Color temperature controlled and low THD LED lighting devices and systems and methods of driving the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9247597-B2
Application number	US-201214362173-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2012
Priority date	Dec 2, 2011
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

The purposes of the devices described herein are to provide an LED lighting device capable of efficiently and economically emitting light having a selectable color temperature or a warm-on-dim feature when driven with AC power and to provide LED lighting devices which have an improved power factor and a reduced total harmonic distortion when powered with AC power.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An LED lighting device comprising:
at least two LED circuits connected in parallel, each of the at least two LED circuits having one or more LEDs, each LED circuit
having a different forward operating voltage than the other LED circuits, and,
being capable of emitting light having one or more of a different color or wavelength than the other LED circuits;

at least one active current limiting device being connected in series with at least one LED in at least one of the at least two LED circuits,
wherein each LED circuit is capable of emitting light during both a positive and a negative phase of a provided AC voltage when the LED lighting device is connected to an AC voltage source.

2. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein the at least one current limiting device is a current limiting diode.

3. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein the at least one current limiting device is a constant current regulator.

4. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein the at least two LED circuits and the at least one active current limiting device are integrated onto a single substrate.

5. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein each of the at least two circuits are connected in series to at least one active current limiting device.

6. The LED lighting device of claim 1 further comprising a bridge rectifier, wherein at least one of the at least two LED circuits is connected across the output of the bridge rectifier.

7. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least two circuits includes two or more LEDs connected in an anti-parallel configuration.

8. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least two circuits includes at least five diodes, at least four of the diodes being LEDs, the at least four LEDs being connected in a bridge rectifier configuration and the at least fifth diode being connected across the output of the bridge rectifier.

9. The LED lighting device of claim 8 wherein the at least fifth diode connected across the output of the bridge rectifier is an LED.

10. The LED lighting device of claim 8 wherein the at least fifth diode connected across the output of the bridge rectifier is a constant current diode.

11. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least two circuits includes seven or more diodes, at least six of the diodes being LEDs, the at least six LEDs being connected in an imbalanced bridge rectifier configuration, with the at least seventh diode being connected across the output of the imbalanced bridge rectifier.

12. The LED lighting device of claim 11 wherein the at least seventh diode connected across the output of the bridge rectifier is an LED.

13. The LED lighting device of claim 11 wherein the at least seventh diode connected across the output of the bridge rectifier is a constant current diode.

14. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein light emitted by the one or more LEDs forming at least one of the at least two LED circuits is one or more of a different color or wavelength than the light emitted by the one or more LEDs of the other connected LED circuits in the device.

15. The LED lighting device of claim 1 wherein each of the at least two circuits are coated in phosphor, each circuit having a different phosphor coating than the other connected at least two LED circuits, the different phosphor coating on each of the at least two circuits causing each circuit to emit one or more of a different color or wavelength of light than the other connected LED circuits.

16. The LED lighting device of claim 1 being integrated into a lighting system, the lighting system having a dimmer switch capable of providing AC voltage to the LED lighting device, wherein the dimmer switch may be used to control the AC voltage provided to the at least two LED circuits to control the light output of each circuit to control a color temperature of light emitted by the LED lighting device.

17. A method of controlling color temperature of light emitted by an LED lighting device, the method comprising the steps of:
connecting at least two LED circuits in parallel, with each LED circuit having a different forward operating voltage and being capable of emitting light of one or more of a different color or wavelength than the other LED circuits;
rectifying an AC voltage and current
providing the rectified AC voltage and a current to the at least two LED circuits;
limiting the current provided to at least one of the at least two LED circuits;
adjusting at least one of the provided voltage and current to control the light output of the LEDs connected in parallel.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the step of providing an AC voltage and current to at least one of the at least two LED circuits.

19. An LED lighting device comprising:
at least one LED circuit having at least two or more LEDs connected in series;
at least one active current limiting device, the active current limiting device being connected in parallel with the at least one LED in the at least one LED circuit, and
at least a second active current limiting device, the second active current limiting device being connected in series with the at least one LED circuit.

20. The LED lighting device of claim 19 further comprising a bridge rectifier, wherein the at least one LED circuit is connected across the output of the bridge rectifier.

21. The LED lighting device of claim 20 wherein the bridge rectifier is constructed using LEDs.

22. The LED lighting device of claim 19 further comprising at least one additional LED circuit having two or more LEDs connected in series and at least one active current limiting device connected in parallel with at least one of the two or more LEDs, the at least one additional LED circuit being connected to the at least one LED circuit in parallel.

23. The LED lighting device of claim 22 wherein the at least one LED circuit is capable of emitting light having one or more of a different color or wavelength than the at least one additional LED circuit.

24. The LED lighting device of claim 19 wherein the at least one LED circuit includes at least three LEDs connected in series.

25. The LED lighting device of claim 19 further comprising a resistor, the resistor being connected in series with the at least one LED circuit.

26. The LED lighting device of claim 19 wherein the at least one active current limiting device is a constant current regulator.

27. The LED lighting device of claim 19 wherein the at least one active current limiting device is a current limiting diode.

28. An LED lighting device comprising:
at least one LED circuit having at least two LEDs connected in series;
a first set of connection leads configured to provide a connection to the at least two LEDs in the at least one LED circuit, the first set of connection leads having a first connection lead and a second connection lead,
the first connection lead being connected to an input of the at least one LED circuit and,
the second connection lead being connected to an output of the at least one LED circuit; and,

a second set of connection leads, the second set of connection leads having a third connection lead and a fourth connection lead,
the third connection lead being to the anode of at least one of the at least two LEDs
the fourth connection lead being connected to

Assignees

• Lynk Labs Inc

Inventors

• Miskin Michael
• Kottritsch Robert L

Classifications

• H05B45/20

  Controlling the colour of the light · CPC title

• H05B45/24

  using electrical feedback from LEDs or from LED modules · CPC title

• H05B45/46

  having LEDs disposed in parallel lines · CPC title

• H05B45/48

  having LEDs organised in strings and incorporating parallel shunting devices · CPC title

• H05B33/0872

  Electricity · mapped topic