Using Tapped-Inductor Converters as LED Drivers

The use of power LED is growing continuously, due to new advances and new devices with performances which are improving day by day. Nowadays, a topic of interest in this context is the search for electronic converters in order to take advantage of LED performances. This paper evaluates the use of tapped-converters as LED drivers. These topologies are derived from tapped-inductor DC-to-DC converters, in which the load is a power LED. A ballast design using a power LED involves multidisciplinary knowledge. Photometric, thermal, power electronics and control techniques must be considered during the work. This load implies several restrictions in both power topology design and control method strategies. This work focuses in saving potential pitfalls during ballast design. The work includes an extensive discussion about this topic, clarifies areas of application for each specific topology and includes a complete design example