Charging an input capacitor of a load control device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10616973-B2
Application number	US-201715805264-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 7, 2017
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

A load control device for controlling the amount of power delivered to an electrical load may include a rectifier circuit configured to receive a phase-control voltage and produce a rectified voltage. A power converter may be configured to receive the rectified voltage at an input and generate a bus voltage. An input capacitor may be coupled across the input of the power converter. The input capacitor may be adapted to charge when the magnitude of the phase control voltage is approximately zero volts. The power converter may be configured to operate in a boost mode, such that the magnitude of the bus voltage is greater than a peak magnitude of the input voltage. The power converter may be configured to operate in a buck mode to charge the input capacitor from the bus voltage when the magnitude of the phase-control voltage is approximately zero volts.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a rectifier circuit configured to receive a phase-control voltage and produce a rectified voltage at an output;
a power converter configured to receive the rectified voltage at an input;
an input capacitor coupled across the output of the rectifier circuit and the input of the power converter;
a bus capacitor coupled across the output of the power converter, wherein the power converter is configured to generate a bus voltage across the bus capacitor; and
a power supply configured to receive the bus voltage and to charge the input capacitor during non-conductive portions of the phase-control voltage.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a load regulation circuit configured to receive the bus voltage and to control an amount of power delivered to an electrical load; and
a control circuit configured to control the load regulation circuit to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the power supply is further configured to charge a supply capacitor to generate a supply voltage for powering the control circuit.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the power supply is configured to cease charging the input capacitor when a magnitude of the rectified voltage across the input capacitor exceeds a predetermined threshold, and to charge the supply capacitor until a magnitude of the phase-control voltage is approximately zero volts at the end of a present half-cycle of the phase-control voltage.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the power supply comprises a buck converter and a buck control circuit for controlling the operation of the buck converter.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the power supply further comprises a feedback circuit operable to provide a feedback signal to the buck control circuit, the buck control circuit controlling the operation of the buck converter to charge the input capacitor until the magnitude of the rectified voltage exceeds the predetermined threshold, and to charge the supply capacitor after the magnitude of the rectified voltage exceeds the predetermined threshold until the magnitude of the phase-control voltage is approximately zero volts at the end of the present half-cycle of the phase-control voltage.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein a magnitude of the feedback signal is representative of a magnitude of the supply voltage when the buck control circuit is charging the supply capacitor, and the magnitude of the feedback signal is representative of the magnitude of the rectified voltage when the buck control circuit is charging the input capacitor.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the magnitude of the feedback signal is approximately equal the supply voltage when the buck control circuit is charging the supply capacitor, and the magnitude of the feedback signal is less than the magnitude of the supply voltage when the buck control circuit is charging the input capacitor.

9. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the power supply is configured to charge the supply capacitor during conductive portions of the phase-control voltage when the voltage across the input capacitor is less than a magnitude of the phase-control voltage.

10. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:
a second power supply configured to charge a supply capacitor to generate a supply voltage for powering the control circuit.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second power supply is configured to charge the supply capacitor during conductive portions of the phase-control voltage when the voltage across the input capacitor is less than a magnitude of the phase-control voltage.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an electrical load comprises a gas discharge lamp, and the apparatus comprises an electronic ballast.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an electrical load comprises an LED light source, and the apparatus comprises an LED driver.

14. A load control device for controlling an amount of power delivered to an electrical load in response to a phase-control voltage, the load control device comprising:
a power converter configured to receive an input voltage at an input and generate a bus voltage, the power converter configured to operate in a first mode, such that a magnitude of the bus voltage is greater than a peak magnitude of the input voltage; and
an input capacitor coupled across the input of the power converter;
wherein the power converter is configured to operate in a second mode to charge the input capacitor from the bus voltage during non-conductive portions of the phase-control voltage.

15. The load control device of claim 14 , wherein the first mode is a boost mode and the second mode is a buck mode.

16. The load control device of claim 14 , wherein the power converter is configured to operate in the first mode when a magnitude of the phase-control voltage is greater than a predetermined threshold.

17. A load control device for controlling an amount of power delivered to an electrical load in response to a phase-control voltage, the load control device comprising:
a power converter configured to receive an input voltage at an input and generate a bus voltage;
an input capacitor coupled across the input of the power converter;
a load regulation circuit configured to receive the bus voltage and to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load; and
a power supply configured to receive the bus voltage and charge the input capacitor during non-conductive portions of the phase-control voltage.

18. The load control device of claim 17 , further comprising:
a rectifier circuit configured to receive the phase-control voltage;
wherein the input voltage received by the power converter comprises a rectified voltage generated by the rectifier circuit at an output.

19. The load control device of claim 18 , wherein the input capacitor is coupled across the input of the power converter and the output of the rectifier circuit.

20. The load control device of claim 18 , wherein the power supply is further configured to cease charging the input capacitor when a magnitude of the rectified voltage across the input capacitor exceeds a predetermined threshold.

21. The load control device of claim 17 , further comprising:
a control circuit configured to control the load regulation circuit to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load.

22. The load control device of claim 21 , wherein the power supply is further configured to charge a supply capacitor to generate a supply voltage for powering the control circuit; and
wherein the power supply is configured to charge the supply capacitor during conductive portions of the phase-control voltage when the voltage across the input capacitor is less than a magnitude of the phase-control voltage.

23. The load control device of claim 21 , further comprising:
a second power supply configured to charge a supply capacitor to generate a supply voltage for powering the control circuit;
wherein the second power supply is configured to charge the supply capacitor during conductive portions of the phase-control voltage when the voltage across the input capacitor is less than a magnitude of the phase-control voltage.

Assignees

• Lutron Tech Co Llc

Inventors

• Taipale Mark
• Blakeley Matthew Robert
• Ross Johnathan Paul
• Macadam Russell L

Classifications

• H05B47/11

  by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light · CPC title

• H05B47/185

  via power line carrier transmission · CPC title

• Y04S20/246

  the system involving the remote operation of lamps or lighting equipment · CPC title

• H05B47/18

  via data-bus transmission · CPC title

• H05B45/10

  Controlling the intensity of the light · CPC title