JP2012039158A - Led driver circuit and led drive method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a LED driver circuit being applicable to an illumination device using a commercial power supply, and having a long lifetime and high efficiency.SOLUTION: A LED driver circuit includes: a LED circuit in which a plurality of unit circuits are connected in series where the unit circuits are composed of LED series circuits 10-13 in which a plurality of LEDs are connected in series and electronic switching circuits 15-18 each of which is connected to the LED series circuit in parallel; a constant current circuit 19 connected to the LED circuit in series; a rectifier circuit 21 applying a pulsating current obtained by rectifying a commercial power supply; and a controller which detects an applied voltage and controls the electric switching circuits so as to light as many LEDs as possible. The number of LEDs can be any of m times the n-th power of two. The LED driver circuit can drive the LEDs efficiently, minimize wasteful power consumed at other than the LEDs, and reduce power consumption to obtain the same luminance.

Description

  The present invention relates to an LED (light emitting diode) driving circuit and an LED driving method, and more particularly to an efficient LED driving circuit and an LED driving method using a commercial power source.

  Conventionally, various devices have been proposed as LED lighting circuits using a commercial power source. For example, there is a method in which a commercial AC power supply is rectified and smoothed, converted to DC, and turned on with a constant voltage using a switching regulator or the like. In this method, an optimum voltage or current can be set with respect to the rating of the LED. However, many electrolytic capacitors are used for rectifier circuits and switching regulators, and electrolytic capacitors have a certain life due to their properties. In addition, when a switching regulator is used for a lighting fixture, it may be installed in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment, and there is a high possibility that the drive circuit will fail before the lifetime of the LED.

Although a circuit for lighting the LED by limiting the current with a resistor after bridge rectification of the AC power supply is also conceivable, it is not efficient because power is consumed by the resistor. In addition, when a smoothing capacitor is attached to make a direct current after bridge rectification, an electrolytic capacitor is used in the same manner as described above, and there is a problem of lifetime.
Therefore, without using a smoothing capacitor, the LED is driven with a pulsating waveform after rectification, and when a current over a certain level flows, the current is cut off once by a switch, and the voltage drops to a voltage below a certain level. Then there is a method to turn the switch on again. Patent Document 1 below discloses an AC LED lighting circuit that can be used with a commercial power source that consumes less power and is not affected by frequency. In this AC LED lighting circuit, LED 1 is connected to AC power source 3 through rectifier diode 2 and semiconductor switch 4. The LED flows in the LED only during an AC half-wave that is less than or equal to an arbitrary current determined by the semiconductor switch, and is lit twice with one AC half-wave.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-148721

In the conventional LED lighting circuit described above, the power supply voltage is lit only for a short period of time below a certain value, flicker occurs, and the power that can be effectively used is reduced, so that the luminance is sufficient when applied to a lighting device. There was a problem that could not be obtained.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and to provide an LED driving circuit and an LED driving method that can be used in a lighting device using a commercial power source, have a long lifetime, and are efficient.

  An LED drive circuit according to the present invention includes an LED circuit in which a plurality of unit circuits each including a LED series circuit in which a plurality of LEDs are connected in series and an electronic switching circuit connected in parallel with the LED series circuit are connected in series. The voltage applied to the current limiting circuit connected in series in the middle of the LED circuit or in the end of the LED circuit, and the series circuit of the LED circuit and the current limiting circuit is detected, and the detected voltage is And a controller for controlling the electronic switching circuit so that the most LEDs are turned on.

  The LED drive circuit described above is also characterized in that the series circuit includes a rectifier circuit that applies a pulsating flow obtained by rectifying commercial power. Further, the above LED driving circuit is also characterized in that the number of LEDs in the LED series circuit is any one of m × 2 to the nth power when m is an integer of 1 or more and n is an integer of 0 or more. There is.

  The LED driving circuit described above is also characterized in that the current limiting circuit is either a constant current circuit or a resistor. Further, the above LED driving circuit is further characterized in that it includes an LED series circuit that does not include an electronic switching circuit in the series circuit.

  An LED driving method according to the present invention includes an LED circuit in which a plurality of unit circuits including an LED series circuit in which a plurality of LEDs are connected in series and an electronic switching circuit connected in parallel with the LED series circuit are connected in series. An LED driving circuit comprising a current limiting circuit connected in series in the middle of the LED circuit or at an end of the LED circuit, and a controller for controlling the electronic switching circuit. Detecting a voltage applied to a series circuit with the current limiting circuit, in the controller, determining a state of a switch for turning on most LEDs based on the detected voltage, in the controller; Repeat the step of controlling the switch based on the determined switch state. It is referred to as main features.

