Light-emitting diode driving circuit and secondary side controller for controlling the same

• US 7,855,520 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2008
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Niko Semiconductor Co., Ltd
• Original Assignee: Niko Semiconductor Co., Ltd
• Inventors: Leng, Chung-Ming
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens; Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le; Tung X
• Application Number:
  US12/050,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20090237007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,007 Days
• Field of Search: 315/209.R, 315/210, 315/246, 315/247, 315/250, 315/291, 315/294, 315307-308, 315/312, 315/324, 345 82- 83, 345/204
• US Class Current: 315/307
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/385 using flyback topology
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

A light-emitting diode (LED) driving circuit and a secondary side controller for controlling the same control an output voltage of the LED driving circuit at a first driving voltage or a second driving voltage. When the output voltage is controlled at the first driving voltage, an LED module driven by the LED driving circuit is in a stably lighting state; and when the output voltage is controlled at the second driving voltage, the output voltage is approximately a threshold voltage of the LED module but higher than zero volt, so that the LED module is close to not emitting light. Therefore, in a dimming operation, the variation of voltage applied across the LED module is smaller than that in the conventional LED driving circuits to thereby protect the LED module against an excessive voltage stress and avoid the problem of inaccurate dimming.

Claims

1. A light-emitting diode (LED) driving circuit, comprising:

a conversion circuit, which converts an input voltage into an output voltage according to a control signal;

an LED module being coupled with the conversion circuit and emitting light according to the output voltage;

a current detector being coupled with the LED module and generating a current detection signal according to a current flowed through the LED module; and

a control module, including a secondary side control unit being coupled with the current detector and coupled with an isolation unit for receiving the signal output by the secondary side control unit and accordingly generating a secondary side signal, generating the control signal according to the current detection signal and a dimming signal, so as to control the output voltage at a first driving voltage or a second driving voltage;

wherein when the output voltage is controlled at the first driving voltage, the LED module is in a stably lighting state; and

when the output voltage is controlled at the second driving voltage, the LED module is close to a non-lighting state;

wherein the second driving voltage is approximate to a threshold voltage of the LED module.

2. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control module further comprises:

a primary side control unit being coupled with the isolation unit for generating the control signal according to the secondary side signal;

wherein the secondary side control generates a current processing signal according to the current detection signal and outputs the current processing signal or a minimum duty cycle signal according to the dimming signal.

3. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 2, wherein the secondary side control unit includes:

a signal processor for receiving the current detection signal and generating a current processing signal accordingly;

a minimum duty cycle signal generator for generating a minimum duty cycle signal; and

a signal selector being coupled with the signal processor and the minimum duty cycle signal generator, and selectively outputting one of the current processing signal and the minimum duty cycle signal according to the dimming signal.

4. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 3, wherein the signal processor includes an error amplifier, receiving the current detection signal and a reference voltage for generating the current processing signal.

5. An LED driving circuit, comprising:

a conversion circuit, which converts an input voltage into an output voltage according to a control signal;

an LED module being coupled with the conversion circuit and emitting light according to the output voltage;

a current detector being coupled with the LED module and generating a current detection signal according to a current flowed through the LED module;

a voltage detector being coupled with the LED module and generating a voltage detection signal according to a voltage applied across the LED module; and

a control module, which generates the control signal according to the current detection signal, the voltage detection signal, and a dimming signal, so as to control the output voltage at a first driving voltage or a second driving voltage;

wherein when the output voltage is controlled at the first driving voltage, the LED module is in a stably lighting state; and

when the output voltage is controlled at the second driving voltage, the LED module is close to a non-lighting state;

wherein the second driving voltage is approximate to a threshold voltage of the LED module.

6. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 5, wherein the control module includes:

a secondary side control unit being coupled with the current detector and the voltage detector;

the secondary side control unit generating a current processing signal and a voltage processing signal according to the current detection signal and the voltage detection signal, respectively, and selectively outputting the current processing signal or the voltage processing signal according to the dimming signal;

an isolation unit being coupled with the secondary side control unit for receiving the signal output by the secondary side control unit and accordingly generating a secondary side signal; and

a primary side control unit being coupled with the isolation unit for generating the control signal according to the secondary side signal.

7. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 6, wherein the secondary side control unit includes:

a current signal processor for receiving the current detection signal and generating a current processing signal accordingly;

a voltage signal processor for receiving the voltage detection signal and the dimming signal, and generating a voltage processing signal accordingly; and

a signal selector being coupled with the current signal processor and the voltage signal processor, and selectively outputting one of the current processing signal and the voltage processing signal according to the current processing signal and the voltage processing signal.

8. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 7, wherein the current signal processor includes a first error amplifier, and the first error amplifier receives the current detection signal and a first reference voltage to generate the current processing signal.

9. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 7, wherein the voltage signal processor includes a second error amplifier, and the second error amplifier receives the voltage detection signal and a second reference voltage to generate the voltage processing signal.

10. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 9, wherein a voltage level of one of the second reference voltage and the voltage detection signal is regulated according to the dimming signal.

11. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 6, wherein the secondary side control circuit comprises:

a current signal processor for receiving the current detection signal and the dimming signal, and generating a current processing signal accordingly;

a voltage signal processor for receiving the voltage detection signal and generating a voltage processing signal accordingly; and

a signal selector being coupled with the current signal processor and the voltage signal processor, and selectively outputting one of the current processing signal and the voltage processing signal according to the current processing signal and the voltage processing signal.

12. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 11, wherein the current signal processor includes a first error amplifier, and the first error amplifier receives the current detection signal and a first reference voltage to generate the current processing signal.

13. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 12, wherein a voltage level of one of the first reference voltage and the voltage detection signal is regulated according to the dimming signal.

14. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 11, wherein the voltage signal processor includes a second error amplifier, and the second error amplifier receives the voltage detection signal and a second reference voltage to generate the voltage processing signal.

15. The LED driving circuit as claimed in claim 11, wherein the secondary side control circuit comprises:

a signal selection circuit being coupled with the voltage detector and the current detector and selectively outputting one of the voltage detection signal and the current detection signal according to the dimming signal; and

a signal processor being coupled with the signal selection circuit and outputting the secondary side signal according to the signal output by the signal selection circuit.

16. The secondary side control circuit as claimed in claim 15, wherein the signal selection circuit comprises:

a level regulator, coupled with the current detector for regulating a level of the current detection signal; and

the signal selector, coupled with the level regulator and the voltage detector and outputting one of the regulated current detection signal and the voltage detection signal according to the dimming signal.

17. The secondary side control circuit as claimed in claim 16, wherein the signal selection circuit further comprises a signal converter, the dimming signal is a DC dimming signal and the signal converter converts the dimming signal into a pulse signal to control the signal selector.