Bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof

• US 8,054,004 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2009
• Issued: 11/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tai-Her Yang
• Original Assignee: Tai-Her Yang
• Inventors: Yang, Tai-Her
• Primary Examiner(s): Ismail; Shawki S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hammond; Crystal L
• Application Number:
  US12/352,699
• Publication Number:
  US 20090224689A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 315/246, 315/248, 315/250, 315/258, 315/283, 315/290, 315/291, 315/297, 315/307, 315/227.R, 315/228, 315/239, 315/244, 315/276
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]

Abstract

A bipolar (dis)charge LED drive method and circuit thereof which is having a diode connected in series of forward polarity with an light emitting diode before being connected in parallel with a bipolar capacitor of the same polarity to constitute the first component, and having a diode, a capacitor and an optional light emitting diode to constitute the second component; the first and second components are connected in series of reversed polarity to be driven by AC, or DC power capable of periodical exchange polarity.

Claims

1. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof, which is comprised of a first component and a second component in series connection of reversed polarity, wherein the first component comprises a diode connected in series of forward polarity with an illuminating conduct polarity of a light emitting diode before being connected in parallel with a bipolar capacitor;

and the second component either comprises a diode and a bipolar capacitor in series connection, or the diode can be selected as needed to series connect with an optional light emitting diode;

the second component include;

     1) when the optional light emitting diode is selected to be installed, the diode may be series connected with the light emitting diode at forward polarity with the illuminating conduct polarity of the light emitting diode before being parallel connected with a bipolar capacitor, thereby to comprise a first type of the second component; and

     2) if the optional LED is selected not to be installed in the second component, the diode is parallel connected with the bipolar capacitor to comprise a second type of the second component;

the first component is connected in series of reversed polarity with either type of the second component to comprise an LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging for inputting;

1) AC power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable frequency;

or

2) electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power source;

or

3) the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power which is further rectified from AC power;

including;

a bipolar capacitor comprised of bipolar capacitors (C201), (C202) that are capable of bipolar charging and discharging, wherein said bipolar capacitors may be of same or different electric capacity;

the first component (U101) comprised of a diode (CR101) capable of executing uni-directional conduction in series connection of forward polarity to at least one light emitting diode (LED101) before being parallel connected with a bipolar capacitor;

the second component (U102) comprised of a diode (CR102) capable of executing uni-directional conduction in series connection of forward polarity to at least one light emitting diode (LED102) before being parallel connected with a bipolar capacitor;

the first component (U101) can include one or more than one in series connection, parallel connection, or series-parallel connection;

the second component (U102) can include one or more than one in series connection, parallel connection, or series-parallel connection;

in addition, if the light emitting diode (LED102) is selected not to be installed as needed, the diode (CR102) can be directly parallel connected with the bipolar capacitor (C202), thereby to constitute the second component (U102);

the first component (U101) and the second component (U102) are series connected of reversed polarity to constitute the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging, wherein the two ends of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is arranged for inputting;

1) the AC power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable frequency;

or

2) the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power source;

or

3) the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power which is further rectified from AC power;

the LED drive circuit (U100) is capable of charging and discharging, one or more than one matching modes are available for choice among the light emitting diode (LED101) comprising the first component (U101), and the light emitting diode (LED102) comprising the second component (U102) including;

1) the light emitting diode (LED101) is comprised of one or a plurality of light emitting diodes;

2) if the second component (U102) is selected to include the light emitting diode (LED102), the light emitting diode (LED102) is comprised of one or a plurality of light emitting diodes;

3) the light emitting diode (LED101) or light emitting diode (LED102) include one light emitting diode of forward illuminating current polarity, or two or more than two light emitting diodes of forward illuminating current polarity in series or parallel connection, or three or more than three light emitting diodes of forward illuminating current polarity in series connection, parallel connection or series-parallel connection;

4) the numbers of light emitting diodes which constitute comprise the light emitting diode (LED101) and the numbers of light emitting diodes which constitute the light emitting diode (LED102) can be the same or different;

