Supply Chain Reaction

The majority of the people who read this blog are components distributors or other members of the electronics supply chain, so I won't go into a whole repetitive blathering here about how huge the opportunity is for the electronics supply chain when it comes to LEDs or why it’s a long-term opportunity for the overall electronics industry with tremendous growth potential. Why tell you what you already know. (And if you don't know, read this Q&A with Avnet's LED guru Cary Eskow.)

Those at the top of this field understand that LEDs are an evolving technology segment that offers as many design and distribution challenges as it does prospects. They know that the LED itself is only part of high-efficiency semiconductor lighting, that significant power, thermal, and packaging challenges are hurdles to creating efficient and innovative designs and applications. And to that end, one can't know enough about LEDs if they want to grow with this opportunity.

EDN continues to explore the world of LEDs and on October 6 will present its second "Designing with LEDs seminar and hands-on workshop" in Chicago, a hub for LEDs.

The one-day event's agenda is below. Speakers including engineers from ASIC Advantage, Avnet, National Semiconductor, and NEC, among other LED leaders.

Register soon, readers. Our first LED event booked out ahead of the seminar and this one is filling fast. It's also a free event, so for the many based in or near the Windy City, your boss should have little to no problem approving the educational and networking day on your T&E form.

More information on the day can be found at www.edn.com/leds.

Designing with LEDs seminar and hands-on workshop agenda:

Registration starts at 7:30 am

8:15 am - 8:30 am Opening Introduction & Remarks
 
8:30 am - 9:00 am  Keynote Address: Beyond Energy Efficiency - Advanced LED Applications
Explore several psychological and physiological impacts of wavelength-controlled light, ranging from influencing circadian rhythm to enhancing concentration and increasing the perceived visual appeal of our environment.

9:00 am - 9:45 am  LED Manufacturers' Panel
HB LED vendors discuss how drive electronics, thermal management and optics selection interact with recent advances in HB LED technology.

9:45 am - 10:15 am Morning Break – Vendor Booths Open

10:15 am - 11:15 am Technical Papers - Breakout Session 1 (Attendees will select one)  
Converter Topologies for LED Drivers
Compare LED efficiency in lumens/watt and discuss the overall efficiency of the converter plus light source. This session explains converter requirements, such as LED drive requirements, dc current rating, max current, and requirements based on the LED manufacturer's specifications. The presentation also includes specific examples of low voltage dc-dc boost for back lighting panel for laptops, step-up and step-down topologies, and challenges in dimming circuits. 

Dimmable Luminaires/Integrated Solid State Lighting
Learn why the electrical design of luminaires for lighting applications combines requirements that are common to typical power supplies, such as power factor correction and fault correction, with needs specific to lighting, like dimming and lighting control. 
 
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Technical Papers - Breakout Session 2 (Attendees will select one)  
Thermal Management of Visible LEDs
This session covers the physics of LED heat generation and removal, measuring junction temperature, and passive and active thermal management, including the thermal components used in the design.  

Intelligent LED Lighting Systems and Network Technology Choices
Learn to improve the overall energy savings by using remote sensing and remote control to turn on, turn off, or dim LED lighting systems. These sensors and controllers are placed in different locations in different applications, requiring different kinds of control communication ranging from wired to wireless, and from unidirectional to bidirectional.
 
12:45 pm - 1:45 pm Networking Lunch Keynote Panel & Sponsor Showcase
Challenges in power control and management for solid-state lighting with HB LEDs High-brightness LEDs are only a piece of the efficiency puzzle in solid-state lighting design: just as important are the power conversion and management architecture. Decisions like converter topologies, thermal management, and dimming strategies affect lighting efficiency and cost. Power control chip manufacturers and power systems vendors discuss different designs and technologies that can save you energy and design time.
 
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm Hands-on Workshop and Demo Lab 
Creating a Solid-State Lighting Luminaire from Scratch
Designing a high-reliability HBLED system can be challenging. There are many inter-related visual, thermal and electrical characteristics to consider. This session will begin with the human eye, review fundamental HBLED metrics and illumination terminology, walk-through the necessary thermal calculations and culminate with a case-study of constructing a miniature self-contained HBLED light engine. Discussion of high-power infrared LEDs and a demonstration of their application in medical imaging and security/surveillance will follow. 

Circuit operation of buck, flyback and multi-stage LED converter topologies and methods of dimming
and their implementation in LED driver
Demonstration of the IRPLLED1 demo board based on the IR2540 control IC showing PWM dimming capability, as well as IR's new triac-dimmable LED driver reference design based on the IRS2530D. Explanation of advantages/ limitations of the popular flyback converter topology as well as the multi-stage approach including the front-end boost power factor control (PFC) circuit and the isolating half-bridge step down stage. Complimentary IR Demo Board with HB LED.
 
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm  Afternoon Break – Vendor Booths Open
 
3:15 pm - 4:15 pm  Real-world design examples of tradeoffs involved in selecting and designing LED circuits, including an AC dimmable LED and DC boost and buck applications.
LED technology is undergoing a period of rapid change and innovation, with increasingly brighter and more efficient parts being introduced, and this makes it difficult for an engineer to keep up with the latest products. Fortunately, online tools for LED selection and implementation have been introduced to make choosing an LED and LED driver easier.
 
4:15 pm - 5:30 pm Networking Reception & Sponsor Showcase
Join our fantastic sponsors, ASIC Advantage, International Rectifier, National Semiconductor, Allied Electronics, Coilcraft, NXP, OSRAM and Seoul Semiconductor and the editorial staff of EDN and Design News magazines for a cocktail and recap of the day.