Received: 7 July 2019 Revised: 14 September 2019 Accepted: 19 September 2019

DOI: 10.1002/er.4924

REVIEW PAPER

An overview of energy efficient solid state LED driver

topologies

Ravindranath Tagore Yadlapalli1 | Rajanand Patnaik Narasipuram2 |

3
Anuradha Kotapati

1
EEE Dept., RVR & JC CE,
Chowdavaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh,
Summary
India LED lamps are projected as prospective successors of incandescent lamps with
2
Sr. R&D Engineer Power Electronics, high efficiency and a long lifetime. Therefore, there is a need to develop energy
Enigma Motors Pvt Ltd, Bhubaneswar,
efficient LED driver topologies for achieving constant current regulation,
Orissa, India
3 despite the effects of temperature on the LED V‐I characteristics. This paper
EEE Dept., VNRVJIET, Hyderabad, T. S,
India presents the salient features of various LED driver topologies with a focus on
power density, multi‐string operation, renewable energy utilization, soft
Correspondence
Ravindranath Tagore Yadlapalli, RVR &
switching, optical wireless communication, reliability and size. The perfor-
JC CE, EEE Dept, Chowdavaram, Guntur, mance of the above topologies is analysed in terms of the number of compo-
Andhra Pradesh, India. nents, converter switching frequency, galvanic isolation, power rating and
Email: yrtagore@gmail.com
efficiency. This paper takes a look at efficiency improvement methods while
dwelling on aspects of lifetime and reliability prediction of LED drivers. The
paper will anticipate some of the future trends associated with the adaptation
of wide bandgap power semiconductor materials, smart LED lighting for the
internet of things (IoT) and programmable LED lamp drivers. This detailed
technology review is extremely useful for researchers, designers and engineers
in choosing the right topology.

KEYWORDS
DC‐DC converters, light emitting diode, photovoltaic, organic LEDs, dimmable LEDs

1 | INTRODUCTION lamps have been garnering in recent times is due to the

following outstanding features:
Today, thanks to the innovations in LED technology,
there has been a dramatic reduction in the cost of LEDs. • Long life time
With a luminous efficacy of more than 220 lm/W, LEDs • Low power consumption
are rapidly supplanting traditional lighting sources to • Rapid on/off cycling
become ubiquitous in their applications, ranging from • Environmental friendliness
street lighting, screens, flood lighting, traffic lighting to • Highly durable
greenhouse lamps.1-3 Table 1 presents a performance • Dimming capability
comparison of LED lamps with respect to the traditional • Directional
lamps.4 For commercial breakthrough of LED lighting
systems, it is suggested that the government should give The important commercial LEDs that are currently
economic support for the effective utilization of novel available in the market are white LEDs, red‐green‐blue
LED technology.5,6 The growing attention that LED (RGB) LEDs and organic LEDs.7 The RGB LEDs are
Int J Energy Res. 2019;1–19. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/er © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1
2 YADLAPALLI
TABLE 1 Traditional lamps vs LED lamps4
Incandescent Halogen
Features Efficiency Very low
Dimmability Full Range
Temperature Warm
Light output 400‐500 40 W
(in Lumens) 800‐1000 60 W
1100‐1300 75 W
1600‐1300 100 W
Life span and Life Span 1000 hours
Estimated cost per lamp Annual Energy cost Approx. $5.75
known to have improved color control flexibility when
compared to the phosphor‐based white LEDs. However,
the forward voltage drop of red, green and blue LEDs
are quite different. Catering to existing demand, many
LED products are available in the market with diversified
output voltage and power levels; the downside being, the
absence of international standards to guide the develop-
ment of this technology. On the other hand, the discharge
and incandescent lamps have standardized discrete volt-
age and power levels. This remains a challenge to those
designing LED drivers. Other major issues being lifetime
and reliability.8 Importantly, the light output of LED
decreases with an increase in the junction temperature
and shortens the LED lifetime. Therefore, it is essential
to eliminate the use of electrolytic capacitors for boosting
the reliability and lifetime of LED drivers.9 Thus, it is
worth mentioning that designing an LED driver is not
as simple as that of a compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs)
or an incandescent lamp.
The first important design issue is the LED driver effi-
ciency. The present trend is to use silicon carbide (SiC)
or gallium nitride (GaN) switching devices in place of con-
ventional silicon switching devices. However, it is a more
expensive process and results only in a marginal improve-
ment of efficiency.10 The other approach involves the iden-
tification of optimal design parameters using taguchi
method.11 This method has resulted in an efficiency
improvement of 8.3 % for a forward‐flyback LED driver
employed with a regenerative snubber. Some researchers
have attempted the accurate modeling of each power com-
ponent for improving the efficiency of an integrated buck‐
flyback LED driver.12 This approach has improved the effi-
ciency of the LED driver by 9.0 %. The added features are
reduced size, harmonic distortion and high power factor.
However, the most fragile link in LED lighting system is
the LED driver which employs an electrolytic capacitor.
The prediction of lifetime and reliability of the LED drivers
ET AL.
CFL LED
Low High Very High
Full Range Partial Range (Special Partial Range (Special
dimming CFL available) dimming LEDs available)
Warm Options range from warm Options range from warm
to cool to cool
28‐29 W 9‐11 W 5W
41‐43 W 13‐16 W 10 W
51‐53 W 18‐20 W 15 W
70‐72 W 23‐27 W 20 W
3000 hours 8000 hours 25000 hours
Approx. $4.25 Approx.$1.50 Approx. $1.25
is reported in MIL‐HDBK‐217F.13 It highlights the fact that
there is no need to conduct a test for the prediction of the
reliability. Moreover, the accelerated life testing method
results in the best estimation. But then, this method is
expensive and time consuming. Therefore, researchers
have proposed an improved part stress analysis method
for a quasi‐flyback driver.14 The test results attained were
more accurate and close to the accelerated life testing
method. Here, the parameter variations are considered
while assessing the reliability in both the stress levels and
the lifetime model of electrolytic capacitors.15 The simula-
tion results were useful for the selection of capacitors and
also lifetime prediction of other electronic devices.
The other major issue is the flickering of lamps owing
to the propagation of low frequency current ripple in
LEDs. Many authors highlight the fact that for dimming
frequency greater than 200 Hz, the human eye perceives
luminous intensity loss instead of flicker. Some authors
mentioned the dimming frequency as 125 Hz for mini-
mizing the visible flickering.16,17 The IEEE standards
PAR1789 group presented the report on the biological
effects of flicker in LED lighting technologies. It gives a
summary of the effects on human health for both the
invisible and visible flicker. These guidelines are useful
while designing the LED lighting systems. As per IEEE
standard 1789‐2015, the measured percent flicker should
lie in the recommended area, when the entire operating
frequency range of the LED driver is considered. The test
circuit for optical flicker measurement has been reported
in literature.18,19 On the other hand, dimming techniques
are important in order to control the amount of light
emitted by the LED. The pulse width modulation
(PWM) dimming is very useful for saving energy. It is eas-
ier to dim LEDs through high frequency PWM current
control.20 The amount of emitted light is known to
depend on the average LED current, while its tempera-
ture depends on its peak value. Besides, the LED drivers
YADLAPALLI ET AL. 3

