LED-driverplatform

Important results from the project

The purpose of the project has mainly been to develop and explore the commercial and technical feasibility of a LED driver based solely on a microcontroller as the controlling device. This design strategy was expected to provide improvements in a number of performance areas, which was all fulfilled except for unit costs. It appears that the product will have a higher cost than comparable drivers but with further optimization and larger volume production this is expected to be reduced.

Expected long term effects

The project has demonstrated that the innovation and design strategy enables commercially feasible products to be developed, based on the innovation. The advantages of the new technology in a number of areas, compared with traditional one, will result in more competitive products which will be the basis of a new enterprise tasked to develop and market these new products. For this purpose Vadsbo intends to establish a new enterprise namned SwitchTech AB.

Approach and implementation

The project investigated existing technology and mapped out the advantages and disadvantages in order to distinguish where the LDP technology would have greatest impact. A prototype was then designed and constructed and software to control it was developed. Along the prototype, an advanced measurement setup was implemented in order to evaluate electrical performance such as EMC, efficiency and communication. Due to the developing complexity of the system, especially in the control area, which was underestimated, the project was delayed in regards to earlier planning.