PHASE-CUT DIMMER DEVICE AND METHOD OF PHASE-CUT DIMMING FOR A LIGHTING UNIT CONTROLLED BY A ROCKER-TYPE USER INTERFACE

摘要

A device (500) and method (600) control a dimming level of one or more lighting units (130) in response to a user interaction with a reference-free user interface (410), such as a rocker-type interface. A bidirectional triode thyristor (460) supplies an AC input voltage (110) to the lighting unit(s) when it is triggered. A triggering circuit (510) triggers the bidirectional triode thyristor. The triggering circuit includes a capacitor (554) and a variable resistance element (510) which sets a time constant during each half cycle of a period of the AC input voltage for charging the capacitor to a triggering voltage which triggers the bidirectional triode thyristor. The resistance of the variable resistance element is controlled in response to a dimming input signal from the reference-free user interface. The dimming input signal indicates only relative changes in the output level of the lighting unit(s) with respect to the present level.

主权项

1. A device, comprising:
a bidirectional triode thyristor configured to supply an AC input voltage to one or more lighting units when the bidirectional triode thyristor is triggered; a triggering circuit configured to trigger the bidirectional triode thyristor, the triggering circuit including a variable resistance element, wherein a resistance of the variable resistance element sets a triggering time during each half cycle of a period of the AC input voltage when the bidirectional triode thyristor is triggered; and a controller configured to receive a dimming input signal from a reference-free user interface in response to a user interaction with the reference-free user interface, wherein the controller is further configured in response to the dimming input signal to control the resistance of the variable resistance element to set the triggering time for triggering the bidirectional triode thyristor so as to control a light output by the one or more lighting units in response to the dimming input signal.