may generate unwanted electromagnetic interference
(EMI). However, EMI can be avoided using distributed
frequency spectrum of the PWM current. Yet another
approach is based on amplitude dimming where the
LED current attained is continuous in nature. The bright-
ness is controlled by adjusting the magnitude of this
continuous current. It also affects the temperature of
the emitted light. This strategy does not avail flicker to
change the brightness and therefore flicker related health
risks can be largely avoided. Analog dimming realizes
high luminous efficacy, but results in color shifts which
is not possible through PWM dimming.21 To combine
the benefits of PWM and amplitude modulation (AM),
hybrid AM/PWM dimming strategies are applied. The
average forward current control in Hybrid PWM/AM is
accomplished by the variable peak current and duty cycle.
However, it eliminates the color shifts with increased
complexity.22-24 On the other hand, the TRIAC based dim-
ming is not effective for achieving compatibility with the
LED lamps. This is owing to the limited dimming
range along with the power quality issues.25 The LED cur-
rent may fall less than the TRIAC holding current. Hence,
several methods such as phase angle detection and pas-
sive bleeder utilization are proposed.26,27 In addition,
another method based on reactive power control can
make the input current greater than the holding cur-
rent.28 Also, a voltage source converter (VSC) based
remote control dimming method is introduced.29 It fea-
tures in reduced input current and output voltage distor-
tions, and also better PF compared to the TRIAC‐based
dimming systems. But then, it is important that the
design of LED lighting systems should comply with the
International Electro technical Community (IEC) 61000‐
3‐2 regulations and empirical requirements.30 The major
issues of concern covered in this paper include
This paper enlightens a review on LED drivers for
high‐brightness (HB) LEDs, red‐green‐blue (RGB) LEDs
and organic LEDs. Section 2 presents the classification
of LED drivers. In Section 3, the advantages of non‐
resonant and resonant switched‐capacitor (SC) converters
based driver topologies for organic LEDs, and also other
advanced LED driver topologies for HB LEDs and RGB
LEDs are presented. Section 4 gives the future trends in
LED lighting systems, and conclusions are finally drawn
in Section 5.
2 | GROWTH OF LED DRIVERS A ND
CHARACTERISTICS
2.1 | Classification of LED drivers
In this section, the classification of LED driver topologies
is presented in view of the current as well as future
trends. The flow chart shown in Figure 1 highlights the
passive as well as switched‐mode LED drivers along with
the design issues. The final objective of this survey is to
select a suitable topology based on the features like tight
current regulation, dimming, high efficiency and high
reliability. The aforementioned LED drives can be sys-
tematically classified as passive and active type. The

