Digital control flexibility allows OEMs to design a single controller that drives a variety of end products, increasing design flexibility and bringing new intelligence and differentiation to lighting fixtures.
As the lighting industry turns to LED technology , it also increases the demand for smarter controllers and drives. The efficient operation of LEDs can effectively curb the rising electricity bills of households and units. Many applications need to provide constant illumination quality while supporting advanced control features such as dimming, color temperature equalization, and precise color mixing. Self-diagnostics of applications can reduce the need for technicians, thereby reducing maintenance costs, and remote connectivity is a regular requirement for these applications.
Adding intelligence to LED lighting applications may require moving from fixed-function LED drivers to microcontroller-based or programmable architectures. Dedicated power electronics microcontrollers also control lighting power outside of lighting control and communications, making lighting applications more efficient and cost effective. The shift to digital control increases flexibility and enables lighting products to reach new levels of intelligence and differentiation.
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The lighting industry is rapidly taking advantage of many of the benefits of LED technology. However, LED applications vary greatly in their ability to support them.
Home applications include bulb replacement, accent lighting, and small outdoor lighting . Usually, only a few LEDs need to be lit, usually one string to two strings. Given the low cost pressures in this market, advanced control functions are generally not commonly used.
Business applications include fluorescent ballasts, bulb replacement, and accent lighting. Only a few LEDs need to be lit, usually one string to two strings. While focusing on cost, this market also focuses on energy efficiency. Higher-end applications require remote connectivity and some controller intelligence.
Entertainment applications include high-end displays and context lighting. Complete control of light intensity and consistent color quality are basic requirements, as well as remote connectivity and support for industry standard protocols such as DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) and DMX512.
Outdoor and infrastructure applications include street lighting as well as lighting in factories and large office buildings. Usually a large number of LEDs are required, and many strings must be supported; high-brightness LEDs are also commonly used. These applications require remote connectivity and a high level of controller intelligence.
The simplest LED-based lighting system uses an LED driver , usually a fixed-function device that provides a simple, straightforward, low-cost control method. In general, they have good power efficiency and do not require software programming. Developers at most do some calculations when choosing a drive or determining the exact value of a component on a board.
Although simple to use, many LED drivers lack the full flexibility of more advanced systems. To support multiple LED types or LED string structures in a given application, a different approach may be required. In fact, any modification in the system may require changes to the drive, such as a change in the number of LEDs in a string, or a change in the number of LED strings in a device. Therefore, most lighting products offered by an OEM may require specialized analog drivers. If the number of products is large, this requirement will increase the inventory type of the OEM or supplier, which may reduce economies of scale or lead to higher equipment costs.
On the other hand, intelligent controllers enable developers to create more flexible lighting systems. In systems with microcontrollers, the code can be configured to support a variety of different types of LEDs, proprietary power stage requirements, different string lengths, and different string counts without major hardware changes. The system can be designed to automatically detect the number of LEDs that need to be driven. The programmable features of the microcontroller system enable even advanced dimming and timing functions for more advanced lighting scene control and auto illumination levels.
The flexibility of digital control allows OEMs to drive a variety of end products by designing a single controller. Reusing control IP can also significantly reduce design investment. A flexible controller reduces the number of components that need to be invented, reducing overall system cost through economies of scale.
Digitally controlled integration
The basic architecture of an intelligent LED lighting system consists of three main components: power conversion, LED control and communication (Figure 1).
The power conversion stage provides the correct voltage and current for the LED. Start with AC/DC rectification followed by a PFC (Power Factor Correction) stage followed by one or more parallel DC/DC conversion stages. Energy efficient power conversion requires precise and flexible control of these stages.
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