DE29609803U1 - HMI device for controlling multiple consumers - Google Patents

Description

Zumtobel Licht GmbH .·* ·* · · I ***. . ·,.,: .*

Control unit for controlling multiple consumers

The present invention relates to an operating device for controlling multiple consumers and a control system for controlling multiple consumers in which such an operating device is used.

For houses or larger buildings, it is necessary that consumers arranged in several rooms, such as light sources, blind drive motors or heating controls, can not only be switched on and off or adjusted using the switches or dimmers arranged in the respective rooms, but that these functions can also be remotely controlled using central control devices. Remote control is carried out by the central control unit, which addresses and controls the consumers arranged decentrally in several rooms and connected to a common supply network, usually the 220 volt household network, using a command. In this way, central monitoring and control for all decentrally arranged consumers is possible.

Such a control system is known from EP 0 433 527 Bl. This control system has at least one central control unit to which several consumers can be connected. A common control line is provided to which the central control unit and the consumers' receiving units are connected. Each receiving unit has an operating address so that the central control unit can specifically control each consumer.

This control system is disadvantageous in that if, for example, the control system contains consumers of different types, such as blinds and lights, the room-wide or system-wide effectiveness of the control unit can basically only be limited to blinds and lights at the same time.

It is therefore desirable to have a control system that makes it as easy as possible to operate different types of consumers.

In this regard, Siemens has developed a control system under the name "Instabus EJJB" for controlling several consumers according to the generic term of claim 1. Several consumers are connected to a central control unit via a bus line, whereby the consumers can be assigned to different types of consumers, such as lamps, blinds or heating systems. The central control unit is

connected to a handheld device which is used to control the central control unit. The handheld device has pre-selection buttons for selecting a specific type of consumer and actuation buttons for setting a specific operating parameter of the type of consumer selected by the pre-selection buttons. This means that different types of consumers can be controlled with a single handheld device using the central control unit.

However, with the control systems described above, it is not possible to call up predefined operating parameter values for certain types of consumers and set them accordingly. If an operating parameter for a specific consumer is to be set, it is always necessary to first select the consumer type and then set the corresponding operating parameter value using the operating buttons.

Therefore, in the applicant's utility model G 94 12 900.2, a control system was proposed for controlling various types of consumer with an operating device according to the preamble of claim 1. The operating device has several operating buttons, whereby when an operating button is pressed, the information assigned to the pressed operating button is transmitted in the form of control signals to a central control unit, which controls the connected consumers according to the control signals. The information assigned to an operating button includes at least one type of consumer as well as a specific operating parameter value to be set for the type of consumer, so that after the operating button is pressed, the corresponding operating parameter of the associated type of consumer is set to the specified value. The individual consumer groups can be controlled by an operator by selecting or specifying a specific type of consumer using a selector switch.

The aim of the present invention is to facilitate the operation of the control device and thus also the control of the various consumers.

This object is achieved by an operating device having the features of claim 1.

According to the invention, the operating device comprises at least one operating button to which certain information is assigned, whereby the information comprises at least two types of consumers to be controlled as well as different control functions for the types of consumers to be controlled. The information of an operating button thus specifies, on the one hand, at least two types of consumers to be controlled as well as, on the other hand, the control functions for an operating parameter of the corresponding types of consumers, whereby the

Control functions can in turn depend on various parameters. For example, a type of consumer to be controlled can be a dimming device such as a blind, the position of which is controlled depending on the time or daylight according to a specific control function. The type of consumer can also be a heating and cooling device that is controlled depending on the temperature according to a specific control function, etc.

The information assigned to a control button can also include a fixed operating parameter value for a specific operating parameter of a consumer type, so that when the corresponding control button is pressed, the corresponding operating parameter of the consumer type is always set to the specified value. For example, by pressing a specific control button, all blinds can be set to "half open".

Finally, the information assigned to a control button can also contain information about whether a certain operating parameter of a certain consumer group should be changeable by an operator or not.

A control device with several control buttons is particularly advantageous, whereby the control buttons are pre-assigned with different combinations of the control information described above. This has the advantage that by pressing different control buttons, different control states or scenarios can be specified for the individual types of consumer, so that the control of the different types of consumer becomes more varied.

The invention is described in more detail below with reference to the drawing. The drawing shows:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a control system with an operating device of the present invention,
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Fig. 2 shows a supplemented section of the block diagram according to Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 shows an operating device according to the invention, which is used in particular in the control system shown in Fig. 1.
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In the block diagram of a control system shown in Fig. 1, a central control unit 1 is provided, which is connected to a power line 3. The power line 3

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is supplied with a mains voltage of 220V with a mains frequency of 50Hz, for example. Furthermore, 3 decentralized control units 10 for controlling various types of consumers (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4) are connected to the mains line. The consumers shown are lighting devices (lamps) 40-1, 40-2 and 40-3 as well as a drive motor for a dimming device (blind) 40-4. The decentralized control units 10 are connected to a common control bus 2, which is connected to the central control unit 1. An operating device A transmits control signals for the consumers to the central control unit 1, which in turn controls the consumers via the decentralized control units in accordance with the control signals from the operating device A.
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The consumers can be arranged in different rooms of a building, with different combinations of different types of consumers being possible in each room.

