High-efficiency lighting devices having dimmer and/or load condition measurement

This patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/798,493 filed on Mar. 15, 2013

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to lighting device power sources such as those included within dimmable light emitting diode lamps, and in particular to a lighting device that detects and stores characteristics of a triac-based dimmer and subsequently powers high-efficiency lighting devices using the stored characteristics.

2. Background of the Invention

Lighting control and power supply integrated circuits (ICs) are in common use in both electronic systems and in replaceable consumer lighting devices, e.g., light-emitting-diode (LED) and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) replacements for traditional incandescent light bulbs.

In particular, in dimmable high-efficiency replacement light bulbs, the low energy requirements of the lighting devices makes it difficult for the dimmers to operate properly, as the typical triac-controlled dimmer is designed for operation with a load that requires on the order of ten times the current required by the typical high-efficiency lighting device. Therefore, dimmable high-efficiency replacement lighting device circuits must ensure that the dimmer operates properly and efficiently in conjunction with the lighting devices, i.e., supplies a sufficient amount of energy and provides a needed indication of the dimming level, so that dimming of the lighting devices can be performed.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a dimmable high-efficiency lighting device power source circuit that provides proper and efficient operation of a triac-based dimmer circuit.

The invention is embodied in a circuit for supplying power to high efficiency lighting devices from a thyristor-controlled dimmer circuit, an integrated circuit (IC) including such a circuit and a method of operation of the circuit.

The circuit includes input terminals for connection to the output of the thyristor-controlled dimmer and a power converter for powering the high efficiency lighting devices from the input terminals. The circuit also includes an input current control circuit that controls the input current drawn by the input terminals at least during an active time period for which the power converter transfers energy. The circuit also includes a sensing circuit that determines or measures at least one attach current characteristic at the input terminals and stores an indication of the characteristic for subsequent operation of the input current control circuit.

The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following, more particular, description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an exemplary lighting circuit.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting details of switching power converter circuit 12 of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a signal waveform diagram illustrating various phases of operation of lighting circuits described herein.

FIG. 4 is a signal waveform diagram illustrating details of the damping phase of the diagram of FIG. 3 for different damping impedances of different attach current profiles.

FIG. 5 is a signal waveform diagram illustrating details of the active and hold phases of the diagram of FIG. 3 for different attach current profiles.

FIG. 6 is a simplified schematic diagram of another exemplary lighting circuit.

FIG. 7 is a signal waveform diagram illustrating application of different attach current profiles that may be applied in the circuits of FIGS. 1-2 and FIG. 6 .

The present disclosure reveals circuits and methods for powering and controlling lighting devices. In particular embodiments, strings of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are packaged to replace incandescent lamps, and the energy supplied to the LED strings is varied in accordance with a dimming value determined from operation of a thyristor-controlled dimmer supplying the replacement lighting device, so that dimmed operation is achieved. The devices disclosed herein obtain and store information about load conditions at the output of the thyristor-controlled dimmer and control operation of the devices in accordance with the stored information. The information, which is an attach current characteristic forming part of an attach current profile, may include one or more of a starting value of the input current, a peak value of the input current, a steady-state hold value of the input current, a glue current or glue impedance value, a damping current or damping impedance value, a damping time period, an active time period, or a time during a cycle at which the input current becomes equal to one of the above current values or another predetermined current value. The times may be referenced to the leading edge of the dimmer waveform.

Referring now to FIG. 1 , an exemplary lighting circuit is shown. An alternating current (AC) power line source 6 provides an AC line voltage V line to a replacement lighting device 10 through a triac-based dimmer 8 that is, for example, designed for operation with incandescent bulbs having a power consumption of 40 W or greater. Replacement lighting device 10 uses LEDs LEDA, LEDB, to supply light, which may be strings of LEDs connected in series, as shown. LEDs LEDA, LEDB receive their operating currents from a string selector 14 that, in turn, receives the output of a switching power converter 12 that transfers energy from a capacitor that is charged from a bridge rectifier BR coupled to the input terminals of replacement lighting device 10 , which are connected to the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 . A smart controller 5 is also connected to the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 and may communicate with circuits in replacement lighting device 10 as described in further detail below.

