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US-12627959-B2 - Method of wireless configuring an LED driver and an LED driver arranged to be configured

US12627959B2US 12627959 B2US12627959 B2US 12627959B2US-12627959-B2

Abstract

A method of wireless configuring an LED driver is described. The LED driver comprises a power converter for powering an LED fixture, a BLE transceiver and an on-board power supply for powering the BLE transceiver, and a control unit for controlling the power converter and/or the LED fixture. The method comprising the steps of: transmitting a configuration signal representative of configuration data for the LED driver from an user interface to the BLE transceiver of the LED driver, generating configuration data for the LED driver based on the configuration signal, and configuring the LED driver according to the configuration data.

Inventors

  • Marc Saes
  • Maarten Lepelaars

Assignees

  • ELDOLAB HOLDING B.V.

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20210607
Priority Date
20200608

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method of wireless configuring an LED driver to drive an LED fixture, the LED driver comprising a power converter for powering the LED fixture, a BLE transceiver and an on-board power supply for the LED driver, wherein the on-board power supply is configured to directly power the BLE transceiver during the configuring the LED driver, wherein the on-board power supply includes a battery, a capacitor, or a super-capacitor, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting a configuration signal representative of configuration data for the LED driver from a user interface to the BLE transceiver of the LED driver; generating the configuration data for the LED driver based on the configuration signal; and configuring the LED driver according to the configuration data, wherein the on-board power supply solely enables operation of the BLE transceiver, during the configuring of the LED driver within a period of time.
  2. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of configuring the LED driver is followed by a step of connecting the LED driver to a mains power supply, wherein the mains power supply powers the BLE transceiver.
  3. 3 . The method according to claim 2 , comprising the step of further configuring the LED driver when the LED driver is connected to the mains power supply.
  4. 4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the step of further configuring comprises a step of connecting the LED driver to a communication network, and further configuring the LED driver via the communication network to upload firmware data.
  5. 5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of generating the configuration data comprises converting the configuration signal to the configuration data by the BLE transceiver and providing the configuration data to a control unit for controlling the power converter by the BLE transceiver to configure the LED driver.
  6. 6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of generating the configuration data is preceded by a step of transmitting the configuration signal from the BLE transceiver to a control unit for controlling the power converter, and wherein the step of generating the configuration data comprises converting the configuration signal to the configuration data by the control unit to configure the LED driver.
  7. 7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of transmitting the configuration signal from the user interface to the BLE transceiver is preceded by a step of enabling a powering of the BLE transceiver by the on-board power supply.
  8. 8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the step of selecting the LED driver by the user interface.
  9. 9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the step of selecting comprises transmitting a selection signal by the user interface, the selecting signal comprising an identifier of the LED driver that is to be configured.
  10. 10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration data comprises identification data of the LED driver.
  11. 11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the step of configuring the LED driver comprises: comparing the identification data of the configuration data with an identifier of the LED driver that is stored in the LED driver, and configuring the LED driver according to the configuration data when the identification data corresponds to the identifier of the LED driver.
  12. 12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein a control unit for controlling the power converter is arranged to read out the identifier of the LED driver stored in the LED driver.
  13. 13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the BLE transceiver receives the identifier of the LED driver from the control unit.
  14. 14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the BLE transceiver is arranged to transmit an identification signal, representative of the identifier stored in the LED driver, to the user interface.
  15. 15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the on-board power supply is arranged to power a control unit for controlling the power converter of the LED driver.
  16. 16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration data comprises operational data such as a nominal current or a maximal current to be generated by the power converter.
  17. 17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the configuration signal to the BLE transceiver is prior to an installation of the LED driver to drive the LED fixture.
  18. 18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the on-board power supply includes the battery and the battery comprises a rechargeable battery or a button cell battery.
  19. 19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the on-board power supply includes the capacitor or the super-capacitor.
