Dimming of High-Brightness LEDs by Means of Luminous Flux Thermal Estimation

Usually, pulsewidth modulation (PWM) operation is selected as the best dimming strategy to drive high-brightness LEDs. Nevertheless, to obtain an enhanced full linear dimming control of the device, the luminous flux should be measured. This paper proposes a control method based on an estimator of the luminous flux emitted by the LED. Based on the characterization of the LEDs, this estimator is defined. The estimator provides the flux value from only two temperature values (the case temperature and the ambient temperature). Once the estimator is validated, the electronic driver to supply the LEDs, as well as the digital control scheme, are presented. Such a control scheme is suitable for both AM and PWM dimming strategies. A prototype of the electronic driver has been built and tested, and experimental measurements of AM and PWM dimming are presented. It can be concluded that with the proposed estimator, the flux emitted by the LEDs can be accurately estimated. Thus, the output light control of the LEDs can be accomplished by sensing temperature rather than luminous flux. The final output characteristic of the system shows linearity between the output flux and the reference value, with AM as well as with PWM dimming of the LEDs.