Robust and Flexible, Automotive Buck, LED Drivers Streamline Interior and Exterior Lighting

23 July 2019 - 0 Comments

Diodes Incorporated launched two new automotive LED drivers AL8860Q and AL8861Q that integrates robust performance, simplified design, and flexibility to address internal and external lighting applications, such as fog lamps, position lamps, rear lamps, and door lamps. The new drivers comes with wide range of operating voltage from 4.5V to 40V that can handle load-dump events and operate correctly at low-cranking voltages in stop-start applications. The new drivers feature hysteretic-mode buck control which simplifies the design of the feedback loop further enabling inherent stability with only four external components.

The designers can now save real estate and minimize the electronic bill of materials due to the integrated, main power MOSFET and a programmable switching frequency up to 1MHz that allows a small output inductor. Also the designer can leverage its flexibility to create multiple lamp types efficiently using the same driver and streamline inventory management for manufacturing. The driver features comprehensive built-in protection which ensures reliability and safety, including short-circuit and open-LED protection as well as over temperature shutdown.

Common specifications of AL8860Q and AL8861Q are:

Topologies (Buck): Yes
Topologies (Buck-Boost): No
Topologies (Boost): No
Minimum Input Voltage: 4.5 V
Maximum Input Voltage: 40 V
Maximum Output Voltage: 36 V
Maximum LED Current: 1500 A (for AL8860Q) and 1.5A (for AL8861Q)
LED Current Accuracy: 5 %
Switching Frequency Maximum: 1000 kHz
Efficiency: 98 %
Sense Voltage: 100 mV
Operating Temperature Range: -40 to +125C °C (for AL8860Q) and -40 to +125C °C (for AL8860Q)