EP2785145A2 - Method of driving LED chips of different specifications - Google Patents
Method of driving LED chips of different specifications Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP2785145A2 EP2785145A2 EP14160490.0A EP14160490A EP2785145A2 EP 2785145 A2 EP2785145 A2 EP 2785145A2 EP 14160490 A EP14160490 A EP 14160490A EP 2785145 A2 EP2785145 A2 EP 2785145A2
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- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- current
- voltage
- driving
- led chip
- setting
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H05B—ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL
- H05B45/00—Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED]
- H05B45/10—Controlling the intensity of the light
- H05B45/14—Controlling the intensity of the light using electrical feedback from LEDs or from LED modules
Definitions
- the present invention relates generally to driving LED, and more particularly to a method of driving LED chips of different specifications.
- a LED illuminating device typically includes a LED chip and a driving apparatus, wherein the driving apparatus provides power to drive the LED chip.
- the driving apparatus provides power to drive the LED chip.
- LED chips there are various types of LED chips in the current market, and LED chips of different specifications may individually have different rated voltages and rated currents.
- a driving apparatus merely fits one specific specification, and therefore could drive only one type of LED chips.
- the inventory pressure of driving apparatuses is high. And given that manufacturers have to produce driving apparatuses to drive each type of LED chips, the quantities of each type of driving apparatuses is limited, and therefore the price and the manufacturing cost is hardly lowered. If a method of driving LED chips of different specifications can be provided, the inventory pressure and the manufacturing cost of driving apparatuses will be effectively reduced.
- the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a method of driving LED chips, wherein the LED chips have different specifications.
- the present invention provides a method of supplying a method of driving LED chips, wherein the LED chips have different specifications, which include the steps of: A. defining a plurality of setting currents; B. connecting a LED chip; C. selecting one of the setting currents which matches a rated current of the LED chip; and D. providing power with the selected setting current to the LED chip.
- the method of driving LED chips could be applied to drive LED chips of different specifications, which effectively improves the inconvenience of the conventional driving apparatus that it could be only compatible with LED chips of one specific specification.
- FIG. 1 A driving apparatus 1 for driving LED (light emitting diode) chips of different specifications of a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 , which includes a driving unit 10, a voltage measuring unit 20, a processing unit 30, and a control unit 40.
- the driving unit 10 electrically connects a power source 50 to a LED chip 60, wherein the driving unit 10 receives power from the power source 50, and outputs a driving voltage and a driving current to the LED chip 60.
- the driving unit 10 is controllable to change the driving voltage and the driving current.
- the design of the driving unit 10 could be based on PWM, half-bridge, buck, or boost circuits.
- the voltage measuring unit 20 is electrically connected to the driving unit 10 to measure the driving voltage outputted to the LED chip 60 from the driving unit 10.
- the processing unit 30 is electrically connected to the voltage measuring unit 20, and the processing unit 30 is electrically connected to the driving unit 10 through the control unit 40.
- the processing unit 30 has a memory.
- the aforementioned driving apparatus 1 could be used to apply a method of driving LED chips of different specifications.
- 5 LED chips with different specifications for explanation purpose which respectively have a rated voltage and a rated current of 45V/500mA, 38V/700mA, 34V/900mA, 20V/1500mA, and 14V/1400mA, and any one of said LED chips could be connected to the driving unit 10 to be the LED chip 60.
- a voltage of each said LED chips is measured first while they are operating with a testing current, wherein the testing current is lower than rated currents of all the LED chips, and the testing current is a constant current. It may get a voltage when said LED chip is operating with the testing current, and this voltage is defined as a reference voltage, and the reference voltages of said LED chips are different from each other.
- the method of driving the LED chips includes the following steps:
- the driving apparatus 1 when the LED chip 60 is connected to the driving apparatus 1, the rated current of the LED chip 60 could be automatically detected, and therefore the driving apparatus 1 could provide the power which meets the requirement of the LED chip 60. In other words, the driving apparatus 1 could deal with LED chips of different specifications.
- each setting current corresponds to a reference voltage
- each setting current corresponds to a reference voltage segment in a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 4 The flow chart of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 has roughly the same steps with the first embodiment, and the differences are described as followings.
- step A a plurality of reference voltage segments and a plurality of current parameters are defined in the database in advance, wherein each reference voltage segment relates to one of the current parameters.
- the driving apparatus 1 has a plurality of different setting currents, and each setting current corresponds to one of the reference voltage segments.
- the driving unit 10 is controlled to output the testing current to the LED chip 60, and the voltage of the LED chip 60 is measured at the same time.
