/019463
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
Problem: To provide a simple and low cost off-mains device to switch off the mains voltage to an electrical apparatus when this is not used, partly in order that the apparatus is not left energized with mains voltage, partly to avoid electrical and magnetic fields, and partly to save power. Solution: the off-mains device comprises a relay in the connection to the mains and an auxiliary voltage source in the form of a capacity capacitor for activating the relay such that the relay switches on the mains to the apparatus when the apparatus is activated, and switches off the connection to the mains when the activation of the apparatus ceases. An oscillator and a resonance circuit cooperating with it keep the capacity capacitor charged, said oscillator being connected to the mains via a voltage supply with rectification and voltage limiting means.

Inventors:
BASTHOLM JEPPE (DK)
Application Number:
PCT/DK2003/000552
Publication Date:
March 04, 2004
Filing Date:
August 21, 2003
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
LINAK AS (DK)
BASTHOLM JEPPE (DK)
International Classes:
H02H3/12; H01H47/04; (IPC1-7): H02H3/12
Domestic Patent References:
WO1995023450A11995-08-31
Foreign References:
US4795914A1989-01-03
EP0615667B11995-07-19
DE9212599U11992-11-26
EP0792533B11999-06-09
EP0615667A11994-09-21
DE9212599U11992-11-26
EP0792544A11997-09-03
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
Linak, A/s (P.O. Box 238, Aalborg, DK)
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Claims:
PATENT CLAIMS
1. An offmains device for electrical apparatuses connected to the mains, said offmains device comprising a relay in the connection to the mains as well as an auxiliary voltage source in the form of a capacity capacitor for activating the relay such that the relay connects the mains to the apparatus when the apparatus is activated and interrupts the connection to the mains when the activation of the apparatus ceases, characterized in that it comprises an oscillator and a resonance circuit cooperating therewith for charging the capacity capacitor, said oscillator being connected to the mains via a voltage supply with rectification and voltage limiting means, and wherein the relay may also be activated via said voltage supply.
2. An offmains device according to claim 1, characterized in that the oscillator comprises a transistor as well as a capacitor and a coil coupled in parallel.
3. An offmains device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the resonance circuit comprises a coil.
4. An offmains device according to claim 1, characterized in that the voltage supply comprises a capacitor and a bridge rectifier as well as a smoothing capacitor.
5. An offmains device according to claim 1, characterized in that the relay is drawn to switch off the mains voltage to the electrical apparatus.
6. An offmains device according to claim 1, characterized in that the relay is in an offposition to switch off the mains voltage to the electrical apparatus.
7. An offmains device according to claim 1, characterized in that the connection from the capacity capacitor to the relay coil is established via an optocoupler.
Description:
AN OFF-MAINS DEVICE FOR ELECTRICAL APPARATUSES The present invention relates to an off-mains device for electrical appara- tuses connected to the mains, said off-mains device comprising a relay in the connection to the mains as well as an auxiliary voltage source in the form of a capacitor for activating the relay such that the relay connects the mains to the apparatus when the apparatus is activated and interrupts the connection to the mains when the activation of the apparatus ceases.

Off-mains devices are used in connection with electrically adjustable articles of furniture for automatically switching off the mains voltage to the article of furniture. When adjusting the article of furniture, the mains voltage is switched on automatically and switched off again after completed ad- justment. Such off-mains devices are known inter alia from EP 0 615 667 B2 to Okin and DE 92 12 599.9 U1 to Dewert as well as EP 0 792 533 B1 to Linak. All three cases involve off-mains devices for an actuator system consisting of at least one actuator driven by a low volt motor, a main volt- age supply having a transformer, a rectifier and a smoothing capacitor, an electrical control and finally a wired manual control for the activation of the electrical control.

The off-mains device according to EP 615 667 to Okin is based on an ac- tuator system, where the operating voltage for the actuator is also the con- trol voltage. For the activation of the relay, use is made of an auxiliary volt- age supply which is coupled in parallel with the main power supply and is in the form of a capacitor coupled in parallel with the power supply. The ca- pacitor is supported by a battery in the event that the capacitor should lose its charge. It has been found in practice that both capacitor and battery may be depleted of power, and therefore the realization of the invention more- over includes a push-button for manual activation of the relay.

DE 92 12 599 to Dewert is based on an actuator system having a control voltage which is lower than and separate from the operating voltage, and which is based on a small independent transformer connected to the mains at all times. Here, the off-mains device is activated by the control voltage.

The system has the advantage that it is always ready for operation, but the drawback is a permanent E field, which is precisely what the off-mains switching is to prevent among other things. The reason is that the small transformer couples the E field via the wiring to the control and the main voltage supply.

In EP 0 792 544 A2 to Linak, the mains voltage is switched off by a set of triacs instead of a relay. In the operation of the system, the triacs are acti- vated by an optocoupler receiving power from a high capacity capacitor, which is kept charged by briefly switching on the mains at regular intervals.

This is done via separate control electronics based on a timer. Another so- lution is based on a small auxiliary capacitor permanently connected to the mains via voltage limiting means, and with just sufficient capacity for acti- vating the optocoupler a single time. These, however, are relatively expen- sive solutions.

The object of the invention is to find an alternative to the mentioned solu- tions which avoids the drawbacks of these.

