Apparatus and method for bypassing failed LEDs in lighting arrays
First Claim
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1. A method for controlling a string of multiple light sources operatively connected in series and powered by a driver circuit having an unloaded power source voltage by providing an alternative current path around each of one or more substrings having one or more of the multiple light sources, each substring having an operating voltage comprising:
- (a) allowing significantly less than operating current through the alternative current path until an open circuit condition in the substring indicative of a failure of a lighting source of the substring; and
(b) triggering substantially all operating current to pass through the alternative current path of the substring by a triggering voltage which is effective over a range of ambient temperatures and operating conditions by the unloaded power source voltage of the driver circuit being greater than the operating voltage of the substring and the trigger voltage needed over the temperature range;
(c) to allow operating current to automatically bypass the substring of light sources including the light source or sources sensed to have failed so it is available for other light sources in the string over the range of ambient temperatures and operating conditions.
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Abstract
An apparatus, method and system for controlling one or multiple lighting sources such as those powered by driver circuits or voltage splitting methods, to provide an alternative current path around a failed lighting source when one or more individual lighting sources fail.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for controlling a string of multiple light sources operatively connected in series and powered by a driver circuit having an unloaded power source voltage by providing an alternative current path around each of one or more substrings having one or more of the multiple light sources, each substring having an operating voltage comprising:
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(a) allowing significantly less than operating current through the alternative current path until an open circuit condition in the substring indicative of a failure of a lighting source of the substring; and (b) triggering substantially all operating current to pass through the alternative current path of the substring by a triggering voltage which is effective over a range of ambient temperatures and operating conditions by the unloaded power source voltage of the driver circuit being greater than the operating voltage of the substring and the trigger voltage needed over the temperature range; (c) to allow operating current to automatically bypass the substring of light sources including the light source or sources sensed to have failed so it is available for other light sources in the string over the range of ambient temperatures and operating conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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10. An apparatus for controlling multiple light sources powered by a driver circuit to provide alternative failure mode when one or more individual light source fails, comprising:
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(a) an alternative current path circuit in parallel with a subset of the multiple lighting sources, the alternative current path circuit having at least one component having a temperature characteristic related to ambient temperature or operating conditions; (b) the alternate circuit path current being significantly less than the single lighting source current such that when the single light source open failure occurs, the alternative circuit triggers and passes on the order of 100% of the single lighting source current to maintain current to the other lighting sources, the temperature characteristic of the component and the driver circuit correlated to provide sufficient power to the alternative current path for effective triggering over a selected range of ambient temperatures or operating conditions. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification