Automotive buck LED drivers streamline lighting indoors and out
Two automotive LED drivers from Diodes address internal and external lighting applications, such as fog lamps, position lamps, rear lamps, and door lamps.
The AL8860Q and AL8861Q have a wide-operating voltage range from 4.5 to 40V to withstand load-dump events and operate correctly at low-cranking voltages in stop-start applications. They use hysteretic-mode buck control to simplify the design of the feedback loop, enabling inherent stability with only four external components. Designers can save real estate and minimise the electronic bill of materials via the integrated, main power MOSFET and a programmable switching frequency up to 1MHz that allows a small output inductor, says Diodes.
The AL8860Q and AL8861Q can source 1.5A for powering loads up to 40W depending on supply voltage and external components. In addition, both drivers support 0.3 to 2.5V analogue dimming as well as high-precision PWM dimming from one to 100 per cent to allow various automatic or user-adjustable brightness controls. These parameters allow the LED drivers to be used inside and outside the vehicle. Designers can create multiple lamp types efficiently using the same driver and streamline inventory management for manufacturing.
Protection features include short-circuit and open-LED protection as well as over-temperature shutdown. The AL8861Q additionally features current-sense resistor, short-circuit protection.
Both drivers are packaged in the high-power density MSOP-8EP with support for analogue and PWM dimming via one control pin. This control pin, with its analogue dimming function, can be used for soft-start of the LED current with only one capacitor.
The AL8860Q and AL8861Q are automotive-compliant and support PPAP documents. Both are qualified to AEC-Q100 Grade 1.
Diodes serves the consumer electronics, computing, communications, industrial, and automotive markets. Diodes’ products include diodes, rectifiers, transistors, MOSFETs, protection devices, function-specific arrays, single gate logic, amplifiers and comparators, Hall-effect and temperature sensors, power management devices, including LED drivers, AC/DC converters and controllers, DC/DC switching and linear voltage regulators, and voltage references along with special function devices, such as USB power switches, load switches, voltage supervisors, and motor controllers. Diodes also has timing, connectivity, switching, and signal integrity solutions for high-speed signals.
