Dimmable LED lamp and dimmable LED lighting apparatus

• US 8,294,379 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2009
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Greenmark Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Greenmark Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Liu, Kwang-Hwa, Wu, Cheng-Nan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thuy Vinh
• Application Number:
  US12/616,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20110109249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,078 Days
• Field of Search: 315/209.R, 315/224, 315/283, 315/291, 315/306, 315/308, 315/360, 307/116, 307/125, 307/119, 307/126, 307/139, 307/140
• US Class Current: 315/224
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/375 using buck topology
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/382 with galvanic isolation between input and output
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/385 using flyback topology
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/185 via power line carrier transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

A dimmable light-emitting diode (LED) lamp and a dimmable LED lighting apparatus thereof are provided. The dimmable LED lamp includes a bridge rectifier, a toggle detector, a sustain voltage supply circuit, a counter, an LED light source, and an LED lighting driver. The bridge rectifier receives a source alternating current (AC) voltage through a wall switch and provides a rectified direct current (DC) voltage. The toggle detector monitors a toggle action of the wall switch. The sustain voltage supply circuit provides a sustain voltage. The counter receives the sustain voltage for operation. Moreover, the counter stores and provides an counting value that changes when the toggle detector detects the toggle action. The LED lighting driver converts the rectified DC voltage to a constant current to drive the LED light source. The LED lighting driver also provides multi-level dimming to the LED light source according to the counting value.

Claims

1. A dimmable light-emitting diode (LED) lamp, comprising:

a bridge rectifier, receiving a source alternating current (AC) voltage through a wall switch and providing a rectified direct current (DC) voltage;

a toggle detector, monitoring a toggle action of the wall switch;

a sustain voltage supply circuit, providing a sustain voltage according to a bias AC voltage, wherein the bias AC voltage is a induced voltage and provided only when the wall switch is turned on;

a counter, receiving the sustain voltage for operation, storing and providing an counting value that changes when the toggle detector detects the toggle action of the wall switch;

an LED light source;

an LED lighting driver, converting the rectified DC voltage to a constant current to drive the LED light source and providing multi-level dimming to the LED light source according to the counting value, wherein the LED lighting driver comprises;

an inductor, coupled to the LED light source;

a free-wheeling diode, comprising an anode coupled to the inductor and a cathode coupled to the rectified DC voltage and the LED light source

a power metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), coupled between the anode of the free-wheeling diode and a ground; and

a switching controller, receiving the bias DC voltage for operation and controlling the multi-level dimming by controlling a switching duty cycle of the power MOSFET according to the counting value; and

a bias voltage supply circuit, providing the bias AC voltage and a bias DC voltage, rectifying the bias AC voltage and filters out ripples in the rectified bias AC voltage and, providing a result of the filtering as the bias DC voltage to be received by the LED lighting driver for operation, and comprises a bias winding electro-magnetically coupled to the inductor via sharing a common magnetic core, the bias winding provides the bias AC voltage by receiving power from the inductor when the MOSFET is switching.

2. The dimmable LED lamp of claim 1, wherein the toggle detector monitors the toggle action of the wall switch by sensing an absence of the bias AC voltage on the bias winding.

3. The dimmable LED lamp of claim 2, wherein the toggle detector rectifies the bias AC voltage and filters out ripples in the rectified bias AC voltage and provides a result of the filtering as a toggle voltage, the counter changes the counting value in response to a decrease in the toggle voltage.

4. The dimmable LED lamp of claim 3, wherein the toggle detector rectifies the bias AC voltage, divides the rectified bias AC voltage, filters out ripples in the divided bias AC voltage, and provides a result of the filtering as the toggle voltage.

5. The dimmable LED lamp of claim 3, wherein the switching controller further comprises:

a falling edge detector, receiving the toggle voltage and outputting a trigger signal to the counter when the toggle voltage becomes lower than a predetermined threshold, the counter changes the counting value in response to the trigger signal.