The apparatus of the present invention has the following effects due to the above-described features.
(1) The LED can be driven efficiently, wasteful power consumed in portions other than the LED can be minimized, and power consumption for obtaining the same luminance can be reduced.
(2) Since the lighting duty ratios of a plurality of LEDs can be made substantially the same, the amount of heat generated in each LED can be made substantially equal, each LED can be used at the maximum brightness, and the life of the LEDs is made uniform. be able to.
(3) Since a luminance substantially corresponding to the power supply voltage is obtained, flicker is reduced as compared with the conventional example.
(4) Since a smoothing electrolytic capacitor is not used in the rectifier circuit, the life of the drive circuit can be extended and the life of the entire lighting device can be extended.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the basic function of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the basic composition of the Example of this invention. It is a circuit diagram which shows the structural example of the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the processing content in a controller. It is a flowchart (2) which shows the example of the processing content in a controller. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the voltage of a pulsating flow power supply, the voltage to switch, the lighting state of LED, etc. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows Example 2 using the electric current which flows into LED for a controller power supply. It is a block diagram which shows Example 3 using the electric current which flows into LED for a controller power supply. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of Example 4 in the case of using a plurality of LED series circuits connected in parallel. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing contents in a controller according to a fifth embodiment.

  Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing basic functions of the present invention. The commercial AC power supply AC100V is rectified by the diode bridge rectifier circuit 21 and becomes a pulsating power supply. The plurality of LED groups A10 to D13 connected in series are each composed of an LED series circuit in which a plurality of LEDs are connected in series.

  In the present invention, the number of LED groups and the number of LEDs in each LED group are basically arbitrary. The number of LEDs in each group is as follows: m is an integer of 1 or more and n is an integer of 0 or more. It is preferable that the number of LEDs is any one of m × 2 to the nth power. Therefore, for example, the LED group A10 may include two LEDs, the LED group B11 four, the LED group C12 eight, and the LED group D13 may include sixteen LEDs.

  Switches A15 to D18 are connected in parallel to the LED groups A10 to D13, respectively. Since the switch needs to be switched at high speed, an electronic switching element such as a MOSFET is used. A constant current circuit 19 is further connected in series to the LED series circuit. Both ends of the series circuit of the LED series circuit and the constant current circuit 19 are connected to a rectifier circuit, and a pulsating power supply is applied.

  The controller 20 is realized, for example, by mounting a program for executing processing to be described later on a known one-chip computer. The controller 20 has a built-in function for inputting a pulsating voltage and A / D converting, and also has a digital output terminal for controlling the switches A15 to D18.

  The controller 20 performs the following basic operations. In other words, the voltage of the pulsating power supply is read by A / D conversion, and the optimum number of LED lightings for the current voltage is calculated. Then, by controlling the switches A15 to D18, the maximum number less than the optimum lighting number is selected from the selectable LED series numbers, and the switches A15 to D18 are controlled so as to be the number.

  For example, when LED group A10 has 2, LED group B11 has 4, LED group C12 has 8, LED group D13 has 16 LEDs, the voltage is low, and the optimal lighting number is 2 or 3 Turns on the switches B16 to D18 and shorts the LED groups B11 to D13. Therefore, voltage is applied only to the LED group A10, and the number of LEDs to be lit is two. The controller 20 constantly reads the voltage and repeats the switch control so that the optimum number of LEDs are lit.

  In the group configuration described above, the number of LEDs to be lit 0 to 30 can be freely selected in two steps by controlling the switches A15 to D18 of four circuits. If one group of LEDs is increased to one group, 0 to 31 LEDs can be freely selected in one step by controlling switches of five circuits.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment, two sets of constant current circuits 27 and 28 having the same configuration are provided as LED circuits. Further, non-switching LED groups E25 and F26 having the same number of LEDs in series with the respective constant current circuits 27 and 28 are provided. I have. In addition, as a circuit related to the controller 20, a voltage dividing circuit 22, a stabilized power supply 23, and a setting switch 24 are provided.

