Buck IC Boosts Battery Voltage for White LED
White-light LEDs are finding their way into many markets that incandescent bulbs once served. Flashlights are among the newer applications in which reliability, ruggedness, and ability to control the power draw of the LEDs make these devices attractive. With incandescent bulbs, the power management for the device is a simple on-off switch. However, the LEDs cannot operate directly from the two cells you typically find in most flashlights, because their required voltage is 2.8 to 4V, compared with a battery voltage of 1.8 to 3V. The power management has a further complication because the light output of the LED relates to current, and the LED's characteristics are extremely nonlinear with voltage. One approach to this problem is to boost the power supply with a current limit. A number of devices for LED applications are available; however, their current ratings are typically too low for the 1 to 5W that flashlight applications need. Buck IC Boosts Battery Voltage for White LED Circ...