Technical Editor Margery Conner's PowerSource streams the latest developments in electronic power design and related technologies. Follow Margery on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/margeryc.
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Power Management Articles
- Secondary-side synchronous rectification boosts resonant converter efficiency
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Blog
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Help me find good questions for the LED power management panel discussion
Sep 30 2009 10:08AM | Permalink |Comments (7) |
In the rush to embrace LEDs as the Great Hope for energy-efficient lighting, it’s easy to forget that LEDs themselves are only part of the design equation: The power control electronics are vital components in ensuring both power efficiency and thermal performance for lighting.
We’re having the lunchtime panel discussion that features many of the significant players in LED power management ICs**. I’d like to lead off with some questions that will both spark a good discussion among the panelists, as well as take advantage of the wide variety of experience and design approaches represented on the panel. For example, a softball question might be, “When designing a triac-dimmable LED light, what are the most important features the driver IC should have?” Or, “Are there any gotchas in driving the LED that will affect the life of the LED or light quality?”
Any suggestions?
Or, register here and ask the questions yourself next Tuesday, October 6, at EDN’s “Designing with LEDs” Workshop in Chicago. (Registration is free.)
** Panelists are:
Peter Green, Senior Lighting Systems Engineer, International Rectifier
Bobby Wong, technical marketing engineer, NEC
Michael Pena, Senior Director, Technical Support and Applications, NXP
Vipin Bothra, Application Manager, Power Supply Applications, STMicro
Related entries in: Displays and indicators | HBLED |
Reader Comments
at 9/30/2009 1:13:07 PM, LEDPower said:
How about the reliability of other components used in LED driver circuits - if you combine a 8,000 hour capacitor with a 50,000 hour LED, the solid-state light lasts for 8k, not 50k hours. So, what lifetime can we really expect for LED lighting?
at 9/30/2009 5:51:26 PM, DC_20090930 said:
What about EMI issues, rarely discussed in these forums?
Each of several different LED lamps that I have in use in my house generate very strong EMI that drowns out my AM radio (for morning news) that is one floor upstairs.
I do not know if it is conducted or radiated emissions.
(And no, I don't want to get Sirius radio, thank you.)
A second comment is that I have had 2 of four LED lights fail already, each within ~500 hours of use, haven't taken them apart yet. I suspect they are succumbing to routine AC line spikes from A/C unit and refrigerator. (Not, I'm not arc-welding in the garage, thank you.)
at 9/30/2009 8:56:46 PM, EagleLight said:
The drivers are the weak link in LEDs. Color quality, packaging, luminosity and many other factors of current products are fine for many lighting applications. Cost and associated ROI is the gating factor for most of those implementations and life-time is the KEY part of ROI, perhaps with installation expense the exception in some installs. Drivers are the weak link in lifetime, and hence the weak link in ROI and in turn the weak link in LEDs.
The question: when will they catch up and what is being done to make the driver replaceable, much like the lamps are replaced today? Create a glorious event!!
EagleLight.
at 9/30/2009 10:36:52 PM, Andy T said:
Here's a good one: Looking at TI's recent fab announcement as the model of how a serious semiconductor business is run relative to its competitors - when is the industry going to get serious and build a 300mm LED fab and get out of this beaker-boutique mode of building "value" semiconductors when the world wants CHEAP "volume"? Sapphire is an excuse, not an answer.
at 10/1/2009 7:36:32 PM, Quantum said:
Does it look like Silicon LEDs will be a "players" in the near future. In this case, I am talking about the one of various "tricks" to avoid the usual "indirect gap" problem in Silicon - like using quantum dots...
at 10/2/2009 2:01:43 PM, Chris PE said:
I agree with everyone. LED will not be a weakest link.We know it well from all electronic circuits.It is not what is switched, but what is used to switch it.Another problem is a cost of REALLY GOOD parts to increase time.I have seen LED versions of long fluorescent tubes. They cost $190.00 and cary 3 years guarrantee.We are in an early stage of popularity of LEDs.One day it may be $19.00 and we will be back to problems of how long will it live.I know that I am repeating after all other comments, but if it is expensive it must last , which is NOT a rule in electronics industry anymore. People laugh whan I say that my parents had Zenith TV for 25 years and donated it in a working condition.I would like to see some of those flat screens last 25 years.....and some of them are LED based.
at 10/16/2009 2:17:22 PM, Glenn said:
So what are the "Power Factor Correction" implications for the drivers of triac-dimmable LED lighting systems?
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