CURRENT SPLIT CIRCUIT FOR EQUALLY SPLITTING CURRENT BETWEEN PARALLEL CONNECTED LED LUMINAIRE STRINGS
First Claim
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1. A lighting circuit, comprising:
- a first string of solid state lighting devices in communication with a power source, the first string of solid state lighting devices being connected in series with each other;
a second string of solid state light devices in communication with the power source, the second string of solid state light devices being connected in series with each other, the first and second string of solid state lighting devices being connected in parallel; and
a current split circuit in communication with the first and string of solid state lighting devices.
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Abstract
A system and method for equally splitting the current supplied to parallel connected strings of LEDs. The system and method includes a current splitting circuit such as a mirror circuit that divides the current substantially equally between two or more parallel connected strings of LEDs. The current splitting circuit ensures that illumination levels of the strings of LEDs are uniform without requiring the strings of LEDs to be binned. The current splitting circuit also allows the strings of LEDs to be dimmed in both pulse width modulation (PWM) and continuous modes.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A lighting circuit, comprising:
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a first string of solid state lighting devices in communication with a power source, the first string of solid state lighting devices being connected in series with each other; a second string of solid state light devices in communication with the power source, the second string of solid state light devices being connected in series with each other, the first and second string of solid state lighting devices being connected in parallel; and a current split circuit in communication with the first and string of solid state lighting devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A lighting circuit, comprising:
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a plurality of strings of light emitting diodes connected to a power source, the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes being connected in parallel with each other; and a current split circuit connected to the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes, the current split circuit comprising a plurality of transistors, including; a reference transistor connected in series with a first of the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes, and one or more copy transistors connected to the reference transistor and in series with one of the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes, wherein the one or more copy transistors divides the current substantially equally between the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A lighting method, comprising:
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providing a power source; providing a plurality of strings of light emitting diodes in communication with the power source, the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes being connected in parallel with each other; providing a current split circuit in communication with the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes, the current split circuit having a plurality of transistors that form a mirror circuit; and dividing the current equally between each of the plurality of strings of light emitting diodes such that the light emitting diodes are illuminated at substantially the same level. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification