JPH067106U - Flash warning light for vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To promote compactness, light weight, and long life. Reduces glare when driving at night. [Structure] In a DC / DC converter 100, an input voltage VIN is boosted using a boosting transformer T1 and stored as flash energy in capacitors C100 and C200. From the trigger control circuit 200, the flash discharge tubes 3 and 4
Trigger voltages VBT1 and VBT2 are applied alternately and in a predetermined cycle to the trigger electrode of. As a result, the flash discharge tube 3 and the flash discharge tube 4 are connected to each other by the capacitors C100 and C20.
Receiving the flash energy stored in 0, it emits light alternately and in a predetermined cycle. When the lighting switch 8 is turned on during nighttime driving, the FET 2 is turned off, the capacitor C200 is set to the unchargeable state, and the flash energy is reduced.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a flash type warning light for vehicles suitable for use in emergency vehicles such as motorcycles and police cars.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 In the past, for emergency vehicles such as motorcycles and police cars, the warning light has been made to blink when an emergency occurs. Generally, a rotary warning light is used as this kind of warning light. In a rotating warning light, the reflector rotates around the lamp (incandescent bulb). That is, when the power is turned on, the drive motor rotates and the reflector rotates around the lamp. Due to this, the irradiation direction of the lamp is rotated and it seems that it is blinking.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, according to such a conventional rotary warning light, there is a problem that a mechanical component such as a drive motor and a reflector is required, an increase in size cannot be avoided, and a weight becomes heavy. In addition, the brightness of the lamp was constant, and there was a tendency to be too dazzling at night. Further, since it is an incandescent bulb, there is a problem that the lamp is easily broken.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a booster circuit for boosting an input voltage to an appropriate voltage value and storing it as flash energy in a capacitor, and applying the trigger voltage to a trigger electrode causes the capacitor to A flash discharge tube that emits light by receiving the flash energy stored in the flash discharge tube, a trigger control circuit that applies a trigger voltage to the trigger electrode of this flash discharge tube at a predetermined cycle, and a lighting switch installed in the vehicle. And a light emission amount switching circuit for switching the capacitance of the capacitor.

[0005]

[Action]

 Therefore, according to this invention, the flash discharge tube emits light at a predetermined cycle, and the amount of light emission changes in association with the lighting switch.

[0006]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, a flash type warning lamp for a vehicle according to the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the flash type warning lamp for a vehicle. In the figure, 1 is an in-vehicle battery, 2 is a power switch, 3 and 4 are flash discharge tubes (Xe tubes), 5 is a siren, 6 is a siren operation switch, 7 is a headlight, 8 is a lighting switch, and 100 is a lighting switch. Is a DC / DC converter, 200 is a trigger control circuit including a trigger circuit, 300 is a light emission cycle switching circuit, and 400 is a light emission amount switching circuit.

The DC / DC converter 100 includes capacitors C1 to C12, inductances L1 and L2, diodes D1 to D4, resistors R1 to R15, a PNP transistor Tr1, an NPN transistor Tr2, and Zener diodes ZD1 to ZD. 4, FET1, FET2, flash energy storage capacitors C100, C200, step-up transformer T1, and integrated circuit IC1.

The trigger control circuit 200 includes capacitors C13 to C20, diodes D5, D6 and D9, resistors R16 to R34, comparators OP1 and OP2, thyristors SC R1 and SCR2, and trigger transformers T2 and T3. , Integrated circuits IC2, IC3.

The light emission cycle switching circuit 300 includes capacitors C21 and C22, a diode D7, resistors R35 to R39, an NPN transistor Tr3, and a PNP transistor Tr4.

The light emission amount switching circuit 400 includes capacitors C23 and C24, a diode D8, resistors R41 and R42, and an NPN transistor Tr5.

In this vehicle flash warning light, when the power switch 2 is turned on, a current flows through the path of the diode D1, the resistor R12, and the resistor R13, the gate voltage VGS2 is applied, and the FET2 is turned on to turn on the flash light. The energy storage capacitor C200 is in a chargeable state along the path of the diode D3 and FET2.

On the other hand, when the power switch 2 is turned on, in the terminal configuration of the IC 1 shown in FIG. 2, the battery voltage (input voltage VIN) is applied to the terminal. IC1 receives input voltage VIN and sets its gate drive output terminal and enable terminal to "H" level. When the gate drive output terminal becomes "H" level, the gate voltage VGS1 is applied to the FET 1, the FET 1 is turned on, and the primary current IP flows through the primary side of the step-up transformer T1. Further, when the enable terminal becomes the “H” level, a current flows through the path of the resistor R5 and the capacitor C9, and the charge level of the capacitor C9 starts to rise.

