Solid-state lighting apparatus and methods using parallel-connected segment bypass circuits
First Claim
1. A lighting apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) sets coupled in series; and
a bypass circuit coupled in parallel with one of the LED sets and configured to sense and control a bypass current when the one of the LED sets is in a first conduction state and to attenuate the bypass current responsive to a transition of the one of the LED sets to a second conduction state.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A lighting apparatus includes a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) sets coupled in series. The apparatus further includes a bypass circuit coupled in parallel with one of the LED sets and configured to sense and control a bypass current when the one of the LED sets is in a first bias state and to attenuate the bypass current responsive to a transition of the one of the LED sets to a second bias state. The first bias state may be substantially non-conducting and the second bias state may be conducting. The apparatus may include a plurality of such bypass circuits, respective ones of which are coupled in parallel with respective ones of the LED sets such that the bypass circuits are coupled in series.
37 Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A lighting apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) sets coupled in series; and a bypass circuit coupled in parallel with one of the LED sets and configured to sense and control a bypass current when the one of the LED sets is in a first conduction state and to attenuate the bypass current responsive to a transition of the one of the LED sets to a second conduction state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A controller for a lighting apparatus, the controller comprising:
a plurality of bypass circuits configured to be coupled in parallel with respective ones of a plurality of LED sets coupled in series, each bypass circuit configured to sense and control a bypass current when the LED set coupled in parallel therewith is in a first conduction state and to attenuate the bypass current responsive to a transition of the LED set coupled in parallel therewith to a second conduction state. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
23. A lighting apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of strings of LEDs coupled in series; and respective bypass circuits coupled in parallel with respective ones of the strings, each bypass circuit comprising; a transistor having a first terminal coupled to first terminal node of one of the strings; and a resistor having a first terminal coupled to a second terminal node of the one of the strings and a second terminal coupled to a second terminal of the transistor and to an internal node of the one of the strings separated from each of the first and second terminal nodes by at least one LED, the resistor and transistor configured to conduct a bypass current between the first and second terminal nodes of the one of strings. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A lighting apparatus comprising:
-
a plurality of strings of LEDs coupled in series; and a bypass circuit having first and second terminals coupled to first and second terminal nodes of one of the strings and a third terminal coupled to an internal node of the one of the strings separated from each of the first and second terminal nodes by at least one LED, the bypass circuit configured to control a bypass current between the first and second terminal nodes responsive to a current to or from the internal node. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
Specification