GB1572749A - Illuminated indicator board - Google Patents

Description

(54) ILLUMINATED INDICATOR BOARD (71) We, BORD NA gCON, a Body Corporate established by Statute of the Republic of Ireland, of 104 Henry Street, Limerick, Republic of Ireland, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to an illuminated indicator board, for example a numeric indicator board for use in sports stadia.

Illuminated indicator boards currently in use employ either lamp boxes or systems of fluorescent tubes for forming the illuminated numerals or other characters or symbols.

A conventional lamp box comprises a matrix of twenty four incandescent bulbs arranged in six rows, each row containing four bulbs, and illumination of the appropriate combination of bulbs permits the formation of any number between zero and nine. A lamp box indicator uses 40 watt or 25 watt bulbs. In order to form the numeral five with a lamp box, thirteen bulbs must be lit and this represents a power consumption of 520 watts or 325 watts depending on which wattage bulb is used.

The use of fluorescent tubes also involves a high power consumption. Fluorescent tubes have the added disadvantage in that they are not readily adaptable for the constant switching on and off which is required in the case of an indicator board. Despite the incorporation of rapid start mechanisms, the fluorescent tubes are found to flicker and hence it can be difficult to read the indicator board.

In the case of both lamp boxes and fluorescent tubes the high power consumption also results in considerable generation of heat which cracks glass or scorches and buckles plastics materials in the windows of an indicator board. In order to overcome the problem of heat generation it is necessary to use expensive heat resistant materials in the fabrication of illuminated indicator boards.

An embodiment of this invention described hereinbelow does not have the aforementioned disadvantages and has a lower power consumption than conventional illuminated indicator boards.

According to the present invention there is provided an illuminated indicator board comprising nine elongate neon tubes arranged as three pairs of tubes with each pair of tubes disposed end-to-end in a generally upright position and substantially parallel to the other two pairs of tubes and three substantially parallel single tubes extending respectively across the top ends of the three pairs of tubes, across the bottom ends of the three pairs of tubes, and between the adjacent tubes of each pair, the board further comprising at least one transformer for stepping up the voltage from a mains supply to provide a current at sufficiently high voltage to each tube to illuminate said tube, and means for selectively connecting different combinations of said tubes to the mains supply via said transformer(s) so as to display any one of a plurality of predetermined numerals or the like by illumination of the selected combination of tubes.

The invention will be understood from the following description of an embodiment thereof given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a portion of a numeral indicator board embodying the invention; and Figures 2A and 2B illustrate the relay circuit associated with the tubes of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a single numeral display position of a numeral indicator board, indicated generally at 10, having a plurality of such positions. The numeral display position shown has nine elongate neon tubes 11, 9" in length, mounted thereon in sockets 12, six of the neon tubes 11 being mounted in a generally vertical manner and the remaining three tubes being mounted horizontally. Illumination of various combinations of the neon tubes 11, individually indicated by the letters a to i, permits the formation of any numeral between zero and nine as hereinafter described. In particular, the nine neon tubes are arranged as three pairs of tubes b, f/c, g/d, h with each pair disposed end-to-end in a generally upright position and substantially parallel to the other two pairs of tubes and three substantially parallel single tubes a/e/i extending respectively across the top ends of the three pairs of tubes, between the adjacent tubes of each pair, and across the bottom ends of the three pairs of tubes.

Each neon tube 11 has associated therewith a transformer for stepping up the voltage from a mains supply from 230v to 1000v and thereby providing the necessary current at highvoltage to illuminate the neon tubes. The supply of current to the transformer is controlled by a relay circuit which can be operated by a conventional computer control circuit, or by a manually operated switch. The closure of a different combination of any two of five relays on a printed circuit board associated with each numeral display position selects a respective different combination of tubes 11 for illumination, so as to display any one of the numerals 0 to 9. For example, selection and illumination of tubes a, d, e, h, andi, forms the numeral three.

Each relay operates at a voltage of 24 volts to tie in with the conventional operating voltage of a computer, but the indicator board is also suitable for operation by a manually operated double-pole rotary switch.

The relay circuit is shown in detail in Figure 2A. Each of the five relays 1 to 5 comprises a plurality of sets of relay contacts, each set comprising a group of three contacts of which the middle contact is in electrical connection with the upper contact in the unenergised state of the relay. The sets of contacts associated with each relay are shown in respective vertical columns of Figure 2A. It will be seen that each relay comprises eight sets of contacts grouped into two groups a and b.

The five relays are connected in parallel, each between a common ground and a respective energising terminal 1' to 5', see Figure 2B. Application of a 24 volt d.c. potential to an energising terminal causes energisation of the respective relay, whereby all eight of the associated contact sets are caused to switch over so that the middle contact makes electrical connection with the lower contact and breaks electrical connection with the upper contact.

The interconnection of the relays between the 230 volt a.c. mains and the individual tubes a to i, Figure 2A, is such that the energisation of each different combination of two relays, by application of a 24 volt potential at their respective energising terminals, causes application of the mains voltage to a different combination of tube transformers, whereby any one of the numerals zero to nine can be formed. It is to be understood that the capital letters A. to I. in Figure 2A represent the transformers of the tubes a to i respectively.