- the current parameter which relates to that reference voltage segment is obtained from the database, and therefore the corresponding setting current is then selected.
- the driving unit 10 is controlled to output the driving current as the selected setting current, which equals the rated current of the LED chip 60.
- the driving unit 10 automatically regulates the driving voltage depending on the electronic properties of the LED chip 60, and therefore the power provided to the LED chip 60 could successfully fit its specification.
- an output curve of the driving apparatus 1 is shown in FIG. 5 .
- any LED chip as long as its rated current matches the five currents in FIG. 5 while its rated voltage falls in the corresponding reference voltage segment, such LED chip could be powered by the driving apparatus 1. Therefore, the driving apparatus 1 could be applied to drive more types of LED chips, not just the 5 LED chips provided in the first embodiment.
- zero voltage is included in one of the reference voltage segments in the database.
- the driving voltage is measured as zero in the step C, there is still a corresponding setting current.
- control unit 40 transmits a voltage restriction signal to the driving unit 10 when the driving voltage measured by the voltage measuring unit 20 is higher than an upper limit voltage in the step D. After the driving unit 10 receives the voltage restriction signal, the driving voltage outputted to the LED chip 60 is maintained as the upper limit voltage. Whereby, the driving voltage outputted to the driving unit 10 wouldn't be too high to damage the LED chip 60 or the driving unit 10.
- the reference voltages, the current parameters, and the reference voltage segments in the database are stored in the memory of the processing unit 30 in the step A.
- the processing unit 30 could be a comparator circuit too.
- the reference voltage or reference voltage segment which corresponds to the driving voltage is determined by the comparator circuit in the step C.
- the comparator circuit outputs the corresponding voltage to the control unit, and the control unit transmits the corresponding current control signal to the driving unit 10 according to the received voltage. As a result, the corresponding setting current is selected.
- the driving apparatus 1 is able to drive the LED chips of different specifications, and is not limited for any specific one type of the LED chips.
- the inconvenience of the conventional driving apparatus i.e., it could only drive the LED chip of one specific specification, is effectively improved.
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Abstract
Description
- The present invention relates generally to driving LED, and more particularly to a method of driving LED chips of different specifications.
- Typically, a LED illuminating device includes a LED chip and a driving apparatus, wherein the driving apparatus provides power to drive the LED chip. There are various types of LED chips in the current market, and LED chips of different specifications may individually have different rated voltages and rated currents. Conventionally, a driving apparatus merely fits one specific specification, and therefore could drive only one type of LED chips. Thus, since there are many types of LED chips having different specifications, the inventory pressure of driving apparatuses is high. And given that manufacturers have to produce driving apparatuses to drive each type of LED chips, the quantities of each type of driving apparatuses is limited, and therefore the price and the manufacturing cost is hardly lowered. If a method of driving LED chips of different specifications can be provided, the inventory pressure and the manufacturing cost of driving apparatuses will be effectively reduced.
- In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a method of driving LED chips, wherein the LED chips have different specifications.
- The present invention provides a method of supplying a method of driving LED chips, wherein the LED chips have different specifications, which include the steps of: A. defining a plurality of setting currents; B. connecting a LED chip; C. selecting one of the setting currents which matches a rated current of the LED chip; and D. providing power with the selected setting current to the LED chip.
- Whereby, the method of driving LED chips could be applied to drive LED chips of different specifications, which effectively improves the inconvenience of the conventional driving apparatus that it could be only compatible with LED chips of one specific specification.
- The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which
-
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the driving apparatus of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; -
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention; -
FIG. 3 is a diagram, showing the output characteristics of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention; -
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention; and -
FIG.5 is a diagram, showing the output characteristics of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention. - A driving apparatus 1 for driving LED (light emitting diode) chips of different specifications of a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in
FIG. 1 , which includes adriving unit 10, avoltage measuring unit 20, aprocessing unit 30, and acontrol unit 40. - The
driving unit 10 electrically connects apower source 50 to aLED chip 60, wherein thedriving unit 10 receives power from thepower source 50, and outputs a driving voltage and a driving current to theLED chip 60. Thedriving unit 10 is controllable to change the driving voltage and the driving current. In practice, the design of thedriving unit 10 could be based on PWM, half-bridge, buck, or boost circuits. - The
voltage measuring unit 20 is electrically connected to thedriving unit 10 to measure the driving voltage outputted to theLED chip 60 from thedriving unit 10. Theprocessing unit 30 is electrically connected to thevoltage measuring unit 20, and theprocessing unit 30 is electrically connected to thedriving unit 10 through thecontrol unit 40. In the first preferred embodiment, theprocessing unit 30 has a memory. - Whereby, the aforementioned driving apparatus 1 could be used to apply a method of driving LED chips of different specifications. Here are 5 LED chips with different specifications for explanation purpose, which respectively have a rated voltage and a rated current of 45V/500mA, 38V/700mA, 34V/900mA, 20V/1500mA, and 14V/1400mA, and any one of said LED chips could be connected to the
driving unit 10 to be theLED chip 60. - Before performing the method, a voltage of each said LED chips is measured first while they are operating with a testing current, wherein the testing current is lower than rated currents of all the LED chips, and the testing current is a constant current. It may get a voltage when said LED chip is operating with the testing current, and this voltage is defined as a reference voltage, and the reference voltages of said LED chips are different from each other.