  20. 20 . An LED driver to drive an LED fixture, the LED driver comprising a power converter for powering the LED fixture and a control unit for controlling the power converter, wherein the LED driver further comprises: a BLE transceiver, and an on-board power supply for the LED driver, wherein the on-board power supply is configured to directly power the BLE transceiver during a wireless configuring of the LED driver, wherein the on-board power supply includes a battery, a capacitor, or a super-capacitor, wherein the on-board power supply solely enables operation of the BLE transceiver, during the configuring of the LED driver within a period of time, wherein the BLE transceiver is arranged to receive from a user interface a configuration signal representative of configuration data for the LED driver for the wireless configuring the LED driver.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a 371 filing of International Application No. PCT/EP2021/065156, filed Jun. 7, 2021, which claims priority to Netherlands Application No. NL 2025774, filed Jun. 8, 2020. The disclosures of these applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes. BACKGROUND The technical field of the present invention relates to the configuration of LED drivers. In general, an LED based product, e.g. a LED assembly, is driven by an LED driver under appropriate electrical conditions. In order to have an LED driver (an LED driver in general comprising a power converter for providing a power supply and a control unit for controlling the power converter and/or an LED fixture) drive a particular LED fixture under appropriate electrical conditions, such as LED current, duty cycle, color, maximum power dissipation, etc., the configuration of the LED driver is required. It may be preferred to configure, or at least partly configure, an LED driver before the LED driver is installed, i.e. when the LED driver is not connected to a mains supply yet. Situations where the LED driver are not connected to the mains supply yet, is for example when a batch of LED drivers are manufactured and subsequently stacked on a shelf or on a pallet. The reason to configure the LED driver prior to installation may be to avoid that an installation and subsequent operation of the LED driver may be prone to errors, which may result in incorrect light output or even damaging of the LED fixture and/or the LED driver, due to exceeding a maximum current, maximum duty cycle, maximum power dissipation etc. of the LED fixture and/or the LED driver. Configuration without the LED driver being connected to a mains supply can make use of wireless technology. In known applications, NFC (Near Field Communication) technology is used to configure the LED driver wirelessly. However, NFC has limitations such as short range (<10 cm) to power passive devices. For example, it will be very difficult to configure the right LED drivers from a plurality of LED drivers which are stacked on a shelf or on a pallet. There is an issue of selecting the required drivers for configuration and not the ones on e.g. a different remote shelf. Further, NFC has a limited transfer bandwidth and memory size capability. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, it is a goal of the invention to provide an improved way of configuring an LED driver, wherein the abovementioned issues are mitigated or wherein the invention at least provides an alternative. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an LED driver arranged to be configured according to the invention. According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of configuring an LED driver, the LED driver comprising a power converter for powering an LED fixture, a BLE transceiver, an on-board power supply for powering the BLE transceiver, and a control unit for controlling the power converter and/or the LED fixture, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting a configuration signal representative of configuration data for the LED driver from an user interface to the BLE transceiver of the LED driver;generating configuration data for the LED driver based on the configuration signal;configuring the LED driver according to the configuration data. The method according to the invention enables the configuration of an LED driver, whereby the LED driver comprises a power converter for powering an LED fixture, a BLE transceiver, an on-board power supply for powering the BLE transceiver, and a control unit for controlling the power converter and/or the LED fixture. The method according to the invention comprises a first step of transmitting a configuration signal. The configuration signal is representative of configuration data for the LED driver. The configuration data can e.g. comprise operational parameters for the LED driver such as maximum current, a brightness vs. current characteristic, . . . etc. The configuration signal is transmitted by an user interface to a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) transceiver of the LED driver. The transmission of the configuration signal occurs via Bluetooth, i.e. via a wireless connection. The user interface can e.g. be an application of a user device, e.g. a portable device, which connects with the BLE transceiver. In an embodiment, the BLE transceiver enables a bi-directional communication between the LED driver and the user interface. Alternatively, the BLE transceiver is only configured to receive wireless communication, transmitted using the BLE wireless technology. The BLE transceiver typically operates at radio frequency (i.e. around 2.4 GHz), and can be integrated in an integrated circuit or chip of the LED driver. The advantage of the BLE transceiver is the short-range communication and operation at low power consumption. In an embodiment, the transmission of the configurat