Lutron Technology Company LLC

Dinesh Sundara Moorthy

James P Steiner

Christoph Porwol

Matthew Philip McDonald

Chris Lloyd Dimberg

Daniel L Twaddell

Michael W Pessina

Matthew V Harte

Matthew W Nuhfer

Jonathan H Ference

Quinn Brogan

Graham L Christensen

A control device configured for use in a load control system to control an electrical load external to the control device may comprise an actuation member having a front surface defining a capacitive touch surface configured to detect a touch actuation along at least a portion of the front surface. The control device includes a main printed circuit board (PCB) comprising a control circuit, a tactile switch, a controllably conductive device, and a drive circuit operatively coupled to a control input of the controllably conductive device for rendering the controllably conductive device conductive or non-conductive to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load. The control device also includes a capacitive touch PCB that comprises a touch sensitive circuit comprising one or more receiving capacitive touch pads located on the capacitive touch PCB and arranged in a linear array adjacent to the capacitive touch surface.

Load control device responsive to non-contact actuations

Load control device having a capacitive touch surface

A control device configured for use in a load control system to control one or more electrical loads may comprise an actuation member having a front surface defining a touch sensitive surface configured to detect a point actuation along at least a portion of the front surface, a touch sensitive circuit, and a control circuit. The touch sensitive device may comprise one or more receiving capacitive touch pads located behind the actuation member and arranged in a linear array adjacent to the touch sensitive surface. The control circuit may be configured to operate using different filtering techniques based on the state/mode of the control device and/or based on whether the positions of point actuations by a user along the touch sensitive surface indicate a fine tune or gross adjustment by the user. For example, the control circuit may generate an output signal using light/no filtering or using heavy filtering.

A load control device for controlling power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical device may be configured to conduct current through earth ground and may disconnect a switching circuit to reduce an amount of current conducted through the earth ground. The load control device may comprise a controllably conductive device configured to control the power delivered from the AC power source to the electrical device so as to generate a switched-hot voltage, a switching circuit electrically coupled with a detect circuit, and a control circuit configured to render the switching circuit conductive and nonconductive. The detect circuit may generate a detect signal indicating a magnitude of the switched-hot voltage. The control circuit may be configured to monitor the detect signal and to render the switching circuit non-conductive after detecting an edge on the detect signal to reduce the total current through the earth ground.

Load control device having a reduced leakage through ground

A control device may comprise a passive infrared sensing circuit configured to operate in a charging state to charge one or more capacitors to appropriate voltages for operation in an operational state of the sensing circuit. The sensing circuit may comprise a pyroelectric detector configured to generate an output signal in response to received infrared energy, and first and second amplifier circuits configured to amplify the output signal. The control device may comprise a control circuit coupled to receive a sensing signal from the second amplifier circuit. Prior to the operational state, a capacitor of the first amplifier circuit may charge through a diode coupled between an output and an inverting input of an operational amplifier. In addition, prior to the operational state, a capacitor of the passive infrared sensing circuit may charge through the control circuit until the magnitude of a voltage across the capacitor exceeds a threshold voltage.

Startup procedure for a passive infrared sensing circuit

A load control device may control power delivered from a power source, such as an alternating-current (AC) power source, to at least two electrical loads, such as a lighting load and a motor load. The load control device may include multiple load control circuit, such as a dimmer circuit and a motor drive circuit, for controlling the power delivered to the lighting load and the motor load, respectively. The load control device may adjust the rotational speed of the motor load in a manner so as to minimize acoustic noise generated by the load control device and reduce the amount of time required to adjust the rotational speed of the motor load. The load control device may remain powered when one of the electrical loads (e.g., the lighting load) has been removed (e.g., electrically disconnected or uninstalled) and/or has failed in an open state (has 'burnt out' or “blown out”).

Motor control device

A load control device for controlling power delivered from an alternating-current power source to an electrical load may comprise a controllably conductive device, a control circuit, and an overcurrent protection circuit that is configured to be disabled when the controllably conductive device is non-conductive. The control circuit may be configured to control the controllably conductive device to be non-conductive at the beginning of each half-cycle of the AC power source and to render the controllably conductive device conductive at a firing time during each half-cycle (e.g., using a forward phase-control dimming technique). The overcurrent protection circuit may be configured to render the controllably conductive device non-conductive in the event of an overcurrent condition in the controllably conductive device. The overcurrent protection circuit may be disabled when the controllably conductive device is non-conductive and enabled after the firing time when the controllably conductive device is rendered conductive during each half-cycle.

Load control device having an overcurrent protection circuit

A load control device may control power delivered from a power source, such as an alternating-current (AC) power source, to at least two electrical loads, such as a lighting load and a motor load. The load control device may include multiple load control circuit, such as a dimmer circuit and a motor drive circuit, for controlling the power delivered to the lighting load and the motor load, respectively. The load control device may adjust the rotational speed of the motor load in a manner so as to minimize acoustic noise generated by the load control device and reduce the amount of time required to adjust the rotational speed of the motor load. The load control device may remain powered when one of the electrical loads (e.g., the lighting load) has been removed (e.g., electrically disconnected or uninstalled) and/or has failed in an open state (has 'burnt out' or 'blown out').

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Allentown, PA, United States of America

Dinesh Sundara Moorthy