In the example shown in Fig. 1, only lamps 40-1, 40-2 are provided in room I and a lamp 40-3 and a blind drive motor 40-4 are provided in room &Pgr;.

As shown in Fig. 2, which shows an expanded partial section of Fig. 1, a controllable heating and cooling device 40-5 can also be combined with a lighting device 40-6 and a dimming device 40-7 in a room and controlled via corresponding decentralized control units 10-5, 10-6, 10-7. Of course, various other types of consumers are possible.

Fig. 3 shows the top view of the control unit A according to the present invention A, which is connected to the central control unit 1. The transmission of control signals from the control unit A to the central control unit 1 and from the central control unit 1 to the various consumers 40 can be carried out either by means of electrical signals via an electrically conductive connection, by means of infrared signals over the air or via a fiber optic cable, by means of ultrasonic signals over the air or by means of electromagnetic radio signals. For this purpose, appropriate transmission and reception signals familiar to the expert must be provided. The control unit A externally corresponds to the control unit already known from G 94 12 900.2.

The control unit has an on/off switch Al, with which the control system can be switched on or off. This switch Al is also equipped with a light-emitting diode A9, which is on when the control system is switched on and off otherwise.

Furthermore, several control buttons A4 are provided, three in the example shown. The control buttons A4 are used to select preset and saved scenarios or control states for the various types of consumers to be controlled. For this purpose, each control button A4 is assigned certain information, which on the one hand includes the types of consumers to be controlled and on the other hand the type of control in the form of control information. The information assigned to a control button A4 can relate to just one type of consumer or, advantageously, several types of consumers at the same time. Likewise, the information assigned to a control button can include control information in the form of a predefined operating parameter value for a certain type of consumer or, advantageously, parameter-dependent control functions for a certain operating parameter of a type of consumer. Furthermore, it is also possible to allow a manual change to a certain operating parameter of a certain type of consumer after pressing a control button A4.

Each control button A4 is equipped with a light-emitting diode AlO, whereby the light-emitting diode AlO of the last control button A4 pressed lights up.

To manually change an operating parameter of a specific type of consumer before pressing a control button A4 and the associated retrieval of a predefined control scene, as well as to adjust an operating parameter of a consumer after pressing a control button A4 - as far as this is permitted by the control information assigned to the operated control button (see above) - a slide switch A7 is provided as a selector switch and a two-part setting device with buttons A2 and A3. The type of consumer to be controlled can be selected using the selector switch A7. In the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 3, lighting devices, heating and cooling devices and dimming devices can be controlled as different types of consumer via the control device A. Of course, other or different types of consumer are possible. A display unit A6 shows, for example, the type of consumer selected by the selector switch A7 by lighting up. Using buttons A2 and A3 on the setting device, the corresponding operating parameters of the selected consumer type can be increased or decreased. Thus, for the selected consumer type "lighting device", this is dimmed using the setting device A2, A3, for the consumer type "dimming device", the blind position is set and for the consumer type "heating and cooling device", the target temperature in the room is set. Of course, other operating parameters of the individual consumer types can also be set;

For example, the brightness of the room can be the operating parameter to be set for a blind.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, it is assumed that only one operating parameter is set for each type of consumer. If it is to be possible to set several operating parameters for one type of consumer, the control device A also has a selector switch (not shown) for selecting the operating parameter to be set.

LEDs A8 serve as a display device for showing the currently set operating parameter range of the consumer type selected by the selector switch A7. Since it is not guaranteed that with the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 an operator can directly monitor the consumers 40 arranged in different rooms, it is thus possible to check the current setting of the operating parameters of the individual consumer types.

As already mentioned, the particular advantage of the invention is that the control information assigned to an operating button A4 can include not only preset operating parameter values for certain types of consumer, but also predefined control functions for selected types of consumer. In this way, it is possible to call up a specific predefined mix of control functions for the different types of consumer with each operating button A4. In addition, the control information assigned to an operating button A4 can be a mix of a control function for one type of consumer and a predefined operating parameter value for another type of consumer. In addition, manual setting via buttons A2, A3 for a third type of consumer can also be permitted.

These possibilities will be explained below using three examples.

According to the first example, when a control button A4 is pressed, the lighting device is dimmed to 80% regardless of daylight, the dimming device is completely closed (e.g. to save heating energy) and the heating and cooling device is controlled depending on the outside and inside temperature. Thus, when this control button A4 is pressed, the lighting and dimming device is assigned a predefined operating parameter value, while the heating and cooling device is operated according to a predefined control function.

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These example settings can be useful, for example, at the end of a working day to clean up an office.

According to the second example, when an operating button A4 is pressed, the dim-blind device is completely closed, the heating and cooling device is operated in normal mode and the lighting device can be dimmed by manual intervention by an operator, e.g. using buttons A2, A3. Thus, in this example, only the dim-blind device is assigned a predefined operating parameter value. The heating and cooling device is in turn operated according to a control function, whereby this control function differs from that in the first example. Finally, user-guided manipulation is possible for the lighting device.

According to the third example, when a control button A4 is pressed, both the heating and cooling device and the lighting device are controlled depending on the temperature and the outside light. The dimming device, i.e. the position of the blinds, is also controlled depending on the outside light and/or temperature. A corresponding control method for controlling the dimming, lighting and heating devices depending on the light and climate is described in detail in the applicant's German patent application 196 07 716.8. In this example, after pressing the corresponding control button, the operating parameters of all types of consumers are set according to different control functions.

The information assigned to an operating button can of course be changed by the operator. This is done in particular by reprogramming the corresponding operating button. For this purpose, an input device (not shown) can be provided for programming the individual operating buttons. To program an operating button A4, it is first pressed, causing the corresponding LED AlO of the operating button A4 to light up. The information assigned to the operating button A4 is then entered via the input device, in particular the types of consumers to be controlled, the operating parameter values to be set and the individual control functions. By pressing a programming button A5, the information entered via the input device is saved and assigned to the operating button A4. If only preset operating parameters are to be assigned to an operating button A4, programming can also be carried out using the programming button A5. In this case, when the programming button A5 is pressed, the currently set operating parameter values for all controllable consumer types or, alternatively, only the current

The operating parameter value for the type of consumer selected by the selector switch A7 is assigned to the corresponding control button A4 and saved.

Claims (12)

Expectations 1. Control device (A) for controlling several consumers (40) that can be assigned to at least two different consumer types (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7), with at least one operating button (A4), when actuated, the operating device (A) converts the information associated with this operating button (A4) into control signals for the consumers (40), wherein the information associated with this operating button (A4) comprises a consumer type (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) and control information for the one consumer type (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7),
characterized, that the information assigned to the control button (A4) comprises at least two different consumer types (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) and corresponding control information for the at least two different consumer types (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7), wherein the control information comprises different control functions dependent on at least one specific parameter for a specific operating parameter of the at least two different consumer types (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7), so that when the control button (A4) is actuated, the control device (A) displays the specific operating parameter of the at least two consumer types (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) according to the respective control function depending on the parameters. 2. Control device according to claim 1,
characterized, that the control information assigned to the control button (A4) contains a predetermined value for the specific operating parameter for at least one of the consumer types (40-1, 40- 2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) so that when the control button (A4) is pressed, the control device (A) sets the respective operating parameter of the corresponding consumer type (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) to the specified value. 3. Operating device according to claim 1 or 2,
characterized, that the control information assigned to the control button (A4) for at least one consumer type (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) includes information as to whether a corresponding operating parameter of the consumer type (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) can be changed by external intervention or not. 4. Operating device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by an adjustment device (A2, A3) for changing a specific operating parameter of a specific type of consumer (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) by an operator. 5. Control device according to claim 4,
marked by a selector switch (A7) for selecting the specific consumer type (40-1, 40-2, 40-3,40-4,40-5,40-6,40-7). 6. Control device according to claim 4 or 5,
marked by a selector switch for selecting the specific operating parameter. 15 7. Operating device according to one of claims 4-6,
marked by a parameter display (A8) for displaying the current value of the specific operating parameter of the specific consumer type (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7). 8. Operating device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the information assigned to the control button (A4) is changeable, in particular programmable. 9. Operating device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by at least two control buttons (A4) to which different control information is assigned, so that it is possible to select between different control functions for different types of consumers (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7). 10. Control system for controlling several consumers (40) which can be assigned to at least two different consumer types (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7), with an operating device (A) according to one of the preceding claims, and . li · with a control unit (1) which on the one hand receives the control signals of the operating device (A) and on the other hand controls the consumers (40) according to the control signals of the operating device (A). 11. Control system according to claim 10,
characterized, that the consumer types (40-1, 40-2, 40-3, 40-4, 40-5, 40-6, 40-7) comprise a dimming device (40-4) and/or a lighting device (40-1, 40-2, 40-3; 40-6) and/or a heating and cooling device (40-5).
10 12. Control system according to claim 10 or 11, characterized, that the consumers (40) are arranged in several rooms of a building and the operating device (A) and the control unit (1) control the consumers (40) centrally.