LED DRIVE SYSTEMS FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS The usage of lighting-emitting diodes (LEDs) in automotive applications is increasing for

many of the same reasons that LED lighting is penetrating non-automotive sectors. LEDs are more efficient and smaller in size, have a substantially longer life, allow considerably greater design freedom for improved esthetics, and more. In brake lamp applications, the fast turn on of LEDs provides an added margin of safety to warn the driver of the car behind. LEDs can respond as much as ten times faster than traditional incandescent bulbs. In addition to this safety aspect, the color of LED lighting is more natural making it safer for forward illumination. The ease of controlling LEDs also makes them a natural for intelligent lighting systems that adjust based on vehicle sensor inputs. An essential aspect of the control is the power management provided by integrated circuit (IC) drivers.

Headlamps on production models based on high-brightness (HB) LEDs. In some cases, the capabilities of an LED driver can enable more than one application to be addressed with the same LEDs. With the low power consumption of LEDs compared to conventional lighting, an estimated 0.2 liters of fuel per 100 km and about 4 grams lower CO2 emissions per kilometer are being cited as the ultimate advantage of replacing incandescent lighting with LEDs in the DRL application alone. In electric and hybrid vehicles, an 85% reduction in energy consumption from LED usage instead of incandescent bulbs translates into increased range. As a result, there are several compelling reasons to implement LEDs in automotive applications.

LED Driver Capabilities LEDs require a constant current to produce consistent lighting. Consequently, this forms the basic operating requirements for an LED driver. The accuracy of the current source determines its customer appeal. Current fluctuations than can occur with voltage supply variations in vehicles must be avoided. Linear regulators provide a simple control and do not require electromagnetic interference (EMI) filters. However, their power dissipation can become excessive for higher power applications. Buck dc-dc converters are commonly used in vehicles as the next step up from a linear regulator. When the driver must control several LEDs in series, a boost converter topology is used. In some cases, a buck-boost topology provides the capability to address a variety of

application requirements including the ability to handle voltage extremes.LED drivers can be designed to offer a combination of series and parallel LED control. Devices with this capability built-in provide circuit designers flexibility to control LEDs in different applications with a single driver rather than requiring different devices that increase qualification testing. Dimming the light level is a common requirement for interior lighting. However, exterior lighting has applications for brighter and normal requirements from the same LEDs. For example, brake lights/taillights, low beam/daytime running lights and high beam/low beam headlights are bi-level lighting. In some cases, lighting design may be able to address both situations with the same LEDs with the right LED driver. For the harsh automotive environments, several protection circuits are required to prevent device failure under fault conditions. Automotive Design Considerations Unlike other market segments, automotive applications have several tougher requirements that are reflected in industry standards and purchasing specifications. These unique criteria include temperature and humidity range, voltage range, ability to withstand harsh chemicals, electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) as well as reliability requirements dictated by qualification testing. For example, the automotive passenger compartment temperature range is -40 to 85C.

HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEVS)

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) combine the internal combustion engine of a conventional vehicle with the battery and electric motor of an electric vehicle. The combination offers low emissions while provides comparable driving range and convenient fueling of conventional (gasoline and diesel) vehicles without the need to be plugged in. The inherent flexibility of HEVs makes them suited for personal transportation and military applications. HEVs are powered by an on-board energy source (gasoline or diesel engine), an energy conversion unit (such as a combustion engine or fuel cell) and an energy storage device (such as batteries or ultracapacitors). One main component for the control of power is a DC-DC converter In hybrid vehicles, the DCDC converter converts the high voltage (200-300V) in the main battery to low voltage (14-42 V) or higher voltage (400-600V) for use in electrical equipment, thereby serving as an electrical unit that is indispensable for use in the next generation of clean energy vehicles. High efficiency, compact size, lightweight, and reliability are all essential requirements for DC-DC converters for electric and

DC-DC converters are switching regulators that offer higher efficiency than linear regulators. They can stepup, step-down, and invert the input voltage. Switching regulators use an inductor, transformer, or a capacitor as an energy storage element to transfer energy from input to output. Feedback circuitry regulates the energy transfer to maintain a constant voltage or constant current within the load limits of the circuit. High-voltage dc-dc converters for vehicles build on existing design approaches. In many cases, they are simple compared to converters used in computers, telecommunication and other highperformance electronic equipment. However, the automotive environment has driven unique design aspects and significant improvements have occurred in more recent designs. Due to cooling requirements, the dc-dc power converter is frequently mounted in an assembly with the inverter for the motor. This simplifies water cooling the entire unit and only uses a single set of water-in and water-out connections

