iWatt Flickerless SSL LED Driver is Optimized for Commercial Lighting

iWatt Inc., a provider of digital-centric power management integrated circuits (ICs),debuted a digital AC/DC LED driver platform designed to address cost, performance and operating life in commercial and wireless solid state lighting (SSL) systems. The first device in this new platform, the iW3630 is a two-stage, Flickerless LED driver with output power up to 45W and is believed to be the first SSL LED driver with a built-in 0V to 10V dimming interface for commercial lighting ballasts. It also supports a PWM digital dimming interface for wireless SSL applications.
The highly integrated design of the iW3630 enables a 30% to 40% savings in bill of materials (BOM) cost compared to competitive solutions in 0V to 10V applications and, unlike alternative solutions, it maintains an extremely high power factor (PF) even at loads down to 20% of full load. It also offers a low total harmonic distortion (THD) of < 15%, to meet stringent global energy regulations, along with a built-in over-temperature protection (OTP) and derating function to improve the predictability and reliability of system operating life.
The iW3630 achieves a 30% to 40% savings in BOM cost by integrating a number of design features. A built-in isolation transformer driver works directly with 0V to 10V dimming systems, eliminating the need for additional driver circuitry components and costly microcontrollers, while the PWM digital interface simplifies integration into wireless lighting systems.
In both commercial and wireless applications, the built-in over-temperature protection and derating function means there is no need for additional components to control heat. Plus, iWatt’s patented PrimAccurate™ primary-side control technology eliminates the need for a secondary-side regulator and optical feedback isolator, while EZ-EMI® technology simplifies EMI filtering to further minimize the external component count. This combination of on-board functions results in a typical BOM of less than 70 components using the iW3630 compared to often more than 100 components needed using conventional SSL LED drivers. It also reduces the overall solution size and improves reliability.