Estimates for increased use of LEDs are lofty indeed but most see the barrier to an even higher rate of adoption the cost of the LED light. The U.S. DOE says the LED driver makes up more than 10% of the total cost of the LED lamp. But that’s not the only challenge – some see the PCB size an impediment to implementing designs such as power factor correction. What other features, other than PFC would you want to see implemented in an LED driver (maybe dimming, fewer components)?
From our point of view as a driver manufacturer there several features that customers are really looking for now. The first challenge we are addressing is changing our existing designs to better meet higher input voltages at different power levels for commercial and industrial applications for LEDs. Secondly we are addressing many dimming solutions in an industry with no clear standard to offer the right dimming solution for the most applications.
Finally, there was previously no power supply needed for many applications; so providing the product in the right form factor for targeted
lighting applications - without limiting its broader market appeal and adapting the driver to fixtures that must be aesthetically pleasing yet have room for all the new components that are now required . These are all challenges we are meeting head on this year with TRIAC dimmable drivers, universal input ranges on existing products and new package types for more applications