LED driver family improves system power management
The latest member of Melexis’ MeLiBu family is the MLX81143 LED driver. It has a wide dimming range allowing optimal brightness adjustment during night and day, said the company. In addition, the MeLiBu interface makes it possible to drive up to 3,000 LEDs in a car at the same time.
Car manufacturers continue to adopt animated lighting in the cabin to provide important information such as driver assistance prompts and vehicle status updates. Changing colours and different blinking sequences enhance messages in need of driver attention. This presents engineering challenges, such as maintaining consistent colour across all of the LEDs and implementing simultaneous light changes.
The MLX81143 addresses these challenges by integrating the Melexis CAN over UART MeLiBu (patented license-free) technology. This high-speed communication interface controls individual LEDs to implement the lighting effects defined by the vehicle’s systems. The intelligent RGB-LED controller also provides real time compensation of any colour drift caused by environmental changes and colour mixing accuracy of less than one per cent to eliminate any distinguishable differences between LEDs.
The MeLiBu communication interface employs a CAN-FD physical layer and when combined with UART the MeLiBu protocol guarantees an intelligent and high resolution operation which mitigates temperature-related colour drift, said Melexis. This ensures a consistent lighting system which does not distracting the user and which is maintained under all operating conditions.
The Melexis MLX81143 is AEC-Q100-qualified and ASIL-compliant. It meets ISO 26262 functional safety requirements and supports ASIL B integration. The architecture of the MLX81143 helps designers to meet EMC requirements, exhibiting low EMI emissions and high levels of EMI immunity, Melexis added.
“The MLX81143 is the third product from Melexis to integrate MeLiBu. It reduces the amount of silicon required and improves power management, said Melexis’ product line manager, embedded lighting, Michael Bender.
Samples are available now.