Within the block depicting triac-based dimmer 8 , a model equivalent circuit is shown that is useful for describing the operation of the triac and timing circuits within an actual triac-based dimmer. A switch g illustrates operation of the triac itself, which alternately conducts current I in between AC power line source 6 and replacement lighting device 10 . Initially, when switch g is open, an EMI capacitor C E and the timing circuit formed by a timing resistor R T and a timing capacitor C T charge through the load applied at the output terminal of triac-based dimmer 8 , which in ordinary operation is typically an incandescent bulb of 40 W or greater power consumption. Once capacitor C T is charged to a threshold voltage magnitude, switch g closes (i.e., the gate of the triac is triggered) and AC line voltage V line is provided to the output of triac-based dimmer through an inductor L E , which is provided for EMI filtering and to reduce lamp buzz (acoustic noise in an incandescent filament). Once switch g is closed, switch g remains closed (i.e., the triac continues to conduct) until the magnitude of current I in conducted through triac-based dimmer 8 falls below the hold current of the triac. However, if an insufficiently low-impedance load is connected to the output of the triac, the stored energy from capacitor C E , which has been dumped into inductor L E , will return to capacitor C E as the parallel combination of capacitor C E and inductor L E begins to oscillate. When the current through inductor L E falls below the hold current of the triac, the triac will turn off.

Since a 100 W equivalent high-efficiency replacement bulb using LEDs typically consumes only 13 W of power, the input current requirements of an LED replacement lamp will generally be less than ⅓ of that conducted through the minimum specified wattage incandescent bulb. As LED efficiency continues to improve, the input current may decrease to values low as 1/10th the current that would be required by the minimum specified wattage incandescent bulb. Therefore, the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 can prematurely open due to the reduced current conducted through the triac, unless one or more other lighting devices are installed, for example, in sockets SK connected to the outputs of triac-based dimmer 8 , or unless replacement lighting device 10 is designed to draw sufficient current to cause triac-based dimmer 8 to operate properly. Also, the timing circuit that triggers the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 can turn on the triac at the wrong time unless the proper conditions are present at the output of triac-based dimmer 8 from the time of the zero-crossing of AC line voltage V line until the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 is triggered. If switching power converter 12 , in combination with any other devices connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 , does not draw sufficient current from the output of triac-based dimmer 8 during the entire active period while energy is being transferred, the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 will turn off and the timing circuit will also be disrupted. Further, if the operation of replacement lighting device 10 , which contains a switching power converter 12 , is not somehow coordinated with the cut sine wave of rectified dimmer output voltage V dim , then switching power converter 12 may not receive all of the energy needed to supply LEDs LEDA, LEDB for the cycle. Switching power converter 12 may also improperly re-trigger triac-based dimmer 8 if a low impedance is suddenly introduced at the output of triac-based dimmer 8 by starting another active cycle of switching power converter 12 after triac-based dimmer 8 has turned off for the current cycle.

In order to maintain proper operation of various phases of operation of replacement lighting device 10 that meet each of the above criteria for proper operation of triac-based dimmer 8 for all possible brightness settings, it is generally necessary under some conditions to dissipate some energy supplied by triac-based dimmer 8 , rather than transferring all of the energy to LEDs LEDA, LEDB. The amount of current that must be drawn from the output of triac-based dimmer 8 for proper operation is dependent not only on the characteristics of triac-based dimmer 8 itself and the amount of energy needed to supply LEDs LEDA, LEDB, but also the number and energy consumption of other devices connected to the same circuit. In order to provide the most efficient operation, it is desirable to control the current drawn by replacement lighting device to minimize the energy supplied by triac-based dimmer 8 that is purposefully dissipated as heat. Therefore, in the instant disclosure, various techniques for determining and applying an attach current profile are implemented in switching power converter 12 . The attach current profile may be a current waveshape that switching power converter 12 follows, or may be defined by one or more discrete values of input current I IN and/or times during a cycle that input current I IN assumes a particular value.