• A description of the different structures of LED

drivers, non‐isolated/isolated dc‐dc converter topolo-
gies and also various power factor correction (PFC)
cell circuits.
• An account of the Energy Star standards for the LED
lighting systems. The critical aspects such as dimming,
power factor correction, interference, safety and war-
ranty are also highlighted.
• The updated survey of energy efficient LED drivers
and their performance comparison based on number
of components, switching frequency, power rating
and efficiency are enumerated along with the effi-
ciency improvement methods.
• The necessity and important features of new wide
bandgap power semiconductor materials, smart LED
(IoT) lighting systems and also programmable LED
drivers are emphasized. FIGURE 1 Flowchart for classification of LED drivers
4 YADLAPALLI
passive type drivers are configured based on the resistors,
inductors and capacitors. The simplest way of limiting the
LED current is through a series resistance as shown in
Figure 2(a), 2(b) and 2(c).31,32 However, it results in low
efficiency, and is sensitive to input voltage variations
and poor current regulation either for a single LED string
or several LED strings in parallel. In the coupled capaci-
tor based approach as shown in Figure 2(d), the current
balance is achieved because of the large capacitive
reactance compared to the LED load capacitance.33 The
downside is the current accuracy which is due to the
resistance error between the different attributes. Another
method is based on coupled inductors as shown in
Figure 2(e).34 It is simple in structure, and its applications
are limited as volume of the system increases with more
number of parallel LED strings. The variable inductor
based current balance is shown in Figure 2(f).35 This
method is more accurate but a bottleneck exists in the
integration of variable inductors in to the LED technol-
ogy. Furthermore, this current regulation problem can
be resolved by a linear regulator which acts like a
controlled current source.31 However, the losses in the
transistor switch are dominant when there is a big differ-
ence in the dc source and LED load voltages. On the other
hand, the switched‐mode converters offer several advan-
tages such as tight LED current regulation, power factor
correction, dimming control, galvanic isolation and fault
FIGURE 2 LED current equalizing circuits. (a) (b) (c) Resistor‐based.31,32 (d) Coupled capacitor‐based.33 (e) Coupled inductor‐based.34 (f)
Variable inductor‐based.35
ET AL.
tolerant operation. These switched‐mode converters are
classified as single‐stage, two‐stage and integrated stages
as shown in Figure 3.36
The single‐stage AC‐DC active solution consists of
diode rectifier, storage capacitor and a DC‐DC non‐iso-
lated/isolated converter.31 It uses a non‐electrolytic capac-
itor of long life and helps to minimize the flickering of
lamps. But the downside is the poor power factor correc-
tion (PFC).37-42 In the modified solution, the DC‐DC con-
verter consists of a large electrolytic type storage capacitor
at the output. This solution achieves good PFC as well as
current regulation at the penalty of reduced reliability. If
a non‐electrolytic capacitor is used, it results in low fre-
quency ripple which leads to flickering of lamps. Hence,
to improve both reliability and PFC, a two‐stage system
is proposed. The first stage realizes the PFC satisfying
the ENERGYSTAR or IEC61000‐3‐2 class C regulations,
and the current regulation is taken care by the second
stage.43,44 At the output of first stage a non‐electrolytic
capacitor is permitted in place of electrolytic capacitor.
Moreover, the second stage curtails the low frequency rip-
ple introduced by the non‐electrolytic capacitor. The
demerits of the system lie in its increased number of com-
ponents, high cost and reduced efficiency. Moreover, a
current loop is always necessary in the second stage
for constant current control.31 Each individual stage
should be optimized to get more efficiency. Another good
YADLAPALLI ET AL.
FIGURE 2 Continued.
solution is to implement integrated converters which are
based on the integration of PFC stage in to the DC‐DC
converter. This results in reduced cost, size, high effi-
ciency and fast dynamics. Furthermore, if a two stage
driver has several LED strings in parallel; two solutions
are proposed for obtaining current balance. One solution
is to place an equalizer in series with each string at the
penalty of reduced efficiency. The other solution is based
on an adoption of several second stages as many as paral-
lel LED strings. This increases the size and cost of the
system. Another important issue to be considered is the
5
FIGURE 3 The structure of LED Drivers. (a) Single‐stage. (b)
Two‐stage. (c) Integrated‐stage [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
excess energy which puts burden on the PFC stage storage
capacitor. This excess energy is due to the mismatch of
the instantaneous input power and the instantaneous
load power demand. Hence, an alternative solution is
proposed between the single stage and two stages.31 It
consists of PFC stage, LED load and a bidirectional auxil-
iary converter along with a storage capacitor at its output.
This arrangement achieves the energy balance but the
control algorithm becomes complex. However, when
several LED strings are in parallel, a galvanic isolation
is necessary. Hence, a three‐stage solution is introduced
wherein the first stage achieves PFC, the second stage
provides galvanic isolation and the third stage enables
current regulation.31 When several LED strings are in
parallel, the second stage remains common, but each
string is connected to a separate switched‐mode converter
which acts as an equalizer for achieving tight current reg-
ulation. Table 2 highlights the international electro‐
technical commission (IEC) and energy star standards
in terms of total harmonic distortion (THD), correlated
color temperature (CCT), color rendering index (CRI)
and so on.31,36
Basically, DC‐DC converters are classified as isolated
and non‐isolated type. The various non‐isolated topolo-
gies are shown in Figure 4. Their important features are
given in Table 3 along with the isolated topologies.45-53
The DC‐DC converters can be designed to operate in con-
tinuous conduction mode (CCM), discontinuous conduc-
tion mode (DCM) and critical conduction mode (CRM).
Moreover, the converter systems are minimum phase
(MP) or non‐minimum phase (NMP) type. The NMP sys-
tem has same number of right half plane (RHP) zeros in
their closed‐loop and open‐loop transfer functions.54-59
In CCM, the boost, buck‐boost and quadratic converters
have RHP zeros in their control transfer functions. DCM
operation pushes the RHP zeros to higher frequencies
and makes the controller design simple. However, they
have demerits like high peak and ripple currents, ringing,
low efficiency and also saturation of the magnetic parts.
6 YADLAPALLI ET AL.

