LED driving circuitry with light intensity feedback to control output light intensity of an LED

• US 6,153,985 A
• Filed: 07/09/1999
• Issued: 11/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dialight Corporation (Dialight PLC)
• Original Assignee: Dialight Corporation (Dialight PLC)
• Inventors: Grossman, Hyman
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): DINH, TRINH VO
• Application Number:
  US09/349,769
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• Field of Search: 315/291, 315/159, 315/149, 315/150, 315/156, 363/89, 359/189, 250/199, 250/214, 250/205, 250/201.5, 250/216, 250/271, 250/458.1
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 23/0442 activated by means of a sensor, e.g. motion or photodetectors
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2111/00 Use or application of lighting devices or systems for signalling, marking or indicating, not provided for in codes F21W2102/00 – F21W2107/00
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2105/10 comprising a two-dimensional array of point-like light-generating elements
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2115/10 Light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/12 using optical feedback

Abstract

An LED indicator system with at least one LED, and driving circuitry for driving the at least one LED. A power supply supplies a drive current to the at least one LED. A photodetector detects a luminous output of the at least one LED and correspondingly outputs a detection signal. A conditioning circuit removes signal components indicative of stray light from at least one source other than the at least one LED, for example from sunlight reflected off of an LED array including the at least one LED, from the detection signal. As a result, the conditioning circuit generates a synthesized intensity feedback signal to provide to the power supply. The LED indicator system and driving circuitry for the at least one LED may further include a controller which compares the current supplied by the power supply to the at least one LED with the synthesized intensity feedback signal. A transmitter may transmit a signal indicating a result of the comparison executed by the controller.

Claims

1. An LED indicator system, comprising:

(a) at least one LED;

(b) a power supply to supply current to the at least one LED based on a received synthesized intensity feedback signal;

(c) a photodetector to detect a luminous output of the at least one LED, and to correspondingly output a detection signal;

(d) a compensation circuit to remove components of stray light from at least one source other than said at least one LED from the detection signal to generate the synthesized intensity feedback signal provided to the power supply.

2. The LED indicator system according to claim 1, wherein said detection signal includes a sinusoidal component and a DC component from the at least one source, and wherein said conditioning circuit comprises:

i) a low pass filter to extract a first substantially DC signal proportional to a DC component in the detection signal; and

ii) a difference circuit to subtract the first substantially DC signal from the detection signal to generate a sinusoidal AC waveform.

3. The LED indicator system according to claim 2, wherein said conditioning circuit further comprises:

iii) a smoothing and amplifying circuit to smooth and amplify the sinusoidal AC waveform to generate a second substantially DC signal proportional to a level of the sinusoidal AC component in the detection signal.

4. The LED indicator system according to claim 3, wherein said conditioning circuit further comprises:

iv) an adder circuit to add the second substantially DC signal and the detection signal, to generate an intermediate composite signal; and

v) a second difference circuit to subtract the first substantially DC signal from the intermediate composite signal and to generate the synthesized intensity feedback signal.

5. The LED indicator system according to claim 4, wherein said conditioning circuit further comprises:

vi) an upper current limit comparator to ensure that the synthesized intensity feedback signal has a minimum value; and

vii) a lower current limit comparator to ensure that the synthesized intensity feedback signal does not exceed a maximum value.

6. The LED indicator system according to claim 1, further comprising:

(e) a controller to compare the current supplied by the power supply to the at least one LED with the synthesized intensity feedback signal.

7. The LED indicator system according to claim 6, further comprising:

(f) a transmitter to transmit a signal indicating a result of the comparison executed by the controller.

8. The LED indicator system according to claim 5, further comprising:

(e) a controller to compare the current supplied by the power supply to the at least one LED with the synthesized intensity feedback signal.

9. The LED indicator system according to claim 8, further comprising:

(f) a transmitter to transmit a signal indicating a result of the comparison executed by the controller.

10. A driving circuit for at least one LED, comprising:

(a) a power supply to supply current to the at least one LED based on a received synthesized intensity feedback signal;

(b) a photodetector to detect a luminous output of the at least one LED, and to correspondingly output a detection signal;

(c) a compensation circuit to remove components of stray light from at least one source other than said at least one LED from the detection signal to generate the synthesized intensity feedback signal provided to the power supply.

11. The driving circuit according to claim 10, wherein said detection signal has a sinusoidal AC component and a DC component from the at least one source, and wherein said conditioning circuit comprises:

i) a low pass filter to filter the detection signal to generate a first substantially DC signal proportional to a DC component in the detection signal; and

ii) a difference circuit to subtract the first substantially DC signal from the detection signal to generate a sinusoidal AC waveform.

12. The driving circuit according to claim 11, wherein said conditioning circuit further comprises:

iii) a smoothing and amplifying circuit to smooth and amplify the sinusoidal AC waveform to generate a second substantially DC signal proportional to a level of the sinusoidal AC component in the detection signal.

13. The driving circuit according to claim 12, wherein said conditioning circuit further comprises:

iv) an adder circuit to add the second substantially DC signal to the detection signal, to generate an intermediate composite signal; and

v) a second difference circuit to subtract the first substantially DC signal from the intermediate composite signal to generate the synthesized intensity feedback signal.

14. The driving circuit according to claim 13, wherein said conditioning circuit further comprises:

vi) an upper current limit comparator to ensure that the synthesized intensity feedback signal has a minimum value; and

vii) a lower current limit comparator to ensure that the synthesized intensity feedback signal does not exceed a maximum value.

15. The driving circuit according to claim 10, further comprising:

(d) a controller to compare the current supplied by the power supply to the at least one LED with the synthesized intensity feedback signal.

16. The driving circuit according to claim 15, further comprising:

(e) a transmitter to transmit a signal indicating a result of the comparison executed by the controller.

17. The driving circuit according to claim 14, further comprising:

(e) a controller to compare the current supplied by the power supply to the at least one LED with the synthesized intensity feedback signal.

18. The driving circuit according to claim 17, further comprising:

(f) a transmitter to transmit a signal indicating a result of the comparison executed by the controller.

19. An LED indicator system, comprising:

(a) at least one LED;

(b) a power supply to supply current to the at least one LED based on a received synthesized intensity feedback signal;

(c) a photodetector to detect a luminous output of the at least one LED, and to correspondingly output a detection signal;

(d) means for removing components of stray light from at least one source other than said at least one LED from the detection signal to generate the synthesized intensity feedback signal provided to the power supply.