VOLTAGE REGULATOR MODULE The voltage regulator module is an essential part of any PC motherboard. It generates the voltages required to run a specific microprocessor or chip set. A voltage regulator module or VRM, sometimes called PPM (power processing module) is an electronic device that provides a microprocessor the appropriate supply voltage. It can be soldered to the motherboard or be an installable device. It allows processors with different supply voltage to be mounted on the same motherboard. Some voltage regulators provide a fixed supply voltage to the processor, but most of them sense the required supply voltage from the processor. In particular, VRMs that are soldered to the motherboard are supposed to do the sensing, according to the Intel specification. The correct supply voltage is communicated by the microprocessor to the VRM at start-up via a number of bits called VID (voltage identificator). In particular, the VRM initially provides a standard supply voltage to the VID logic, which is the part of the processor whose only aim is to then send the VID to the VRM. When the VRM has received the VID identifying the required supply voltage, it starts acting as a voltage regulator, providing the required constant voltage supply to the processor. VRMs are buck converters that convert from +5 V to a much smaller voltage required by the CPU -- some CPUs require 3.3 V, others require 1.10 V. Historically, CPU designers keep designing to smaller voltages; lower voltages help reduce CPU power dissipation.

Most of todays non-isolated Low-Voltage Regulator Modules (LVRMs) are buck derived such as the conventional buck, the synchronous buck and the Quasi-Square-Wave (QSW) buck While the isolated LVRMs are such as symmetrical and asymmetrical half-bridge, active clamped forward, fly back forward and push-pull The secondary side of the isolated topology can have different schemes such as forward, center-tapped, or current-doubler..To achieve high current slew rate at both step-up and stepdown transients, assuming that the closed loop has sufficient bandwidth, the LVRM output inductor should be as small as possible. Unfortunately, using small output inductor to achieve faster transient response will cause the output voltage ripple to increase and pushes the LVRM operation towards discontinuous mode of operation. In order to reduce output voltage ripple, it is required that the switching frequency be increased. However, the higher the switching frequency, the lower the efficiency, making the selection of the switching devices very important step in the converter design process. It is also possible to reduce the output voltage ripple by increasing the output capacitor, resulting in a physically large size for practical design. In practical designs, typically the crossover frequency is designed in the range of 20%-30% of the switching frequency. Hence, the higher the switching frequency, the faster the closed loop response, resulting in smaller output capacitor and, hence, smaller critical output inductor value required to operate in the Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM).

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY An Uninterruptible Power Supply, or UPS, is an electronic device that provides an alternative electric power supply to connected electronic equipment when the primary power source is not available. Unlike auxiliary power, a UPS can provide instant power to connected equipment, which can protect sensitive electronic devices by allowing them to shut down properly and preventing extensive physical damage. However, a UPS can only supply energy for a limited amount of time, typically 15 to 20 minutes. Although its use can extend to a virtually unlimited list of applications, in past years the UPS has become even more popular as a means of protecting computers and telecommunication equipment, thus preventing serious hardware damage and data loss.

1 kVA OFFLINE UPS The Offline UPS system shown in Figure operates in Standby mode and in UPS mode. When AC line voltage is present, the system is in Standby mode until a failure occurs on the AC line. During Standby mode, the battery is charged and is maintained after becoming fully charged. When the battery is charging, the inverter works as a rectifier through the IGBTs anti-parallel diodes. The fly back switch mode charger acts as a current generator and provides constant charging current to the battery. After a power failure, the system is switched to UPS mode. In this situation, the DPDT relay is turned OFF to prevent power from being delivered to the AC line. The push-pull converter steps up the battery voltage to 380 VDC. The high DC voltage is then converted with the full-bridge inverter and filtered with an LC filter to create a pure sine wave 220/110 VAC output where load is connected. This power switchover sequence is made in less than 10 ms

PUSH-PULL CONVERTER As specified in Figure 5, measurement of DC output voltage (UDCM) is required to implement the control algorithm. The EPP signal is for enabling the driver, the temperature sensor measures heat sink temperature, and the primary current measurement (IP) protects the converter in case of transformer flux walking. The PWM outputs from the dsPIC DSC are firing pulses to the driver to control the output voltage.