Then, when the voltage VID generated at the connection point between the resistor R11 and the FET1 becomes equal to or higher than the comparison reference voltage VIDa (1 V in this embodiment) as the primary current IP increases, the IC1 is in this state. Is detected through the terminal and the gate drive output terminal is lowered to the “L” level. As a result, the FET1 is turned off, the flow of the primary current IP is cut off, and the secondary current IS flows through the secondary side of the step-up transformer T1. This secondary current IS flows into the flash energy storage capacitors C100 and C200.

When the base potential of the transistor Tr2 becomes higher than the emitter potential of the transistor Tr2, the transistor Tr2 is turned on, the charge level of the capacitor C9 drops, and the clock CP to the terminal of the IC1 becomes “L” level. Become. In response to the fall of the clock CP to the "L" level, the IC1 raises the gate drive output terminal to the "H" level and turns on the FET1. By repeating this, the secondary current IS is periodically generated in the step-up transformer T1, the secondary current IS flows into the flash energy storage capacitors C100 and C200, and the charging voltage (output voltage) V0 thereof gradually rises. To go.

FIG. 3 shows operation waveforms of each part in the rising process (transient state) of the output voltage V0. FIG. 3A shows the output voltage V0, FIG. 3B shows the primary current IP, and FIG. ) Is a secondary current IS, FIG. 7D is a clock CP to the terminal (charge level of the capacitor C9), FIG. 7E is a detection voltage VID to the terminal, and FIG. 7F is a gate to the FET1. The voltage VGS 1 is the drain voltage VDS 1 of the FET 1 in FIG.

In this way, when the output voltage V0 rises and becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined voltage (for example, 300 V), the IC1 detects this state via the terminal and outputs the comparison reference voltage VIDa to the detection voltage VID. After that, the comparison reference voltage VIDa is changed according to the output voltage V0, that is, the drive duty of the FET1 is changed according to the output voltage V0 to keep the output voltage V0 at a constant value. FIG. 4 shows the operation waveform of each part in the process of maintaining the output voltage V0 at a constant value (steady state).

On the other hand, when the power switch 2 is turned on, a current flows through the path of the resistors R16, R17, R18 and the capacitor C13. As a result, the IC2 outputs the trigger clock CPT which is at the "H" level for a predetermined time in a predetermined cycle determined by the resistors R16, R17, R18 and the capacitor C13. The trigger clock CPT is applied to the clock input terminal CP of the IC3 (see FIG. 5) and also applied to the inverting inputs of the comparators OP1 and OP2. When the trigger clock CPT is applied, the IC 3 takes in the input level (Q bar output) to its D terminal at the rising edge of this trigger clock CPT, and takes this as its Q output. The Q output of IC3 is applied to the non-inverting input of comparator OP1, and the Q-bar output is applied to the non-inverting input of comparator OP2.

Now, it is assumed that the trigger clock CPT becomes “H” level when the power switch 2 is turned on (point t1 shown in FIG. 6A). As a result, the IC 3 sets its Q output to "H" level and its Q bar output to "L" level. The "H" level Q output of IC3 is applied to the non-inverting input of comparator OP1 and compared with the trigger clock CPT applied to its inverting input. In this case, since the trigger clock CPT is higher than the Q output of the IC3, the comparator OP1 maintains the "L" level output state.

Then, when the trigger clock CPT becomes “L” level after a predetermined time (point t2 shown in FIG. 6C), the Q output of IC3 becomes higher and the output of the comparator OP1 becomes higher. It becomes "H" level. As a result, the gate of the thyristor SCR1 is triggered, a gate trigger current flows, and the thyristor SCR1 is turned on.

As a result, the trigger voltage VBT1 is generated in the secondary winding of the trigger transformer T2 and applied to the trigger electrode of the flash discharge tube 3. Upon receiving the application of the trigger voltage VBT1, the output voltage V0 is set to a high voltage and a flash current flows into the flash discharge tube 3 in the standby state, and the flash discharge tube 3 emits light.

While the trigger clock CPT is at “L” level, the transistor Tr1 is turned on, so that the boosting operation in the transformer T1 is not performed. When the trigger clock CPT becomes the “H” level (point t3 shown in FIG. 6C), the transistor Tr1 is turned off, the boosting operation of the transformer T1 is restarted, and the Q output of the IC3 becomes the “L” level. The Q-bar output is inverted to "H" level. Then, when the trigger clock CPT becomes the “L” level after a predetermined time has elapsed (point t4 shown in FIG. 6C), the Q-bar output of the IC3 becomes higher than that of the trigger clock CPT, and the comparator OP2 Output becomes "H" level. As a result, the gate of the thyristor SCR2 is triggered, a gate trigger current flows, and the thyristor SCR2 is turned on.

