LED DIMMING APPARATUS

• Main Authors: SAKO, HIROYUKI, YAMASAKI, SHIGEAKI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 18.12.2013
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

An LED dimming includes: current adjusting means (constant current circuit 6) for variably controlling a magnitude of a current flowing through an LED load 4; switching means (transistor Q1) for intermittently controlling the current flowing through the LED load 4; and dimming controlling means (microcomputer 5) for controlling the current adjusting means and the switching means upon receiving a dimming signal outputted from a dimmer 1. In a case where the dimming signal outputted from the dimmer 1 is on a higher brightness side than a predetermined level, the dimming controlling means flows a continuous current though the LED load 4, and dims the LED load 4 based on a magnitude of the flowing current, and in a case where the dimming signal outputted from the dimmer 1 is on a lower brightness side than the predetermined level, the dimming controlling means flows a pulse current through the LED load 4, and changes a mean value of waveforms of the pulse current, thereby dims the LED load 4. In this LED dimming apparatus, noise is less likely to occur even in a case where such an LED current is large, and brightness is less likely to vary even in a case where a dimming degree is increased.