Anti-glare protection device

Abstract

An anti-glare protection device for a welding mask includes a transmission control circuit for determining a darkening signal from a control signal, a welding activity detection circuit ( 6 ) for detecting a welding activity, based on the output of a first sensor circuit. The welding activity detection circuit is arranged to control, via an activation switch, whether either the darkening signal or a signal corresponding to an undarkened optical filter is input to a filter drive circuit. The filter drive circuit drives a controllable optical filter to a transmission value according to the signal input to the filter drive circuit. A manual input device allows a user to manually adjust a user selected signal. A second sensor circuit determines a sensed signal. A manually operable mode selection switch for selecting either, in a manual mode, the user selected signal or, in an automatic mode, the sensed signal to be used as the control signal to the transmission control circuit.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An anti-glare protection device for a welding mask, comprising:
 a transmission control circuit for determining a darkening signal from a control signal, 
 a filter drive circuit for driving a controllable optical filter to a transmission value according to the signal input to the filter drive circuit, 
 a welding activity detection circuit for detecting a welding activity, based on a first sensor signal from a first sensor circuit with at least one first sensor, wherein the welding activity detection circuit is arranged to control, via an activation switch, whether either the darkening signal from the transmission control circuit or a signal corresponding to an undarkened optical filter is input to the filter drive circuit, 
 a manual input device allowing a user to adjust a user selected signal manually, 
 a second sensor circuit with at least one second sensor for determining a sensed signal, wherein the second sensor circuit differs from the first sensor circuit, 
 and a manually operable mode selection switch with a first signal input for the user selected signal and a second signal input for the sensed signal from the second sensor circuit unit for selecting either, in a manual mode, the user selected signal or, in an automatic mode, the sensed signal to be used as the control signal, and with a signal output for the control signal to the transmission control circuit for determining the darkening signal from the control signal. 
 
     
     
       2. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein the mode selection switch is a manually operable mechanical switch. 
     
     
       3. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein the manual input device is an adjusting knob. 
     
     
       4. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , further comprising an input device for manual fine tuning of the darkening when the anti-glare protection device is in the automatic mode. 
     
     
       5. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 4 , wherein the manual input device and the input device for manual fine tuning of the darkening are identical. 
     
     
       6. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein the first and second sensor circuits comprise at least one electromagnetic radiation sensor, and wherein the first and the second sensor circuits exhibit a different spectral sensitivity. 
     
     
       7. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said at least one first sensor and said at least one second sensor is a magnetic field sensor. 
     
     
       8. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein the second sensor circuit comprises a light intensity measuring arrangement that measures light over a visible range and weighted according to a spectral sensitivity of a human eye. 
     
     
       9. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 8 , wherein the second sensor circuit comprises at least one light sensing element whose spectral sensitivity matches the spectral sensitivity of the human eye. 
     
     
       10. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 8 , wherein the second sensor circuit comprises at least one light sensing element and at least one optical filter, where a spectral sensitivity of the light sensing elements combined with the optical filters results in an overall spectral sensitivity that matches the spectral sensitivity of the human eye. 
     
     
       11. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein, in the automatic mode, upon detection of welding activity by the welding activity detection circuit, the filter transmission is limited to a predetermined maximum via an offset signal combined with the output of the second sensor circuit. 
     
     
       12. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein, in the automatic mode, upon detection of welding activity by the welding activity detection circuit, filter transmission is limited to a predetermined minimum by driving the second sensor circuit into saturation when its input reaches a level corresponding to said transmission minimum. 
     
     
       13. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second sensor circuits comprises a plurality of sensing elements and is configured to use one of a maximum or minimum value returned by at least one of the plurality of sensing elements. 
     
     
       14. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 1 , wherein, at least one of the first and second sensor circuits comprises a plurality of sensing elements and is configured to use an average value returned by at least one of the plurality of sensing elements. 
     
     
       15. The anti-glare protection device according to  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of sensing elements is selected from the group consisting of: an array of photodiodes, a CCD-array, and a CMOS detector array. 
     
     
       16. An anti-glare protection device for a welding mask, comprising
 a transmission control circuit for determining a darkening signal from a control signal, 
 a welding activity detection circuit for detecting a welding activity, based on a first sensor signal, wherein the first sensor signal is determined by a first sensor circuit, 
 a filter drive circuit for driving a controllable optical filter to a transmission value according to a signal input to the filter drive circuit, 
 wherein the welding activity detection circuit is arranged to control, via an activation switch, whether either the darkening signal or a signal corresponding to an undarkened optical filter is input to the filter drive circuit, 
 a manual input device allowing a user to adjust a user selected signal manually, 
 a second sensor circuit determining a sensed signal, wherein the second sensor circuit is not identical to the first sensor circuit, and comprising a light intensity measuring arrangement that measures light over a visible range and weighted according to a spectral sensitivity of a human eye, 
 and a manually operable mode selection switch for selecting either, in a manual mode, the user selected signal or, in an automatic mode, the sensed signal to be used as the control signal to the transmission control circuit. 
 