As a result, the trigger voltage VBT2 is generated in the secondary winding of the trigger transformer T3 and applied to the trigger electrode of the flash discharge tube 4. In response to the application of the trigger voltage VBT2, the output voltage V0 is set to a high voltage and a flash current flows into the flash discharge tube 4 on standby, and the flash discharge tube 4 emits light.

Thereafter, this operation is repeated, so that the flash discharge tubes 3 and the flash discharge tubes 4 alternately emit light at a predetermined cycle (generation cycle of the trigger clock CPT).

When the lighting switch 8 is turned on during traveling at night, the transistor Tr5 is turned on, the FET2 is turned off, and the capacitor C200 becomes incapable of charging. For this reason, when the headlight 7 is turned on (when traveling at night), the flash energy to the flash discharge tubes 3 and 4 is smaller than when it is not turned on, the amount of light emission is reduced, and the glare is reduced. That is, the brightness of the flash discharge tubes 3 and 4 at the time of light emission depends on the charge amount and voltage accumulated in the capacitors C100 and C200 at the time of triggering, and is represented by (1/2) · C · V ^2. . Therefore, if the capacitor C200 connected in parallel to the capacitor C100 is put into a non-chargeable state, the capacitance C becomes small and the amount of light emission becomes low.

When the siren operation switch 6 is turned on, the transistors Tr3 and Tr4 are turned on, and a current flows through the path of the transistor Tr4, the resistors R17 and R18, and the capacitor C13. As a result, the generation cycle of the trigger clock CPT from the IC 2 is shortened, and the light emission cycle of the flash discharge tube 3 and the flash discharge tube 4 is shortened. That is, according to this embodiment, when the siren 5 rings, the flash discharge tubes 3 and 4 alternately emit light at a faster cycle than when the siren 5 does not ring.

In the above description, the brightness of the flash discharge tubes 3 and 4 is dimmed by interlocking with the lighting switch 8 for turning on the headlight 7, but it is interlocked with the lighting switch for turning on the tail lamp. The light may be dimmed.

Further, in the above description, the light emission cycle of the flash discharge tubes 3 and 4 is shortened by interlocking with the siren operation switch 6, but a dedicated manual switch is provided to shorten the light emission cycle as necessary. Good.

Further, in the embodiment, the number of flash discharge tubes is two, but it may be one, or the number may be increased. In this case as well, the timing of applying the trigger voltage to the trigger electrode is controlled in the same manner as in the case of two pieces, in the case of one piece the flash discharge tube is caused to emit light at a predetermined cycle, and in the case of a large number of pieces. It suffices to cause the flash discharge tubes to emit light sequentially and at a predetermined cycle.

[0030]

[Effect of device]

 As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the input voltage is boosted to an appropriate voltage value and stored in the capacitor as flash energy, and the trigger voltage is applied to the trigger electrode to store it in the capacitor. A flash discharge tube that emits light by receiving the flash energy, a trigger control circuit that applies a trigger voltage to the trigger electrode of this flash discharge tube at a predetermined cycle, and the above-mentioned capacitor in conjunction with a lighting switch installed in the vehicle. Since it is equipped with a light emission amount switching circuit that switches the capacity, it is possible to promote size reduction and weight reduction without providing drive motors, reflectors, and other mechanical parts, and to prevent disconnection like in the case of incandescent bulbs. , Longer life. Also, if the lighting switch is turned on during nighttime driving, the amount of light emitted from the flash discharge tube changes in conjunction with this, and the amount of light emitted can be automatically reduced to mitigate glare.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a flash warning light for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a terminal configuration of IC1 in the DC / DC converter of the flash warning light for a vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing operation waveforms of various parts during a process of increasing the output voltage V0.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing operation waveforms of various parts in the course of maintaining the output voltage V0 at a constant value.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a terminal configuration of an IC 3 in a trigger control circuit of the flash warning light for a vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a time chart for explaining an operation in which trigger voltages VBT1 and VBT2 are alternately generated in a predetermined cycle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 power switch 3 flash discharge tube (Xe tube) 4 flash discharge tube (Xe tube) 100 DC / DC converter 200 trigger control circuit 400 emission amount switching circuit T1 step-up transformer C100 flash energy storage capacitor C200 flash energy storage capacitor

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A booster circuit for boosting an input voltage to an appropriate voltage value and storing it in a capacitor as flash energy, and a flash light that emits light by receiving flash energy stored in the capacitor when a trigger voltage is applied to a trigger electrode. A discharge tube, a trigger control circuit that applies a trigger voltage to the trigger electrode of the flash discharge tube at a predetermined cycle, and a light emission amount switching circuit that switches the capacity of the capacitor in conjunction with a lighting switch provided in the vehicle A flash warning light for vehicles, which is characterized in that