5) wherein the electric power source is related to an AC power source, or a bi-directional power source with polarity alternated periods that is converted from a DC power source, the light emitting diode (LED101) or the light emitting diode (LED102) is not continuously conducted by the DC power, thus to allow selection of a peak value of the working voltage for each light emitting diode referring to the inputted voltage wave shape and duty cycle of current conduction and disconnection, as well as a selected working current value;

the selections include i) having a voltage lower than a normal rated voltage as the peak voltage;

ii) having the normal rated voltage as the peak voltage; and

iii) having a voltage higher than the normal rated voltage as the peak voltage;

when having a supply of power source with a polarity to charge the bipolar capacitor (C202) from the second component (U102) through the diode (CR101) and the light emitting diode (LED101) from the first component (U101), and the charged electric power keeps the light emitting diode (LED101) illuminated; and

having the supply of power source with the other polarity to charge the bipolar capacitor (C201) from the first component (U101) through the diode (CR102) and the light emitting diode (LED102) from the second component (U102), and the charged electric power keeps the light emitting diode (LED102) illuminated;

if the second component (U102) is not disposed with the light emitting diode (LED102), the electric power directly charges the bipolar capacitor (C201) from the first component (U101) through the diode (CR102) of the second component (U102).

2. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein in practical applications, the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging may be optionally disposed with multiple auxiliary circuit components as applicable including the selection of either to be or not to be installed as needed and the selection of the installed quantity to be one or more than ones;

in case of more than one components are selected, they can be in series connection, parallel connection or series-parallel connection of selected polarity relationship according to the requirements of the circuit function;

the components and the optional auxiliary circuit devices including;

the discharging resistance (R101);

it is an optional device connected in parallel with both ends of the bipolar capacitor (C201) from the first component (U101) to discharge residual electric charge from the bipolar capacitor (C201);

the discharging resistance (R102);

it is an optional device connected in parallel with both ends of the bipolar capacitor (C202) from the second component (U102) to discharge residual electric charge from the bipolar capacitor (C202);

the current limiting resistance (R103);

it is an optional device which is arranged to be respectively connected in series to the diode (CR101) and the light emitting diode (LED101) from the first component (U101) to limit currents passing through the light emitting diode (LED101);

the current limiting resistance (R103) may be replaced with an inductive resistance (1103);

the current limiting resistance (R104);

it is an optional device which is arranged to be respectively connected in series to the diode (CR102) and the light emitting diode (LED102) from the second component (U102) to limit currents passing through the light emitting diode (LED102);

the current limiting resistance (R104) may be replaced with an inductive resistance (1104).

3. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein to avoid the light emitting diode being damaged or reduced service life by abnormal voltage, in the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging of the present invention, a zener diode may be further connected in parallel with both ends of the light emitting diode;

or at least one zener diode may be series connected with at least one diode to jointly generate zener voltage function for parallel connecting to both ends of the light emitting diode, including;

a zener diode (ZD101) is parallel connected to both ends of the light emitting diode (LED101) from the first component (U101) to protect the light emitting diode, wherein their polarity relationship is that the zener voltage of the zener diode (ZD101) is used to limit the working voltage across the two ends of the light emitting diode (LED101);

as applicable, the diode (CR201) may be selected to be series connected with the zener diode (ZD101), wherein providing advantages of

     1) protecting the zener diode (ZD101) against reversed current; and

     2) achieving temperature compensation results between the zener diode (ZD101) and the diode (CR201);

when the light emitting diode (LED102) is selected to be included in the second component (U102), a zener diode (ZD102) is parallel connected with both ends of the light emitting diode (LED102), wherein their polarity relationship is that the zener voltage of the zener diode (ZD102) is used to limit the working voltage across the two ends of the light emitting diode (LED102);

as applicable, the diode (CR202) may be selected to be series connected with the zener diode (ZD102), wherein providing advantages of

     1) protecting the zener diode (ZD102) against reversed current; and

     2) achieving temperature compensation results between the zener diode (ZD102) and the diode (CR202).

4. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein to achieve the lighting stability of the light source produced by the light emitting diode and reduce the lighting pulsation, both or at least one of the first component (U101) and the second component (U102) can be further installed with a charge/discharge device, including:

the two ends of the light emitting diode (LED101) and the current limiting resistance (R103) in series connection from the first component (U101), or directly at the two ends of the light emitting diode (LED101) can be further parallel connected with a charge/discharge device (ESD101) according to the polarity for randomly charging or discharging the electric power, whereby to stabilize the operation of light emission from the light emitting diode (LED101);

if the light emitting diode (LED102) is selected for the second component (U102), a charge/discharge device (ESD102) can be selected as needed to be parallel connected with the two ends of the light emitting diode (LED102) and the current limiting resistance (R104) in series connection, or directly parallel connected at the two ends of the light emitting diode (LED102) according to the polarity for randomly charging or discharging the electric power, whereby to stabilize the operation of light emission from the light emitting diode (LED102);

the charge/discharge devices (ESD101) and (ESD102) can comprise the conventional charging and discharging batteries, or super-capacitors or capacitors.

5. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein both or at least one of the first component (U101) and the second component (U102) can be further disposed with the charge/discharge devices (ESD101), (ESD102) for randomly charging or discharging the electric power, whereby to stabilize the operation of light emission from the light emitting diodes (LED101) and (LED102);

and in case of power failure, either or both of the reserved electric power in the charge/discharge devices (ESD101) and ESD 102 discharges the reserved electric power, so as to continue supplying power to maintain at least one of the light emitting diode (LED101) or (LED102) illuminated.

6. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, further incorporating the following active modulating circuit devices, wherein the active modulating circuit devices include one or more than one device including:

the AC power modulator of series connection type (300) comprises the conventional electromechanical components or solid state power components and related electronic circuit components to be series connected to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging for receiving the electric power from AC power source, so as to execute power modulations including pulse width modulation (PWM), conduction phase angle control, and impedance modulation to the AC power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable frequency from the power source;

the AC power modulator of parallel connection type (310) comprises the conventional electromechanical components or solid state power components and related electronic circuit components, wherein its output ends are arranged to be parallel connected to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging while its input ends are arranged to receive the AC power, so as to execute power modulations including pulse width modulation (PWM), conduction phase angle control, and impedance modulation to the AC power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable frequency from the power source;

the modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of series connection type (400) comprises the conventional electromechanical components or solid state power components and related electronic circuit components for series connected to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging for receiving electric power from the power source, so as to execute power modulations including pulse width modulation (PWM), conduction phase angle control, and impedance modulation to either the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power, or the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power which is further rectified from the AC power source;

the modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of parallel connection type (410) comprises the conventional electromechanical components or solid state power components and related electronic circuit components, wherein its output ends are arranged to be parallel connected to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging while its input ends are arranged to receive the electric power from power source, so as to execute power modulations including pulse width modulation (PWM), conduction phase angle control, and impedance modulation to either the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power, or the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power which is further rectified from the AC power source;

the DC to AC inverter (4000) comprises the conventional electromechanical components or solid state power components and related electronic circuit components, wherein its input ends are arranged to receive DC power with constant or variable voltage as selected while its output ends are arranged to output electric power of bi-directional sinusoidal wave, or bi-directional square wave or bi-directional pulsed wave with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarity alternated periods;

the impedance (500) is comprised of at least one resistive impedance component, inductive impedance component and/or a capacitive impedance component or comprised of at least two or at least two kinds of impedance components mixed to execute series connection, parallel connection or series-parallel connection, whereby to provide DC impedance or AC impedance;

or the capacitive impedance component and the inductive impedance component are mutually series connected to have the same frequency of the bi-directional electric power such as AC power from the power source or the same polarities alternated periods of the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power, thereby to appear a series resonance status and a corresponding end voltage status of series resonance across the two ends of the corresponding capacitive impedance component or inductive impedance component;

or the capacitive impedance component and the inductive impedance component are mutually parallel connected to have the same frequency of the bi-directional electric power such as AC power from the power source or the same polarities alternated periods of the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods, thereby to appear a parallel resonance status and corresponding end voltage;

the switching device (600) comprises dynamo-mechanical switching devices or solid-state switching devices to be arranged to modulate at least two impedance components (500) to execute switches among series, parallel, and series-parallel connections.

7. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is series connected to the conventional AC power modulator of series connection type (300) before driven by the inputted AC power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable frequency, thereby to modulate the inputted power of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging, wherein the connection method is to series connect the two devices.

8. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein it includes that the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is parallel connected with the output ends of the conventional AC power modulator of parallel connection type (310) while the AC power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable frequency is arranged to be inputted to the input ends of the AC power modulator of parallel connection type (310), then delivered through the output ends of the AC power modulator of parallel connection type (310) to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging for modulating the inputted power of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging.

9. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein it includes that the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is series connected to the conventional modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of series connection type (400) before receiving the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power, or the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power which is further rectified from the AC power, thereby to modulate the inputted power of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging.

10. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein it includes that the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is parallel connected with an output end of the conventional modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of parallel connection type (410);

the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power, or the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power which is further rectified from AC power is arranged to be inputted to an input end of the modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of parallel connection type (410) and then outputted from an output end of modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of parallel connection type (410) to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging for modulating the inputted power of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging.

11. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein it includes that the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is series connected to the conventional modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of series connection type (400) before being parallel connected with an output end of the DC to AC inverter (4000);

a DC power with constant or variable voltage selected as applicable is inputted into an input end of the DC to AC inverter (4000) while the output end of the DC to AC inverter (4000) outputs the electric power of bi-directional sinusoidal wave, or bi-directional square wave or bi-directional pulsed wave with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods selected as applicable to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging for modulating the inputted power of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging.

12. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein includes that the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is parallel connected with the an output end of the conventional modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of parallel connection type (410);

a DC power with constant or variable voltage selected as applicable is inputted into an input end of the DC to AC inverter (4000) while the output end of the DC to AC inverter (4000) outputs electric power of bi-directional sinusoidal wave, or bi-directional square wave or bi-directional pulsed wave with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarity alternated periods selected as applicable to an input end of the modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of parallel connection type (410) before being outputted to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging through an output end of the modulated periodically polarities alternated power modulator of parallel connection type (410) for modulating the inputted power of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging.

13. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein it includes that the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is parallel connected with an output end of the conventional DC to AC inverter (4000);

a DC power with constant or variable voltage selected as applicable is inputted into an input end of the DC to AC inverter (4000) while the output end of the DC to AC inverter (4000) outputs electric power of bi-directional sinusoidal wave, or bi-directional square wave or bi-directional pulsed wave with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarity alternated periods selected as applicable to the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging for modulating the inputted power of the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging.

14. A bipolar (dis)charging LED drive method and circuit thereof as claimed in claim 1, wherein it includes that the LED drive circuit (U100) capable of charging and discharging is series connected to at least one conventional impedance component (500) before being parallel connected with a power source;

wherein the impedance component (500) is comprised of;

1) an impedance component (500) comprising a component with capacitive impedance characteristics;

or

2) an impedance component (500) comprising a component with inductive impedance characteristics;

or

3) an impedance component (500) comprising a component with resistive impedance characteristics;

or

4) an impedance component (500) comprising a single impedance component with the combined impedance characteristics of at least two characteristics of the resistive impedance, or inductive impedance, or capacitive impedance simultaneously, thereby to provide DC or AC impedances;

or

5) an impedance component (500) comprising a single impedance component with the combined impedance characteristics of capacitive impedance and inductive impedance, wherein its inherent resonance frequency is the same as the frequency of the bi-directional electric power such as the AC power from the power source or the polarities alternated periods of the electric power with constant or variable voltage and constant or variable polarities alternated periods converted from DC power, thereby to produce a parallel resonance status;

or

6) an impedance component (500) comprising capacitive impedance components, or inductive impedance components, or resistive impedance components, including one or more than one kind of and one and more than one impedance component, or two or more than two kinds of one or more than one impedance components in series connection, or parallel connection, or series-parallel connections, thereby to provide a DC or AC impedance;

or the capacitive impedance component and the inductive impedance component are in mutual series connection, whereby its inherent series resonance frequency is the same as the frequency of bi-directional electric power such as the AC power from power source, or the periods of the periodically alternated polarities DC power converted from DC power, thereby to produce an impedance status of series resonance status and appear the corresponding end voltage of series resonance at the two ends of corresponding capacitive impedance component or inductive impedance component;

or the capacitive impedance component and the inductive impedance component are in mutual parallel connection, whereby its inherent parallel resonance frequency is the same as the frequency of bi-directional electric power such as the AC power from power source, or the periods of the periodically alternated polarities DC power converted from DC power, thereby to produce an impedance status of parallel resonance status and appear the corresponding end voltage.