  The number of LEDs in the group to be switched is 2 to the nth power, the switch is set to 4 circuits in consideration of cost and effect, and the forward voltage of the white LED actually used is around 3 to 3.6 V. Non-switching group: 4 + 4, group A: 2, group B: 4, group C: 8 and group D: 16 In this case, the total number of LEDs is 38, and the number of lighting by switching of the groups A, B, C, and D is 16 stages of 0, 2, 4,.

  In the basic configuration shown in FIG. 1, for example, when the forward voltage of the LED is 3.4 V, the forward voltage is 102 V even if all 30 LEDs of the LED group to be switched on are lit, and the peak value of the pulsating current Is approximately 141 V, the voltage difference is consumed in the constant current circuit and becomes heat. Therefore, in the configuration of FIG. 2, the efficiency is improved by providing the LED groups E25 and F26 that are not switched.

  The reason why two identical circuits are provided in parallel as a non-switching group will be described below. The duty ratio of the LED group that switches varies depending on the number of LEDs in the group, the forward voltage of the LED, etc., but can be set to about 50%, whereas the LED group that does not switch is almost 100%. Become.

  Therefore, when only one circuit that is not switched is provided, only the amount of heat generated by the LEDs of the LED group that is not switched increases, and thus the entire LED cannot be driven efficiently. Therefore, in order to make the heat generation amounts of the LEDs substantially equal, two identical circuits of the LED groups that are not switched are provided in parallel.

  The constant current circuits 27 and 28 are provided in order to use the current flowing through the LED as much as possible, and each constant current circuit 27 and 28 is set to a current value ½ of the current flowing through the LED. . Although the efficiency is reduced, it is possible to use resistors instead of the constant current circuits 27 and 28.

  The voltage dividing circuit 22 is a circuit that divides the pulsating voltage into a voltage that can be input by the controller 20. The stabilized power source 23 is a circuit that supplies, for example, a 5V DC power source necessary for the controller 20 from a pulsating power source.

  The setting switch 24 is a switch that can be read by the controller 20 and sets information such as a difference in LED forward voltage (variety change, variation), a difference in circuit configuration, a difference in power supply voltage, and the like. For example, a difference in the number of LEDs in a group that is not switched is set, and the controller reads this set value and performs processing such as switching a set voltage for switching.

  For example, four circuits may be used as the switch 24, one circuit may switch the LED forward voltage (0: 3.2V, 1: 3.4V), and three circuits may set the number of LEDs in a group that is not switched. The switch 24 may be, for example, a DIP switch. However, since the switch 24 is not operated after manufacture, the switch 24 may not be a switch in consideration of reliability, but may be a jumper line or a wiring pattern that can be cut.

  FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration example of the embodiment of the present invention. As the controller 20, any commercially available one-chip microcomputer can be used as long as it has an A / D converter and a necessary number of digital input / output terminals. Although not shown, a controller reset circuit at power-on is also provided. Although an electrolytic capacitor is used for the stabilizing power supply 23, since the power consumption of the controller is small, a solid electrolytic capacitor having a long life is used.

  Four sets of the same circuit are provided for the FET drive circuit 61 and the FET 60 corresponding to the switches 15 to 18 of FIGS. When the switch control digital output terminal of the controller 20 changes from 0 (eg, 0 V) to 1 (eg, 5 V), the transistor Q1 of the FET drive circuit 61 changes from off to on, and the transistor Q2 changes from on to off. Then, the P-channel power MOSFET 60 (18) changes from off to on.

  As the LEDs, for example, LEDs with a forward voltage of 3.4 V and a rated current of 300 mA have 16 groups D13, 8 groups C12, 4 groups B11, 2 groups A10, 4 groups E25, and 4 groups F26. Use one connected in series. The two constant current circuits 27 and 28 are the same known constant current circuit, and the current value is set to 150 mA, for example.

  4 and 5 are flowcharts showing examples of processing contents in the controller. When the power is turned on, an initialization process is executed in S10, and a code 0000 is output to the digital output terminal group connected to each FET drive circuit 61. The meaning of this code is that the first digit is the control bit of the switch A15, and the fourth digit is the control bit of the switch D18 in order. A zero in each digit turns off the FET, thus lighting the LED connected in parallel with the FET. 1 turns on the FET and turns off the LED. Therefore, when the code 0000 is output, all the FETs are turned off, and all the LEDs are connected in series. This is because an arbitrary voltage may be applied when the power is turned on.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the voltage of the pulsating power supply, the switching voltage, the lighting state of the LED, and the like. A case will be described in which the numbers of LEDs in groups A, B, C, D, E, and F are 2, 4, 8, 16, 4, and 4, respectively, and the forward voltage of the LEDs is 3.4V. Although there is a minimum necessary voltage in the constant current circuit, it is negligible and is ignored. The voltage L0 is a voltage at which the LEDs of the groups E and F can be lit, and L0 = 13.6V.

