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ISSN No:-2456-2165
Abstract:- Design considerations for a low cost and these other technologies when operating with the same power
efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) luminaries involve rating.
numerous compromises. Factors such as efficiency,
power factor and flicker Index all present a compromise While LED’s present both an economical and efficient
against each other. It is conventional to employ suitable solution to lighting problems, the best way to power them
means that make for a low cost and efficient LED efficiently remains debateable. In the early stage, expensive
luminaire. In this paper, a driverless AC-Direct LED light engines and converters were mainly used for driving
luminaire with non-perceptible flicker, improved power LEDs. Most of these technologies depended on high voltage
factor, with acceptable total harmonic distortion (THD) Integrated Circuit (IC) switching chips for matching the
characteristics is designed. With a flicker index of 0.2, it number of LED strings during a power line cycle with the
outperforms most AC luminaires employing high voltage instantaneous power line voltage [8]. The major problem
switching chips, which have a typical flicker index associated with these LED drivers is that due to their poor
usually greater than 0.3. The efficiency is 88%, as against design and performance they greatly reduce the durability
80% achieved by most AC LED light engines. The design and cost of the lighting system.
has a THD of 18.79% and power factor of 0.92, this
meets Energy Star requirements for consumer products. Demands for higher efficiency, lower cost, and reduced
flicker content of the emitted light keeps increasing and
Keywords:- LED Luminaire, Flickerless LED, Driverless, spurring the implementation of improved techniques and
Low Cost, AC-Direct. products. By dividing the LED’s into sections, AC direct
driving techniques are employed to drive the LED’s without
I. INTRODUCTION need for a switching mode power supply (SMPS).
Globally, lighting forms a major part of energy In this paper, a driverless LED luminaire with non-
consumption worldwide. Lighting consumes about 25% of perceptible flicker, alongside improved power factor and
the world’s total electric energy [1]. Efficient lighting with total harmonic distortion (THD) characteristics is designed.
energy saving has become very vital. Consequently, current
light sources are expected to be designed to be highly II. CHARACTERIZING PHOTOMETRIC
efficient, environmentally friendly, energy saving, and should FLICKER
be able to deliver the required visual preference [2].
The Photometric flicker is a common phenomenon
Light Emitting Diode (LED) provides all the among light sources. Conventional light sources ranging
aforementioned properties, and with advancements in from incandescent lamps, High Intensity Discharge (HID),
technology, they are being deployed in mobile products and fluorescent, CFL, and LED’s all experience some degree of
backlighting of Liquid Crystal Display) LCD panels [3]-[4]. flicker. Photometric flicker is a characteristic of the light
Generally, LED lighting are majorly deployed in applications source resulting from power sources drawn from AC mains.
that require low-brightness illumination (e.g the screen According to the Illuminating Engineering Society of North
backlights of laptops and mobile phones), and high- America (IES) Lighting Handbook, flicker is defined as: “the
brightness illumination (which includes general lighting, rapid variation in light source intensity” [9]. The effect of
vehicle lighting, and backlighting of large television panels) light sources with flicker over a period of time on human
[5]-[6]. LED-based Solid State Lighting (SSL) is a promising observers can be very hazardous. This could lead to
energy saving technology to replace incandescent halogen, physiological effects and can have neurological
fluorescent tube, and Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) in consequences. Light engines running on such rapid variations
the lighting industry. LED’s when compared to the are recognized as contributing to headaches and migraines
aforementioned technologies has a longer life span, about [10].
50,000 operational hours compared to 1000 – 2000 hours for
incandescent lamps and 5000 – 10,000 hours for CFL [7]. The adoption of driverless modules promising long life
LED’s also costs much less and has a higher luminosity than and quick return-on-investment in the market has been
greatly plagued by high flicker. The Illuminating Engineering
According to research, flicker above 75Hz is usually Fig. 2 Basic Offline LED Driver [13].
not noticeable by most individuals. Although, the
perceptibility of flicker is not only related to frequency: it is The converter for most single stage offline LED
also related to the intensity of the peaks and valleys of the drivers consists of a Buck-Boost or flyback converter to
light output (intensity modulation) and duration of these convert the rectified line voltage into a suitable output
variations [13]. voltage for driving the LED string.
TABLE 1
PHOTOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME LIGHT FIXTURES
*Source: Lamp manufacturers datasheet [15].
Characteristic CFL Value 2 ft. Fluorescent Value LED luminaire Value
Two of the most important parameters in the design The LED used for this design is Cree XLAMP MX-6
process of any LED-based luminaire is the number of LED’s LED high brightness LED. Important parameters of the
required to meet the design goals and the effective XLAMP MX-6 LED are shown in Table 2.
capacitance of the circuit.
To effectively determine the number of LED’s needed, Thus a minimum of 12 LEDs of 114 lm @ 300mA
the inefficiencies contributed by the optical, thermal and operating current per LED wired in series are needed to
electrical systems is estimated as follows. satisfy the light output design goal.
Optical Loss: Optical system efficacy is estimated by The effective capacitance Ceff represents the combined
examining light losses due to Secondary Optics and capacitance of the Power Factor Corrector (PFC) circuit
fixture Light loss. Fixture light loss arises when the light during the discharge period. The effective capacitance of the
source strikes the fixture housing before hiting the target. PFC circuit is given as:
The efficiency of the fixture depends on the placement of
the LED’s, the fixture shape and material. The structure 𝐶𝑒𝑓𝑓 = (𝐶1//𝐶3) + (𝐶2//𝐶4) (5)
for the designed LED luminaire is such that the LED’s
emit optical light directionally, removing the need for Different capacitor values yields different values of
reflectors; hence only secondary optical loss due to the power factor and THD %. According to [16], the best
diffuser placed over the LED’s is considered. The combination of capacitors that yields the highest PF and
generally accepted optical efficiency through the lowest THD is when 𝐶1 = 𝐶4 = 𝐶 and 𝐶2 = 𝐶3 = 𝐶/2.
secondary optical element lies within 85% and 90%. An Substituting this condition into equation () yields:
optical efficiency of 88% is assumed in this design.
