Simplified sustain driver with low-voltage semiconductor devices and low-voltage power supply for AC plasma display panel

Two types of novel sustain drivers with low cost and high performance are proposed for plasma display panels (PDPs). One is based on switching scan integrated circuit (IC) to realize high-efficient and cost-effective PDP drives with low-cost and low-voltage-rating circuit devices. Since the proposed driver is designed in such a way to utilize the switching operation of the scan IC as well as the common resonant circuit, the developed sustain driver can be implemented with considerably less number of circuit devices than the prior cascaded Weber-type driver. In addition, the proposed driver can employ a power supply board based on switching devices with reduced voltage rating and costeffectiveness. The other sustain driver is developed with a compromise of high efficiency and fast energy transfer speed for the PDP. In this driver, the resonant network is energized by the sustain voltage level and the half sustain voltage level in charging and discharging the panel capacitor, respectively. The energy transferred into the panel from the power supply is twice as fast as the conventional Weber-type driver, during every up-commutation of the panel voltage. On the other hand, the proposed driver recovers the panel energy using the resonant circuit biased by the half sustain voltage. This operation results in lower displacement current during the down-commutation period than during the up-commutation period, which can yield enhanced energy recovery and energy efficiency. Furthermore, this proposed driver is realized with reduced number of circuit devices, leading to the costeffectiveness.