  The voltage L1 is a voltage at which the LEDs of group E and F + group A can be lit, and L1 = 3.4 × 6 = 20.4V. Similarly, up to L15 is equivalent to two LEDs (number of groups A). The voltages are arranged at intervals of 6.8V, and L15 = 3.4 × 34 = 11.5V. In the lower part of FIG. 6, control codes output from the controller 20 in each voltage range are shown. For example, between the voltages L13 and L14, the code 0010 is output from the controller 20, and the LEDs of the groups A, C, D, E, and F are lit.

  In practice, it takes time to perform A / D conversion in the controller 20, and a delay occurs before switching. Even when the switching timing is delayed when the voltage rises, the LED does not turn off and operates normally. However, when the voltage drops, if the switching is delayed, the voltage of the pulsating power supply drops, and if it becomes less than the total forward voltage of the LED, the LED is turned off. Therefore, in order to avoid such a state, the determination is made with a voltage value obtained by adding 2 V to the voltage level to be determined when the voltage drops.

  Returning to FIG. 4, in S11, 100 milliseconds are waited. In S12, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S13, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is equal to or lower than the voltage L0. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S12, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S14. L0 is a forward voltage of the LED series circuits of groups E and F, and all LEDs are turned off when the pulsating power supply is L0 or less.

  In S14, the code 1111 is output to the FET drive circuit. As a result, all FETs are turned on, and only the LED series circuits of groups E and F are connected to the power source. In S15, a predetermined value is set in the watch dog (WD) timer and started. The WD timer counts down at a constant cycle and resets the controller when it reaches zero. The predetermined value is, for example, a value corresponding to a time slightly longer than one cycle of pulsating flow (10 milliseconds if the frequency of the commercial power supply is 50 Hz).

  In S16, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S17, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is equal to or higher than the voltage L1, and if the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S16, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S18. The voltage L1 is a value obtained by adding the forward voltage of the LED series circuits of the groups E and F and the forward voltage of the LED series circuit of the group A.

  In S18, the code 1110 is output. With this code, only the FET corresponding to the switch A15 is turned off, and the LEDs of the group A in addition to the groups E and F start to light. In S19, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S20, it is determined whether or not the converted value is equal to or higher than the voltage L2. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S21, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S22.

  In S21, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is less than L1, and if the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S19, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S55 in FIG. The determination process in S21 is for lighting even at a voltage significantly lower than the rated voltage. If the lighting does not have to be performed below the minimum value of the rated voltage, the determination result in S20 is negative. You may make it transfer to S19.

  In S22, the code 1101 is output. With this code, only the FET corresponding to the switch B16 is turned off, and the LEDs of the group B in addition to the groups E and F start to be lit. In S23, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S24, it is determined whether or not the converted value is equal to or higher than the voltage L3. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S25, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S26.

  In S25, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is less than L2. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S23, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S52 in FIG. In S26, the code 1100 is output. With this code, the FETs corresponding to the switches A15 and B16 are turned off, and the LEDs of the groups A and B in addition to the groups E and F are lit. Thereafter, the same processing is repeated as the voltage of the pulsating power supply increases, and the process proceeds to S30.

  In S30, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S31, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is equal to or higher than the voltage L15. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S32, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S33. In S32, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is less than L14. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S30, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S42. In S33, code 0000 is output. With this code, the FETs corresponding to all the switches 15 to 18 are turned off, and the LEDs of all the groups are turned on.

  In S34, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S35, it is determined whether or not the converted value is equal to or higher than the voltage L15 + 2V (2 volts). If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S36, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S37. In S36, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is less than L15. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S34, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S39.

  The reason why the process proceeds to the next process after the conversion value becomes equal to or higher than the voltage L15 + 2V (2 volts) in the processes of S34 to S36 is higher in the voltage decrease mode after S37 than in the voltage increase mode from S16 to S33. This is because the timing of switching is determined by the voltage (+ 2V) of FIG. 2, and therefore, when the process proceeds from S33 to S37, it does not light normally.

