Driver ICs extend the wisdom of lighting through sensing elements

Light-emitting diode (LED) driver integrated circuits (ICs) will expand the deployment of smart lighting solutions. LED driver IC companies such as ROHM, Infineon, AMS, and STMicroelectronics have all started to expand their driver IC specifications to incorporate daylight, LED color temperature sensors, and microcontrollers (MCUs). ) And other components, the introduction of a complete LED smart lighting solutions, and seize large business opportunities.

Wu Maosheng, General Manager of ROHM Taiwan, stated that LED lighting equipment with additional dimming, color adjustment, and built-in daylight and color temperature sensing components will become a general trend this year. The industry will further improve the LED bulb lighting efficiency by combining LED lighting systems. Measurement technology and wireless technology to create a more comfortable and convenient lighting environment.

In fact, the future of the LED lighting market will not only focus on the price and how to increase the brightness of the LED itself. What's more important is how to effectively promote the current through the cooperation of various types of semiconductor components so that the LED lamps can cooperate. The environment changes, giving the most suitable brightness and color temperature.

Wu Maosheng, for example, in the case of ROHM's driver IC combined with daylight sensing technology, the LEDs of the ROHM Group's LED subsidiary, LED LED, can sense changes in the surrounding environment, using only 50% of the current in the early morning to emit an electric ball. Color, and in the morning with the sun position, gradually increase the current, so that the LED light is gradually converted to bright white for reading, activities, and then to noon, the high intensity of the sun, the LED light can be reduced to 50 The brightness of % achieves the effect of power saving. Such a cycle will greatly increase the overall efficiency of the LED bulb.

In addition to ROHM, LED driver ICs have their product development strategies for the smart lighting market. For example, austriamicrosystems intends to integrate its driver IC with Ambient Light Sensor and Occupancy Sensor so that the LED lamp can automatically compensate for light or adjust the quality of output light as the environment changes; Infineon, STMicroelectronics Semiconductors will add high-level driver ICs to communicate with microcontrollers, such as internal integrated circuits (I2C), serial bus interfaces (SPI), universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART), DALI, and more. Zigbee, wireless local area network (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (Bluetooth) wireless transmission module features.

It is worth mentioning that since LED itself has a problem of light failure, for commercial lighting market, if the LED lamp can not provide stable lighting quality, it must be eliminated, in order to extend the lighting life of LED lamps and improve the cost-effectiveness of lamps, future drive IC The LED light source sensing function will be added, and the driver IC will thus be able to control the current to compensate for the light performance according to different LED lighting performances, and allow different brands of LED lamps to have consistent color temperature and brightness performance in the same lighting system.

Wu Maosheng pointed out that smart lighting business opportunities are the next big business opportunities for the driver IC industry, and a semiconductor manufacturer with a complete product line will have absolute advantages. For example, the design, development, and manufacturing of LEDs from LED, driver ICs, power modules, and wireless transmission modules are all designed to ensure that LED lighting efficiency is optimized.

Wu Maosheng particularly emphasized that with the diversified application of LED bulbs, the future LED bulb power supply may also move towards wireless charging or energy harvesting, and ROHM has become the Wireless Self-powered Alliance (Wireless, Self-powered). Alliance) - EnOCEAN members, the future ROHM will continue to develop more in line with the trend of the trend of LED semiconductor components in order to attack the LED lighting business opportunities.