Light adjustment circuit for alternating-current light emitting diodes (AC-LED's)

• US 8,111,009 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Tsai, Wen-Tien, Chong, Hwei-Shung, Chen, Chung-Yue, Chen, Yie-Tone, Huang, Yao-Te, Lee, Li-Ling, Yang, Bing-Chwen
• Primary Examiner(s): Philogene, Haiss
• Application Number:
  US12/627,197
• Publication Number:
  US 20110057568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 799 Days
• Field of Search: 315/291, 315/294, 315/308, 315/309, 315/312, 315/185.R, 315/224, 315/247, 315/122, 315/200.R, 315/217, 315/DIG.4, 345/82, 345/94, 345/690
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 5/293 using semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/32 Pulse-control circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• 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 adjustment circuit for alternating-current light emitting diodes (AC-LED'"'"'s) connected to an AC power supply and a plurality of AC-LED'"'"'s comprises: a light adjustment unit, being capable of modulating AC power from the AC power supply while providing the plurality of AC-LED'"'"'s with the modulated AC power; and a pulse width modulation (PWM) control circuit, being capable of modulating an external voltage signal in correspondence to variation in input AC power to enable each of the AC-LED'"'"'s to achieve a predetermined brightness; wherein the AC-LED'"'"'s are turned off by modulating the external voltage signal to prevent the AC-LED'"'"'s from being burnt out when the input AC power is too high.

Claims

1. A light adjustment circuit for alternating-current light emitting diodes (AC-LED'"'"'s), the light adjustment circuit being connected to an AC power supply and a plurality of AC-LED'"'"'s, the light adjustment circuit comprising:

a light adjustment unit, modulating AC power from the AC power supply while providing the plurality of AC-LED'"'"'s with the modulated AC power; and

a pulse width modulation (PWM) control circuit, modulating an external voltage signal in correspondence to variation in input AC power to enable each of the AC-LED'"'"'s to achieve a predetermined brightness;

wherein the AC-LED'"'"'s are turned off by modulating the external voltage signal to prevent the AC-LED'"'"'s from being burnt out when the input AC power is too high.

2. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 1, wherein the light adjustment unit further comprises:

a control switch with a duty cycle determining a value of a current delivered to the AC-LED'"'"'s; and

a full-bridge circuit composed of four diodes;

wherein the control switch is disposed between the four diodes so that the light adjustment circuit achieves light adjustment during both positive half cycle and negative half cycle.

3. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 1, wherein the PWM control circuit is an analog PWM control circuit or a digital PWM control circuit.

4. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 3, wherein the analog PWM control circuit comprises:

a ramp generator, generating a triangle wave or a sawtooth wave; and

a comparator, having a negative input terminal receiving the external voltage signal and a positive input terminal connected to the ramp generator, so that the comparator performs voltage comparison on an input ramp signal at the positive input terminal and the external voltage signal at the negative input terminal so as to output a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal at an output terminal of the comparator.

5. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 3, wherein the digital PWM control circuit comprises:

a digital controller, receiving the external voltage signal that is to be processed by the digital controller to output a PWM signal.

6. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 1, wherein the external voltage signal is coupled to a voltage feedback circuit to detect the input AC power or a voltage cross the AC-LED'"'"'s to monitor the AC-LED'"'"'s.

7. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 1, wherein the external voltage signal is coupled to a current feedback circuit to detect the input AC power or a current flowing through the AC-LED'"'"'s to monitor the AC-LED'"'"'s.

8. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 1, wherein the external voltage signal is coupled to a temperature feedback circuit comprising a temperature detector and a signal transformer, the temperature detector being attached to the AC-LED'"'"'s to obtain a temperature value transformed to a temperature feedback signal by the signal transformer so as to provide the PWM control circuit with the temperature feedback signal whose duty cycle is to be adjusted by the PWM control circuit.

9. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 1, wherein the external voltage signal is coupled to an external light adjustment signal, being analog or digital, to adjust the brightness of the AC-LED'"'"'s.

10. The light adjustment circuit for AC-LED'"'"'s as recited in claim 1, further comprising a light isolator disposed between the light adjustment unit and the PWM control circuit.