  S37 to S57 are voltage drop modes. In S37, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S38, it is determined whether or not the converted value is equal to or lower than the voltage L15 + 2V. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S37, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S39. In S39, code 0001 is output.

  In S40, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S41, it is determined whether or not the converted value is equal to or lower than the voltage L14 + 2V. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S40, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S42. In S42, the code 0010 is output. Thereafter, similar processing is repeated according to the voltage drop, and the process proceeds to S50 in FIG.

  In S50, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S51, it is determined whether or not the converted value is equal to or lower than the voltage L2 + 2V. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S50, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S52. In S52, the code 1110 is output.

  In S53, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S54, it is determined whether or not the converted value is equal to or lower than the voltage L1 + 2V. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S53, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S55. In S55, the code 1111 is output.

  In S56, the voltage of the divided pulsating power supply is A / D converted. In S57, it is determined whether or not the conversion value is less than the voltage L1, and if the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S56, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S58. In S58, a predetermined value is reset in the WD timer, and the process proceeds to S16 in FIG. By repeating the above process, each LED group repeats lighting / extinguishing as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment in which a part of the current flowing in the LED is used for the power source of the controller. In the circuit of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a current is supplied from a pulsating power supply to a constant voltage power supply via a resistor, but most of the power of the controller power supply is consumed by this resistor and becomes heat. Therefore, the number of LEDs in the LED group that is not switched is reduced, and the reduced forward voltage of the LEDs is extracted using, for example, a 5V Zener diode 30 and a capacitor 31 and applied to the power supply of the controller 20.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment in which a part of the current flowing through the LED is used for the power source of the controller. In the circuit of the second embodiment, the number of LEDs decreases and the heat generated by the Zener diode 30 also increases. For example, the series connection order of the LED group 25 and the constant current circuit 27 is changed, and the voltage generated at both ends of the LED group 25 is changed. For example, a resistor 35, a diode 36, a 5V Zener diode 37 and a capacitor 38 are used and taken out and applied to the power source of the controller 20. Since the current required for the controller 20 is very small compared to the set current value of the constant current circuit 27, the brightness of the LED hardly decreases and the extra power consumption also decreases.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the fourth embodiment when a plurality of LED series circuits are connected in parallel for each LED group. This figure shows only the LED circuit portion. In this case, if an LED series circuit is simply connected in parallel, a large amount of current flows only in one LED series circuit due to a slight difference in LED characteristics. Therefore, the constant current circuit 40 is connected in series to each of the plurality of LED series circuits of each group.

  About the group which does not switch, the LED series circuit of twice as many as the group to switch is provided, and the constant current circuits 27 and 28 are each connected in series. In addition, you may shunt the electric current which flows into a some LED series circuit equally using a current mirror circuit. Further, even if resistors are connected in series instead of the constant current circuit, the current can be made uniform to some extent.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the processing contents in the controller of the fifth embodiment. In this embodiment, the code value is read from the voltage value-code conversion table based on the A / D converted voltage value, and the switch is controlled. The hardware is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  When the power is turned on, in S60, a code 0000 for controlling the switch is output after the initialization process. In S61, the state of the setting switch 24 is read. In the setting switch 24, for example, information on the difference in forward voltage of the used LEDs and the number of LEDs in the group not to be switched is set.

  In S62, a code table is set based on the read switch state. In the ROM in the controller 20, a plurality of tables are stored in advance according to the difference in the forward voltage of the used LEDs and the number of LEDs in the group not to be switched. Or the head address of the table used in the ROM is stored.

  In S63, it waits for 100 milliseconds. In S64, the voltage obtained by dividing the pulsating power supply is A / D converted into, for example, 8-bit data. In S65, the converted value is stored.

  In S66, it is determined whether or not it is smaller than the previous A / D converted value. If the determination result is negative (when the voltage is rising), the process proceeds to S68, but if it is affirmative (when the voltage is decreasing). The process proceeds to S67. In S67, a predetermined correction value is subtracted from the converted value.

  In this embodiment, since the same table is used in the voltage increase mode and the voltage decrease mode, a table for the voltage increase mode is stored, and when the voltage decreases, the correction value is subtracted in S67, so that it is appropriate even when the voltage decreases. Switch at the timing.