     
     
       17. A method for controlling the operation of an anti-glare protection device, comprising the steps of:
 providing an anti-glare protection device having a transmission control circuit, a filter drive circuit, a welding activity detection circuit, a first sensor circuit, a manual input device, a second sensor circuit, and a manually operable mode selection switch; 
 determining a darkening signal from a control signal; 
 detecting a welding activity based on the output of said first sensor circuit; 
 controlling, via an activation switch, whether either the darkening signal from the transmission control circuit or a signal corresponding to an undarkened optical filter is input to a filter drive circuit, 
 driving a controllable optical filter to a transmission value according to the signal input to the filter drive circuit, 
 selecting either, in a manual mode, a user selected signal adjusted by a manual input device, or, in an automatic mode, a sensed signal from a second sensor circuit, and 
 using the signal selected by the mode selection switch as the control signal, and with a signal output for the control signal to the transmission control circuit for determining the darkening signal from the control signal. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , comprising the further step of: adjusting, via the manual input device,
 when, in manual mode, the user selected signal, and, 
 when, in automatic mode, an offset to the darkening signal. 
 
     
     
       19. A welding mask including the anti-glare protection device according to claim 16. 
     
     
       20. A welding mask including the anti-glare protection device according to claim 1. 
     
     
       21. An anti-glare protection device for a welding mask, comprising:
 a welding activity detection circuit that detects welding activity, based on output from at least one first sensor,   a brightness level detection circuit that outputs a signal based on a perceived brightness level signal from at least one second sensor,   a transmission control circuit that automatically determines and outputs a darkening signal, the darkening signal indicating a degree of darkening corresponding to the perceived brightness level signal,   a filter drive circuit that (i) controls a controllable optical filter to be in an undarkened state if the welding activity detection circuit does not detect welding activity, and (ii) automatically controls the optical filter to be in a darkened state at the degree of darkening indicated by the darkening signal if the welding activity detection circuit detects welding activity, and   an input device for manual fine tuning of the degree of darkening.   
     
     
       22. The anti-glare protection device according to claim 21, wherein the first sensor and the second sensor are the same sensor. 
     
     
       23. The anti-glare protection device according to claim 21, wherein the first sensor and the second sensor are different sensors. 
     
     
       24. The anti-glare protection device according to claim 21, wherein the output from the at least one first sensor is a sensor signal. 
     
     
       25. The anti-glare protection device according to claim 21, further comprising the first sensor. 
     
     
       26. The anti-glare protection device according to claim 25, further comprising the second sensor. 
     
     
       27. The anti-glare protection device according to claim 21, wherein the input device for manual fine tuning is an adjusting knob. 
     
     
       28. A welding mask including the anti-glare protection device according to claim 21. 
     
     
       29. A method for controlling the operation of an anti-glare protection device that has a transmission control circuit, a filter drive circuit, a brightness sensor circuit, and an input device for manual fine tuning, the method comprising the steps of:
 detecting a perceived brightness level based on the output of the brightness sensor circuit;   automatically controlling a degree of darkening of a darkened state of a controllable optical filter, the degree of darkening corresponding to the perceived brightness level; and   adjusting the degree of darkening based on manual fine tuning input from the input device.   
     
     
       30. The method of claim 29, wherein the anti-glare protection device has a welding activity detection circuit, and further comprising automatically driving the controllable optical filter to the darkened state when the welding activity detection circuit detects welding activity. 
     
     
       31. An anti-glare protection device for a welding mask, comprising:
 a welding activity detection circuit that detects welding activity, based on output from at least one first sensor,   a brightness level detection circuit that outputs a signal that is based on a perceived brightness level signal from at least one second sensor,   a manual input device that allows a user to adjust a user-selected signal manually,   a manually operable mode selection switch for selecting, as a signal to be output, either (i) in a manual mode, the user-selected signal or (ii) in an automatic mode, the signal that is based on the perceived brightness level,   a transmission control circuit that outputs a darkening signal corresponding to the signal selected by way of the mode selection switch, and   a filter drive circuit that (i) controls a controllable optical filter to be in an undarkened state if the welding activity detection circuit does not detect welding activity, and (ii) automatically controls the optical filter to be in a darkened state at a transmission value based on the darkening signal if the welding activity detection circuit detects welding activity.   
     
     
       32. A welding mask including the anti-glare protection device according to claim 31.