Sinan Li

A Survey, Classification, and Critical Review of Light-Emitting Diode Drivers

Based on a survey on over 1400 commercial LED drivers and a literature review, a range of LED driver topologies are classified according to their applications, power ratings, performance and their energy storage and regulatory requirements. Both passive and active LED drivers are included in the review and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. This paper also presents an overall view on the technical and cost aspects of the LED technology, which is useful to both researchers and engineers in the lighting industry. Some general guidelines for selecting driver topologies are included to aid design engineers to make appropriate choices.

Direct AC/DC Rectifier With Mitigated Low-Frequency Ripple Through Inductor-Current Waveform Control

In a rectification system with unity power factor, the input power consists of a dc and a double-line frequency power component. Traditionally, an electrolytic capacitor (E-Cap) is used to buffer the double-line frequency power such that the dc output presents a small voltage ripple. The use of E-Cap significantly limits the lifetime of the rectifier system. In this paper, a differential ac/dc rectifier based on the use of an inductor-current waveform control methodology is proposed such that a single-stage direct ac/dc rectification without the need of an E-Cap for buffering the double-line frequency power, and a front-stage diode rectifier circuit can be achieved. The feasibility of the proposal has been practically confirmed in an experimental prototype.

Integration of an Active Filter and a Single-Phase AC/DC Converter With Reduced Capacitance Requirement and Component Count

Existing methods of incorporating an active filter into an AC/DC converter for eliminating electrolytic capacitors usually require extra power switches. This inevitably leads to an increased system cost and degraded energy efficiency. In this paper, a concept of active-filter integration for single-phase AC/DC converters is reported. The resultant converters can provide simultaneous functions of power factor correction, DC voltage regulation, and active power decoupling for mitigating the low-frequency DC voltage ripple, without an electrolytic capacitor and extra power switch. To complement the operation, two closed-loop voltage-ripple-based reference generation methods are developed for controlling the energy storage components to achieve active power decoupling. Both simulation and experiment have confirmed the eligibility of the proposed concept and control methods in a 210-W rectification system comprising an H-bridge converter with a half-bridge active filter. Interestingly, the end converters (Type I and Type II) can be readily available using a conventional H-bridge converter with minor hardware modification. A stable DC output with merely 1.1% ripple is realized with two 50-μF film capacitors. For the same ripple performance, a 900-μF capacitor is required in conventional converters without an active filter. Moreover, it is found out that the active-filter integration concept might even improve the efficiency performance of the end converters as compared with the original AC/DC converter without integration.

A review and classification of LED ballasts

This paper presents a review on existing ballasts for light-emitting diodes (LED) with considerations to their compliance to regulations, technological challenges, and on meeting various application requirements. All existing LED ballasts, including those proposed in recent literature, have been appropriately classified and systematically organized for the discussion. The dissemination of this information and its understanding is helpful for future R&D pursuits in this area.

Self-Configurable Current-Mirror Circuit With Short-Circuit and Open-Circuit Fault Tolerance for Balancing Parallel Light-Emitting Diode (LED) String Currents

Current imbalance among parallel light-emitting diode (LED) strings could put excessive current and thermal stress on some of the LEDs in the systems, resulting in reduction in system lifetime. For LED road lighting systems, reliability is the paramount factor. This paper first explains how existing current-mirror (CM) circuits cannot cope with LED open-circuit faults and then describes a self-configurable CM circuit that can withstand open-circuit faults in LED systems with parallel LED strings. The ability to withstand open-circuit faults means that the LED systems can still function with reduced luminous output even if one LED string is cut off. The proposed circuit, which retains the feature of not requiring an auxiliary dc power supply, has been practically implemented and successfully tested in a 70-W LED system with three parallel strings.

A Single-Stage Two-Switch PFC Rectifier With Wide Output Voltage Range and Automatic AC Ripple Power Decoupling

Conventional single-phase power-factor-correction (PFC) rectifiers with active power decoupling capability typically require more than three active switches in their circuits. By exploring the concept of power-buffer cell, a new single-stage PFC rectifier with two active switches, one inductor and one small power-buffering capacitor is reported in this paper. The proposed converter can achieve high-power factor, wide output voltage range, and power decoupling function without using electrolytic capacitor. Additionally, an automatic power decoupling control scheme that is simple and easy to implement is proposed in this paper. The operating principle, control method, and design considerations of the proposed rectifier are also provided. A 100-W prototype with ac input voltage of 110 Vrms and a regulated dc output voltage ranging from 30 to 100 V has been successfully designed and practically tested. The experimental results show that with only a 15 μF power-buffering film capacitor, the proposed converter can achieve an input power factor of over 0.98, peak efficiency of 93.9%, and output voltage ripple of less than 3%, at 100-W output power.

Single-Stage AC/DC Single-Inductor Multiple-Output LED Drivers

Various ac/dc LED driver topologies have been proposed to meet the challenges of achieving a compact, efficient, low-cost, and robust multistring LED lighting system. These LED drivers typically employ a two-stage topology to realize the functions of ac/dc rectification and independent current control of each LED string. The choice of having two stage conversions involves additional hardware components and a more complicated controller design process. Such two-stage topologies suffer from a higher system cost, increased power loss, and large form factor. In this paper, a single-stage ac/dc single-inductor multiple-output LED driver is proposed. It uses only one single inductor and N + 1 active power switches (N being the number of LED strings) with reduced component count and smaller form factor. The proposed driver can achieve both functions of ac/dc rectification with a high power factor and precise independent current control of each individual LED string simultaneously. A prototype of an ac/dc single-inductor triple-output LED driver is constructed for verification. Experimental results corroborate that precise and independent current regulation of each individual LED string is achievable with the proposed driver. A power factor of above 0.99 and a peak efficiency of 89% at 30-W rated output power are attainable.

Direct AC/DC Rectifier with Mitigated Low-Frequency Ripple Through Waveform Control

In a rectification system with unity power factor, the input power consists of a DC and a double-line frequency power component. Traditionally, an electrolytic capacitor (E-Cap) is used to buffer the double-line frequency power such that the DC output presents a small voltage ripple. The use of E-Cap significantly limits the lifetime of the rectifier system. In this paper, a differential AC/DC rectifier based on the use of an inductor-current waveform control methodology is proposed. The proposed configuration achieves single-stage direct AC/DC rectification without the needs of a front-stage diode rectifier circuit, an input EMI filter, and an E-Cap for buffering the double-line frequency power. The feasibility of the proposal has been practically confirmed in an experimental prototype.

An Off-line Single-Inductor Multiple-Output LED Driver With High Dimming Precision and Full Dimming Range

This paper presents a single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) LED driver with precise dimming and full dimming range. Based on the coordination of a string-level scheme and a system-level dimming scheme, the proposed SIMO LED driver can overcome practical constraints of existing SIMO LED drivers such as limited dimming range and needs for high-current switches. The proposal can achieve dimming precision up to an accuracy of 0.8% and also full dimming range. It has the flexibility of using either phase-shift or synchronous pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) switching for dimming control. The proposed circuit and control operations have been practically verified with a 25-W off-line SIMO-driven LED system. Practical evaluations of its power quality and energy efficiency are also provided.

Critical design issues of retrofit light-emitting diode (LED) light bulb

For retrofit applications, some high-brightness (HB) light-emitting diode (LED) products have the same form factor restrictions as existing light bulbs. Such form factor constraints may restrict the design and optimal performance of the LED technology. In this paper, some critical design issues for a commercial LED bulb designed for replacing an E27 incandescent lamp are quantitatively analyzed. The analysis involves a power audit on such densely packed LED system so that the amounts of power consumption in (1) the LED driver, (2) the LED wafer, (3) the phosphor coating, and (4) the bulb translucent cover are quantified. The outcomes of such an audit enable R&D engineers to identify the critical areas that need further improvements in a compact LED bulb design.