CAMPOS SILVA, Marcelo (Rua W.B. Wittitz, 47 Anita Garibaldi,-450 Joinvill, SC, 89203, BR)
CLAIMS
1. Smart illumination system for home appliance (5), CHARACTERIZED by comprising: a main control (10); a control unit (20) connected to the main control (10); a lamp (40) connected to the control unit (20) through a triac (70); and a door switch (30) connected to the control unit (10) to verify the door opening of the home appliance and to communicate to the control unit (20) to gradually activate the lamp (40) by means of triac (70). 2. Illumination system (5), according to claim 1 , CHARACTERIZED by the fact that the control unit (20) comprises a main plate (50) and a user interface plate (60).
3. Illumination system (5), according to claim 2, CHARACTERIZED by the fact that the user interface plate (60) defines a bit in main plate (50), activating an illumination control algorithm.
4. Illumination system (5), according to claim 3, CHARACTERIZED by the fact that the user interface plate (60) redefines the bit in main plate (50), deactivating the illumination control algorithm.
5. Smart illumination method for home appliance, CHARACTERIZED by comprising: continually verify if the home appliance door has been opened; after detecting the door opening, verify if an illumination control algorithm is activated; if so: gradually increase illumination, verify the time the home appliance door was opened, and provide power to the lamp; continually verify if all power is applied to the lamp; after all illumination has been applied to the lamp, continually verify if the home appliance door is closed; and upon detecting the home appliance door closure, decrease the power supplied to the lamp.
6. Illumination method, according to claim 5, CHARACTERIZED by the fact that the power decrease to the lamp is gradually accomplished. |
TITLE: "SMART ILLUMINATION SYSTEM AND METHOD"
Field of the invention
The present invention refers to illumination systems and methods, more particularly to a smart illumination system and method to be used in home appliances, providing pleasant illumination intensity to user.
Background of the invention
Some illumination internal systems to be used in home appliances are already described in prior art documents. However, such documents fail to disclose a brightness intensity of ideal light for appliance users that, during the night, do not have their vision injured by light intensity.
Examples of such systems can be observed in US patents US 6.951.402 B1 and US 2007/0157638 A1.
US 6.951.402 describes a refrigerator inner illumination system that sets the light intensity level based on detected light by a sensor external to the refrigerator apparatus. Sensor measures outside light level and communicates to refrigerator control unit. When outside light level is above predetermined level, inner lamp emits a high illumination level. On the other hand, when outside light level is below a predetermined level, inner lamp emits a low illumination level. Alternatively, system has a switch that overlaps control unit command, allowing user to control/determine inner light intensity without comparison with detected light level by outer sensor.
US 2007/0157638 describes a refrigerator with an illumination system comprising surrounding light level sensor and a light control device in three modes of illumination - in third mode, light is actuated if the level of surrounding illumination is lower than a predetermined level, which may be adjusted by refrigerator user. Summary of the invention
The present invention refers to a system and method of illumination comprising a triac connected to a main plate of the home appliance and further connected to the lamp of the apparatus which is to be illuminated. Thus, using different angles of the triac trigger, a gradual increase of lamp illumination intensity occurs.
Hence, an object of the present invention is to provide a system and method of illumination that provide a visual comfort to the user of home appliance, the inside of which must be illuminated when it is opened.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an illumination system that does not use a great number of additional components besides those existent in home appliances, rendering the illumination system less expensive.
The objects of the present invention are achieved by the provision of a smart illumination system for home appliance comprising a main control, a control unit connected to the main control, a lamp connected to the control unit through a triac, and a door switch connected to the control unit to verify the home appliance door opening and to communicate to the control unit to gradually activate the lamp by means of triac.
Such objects are also achieved by the provision of a method of smart illumination for home appliance, comprising the steps of continually verify if the home ap- pliance door has been opened; after detecting the door opening, verify if an illumination control algorithm is activated; if so: gradually increase illumination, verify the time the home appliance door was opened, and provide power to the lamp; continually verify if all power is applied to the lamp; after all illumination has been applied to the lamp, continually verify if the home appliance door is closed; and upon detecting the home appliance door closure, decrease the power supplied to the lamp.
Brief description of the drawings
The invention will be now described in a more detailed form, together with the below mentioned drawings exemplary of the invention, wherein:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the illumination system of the present in- vention; and
Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the illumination method of the present invention.
Detail description of the preferred embodiment
Figure 1 features the illumination system of the home appliance as per pre-
sent invention. Illumination system 5 comprises a main control 10 connected to the control unit 20 which is, in turn, connected to the inner lamp 40 of home appliance through a triac 70. The control unit comprises a main plate 50 and the user interface plate 60. The user interface plate 60 has an inner clock and the display but- tons/devices, while main plate 50 controls home appliance charges, including inner lamp 40.
During the less surrounding luminosity period, for example, from nine p.m. to six a.m., the user interface plate 60 will define a bit in the main plate 50, activating an illumination control algorithm. When the door is opened, switch 30, joined to the door, will emit a bit to the main plate. Main plate 50 recognizes this bit and uses different angles of triac trigger 70 to increase the lamp brightness smoothly in few seconds, thus avoiding injury to the user vision.
During the day, this bit of main plate 50 is redefined, deactivating the illumination control algorithm and making the lamp 40 to be immediately turned on. With reference now to figure 2, one can observe the illumination method of present invention.
The illumination method starts at step E10 when the apparatus begins to be constantly monitored to detect a door opening E20. When the door is opened, main plate 50 checks if the illumination control algorithm is activated E30. If so, two parallel ways are initiated, a first way where step E40 of gradually increased illumination and the second way where steps E50 and E60 are accomplished, verifying the time of door opening and adjusting the supply of illumination power.
After these steps, the system verifies if all available power has been applied to the lamp E70. If not, said power applied to the lamp is increased, forming a loop until all available power be applied to the lamp. Later, system starts to monitor the door closure E90. When the door of the home appliance is closed, power supplied to the lamp is gradually diminished E100 until no power is supplied to the lamp, ending the procedure E110.
Although the above description refers to a preferred embodiment, it should
be understood by those of skill in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the above teachings.
It should be noted that variations, modifications and changes of the herein described invention are possible to those of skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention or its equivalents, embraced by attached claims and its equivalents.