Referring now to FIG. 2 , details of switching power converter 12 are shown. In order to prevent the above-described mis-triggering and/or early termination of an active cycle, triac-based dimmer 8 , replacement lighting device 10 includes an input current control circuit 16 that, upon detection of a rise in a rectified dimmer output voltage V dim caused by a turn-on event of triac-based dimmer 8 , applies an attach current profile for the cycle. Input current control circuit 16 controls both a switching control circuit 17 that controls the transfer of energy from an input capacitor C 1 to LEDs LEDA, LEDB according to a control signal active, and also a controllable load 15 according to a control signal load, when current must be drawn from the output of triac-based dimmer 8 but energy is not used for illuminating to LEDs LEDA, LEDB. Controllable load 15 can be used to generate a power supply voltage +V DD for operating circuits within switching power converter and a filter capacitor C 2 can be provided for filtering the output of controllable load 15 to provide a stable DC voltage. A transistor N 1 , a diode D 1 and an inductor L 1 provide a boost switched-power converter stage that supplies energy to string selector circuit 14 , which may include another switched-power stage. The output of switching power converter 12 may be a boost converter in a non-isolated configuration as shown, a flyback, buck or buck-boost converter state in a non-isolated configuration, or may be an isolated or non-isolated transformer-coupled output stage. The attach current profile may be entirely, or in part, determined by values stored in a storage circuit 13 that provide indications of one or more attach current characteristics that are used to control the current drawn by replacement lighting device 10 from the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 in the given half-cycle of AC line voltage V line . Storage 13 may be a non-volatile storage so that the circuit configuration, once received or determined, may be retained until the configuration changes. The attach current values may be determined from a measurement circuit 21 that observes the value of dimmer output voltage V in (or alternatively rectified dimmer output voltage V dim ) as the amount of current drawn by switching power converter is varied during the various phases of operation. Alternatively or in combination, information may be received from smart controller 5 or other lighting devices via signaling over the power line circuit that connects replacement lighting device 10 to triac-based dimmer 8 . The communication may be, for example, by rapid pulsing of the line voltage, or via a signal imposed on the power lines such as the signaling employed by X10 protocols. As another alternative, wireless communications, such as optical, infrared or radio-frequency may be employed to communicate with replacement lighting device 10 independent of the electrical connections of replacement lighting device 10 . For example, smart controller 5 may communicate the number and type of lighting devices connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 to a communication circuit 20 within switching power converter 12 , which then determines a suitable attach current profile and stores information indicating the attach current profile in storage 13 . The attach current profile might, for example, be selected from multiple predetermined attach current profiles corresponding to a number and type of lighting devices connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 , and/or the attach current profile might vary between alternating half-cycles due to differences in the current requirements for each polarity of AC line voltage V line .

Input current control circuit 16 performs management of the current drawn from the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 by replacement lighting device 10 according to the various phases of operation, as will be described with additional reference to FIG. 3 . When the leading edge of dimmer output voltage V dim is detected by a leading edge detector 18 , a control signal dima is asserted, causing input current control circuit 16 to present a damping impedance level that is sufficient to prevent the re-triggering of the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 by damping the resonant circuit formed by capacitor C E and inductor L E . The impedance at the input of replacement lighting device 10 is generally maintained at or below the requisite damping impedance level until a predetermined time period has passed. The requisite damping impedance level varies with the particular triac design and with the external loading conditions due to other lamps connected to the circuit, but is generally between 100 ohms and 1 kOhm, corresponding to an input current between approximately 120 mA and 1.2 A if no other device is connected, if for example, dimmer output voltage V dim is 120V when triac 8 turns on. If, for example, another device identical to replacement lighting device 10 is connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 , the required damping impedance might be in the range of 200 Ohms to 2 k Ohms for each device, and if an incandescent lamp were connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 , no damping impedance and thus no minimum input current is needed. The required initial (starting) current level, the peak current level, or a direct indication of the minimum impedance imposed during damping may form part of the attach current profile stored in storage, and may be determined by information received by communication circuit 20 and/or by measurements made by measurement circuit 21 . At least a portion of the damping impedance can be provided by operation of switching power converter 12 which operates during a time period t active beginning just after a time t on . In the depicted embodiment, control signal active, which is provided to switching power converter 12 to indicate to switching power converter 12 both when to start an energy transfer cycle, and how long the cycle may potentially extend, i.e., the maximum duration of the active cycle is the duration of the high-state pulse of control signal active. After a predetermined time period t damp has passed, replacement lighting device 10 , along with any other connected devices, only needs to draw enough current to maintain the triac-based dimmer in a conducting state while energy needed to supply LEDs LEDA, LEDB for the cycle is being transferred. The predetermined time period may also be part of the attach current profile, as time period t damp may be determined, for example, by measuring and optimizing ringing on voltage waveform of dimmer output voltage V dim as the damping impedance level is decreased.