- As shown in
FIG. 2 , the method of driving the LED chips includes the following steps: - A. Create a database in the memory of the
processing unit 30 in advance, in which the reference voltages and current parameters of said LED chips are stored, wherein each reference voltage relates to one of the current parameters. With one of the current parameters, theprocessing unit 30 controls thecontrol unit 40 to transmit a current control signal to thedriving unit 10 accordingly. The driving current outputted by thedriving unit 10 could be maintained as a specific setting current in this way. Whereby, a plurality of different setting currents could be defined in the driving apparatus 1 in advance, and each setting current corresponds to one of the reference voltage. The setting currents match the rated currents of said LED chips. - B. Connect a
LED chip 60, which is one of said five LED chips as described above, to thedriving unit 10. - C. Select one of the setting currents in the database, and the selected setting current matches the rated current of the
LED chip 60. In the first preferred embodiment, theprocessing unit 30 transmits the current control signal through thecontrol unit 40 to control thedriving unit 10 to output the driving current as the testing current to theLED chip 60, and theprocessing unit 30 measures a voltage through thevoltage measuring unit 20 at the same time. After that, the measured voltage is compared to the reference voltages in the database to determine which reference voltage matches the measured voltage. The current parameter which relates to the matched reference voltage is then obtained, and therefore the corresponding setting current is selected. - D. The
processing unit 30 controls thecontrol unit 40 according to the current parameter obtained in the step C to transmit the corresponding current control signal to thedriving unit 10, and thedriving unit 10 maintains the driving current as the selected setting current according to the current control signal. Whereby, theLED chip 60 is powered with its rated current. Thedriving unit 10 regulates the driving voltage automatically depending on the electronic properties of theLED chip 60, and therefore the power provided to theLED chip 60 could successfully fit its specification. As shown inFIG. 3 , the driving apparatus 1 is able to provide the driving current and the driving voltage which fit the specification of each said LED chips. - With the aforementioned method, when the
LED chip 60 is connected to the driving apparatus 1, the rated current of theLED chip 60 could be automatically detected, and therefore the driving apparatus 1 could provide the power which meets the requirement of theLED chip 60. In other words, the driving apparatus 1 could deal with LED chips of different specifications. - In the aforementioned embodiment, each setting current corresponds to a reference voltage, and in order to further compatible with even more types of LED chips, each setting current corresponds to a reference voltage segment in a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
- The flow chart of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in
FIG. 4 has roughly the same steps with the first embodiment, and the differences are described as followings. - In the step A, a plurality of reference voltage segments and a plurality of current parameters are defined in the database in advance, wherein each reference voltage segment relates to one of the current parameters. Whereby, the driving apparatus 1 has a plurality of different setting currents, and each setting current corresponds to one of the reference voltage segments.
