Analysis and Design Considerations for a High Power Buck Derived LED Driver with Extended Output Voltage and Low Total Harmonic Distortion

In order to reduce the cost, improve the efficiency and simplify the complicated control of existing isolated LED drivers, an improved boundary conduction mode (BCM) Buck ac-dc light emitting diode (LED) driver with extended output voltage and low total harmonic distortion is proposed. With a coupled inductor winding and a stacked output, its output voltage can be elevated to a much higher value when compared to that of the conventional Buck ac-dc converter, without sacrificing the input harmonics and power factor. Therefore, the proposed Buck LED driver can meet the IEC61000-3-2 (Class C) limitation and has a low THD. The operating principle of the topology and the design methodology of the ac-dc LED driver are presented. A 150 W ac-dc prototype was built in the laboratory and it shows that the input current harmonics meet the lighting standard. In addition, the THD is less than 16% at a typical ac input. The peak efficiency is higher than 96.5% at a full load and a normal input.