  In S68, the conversion value is converted into a code value using the conversion table selected in S62. The conversion table may store, for example, 4-bit code information corresponding to each 256 address corresponding to 8-bit data of an A / D conversion value.

In S69, the read code is output to the FET drive circuit. In S70, it is determined whether or not the output code is the same as that output last time. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S71, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S64. In S71, the code read this time is stored. In S72, a timer process is performed for a predetermined time, and the process proceeds to S64.
By repeating the above processing, each LED group repeatedly turns on / off as shown in FIG. 6 as in the first embodiment.

  Although the embodiments have been described above, the following modifications may be considered in the present invention. Although an example in which no capacitor is used in the rectifier circuit has been disclosed as an embodiment, a capacitor having a long life may be added to the output of the rectifier circuit. In this way, flicker is further reduced and the number of LED groups can be reduced.

  In the embodiment, a function of turning off the current by controlling the constant current circuit may be provided, or another switch circuit may be provided in series. If it does in this way, it will become possible for a controller to cut an electric current, when the voltage more than a predetermined value is detected, and the width of the input voltage of an illuminating device can be made wide. In addition, power consumption in the constant current circuit can be reduced. Furthermore, the illuminance can be controlled by controlling the switches provided in series with the controller.

  In the embodiment, an example in which the number of LEDs is set to m × 2 to the nth power has been disclosed. However, when the forward voltage of the LEDs is 3.4 V, for example, all the LEDs have a peak value of 141 V of a Japanese commercial power supply. The number cannot be determined so that lights up. However, in the present invention, the number of LEDs in each LED group is arbitrary. For example, a total of 42, 11, 11, 6, 3 in the order of increasing number of LED groups, or a total of 20, 10, 5, 2, 37 in total. It is good also as an individual. In such a case, the interval between the voltage values to be switched is not uniform, but it is not necessary to provide a group that does not perform switching.

10 ... LED group A
11 ... LED group B
12 ... LED group C
13 ... LED group D
15 ... Switch A
16 ... Switch B
17 ... Switch C
18 ... Switch D
19 ... Constant current circuit 20 ... Controller 21 ... Diode bridge rectifier circuit

Claims (9)

An LED circuit in which a plurality of unit circuits composed of an LED series circuit in which a plurality of LEDs are connected in series and an electronic switching circuit connected in parallel with the LED series circuit;
A current limiting circuit connected in series in the middle of the LED circuit or at the end of the LED circuit;
A controller that detects a voltage applied to a series circuit of the LED circuit and the current limiting circuit, and controls the electronic switching circuit so that the most LEDs are turned on based on the detected voltage. An LED drive circuit characterized by that.   2. The LED driving circuit according to claim 1, further comprising an LED series circuit that does not include an electronic switching circuit added in series to the series circuit.   3. The LED drive circuit according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of series circuits of an LED series circuit that does not include the electronic switching circuit and the current limiting circuit are connected in parallel.   3. The LED driving circuit according to claim 2, wherein a power supply for the controller is supplied from an LED series circuit that does not include the electronic switching circuit.   5. The number of LEDs in the plurality of LED series circuits is any one of m × 2 to the nth power, where m is an integer of 1 or more and n is an integer of 0 or more. The LED drive circuit in any one of. The current limiting circuit is either a constant current circuit or a resistor,
The LED drive circuit according to claim 1, further comprising a rectifier circuit that applies a pulsating flow obtained by rectifying an AC power supply to the series circuit.   7. The LED series circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a plurality of LEDs connected in series are connected in parallel, and a plurality of LEDs connected in series are connected in series. LED driving circuit according to claim 1. An LED circuit in which a plurality of unit circuits each including a LED series circuit in which a plurality of LEDs are connected in series and an electronic switching circuit connected in parallel with the LED series circuit are connected in series, or in the middle of the LED circuit In an LED driving circuit comprising a current limiting circuit connected in series to an end of the LED circuit, and a controller for controlling the electronic switching circuit,
Detecting a voltage applied to a series circuit of the LED circuit and the current limiting circuit in the controller;
Determining a state of a switch for turning on the most LEDs based on the detected voltage in the controller;
In the controller, the step of controlling the switch based on the determined switch state is repeated.   The LED driving method according to claim 8, further comprising an LED series circuit that does not include an electronic switching circuit added in series to the LED circuit.

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