After active time period t active time period has expired, which is when the energy transfer needed to supply LEDs LEDA, LEDB for the cycle is complete at a time t xfrc , replacement lighting device 10 enters a high impedance state for idle time period t idle . During idle time period t idle , input current control circuit 16 disables controllable load 15 and disables switching power converter 12 so that a sudden change in input current due to activation of switching power converter 12 does not trigger triac-based dimmer 8 . Otherwise triac-based dimmer 8 might re-trigger capacitor C T being re-charged to the trigger threshold during a remaining portion of the half-cycle of AC line voltage V line for which the corresponding triac output cycle already been terminated. At time t z , when the zero-crossing of AC line voltage V line is predicted or detected, a “glue” impedance required for proper timer operation as described above is applied across the input terminals of replacement lighting device 10 for a time period t glue . Then, the damping impedance is applied for a predetermined period t damp , commencing when the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 turns on. Finally, a current equal to or greater than the minimum hold current is drawn during the active time period. The hold current is the minimum current required to maintain the conducting state of the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 , which is generally between 25 and 70 milliamperes. However, as noted above for the damping impedance, if another replacement lighting device is connected to the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 , the required hold current would be reduced proportionately and if an incandescent bulb were connected, the hold current requirement could be ignored. The hold current value also may form part of the attach current profile(s) stored in storage 13 .

In order to maintain the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 in a conducting state, for the total duration of the active time period t active , input current control circuit 16 ensures that the minimum hold current is drawn from the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 by the parallel combination of all of the devices connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 . After active time period t active is complete, input current control circuit 16 disables all sources of current drain through the input terminals of replacement lighting device 10 . When the next zero-crossing of AC line voltage V line occurs at time t z , in order to ensure that the next leading edge of the output of triac-based dimmer 8 occurs at the correct time, proper operation of the timer circuit formed by capacitor C T and resistor R T must be provided. As mentioned above, at time t z the next zero-crossing of AC line voltage V line occurs, and from time t z until triac-based dimmer 8 turns on again at a time t on2 , path for the input current I in that is charging timing capacitor C T must be provided at the input of replacement lighting device, which is provided by supplying an impedance less than or equal to a maximum glue impedance across the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 . The glue impedance must be low enough not to generate a voltage drop across the inputs of replacement lighting device 10 that would substantially affect the trigger point of the triac, e.g., the time at which switch g closes. In order to prevent the above-described mis-operation of triac-based dimmer 8 , replacement lighting device 10 includes a zero-cross circuit 19 that predicts or detects a zero-cross time of AC line voltage V line by observing dimmer output voltage V dim . Zero-cross circuit 19 provides a control signal zero that signals input current control circuit 16 to ensure that a sufficiently low glue impedance is presented at the input terminals of replacement lighting device 10 from the zero-cross time until the turn-on event is detected by leading edge detection circuit 18 . The glue impedance needed to ensure proper timing is generally an impedance substantially equal to 100 ohms or less, which also may form part of an attach current profile stored in storage 13 and which, as with the other impedances mentioned above, can be increased for replacement lighting device 10 when other devices are connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 . For example, a 100 W incandescent bulb has an impedance of approximately 87 Ohms and so no additional glue impedance would need to be supplied by replacement lighting device 10 if such a bulb were connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 .

Referring now to FIG. 4 , examples of optimizing the attach current profile to provide a sufficiently low damping impedance is illustrated. The output voltage V dim of triac-based dimmer 8 will exhibit ringing when the damping current level is too low as illustrated by waveform 30 , which can be detected by voltage measurement circuit 21 . If the damping current level is unnecessarily high, then the leading edge of the output voltage V dim may take on the waveshape illustrated by waveform 32 . Waveform 31 illustrates a desirable critically-damped condition. Dimmer output voltage V dim may be measured and the impedance level presented by replacement lighting device 10 during time period t damp adjusted iteratively over several cycles in order to obtain the waveshape illustrated in waveform 31 . Then the value of the damping current or impedance may be stored in storage 13 and used for subsequent operation of input current control circuit 16 . Other values that may be measured and stored are a peak value I peak of an input current I in and a subsequent steady state value I ss of input current I in .