Thermal Loss: This is due to decrease in relative 𝐶𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 3𝐶/4. (6)
luminous flux output of the LED as junction temperature
(Tj) rises. Most LED data sheets list typical luminous The Output Power (Po), estimated Efficiency (ƞ),
flux at Tj = 25°C, while most LED applications use normal discharge period (tnormal), holdup time requirement
higher temperatures. A Junction temperature Tj = 80°C is (tholdup) and effective capacitance (Ceff) can be calculated
assumed which corresponds to a minimum relative flux from the following equation:
of 80% from the LED’s datasheet [15]. 85% relative
luminous flux is the thermal efficacy estimate used in the 2(𝑃𝑜 )(𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑢𝑝 + 𝑡𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 )
𝐶𝑒𝑓𝑓 = ƞ(𝑉𝑠2 −𝑉𝑓2 )
(7)
design.
Electrical Loss: Electrical loss is inherent in electrical
devices, for the system designed; an efficiency of 88% is Where 𝑉𝑠 and 𝑉𝑓 are the designated initial and final voltage,
achieved. Most typical LED drivers has an efficiency respectively, in the entire discharge period.
between 80% and 90%.
The normal discharge period (tnormal) is 4ms for 50Hz
The exact number of LED lumens that is required to AC, while the holdup time requirement (tholdup) is 5ms. The
achieve the design goals is calculated considering only the circuit starts discharging at around two-third of input voltage
light efficiencies. Electrical efficiency does not affect the and assume 15% voltage ripple during discharge, thus:
amount of light produced by the luminaire. This is calculated
as shown below: 2
𝑉𝑠 = 3
√2 (𝑉𝑅𝑀𝑆 ) (8)
𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝐿𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠 = (𝑂𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦)∗(𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦) 2
(3) 𝑉𝑠 = √2 (230) = 216.84𝑉
3
1026
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠 = ≃ 1,372 𝑙𝑚
(88%) ∗ (85%) 𝑉𝑓 = (1 − 0.15)𝑉𝑠 (9)
In the actual design, 20 𝜇𝑓/250𝑉 electrolytic capacitor was At the zero crossing level, the Line voltage changes
used for C. direction but is lower than the valley fill voltage. Thus, the
input current still flows through the path R1-C10-D3. The
whole charging/discharging cycle repeats at the next half
V. CONTROL CIRCUITRY OF DRIVERLESS AC – line cycle when the input voltage is higher than the voltage
DIRECT LED LUMINAIRE WITH REDUCED sum of (VC1 +VC2), (VC3 +VC4) or (VC1 + VC4).
FLICKER.
Capacitors C9 and C10 are introduced to increase the
The harmonic input currents drawn from AC mains by conduction time of the input current, they provide an
the conventional bridge-diode rectifier with a large bulk alternate path for the input current to flow into the Valley fill
capacitor connected to its output led to the passive power circuit before the input line voltage rises above the Valley
factor correction approach adopted in this design. The circuit fill circuit voltage [16]. This helps to decrease the current
employed in this work is as shown in Fig.4. distortion. Their values are chosen to be smaller than that of
the capacitors in the PFC circuit. There are chosen after
deciding the value of the effective capacitance of the circuit.
AUTHORS’ INFORMATION
1
Lecturer, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.
2
Lecturer, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.
3
Lecturer, Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of Federal, Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
A.C.O. Azubogu hold B.Eng (Electronic Engineering) from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka;
M.Eng (Telecommunication) from University of Port Harcourt and Ph.D (Adaptive Signal Processing and
Wireless Communication) from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
He has over 30 papers published in reputable international journals. He is presently a Professor in the
department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
Mr. Azubogu is also a research associate with the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) and the Center of
Excellence for Renewable Energy Development and Environmental Conservation (CEREDEC) at Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
He is married with two beautiful children. He can be reached by phone on +2348059626829 and through E-mail:
ac.azubogu@unizik.edu.ng or austinazu@yahoo.com.
Obioma Chibueze Peace received the B.Eng. degree in communication engineering from Nnamdi Azikiwe
University, Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria, in 2014. He is currently working toward the Master’s degree in the
department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. He has carried out research
on various LED lighting and display systems with focus on efficient and cost effective designs. He has
published works on Renewable Energy and Electric Vehicle Integration in Smart Grids, Overview of Internet
of Things technologies, etc. and has conference proceedings on Design of Low-Cost Driverless LED
Luminaries.
His research interests include Embedded System programming and design, Internet of Things technologies and LED based
intelligent lighting systems. He can be reached via email: obiomapeace2015@gmail.com.
Okwaraoka Chinedu P. A. Obtained his M.Eng in computer and control engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe
University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria, in 2017. PGD in computer and control engineering, Nnamdi
Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria, 2014. HND in electrical and electronics engineering,
Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria, 2008.
He has published work on embedded fuzzy logic controller for battery charging systems, cost effective solar
charge controller for Li-ion batteries, LED light alternative for incandescent lighting systems, etc. He had
carried out research into various renewable energy generation, control and conversion techniques, and is
currently working on development of standalone self excited energy generation system suitable for rural environments.
Mr. Okwaraoka is currently teaching electrical electronics engineering technology at Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Department of Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
He can be reached via email: nodumbu@yahoo.com