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Pre-charging inductor in switching converter to achieve high PWM dimming ratio in LED drivers

US9072147B2 · US · B2

Patent metadata
FieldValue
Publication numberUS-9072147-B2
Application numberUS-201414264518-A
CountryUS
Kind codeB2
Filing dateApr 29, 2014
Priority dateNov 27, 2013
Publication dateJun 30, 2015
Grant dateJun 30, 2015

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  1. Title

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  2. Abstract

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  4. Key dates

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  5. First independent claim

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  7. Citations and related patents

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Abstract

Official abstract text for this publication.

In a method for controlling a current regulator for dimming an LED load, a dimming signal has a duty cycle that controls the LED ON-time and LED OFF time at a fixed frequency. The regulator is controlled by the dimming signal to only supply current to the LED load during the LED ON-time. The regulator includes an inductor. The inductor current at the end of an ON-time is detected and its value is stored. During the OFF-time, the inductor is pre-charged to the current level matching the stored value, while the regulator's feedback loop is frozen during the OFF-time to not change its feedback control signal. Upon the next ON-time, the regulator begins supplying current to the LED load with the pre-charged inductor current, so there is no initial decrease in the delivered LED current. Therefore, the current pulse magnitudes are constant even with very low duty cycles.

First claim

Opening claim text (preview).

What is claimed is: 1. A method for controlling a regulator for dimming of a light emitting diode (LED) load comprising: providing a dimming signal having a duty cycle, the dimming signal controlling an LED ON-time and an LED OFF time, the dimming signal being at a first frequency; controlling a regulator to supply current to the LED load during the LED ON-time, and to supply no current to the LED load during the OFF-time, the regulator having an inductor; detecting an inducto…

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Frequently asked questions

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What does patent US9072147B2 cover?
In a method for controlling a current regulator for dimming an LED load, a dimming signal has a duty cycle that controls the LED ON-time and LED OFF time at a fixed frequency. The regulator is controlled by the dimming signal to only supply current to the LED load during the LED ON-time. The regulator includes an inductor. The inductor current at the end of an ON-time is detected and its value …
Who is the assignee on this patent?
Linear Techn Inc
What technology area does this patent fall under?
Primary CPC classification H05B45/10. Mapped technology areas include Electricity.
When was this patent published?
Publication date Tue Jun 30 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) (B2). Legal status and post-grant events are not shown on this page.
What related patents are in patentsdb?
We list 1 related publication on this page (citations in our corpus or others sharing the same primary CPC).