The different combinations of relays which are to be energised for producing the respective numerals is shown in Table 1, together with the combination of tubes which will be illuminated in each case.

NUMERAL RELAYS TUBES 1 1 and 2 c,g 2 1 and 3 a, d, e,JS i 3 1 and 4 a, d, e, h, i 4 1 and 5 b, c, e, g 5 2 and 3 a, b, e, h, i 6 2 and 4 a, b, e, f h, i 7 2 and 5 a, d, h 8 3 and 4 a, b, d, e, f h, i 9 3 and 5 a, b, d, e, h, i 0 4 and 5 a, b, d, f, h, i TABLE 1 As mentioned previously, the supply of energising voltage to the selected two of the terminals 1' to 5' is preferably effected under computer control. However, selection of the relays may alternatively be effected by a manually operated switch which in each of ten positions supplies energising voltage to a respective different pair of terminals 1' to 5'.

It will be appreciated that in an alternative embodiment of the invention a single transformer may be used to step up the voltage from a mains supply and the current at high voltage provided thereby fed through a relay circuit to the neon tubes, there being means for selectively energising the relays in different combinations so as to illuminate the various combinations of tubes as required. Such a system necessitates the use of high tension relay contacts.

Neon tubes are ideally suited for use in indicator boards on account of their adaptability, high luminosity and brilliant colours. The neon tubes employed may contain a high percentage of neon gas, giving the characteristic orange-red colour or they may be of different colours.

The use of neon tubes in indicator boards results in a considerable saving in power consumption over conventional numeral indicator boards. For example, the average power consumption per numeral of a conventional lamp box type indicator board using 25 watt bulbs in 265w whereas the average power consumption of a neon type indicator board using 10 watt neon tubes is 49 watts. A comparison of the power consumption of a conventional lamp box indicator board, using 25 watt bulbs, with the neon tube indicator board described above, is outlined in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Power consumption comparison table Lamp Box Indicator Neon Indicator Numeral No. No. of Lamps Wattage Numeral No. No. of Tubes Wattage 1 6 6 x 25 = 150 w 1 2 2 x 10 = 20 w 2 11 11 x 25 = 275 w 2 5 5 x 10 = 50 w 3 11 11 x 25 = 275 w 3 5 5 x 10 = 50 w 4 11 11 x 25 = 275 w 4 4 4 x 10 = 40 w 5 13 13 x 25 = 325 w 5 5 5 x 10 = 50 w 6 12 12 x 25 = 300 w 6 6 6 x 10 = 60 w 7 9 9 x 25 225 w 7 3 3 x 10 = 30w 8 10 10 x 25 = 250 w 8 7 7 x 10 = 70 w 9 11 11 x 25 = 275 w 9 6 6 x 10 = 60 w 0 12 12 x 25 = 300 w 0 6 6 x 10 = 60 w Average Wattage = 265 w Average Wattage = 49 w The formation of the numeral five in the lamp box type indicator board employing 25 w bulbs involves the lighting of thirteen bulbs and results in a power consumption of 325 watts as hereinabove described. Formation of the numeral five with the present system involves the use of five neon tubes with a power consumption of approx. 5 x10 or 50 watts thus demonstrating the saving in power consumption with the present system.

It is also found that the neon tube indicator board described above has greater legibility than conventional indicators.

Claims (8)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. An illuminated indicator board comprising nine elongate neon tubes arranged as three pairs of tubes with each pair of tubes disposed end-to-end in a generally upright position and substantially parallel to the other two pairs of tubes and three substantially parallel single tubes extending respectively across the top ends of the three pairs of tubes, across the bottom ends of the three pairs of tubes, and between the adjacent tubes of each pair, the board further comprising at least one transformer for stepping up the voltage from a mains supply to provide a current at sufficiently high voltage to each tube to illuminate said tube, and means for selectively connecting different combinations of said tubes to the mains supply via said transformer(s) so as to display any one of a plurality of predetermined numerals or the like by illumination of the selected combination of tubes.

2. An indicator board as claimed in claim 1, wherein a respective transformer is associated with each tube for stepping up the voltage from a mains supply to provide a current at sufficiently high voltage to illuminate the tube, and wherein the selective connecting means comprises means for selectively connecting different combinations of the transformers to the mains supply.

3. An indicator board as claimed in claim 2, wherein the selective connecting means comprises a plurality of relays connected between the mains supply and the transformers, and means for selectively energising the relays in different combinations.

4. An indicator board as claimed in claim 3, wherein the selective connecting means comprises five multi-contact relays connected in such a manner that the energisation of each different combination of the two relays causes application of the mains supply to a different combination of transformers.

5. An indicator board as claimed in claim 1, wherein a single transformer is provided and the selective connecting means comprises a plurality of relays connected between the transformer and the neon tubes and means for selectively energising the relays in different combinations.

6. An indicator board as claimed in claims 3 to 5, wherein the selective energisation of the relays is under computer control.

7. An indicator board as claimed in claims 3 to 5, wherein the selective energisation of the relays is effected by a manually operated switch.

8. An illuminated indicator board substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.