The object is achieved according to the invention in that an auxiliary voltage source in the form of a capacitor is kept charged by a current from a reso- nance circuit which is connected to an oscillator. Relative to Okin, the structure is advantageous in that it is always operative without the use of a battery and without any need for manual operation. Relative to Dewert, the structure may be configured so as to be free of E fields and without any need for tests for compliance with insulation requirements, which is neces- sary when the structure contains a transformer. Relative to Linak, the

structure is considerably simpler, and the same also applies relative to the two Okin and Dewert structures.

Claim 2 defines a particularly simple and low cost oscillator based on a transistor as well as a capacitor and a coil coupled in parallel. Claim 3 cor- respondingly defines a particularly simple and low cost resonance circuit comprising a coil. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention is not restricted to this, but that a person skilled in the art may choose among the various known types of oscillators and oscillator circuits.

The invention will be explained more fully below with reference to the example of an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing. In the drawing: Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the off-mains switch, fig. 2 shows a diagram of a modified embodiment thereof, and fig. 3 shows a diagram showing the electrical equipment for a bed having electrically adjustable back and leg sections.

The off-mains device comprises a small voltage supply based on a capaci- tor C8 and a full-wave rectifier D2 as well as a smoothing capacitor C6. The voltage supply is connected to the mains J1, J2 and keeps a switch relay K1-A, K1-B, K1-C in the mains connection J3, J4 to an electrical apparatus drawn for interrupting the mains connection thereto.

In addition, the off-mains device comprises an oscillator connected to the voltage supply. The oscillator is a simple oscillator based on a transistor Q2. The oscillator is connected to an oscillation circuit comprising a coil L1 and a capacitor C4 and C7 coupled in parallel. A similar oscillation circuit is

arranged in cooperation therewith, likewise consisting of a coil L2 and a capacitor C5 coupled in parallel. The two coils L1 and L2 are physically separated by a spacing of 8 mm or more, thereby meeting the insulation requirement specified by the power current regulations.

The energy dissipated in the oscillation circuit L2, C5 because of the reso- nance oscillation is fed to a capacity capacitor C1. Because of the connec- tion of the oscillator to the mains, the charge of the capacity capacitor will be maintained at all times.

The relay K1-A, K1-B, K1-C is controlled by a transistor Q1 in connection with the relay coil K1-C of the relay. The base of the transistor Q1 is con- nected to the capacity capacitor C1 via an optocoupler U1 in addition to the control of the electrical apparatus. When the electrical apparatus is acti- vated, the current from the capacitor to the optocoupler U1 is switched on, which thereby activates the transistor Q1. This short-circuits the relay coil K1-C, and the set of contacts K1-A, K1-B drops back to the position of rest and thereby connects the electrical apparatus to the mains.

When the activation of the electrical apparatus ceases, the current from the capacitor C1 to the optocoupler U1 is interrupted, whereby the transistor Q1 discontinues the short-circuit of the relay coil K1C, which in turn activates the relay, and the mains connection to the electrical apparatus is switched off again.

It is noted that although the oscillator is choked as long as the electrical apparatus operates, it automatically starts again when the operation ceases. During the operation of the apparatus, the optocoupler is con- nected to its control voltage.

Basically, the off-mains device is incorporated in a plug intended for being

plugged into an outlet and connected by a cable to the electrical apparatus.

If desired, the off-mains device may instead be incorporated in connection with the electrical apparatus or in a separate power supply or at a suitable location in the mains connection.

Fig. 2 of the drawing shows a modified embodiment of the invention, where the relay K1-A, K1-B, K1-C in the off-position switches off the mains con- nection to the electrical apparatus and switches on the mains connection to the apparatus in the on-state.

The electrical apparatus may be the electrical equipment for a bed having adjustable back and leg sections as illustrated in overall view in fig. 3. The back and leg sections are adjusted by their separate DC motor-driven ac- tuators 1a, 1b connected to a control box 2 containing a main voltage supply 5 based on a transformer, a rectifier as well as a smoothing capaci- tor. The control box 2 additionally contains a control for the two actuators based on two sets of relays K2, K3. Depending on the circumstances, the main voltage supply 5 may be a separate unit, just as the control may be integrated in the actuators. The actuators 1a, 1b are activated via the con- trol by a manual control 3 with two sets of contacts for raising and lowering the back/leg sections, respectively.

As will appear, the control box 2 is connected to the relay J1, J2 via an off- mains device4 which switches off the mains connection to the primary side of the transformer via the relay K1. The off-mains device contains a small voltage supply 6 in connection with an oscillator 7, which keeps a capacity capacitor 10 charged through an oscillation circuit 8 via a resonance circuit 9 cooperating therewith. The off-mains device is connected via an opto- coupler 11 to the manual control 3. Activation of a key on the manual con- trol for the start of an actuator causes the relay K1 to be activated and the mains to be connected to the primary side of the transformer of the main

power supply. When the power to the actuator is switched off by releasing the key on the manual control, the relay K1 again switches off the mains connection to the main power supply. It will be appreciated that oscillator and optocoupler may be embodied as shown in figs. 1 and 2, but the inven- tion is not restricted to this. A person skilled in the art may choose among the available oscillators and connections on the basis of the concrete use and specifications.