Referring now to FIG. 5 , examples of optimizing an attach current profile to provide the proper hold current for input current I in during time period t active and t idle are shown. A waveform 33 shows a level of active current that may be higher than necessary, which would result in dissipating energy via controllable load 15 during the idle period between times t xfrc and t z . Also, the terminating step in input current I in that occurs at the end of active time period t active will result in a transient on the output terminals of triac-based dimmer 8 that can cause an undershoot in the total current supplied from triac-based dimmer 8 that falls below the minimum hold current, causing the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 to turn off. Therefore, it is desirable to extend the active time period t active to the maximum duration that does not cause input current I in to fall below the minimum hold current, while avoiding dissipation of excess energy in controllable load 15 . An optimized attach current profile is shown in a waveform 35 , in which input current I in is constant, which may all be due to transfer by switching power converter 12 or by matching the value of controllable load 15 to the impedance presented by switching power converter 12 during transfer to provide a minimum hold current level. Another waveform 34 illustrates a condition under which it was not possible to reduce the hold current to the level illustrated by waveform 33 , because the hold current does not meet the minimum requirements of triac-based dimmer 8 and the triac in triac-based dimmer 8 has turned off at time t off . Another set of waveforms 36 - 38 for input current I in is shown, in which current I in is progressively optimized to reduce a constant level of input current I in during time period t active by increasing time period t active . In general, time period t active should be made as long as possible while maintaining input current I in >I hold and time t xfrc <zero-crossing time t z . Waveform 36 of input current I in has an active time period t active1 that is too short and can cause the above-mentioned transient, as does waveform 37 of input current I in , which has a longer active time period t active2 , but that can still cause the transient behavior. Waveform 38 has an active time period t active3 , that extends to the next zero-crossing time t z while maintaining a current level of input current I in that is greater than minimum hold current I hold and does not exhibit the transient behavior.

Referring now to FIG. 6 , another exemplary lighting circuit 50 is shown. The output of a dimmer is provided to a bridge rectifier 41 that generates a rectified dimmer output voltage V dim . A capacitor C RECT provides filtering of higher frequency switching components generated by a boost input stage implemented by an inductor L 10 , a switching transistor N 10 , a diode D 10 and a capacitor C LINK . A resistor R 1 provides for current-sensing of the primary current provided through transistor N 10 . An integrated circuit 40 provides control of transistor N 10 from a first stage controller 44 A and further controls a flyback converter stage from a second stage controller 44 B that switches a transistor N 11 to provide current through a transformer T 1 in response to feedback provided from a current sensing circuit 46 . A second stage controller 44 B provides information about energy requirements to input current control circuit 16 , which provides control indication to first stage controller 44 A to dynamically control the input current drawn from the output of bridge rectifier 41 , thereby controlling the impedance presented to the output of triac-controller dimmer 8 . Zero-cross predictor 19 and leading edge detector 18 operate as described above for the circuit of FIGS. 1-2 . Current for operating LEDs LEDA, LEDB may be supplied through a secondary switching circuit 48 that alternates application of the secondary current between LED strings, which may be of different color in order to provide a color profile that varies with the dimming value dim or under other control input. First stage controller 44 A is activated by control signal zero as described above with reference to FIGS. 1-2 .

Referring now to FIG. 7 , application of selectable attached current profiles is shown. As mentioned above, storage 13 may store multiple attach current profiles, from which selections may be made according to operating conditions. As illustrated in waveforms 72 A, 72 B and 72 C, the input current I in , during the damping phase should be higher for conditions in which no other device is connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 , which is illustrated by waveform 72 A. If, for example, one other identical replacement lighting device 10 were connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 , only half of the damping current level would be required from each device, as illustrated by waveform 72 B, and if an incandescent bulb or other high-current load is connected to the output of triac-based dimmer 8 , no damping current would be required, as illustrated by waveform 72 C. The bottom waveform illustrates a condition under which damping is determined to be needed only during positive half-cycles of AC line voltage V line , which could be due to the design of the dimmer or due to an asymmetrical load connected to the output of triac-based dimmer. A different attach current profile is selected for positive half-cycles of AC line voltage V line than for negative half-cycles, resulting in a different damping current in a waveform 74 A of input current I in than in a waveform 74 B of input current I in .

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form, and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.