Illumination apparatus and image display apparatus

• US 7,960,919 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2005
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Furukawa, Norimasa
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens; Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim; Jae K
• Application Number:
  US11/314,769
• Publication Number:
  US 20060158130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,001 Days
• Field of Search: 315/291, 315/360, 315/106, 315/241.P, 315/158, 315/101, 315/227.R, 315/77, 315/185.S, 315/219, 315/82, 315/246, 315/225, 315/308, 315/209.R, 315/240, 315/224, 315/307, 363/97, 331/11, 331/1.A, 331/2, 331/17, 431/359, 455/260, 370/249, 330/279, 330/52, 330/149, 330/129, 375/327, 375/376
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 31/50 specially adapted for ac
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/40 Details of LED load circuits
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

An illumination apparatus is configured simply in a reduced scale while a light emitting diode is used as a light emitting source for illumination. The illumination apparatus includes an LED driving block including an LED bridge circuit formed from a bridge connection of a plurality of diode series circuits each of which is formed from a series connection of a plurality of light emitting diodes and a rectifying diode. A load resistor is connected to a rectification output of the LED bridge circuit. When an AC voltage is input to the LED driving block, the LED bridge circuit rectifies the AC voltage, and the resulting rectification current is used as driving current to drive the light emitting diodes to emit light.

Claims

1. An illumination apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of bridge rectification circuits corresponding to respective colors of light,

each bridge rectification circuit receiving and rectifying an input AC voltage;

being formed from a bridge connection of a plurality of unit series circuits each of which is formed from a series connection of a plurality of light emitting diode elements, the number of light emitting diode elements differing between at least two of the unit series circuits; and

being associated with a transistor, the input AC voltage being applied across first and second nodes of the bridge rectification circuit, and the transistor having a first end coupled to a third node of the bridge rectification circuit and a second end coupled to a fourth node of the bridge rectification circuit,

a first one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the anode side of the first one of the unit series circuits to the first node of the bridge rectification circuit, a second one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the cathode side of the second one of the unit series circuits to the first node of the bridge rectification circuit, a third one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the anode side of the third one of the unit series circuits to the second node of the bridge rectification circuit, and a fourth one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the cathode side of the fourth one of the unit series circuits to the second node of the bridge rectification circuit,

such that the emitted light quantity for said bridge rectification circuits can be independently controlled,

one or more of the light emitting diode elements being associated with a fluorescent material for maintaining emission of light from the one or more light emitting diode elements associated with the fluorescent material,

for each bridge rectification circuit, the driving current for the light emitting diode elements is controlled by the transistor in response to a signal indicative of a comparison between a reference voltage and a voltage indicative of a light quantity output from the light emitting diode elements as measured by a photosensor,

the reference voltages for at least two of the bridge rectification circuits being set such that when the light outputs of the at least two bridge rectification circuits are combined the combined light output is a desired light output.

2. The illumination apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a conduction angle variation section for variably controlling the conduction angle of the AC voltage.

3. The illumination apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said conduction angle variation section variably controls the conduction angle in response to a detected quantity of emitted light from said light emitting diode elements.

4. An image display apparatus, comprising:

a light source section for emitting light as a light source in order to display an image with the light;

said light source section including a plurality of bridge rectification circuits, each bridge rectification circuit receiving and rectifying an input AC voltage;

being formed from a bridge connection of a plurality of unit series circuits each of which is formed from a series connection of a plurality of light emitting diode elements, the number of light emitting diode elements differing between at least two of the unit series circuits; and

being associated with a transistor, the input AC voltage being applied across first and second nodes of the bridge rectification circuit, and the transistor having a first end coupled to a third node of the bridge rectification circuit and a second end coupled to a fourth node of the bridge rectification circuit,

a first one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the anode side of the first one of the unit series circuits to the first node of the bridge rectification circuit, a second one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the cathode side of the second one of the unit series circuits to the first node of the bridge rectification circuit, a third one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the anode side of the third one of the unit series circuits to the second node of the bridge rectification circuit, and a fourth one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the cathode side of the fourth one of the unit series circuits to the second node of the bridge rectification circuit,

such that the emitted light quantity for said bridge rectification circuits can be independently controlled,

one or more of the light emitting diode elements being associated with a fluorescent material for maintaining emission of light from the one or more light emitting diode elements associated with the fluorescent material,

for each bridge rectification circuit, the driving current for the light emitting diode elements is controlled by the transistor in response to a signal indicative of a comparison between a reference voltage and a voltage indicative of a light quantity output from the light emitting diode elements as measured by a photosensor,

the reference voltages for at least two of the bridge rectification circuits being set such that when the light outputs of the at least two bridge rectification circuits are combined the combined light output is a desired light output.

5. The image display apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said light source section includes said light emitting diode elements corresponding to colors of red, green and blue and synthesizes the lights of said light emitting diode elements corresponding to the colors to emit white light.

6. A liquid crystal display, comprising:

a backlight including a plurality of bridge rectification circuits, each bridge rectification circuit receiving and rectifying an input AC voltage;

being formed from a bridge connection of a plurality of unit series circuits each of which is formed from a series connection of a plurality of light emitting diode elements, the number of light emitting diode elements differing between at least two of the unit series circuits; and

being associated with a transistor, the input AC voltage being applied across first and second nodes of the bridge rectification circuit, and the transistor having a first end coupled to a third node of the bridge rectification circuit and a second end coupled to a fourth node of the bridge rectification circuit,

a first one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the anode side of the first one of the unit series circuits to the first node of the bridge rectification circuit, a second one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the cathode side of the second one of the unit series circuits to the first node of the bridge rectification circuit, a third one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the anode side of the third one of the unit series circuits to the second node of the bridge rectification circuit, and a fourth one of the unit series circuits including a rectifying diode for coupling the cathode side of the fourth one of the unit series circuits to the second node of the bridge rectification circuit,

such that the emitted light quantity for said bridge rectification circuits can be independently controlled,

one or more of the light emitting diode elements being associated with a fluorescent material for maintaining emission of light from the one or more light emitting diode elements associated with the fluorescent material,

for each bridge rectification circuit, the driving current for the light emitting diode elements is controlled by the transistor in response to a signal indicative of a comparison between a reference voltage and a voltage indicative of a light quantity output from the light emitting diode elements as measured by a photosensor,

the reference voltages for at least two of the bridge rectification circuits being set such that when the light outputs of the at least two bridge rectification circuits are combined the combined light output is a desired light output.

7. The liquid crystal display according to claim 6, wherein each of said unit series circuits includes a diode element connected in series to said plurality of light emitting diode elements, said diode element having a predetermined voltage withstanding property higher than that of said light emitting diode elements.

8. The liquid crystal display according to claim 6, further comprising a conduction angle variation section for variably controlling the conduction angle of the AC voltage.

9. The liquid crystal display according to claim 8, wherein said conduction angle variation section variably controls the conduction angle in, response to a detected quantity of emitted light from said light emitting diode elements.

10. The liquid crystal display according to claim 6, wherein said light emitting diode elements include light emitting diode elements corresponding to colors of red, green and blue and the display synthesizes the lights of said light emitting diode elements corresponding to the colors to emit white light.