6. The dimmable LED lamp of claim 5, wherein the toggle detector keeps the toggle voltage higher than the predetermined threshold until a first time duration after the wall switch is turned off, the bias voltage supply circuit provides the bias DC voltage to the switching controller until a second time duration after the wall switch is turned off, the sustain voltage provided by the sustain voltage supply circuit maintains the counting value stored in the counter until a third time duration after the wall switch is turned off, the second time duration is longer than the first time duration and the third time duration is longer than the second time duration.

7. The dimmable LED lamp of claim 1, wherein the switching controller further comprises:

a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), converting the counting value into a dimming voltage, wherein the dimming voltage decreases as the counting value increases and the switching duty cycle of the power MOSFET is directly proportional to the dimming voltage.

8. The dimmable LED lamp of claim 1, wherein the switching controller further comprises:

a clock generator, providing a clock signal; and

a clock skipping circuit, skipping a number of pulses in the clock signal according to the counting value, wherein the number of the skipped pulses increases along with the counting value and the power MOSFET switches once in response to each un-skipped pulse of the clock signal.

9. A dimmable light-emitting diode (LED) lighting apparatus, comprising:

a toggle detector, monitoring a toggle action of a wall switch that controls a rectified direct current (DC) voltage;

a sustain voltage supply circuit, providing a sustain voltage according to a bias AC voltage, wherein the bias AC voltage is a induced voltage and provided only when the wall switch is turned on;

a counter, receiving the sustain voltage for operation, storing and providing an counting value that changes when the toggle detector detects the toggle action of the wall switch;

an LED lighting driver, converting the rectified DC voltage to a constant current to drive an LED light source and providing multi-level dimming to the LED light source according to the counting value, wherein the LED lighting driver comprises;

an inductor, coupled to the LED light source;

a free-wheeling diode, comprising an anode coupled to the inductor and a cathode coupled to the rectified DC voltage and the LED light source

a power metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), coupled between the anode of the free-wheeling diode and a ground; and

a switching controller, receiving the bias DC voltage for operation and controlling the multi-level dimming by controlling a switching duty cycle of the power MOSFET according to the counting value; and

a bias voltage supply circuit, providing the bias AC voltage and a bias DC voltage, rectifying the bias AC voltage and filters out ripples in the rectified bias AC voltage and, providing a result of the filtering as the bias DC voltage to be received by the LED lighting driver for operation, and comprises a bias winding electro-magnetically coupled to the inductor via sharing a common magnetic core, the bias winding provides the bias AC voltage by receiving power from the inductor when the MOSFET is switching.

10. The dimmable LED lighting apparatus of claim 9, wherein the toggle detector monitors the toggle action of the wall switch by sensing an absence of the bias AC voltage on the bias winding.

11. The dimmable LED lighting apparatus of claim 10, wherein the toggle detector rectifies the bias AC voltage and filters out ripples in the rectified bias AC voltage and provides a result of the filtering as a toggle voltage, the counter changes the counting value in response to a decrease in the toggle voltage.

12. The dimmable LED lighting apparatus of claim 11, wherein the switching controller further comprises:

a falling edge detector, receiving the toggle voltage and outputting a trigger signal to the counter when the toggle voltage becomes lower than a predetermined threshold, the counter changes the counting value in response to the trigger signal.

13. The dimmable LED lighting apparatus of claim 12, wherein the toggle detector keeps the toggle voltage higher than the predetermined threshold until a first time duration after the wall switch is turned off, the bias voltage supply circuit provides the bias DC voltage to the switching controller until a second time duration after the wall switch is turned off, the sustain voltage provided by the sustain voltage supply circuit maintains the counting value stored in the counter until a third time duration after the wall switch is turned off, the second time duration is longer than the first time duration and the third time duration is longer than the second time duration.

14. The dimmable LED lighting apparatus of claim 9, wherein the switching controller further comprises:

a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), converting the counting value into a dimming voltage, wherein the dimming voltage decreases as the counting value increases and the switching duty cycle of the power MOSFET is directly proportional to the dimming voltage.

15. The dimmable LED lighting apparatus of claim 9, wherein the switching controller further comprises:

a clock generator, providing a clock signal; and

a clock skipping circuit, skipping a number of pulses in the clock signal according to the counting value, wherein the number of the skipped pulses increases along with the counting value and the power MOSFET switches once in response to each un-skipped pulse of the clock signal.