- In the step C, the
driving unit 10 is controlled to output the testing current to theLED chip 60, and the voltage of theLED chip 60 is measured at the same time. When the measured voltage falls in one of the reference voltage segments, the current parameter which relates to that reference voltage segment is obtained from the database, and therefore the corresponding setting current is then selected. - After that, the
driving unit 10 is controlled to output the driving current as the selected setting current, which equals the rated current of theLED chip 60. Thedriving unit 10 automatically regulates the driving voltage depending on the electronic properties of theLED chip 60, and therefore the power provided to theLED chip 60 could successfully fit its specification. - In the second preferred embodiment, an output curve of the driving apparatus 1 is shown in
FIG. 5 . For any LED chip, as long as its rated current matches the five currents inFIG. 5 while its rated voltage falls in the corresponding reference voltage segment, such LED chip could be powered by the driving apparatus 1. Therefore, the driving apparatus 1 could be applied to drive more types of LED chips, not just the 5 LED chips provided in the first embodiment. - Besides, in the second preferred embodiment, zero voltage is included in one of the reference voltage segments in the database. In other words, even if the driving voltage is measured as zero in the step C, there is still a corresponding setting current. Whereby, once the
LED chip 60 is short, the driving current could be effectively restricted from damaging the drivingunit 10. - In another embodiment, the
control unit 40 transmits a voltage restriction signal to the drivingunit 10 when the driving voltage measured by thevoltage measuring unit 20 is higher than an upper limit voltage in the step D. After thedriving unit 10 receives the voltage restriction signal, the driving voltage outputted to theLED chip 60 is maintained as the upper limit voltage. Whereby, the driving voltage outputted to the drivingunit 10 wouldn't be too high to damage theLED chip 60 or the drivingunit 10. - In the aforementioned first and second embodiments, the reference voltages, the current parameters, and the reference voltage segments in the database are stored in the memory of the
processing unit 30 in the step A. In practice, theprocessing unit 30 could be a comparator circuit too. In such case, the reference voltage or reference voltage segment which corresponds to the driving voltage is determined by the comparator circuit in the step C. The comparator circuit outputs the corresponding voltage to the control unit, and the control unit transmits the corresponding current control signal to the drivingunit 10 according to the received voltage. As a result, the corresponding setting current is selected. - With the method of driving the LED chips provided in the present invention, the driving apparatus 1 is able to drive the LED chips of different specifications, and is not limited for any specific one type of the LED chips. As a result, the inconvenience of the conventional driving apparatus, i.e., it could only drive the LED chip of one specific specification, is effectively improved.
- It must be pointed out that the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent structures and methods which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.
Claims (7)
- A method of driving LED chips, wherein the LED chips have different specifications, comprising the steps of:A. defining a plurality of setting currents;B. connecting a LED chip (60);C. selecting one of the setting currents which matches a rated current of the LED chip (60); andD. providing power with the selected setting current to the LED chip (60).
- The method of claim 1, wherein each setting current relates to a reference voltage; the step of selecting one of the setting currents includes providing the LED chip (60) with a testing current, which is a constant current, measuring a voltage of the LED chip (60) while it is operating with the testing current, and selecting one of the setting currents according to the reference voltage which matches the measured voltage.
- The method of claim 1, wherein each setting current relates to a reference voltage segment; the step of selecting one of the setting currents includes providing the LED with a testing current, which is a constant current, measuring a voltage of the LED chip (60) while it is operating with the testing current, and selecting one of the setting currents according to the reference voltage segment in which the measured voltage falls.
- The method of claim 2, wherein the testing current is lower than any one of the setting currents.
- The method of claim 3, wherein the testing current is lower than any one of the setting currents.
- The method of claim 3, wherein zero voltage is included in one of the reference voltage segments.
- The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of maintaining a voltage of the power provided to the LED chip (60) as an upper limit voltage when the voltage of the power is measured higher than the upper limit voltage in the step D.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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TW102110957 | 2013-03-27 |
Publications (2)
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EP2785145A2 true EP2785145A2 (en) | 2014-10-01 |
EP2785145A3 EP2785145A3 (en) | 2015-10-21 |
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EP14160490.0A Withdrawn EP2785145A3 (en) | 2013-03-27 | 2014-03-18 | Method of driving LED chips of different specifications |
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Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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EP3541149A1 (en) * | 2018-03-14 | 2019-09-18 | Siteco Beleuchtungstechnik GmbH | Lamp and method for detection of led modules |
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US6501235B2 (en) * | 2001-02-27 | 2002-12-31 | Stmicroelectronics Inc. | Microcontrolled ballast compatible with different types of gas discharge lamps and associated methods |
DE102006056057A1 (en) * | 2006-02-28 | 2007-09-06 | Samsung Electro - Mechanics Co., Ltd., Suwon | Drive device for a colored LED backlight |
JP5311624B2 (en) * | 2008-05-22 | 2013-10-09 | パナソニック株式会社 | Lighting lighting device |
JP5289471B2 (en) * | 2011-01-21 | 2013-09-11 | 三菱電機株式会社 | Light source lighting device and lighting device |
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2014
- 2014-03-18 EP EP14160490.0A patent/EP2785145A3/en not_active Withdrawn
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EP3541149A1 (en) * | 2018-03-14 | 2019-09-18 | Siteco Beleuchtungstechnik GmbH | Lamp and method for detection of led modules |
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