TABLE 2 LED requirements as per energy star 2.2 | LED electrical characteristics
Performance Criteria Energy star Requirement
The LED forward voltage and current are related by
CCT LED must be designed on one of
the following CCTs 2700 K,  
3000 K, 2500 K, 4000 K. I F ¼ I S eV F =KT − 1
Maintenance of colour On CIE 1975(u’, v’) diagram, the
change in chromaticity over Here IS is the reverse saturation current, IF is LED cur-
6000 hours is within 0.007. rent, T is the absolute junction temperature, K denotes
CRI Minimal value is 80 and greater Boltzmann constant and e represents electron charge.
than 0. Figure 5 shows the LED V‐I characteristics.36 It is
Dimming Indication of dimmability or
observed that, the LED voltage decreases with increase
non‐dimmability on in temperature. Therefore, if a voltage source is con-
packaging, minimum nected to LED, the current grows rapidly and thereby
efficiency. enhances the junction temperature. Hence, LEDs should
ALB (Allowable Lamp Bases) ANSI listed. be connected to a current source for safe and reliable
Operating frequency ≥120 Hz.
operation. Figure 6 shows the effect of temperature on
the luminous efficiency. At constant junction tempera-
Operating voltage 120, 240 or 277 V AC or at V DC.
ture, the luminous efficiency is directly proportional to
Nominal operating ‐20o or below. the LED current. However, due to non‐irradiative
temperature
recombination, surface recombination and carrier loss
Power factor LED's 5 W, no minimum PF over heterostructure barriers, the temperature of the
condition. junction increases. Hence, the growth rate of luminous
LED's 5 W with PF0.7.
efficiency becomes poor when the LED current rises to
Radio frequency (RF) and LED lamp should meet FCC 47 a certain extent. Besides, it is important to predict the
Electromagnetic (EM) CFR Part 15.
lifetime and reliability of LED drivers using improved
Interference
part stress analysis method. This method considers the
Transient protection As per IEEE C.62 41‐1991, Class parameter variations while assessing the reliability in
A operation. For common
both the stress levels and the lifetime model of electro-
mode and differential mode,
lytic capacitors.13-15
the line transient abided by
seven strikes of a 100‐kHz ring
wave of 2.5‐kV level. 3 | A D V A N C ED A N D P R A C T I C A L
Audible noise Class A sound rating. TO POLOGIES OF LED DRIVERS
Safety requirements ANSI/UL 1993‐2009.
This section presents the description of novel LED driver
Warranty It must be provided with three
topologies based on applications such as organic LEDs,
(3) years, covering material
repair (or) replacement.
multi‐string LEDs, dimmable LED lighting, high‐voltage
step‐down ratios, hybrid input, very high switching
frequency, visible light communication, capacitor less,
Inductor less and adjustable dc impedance.
Furthermore, DCM operation based PFC cell can achieve
natural PF correction.60-63 In CRM, the switching fre-
quency is not fixed as contrast to DCM. PFC is necessary 3.1 | Switched capacitors for organic LED
for rendering sinusoidal nature of input current and applications
energy saving. The different PFC cells are active and
passive type.64-69 The important features of various active Organic LEDs are light emitting diodes (LEDs) that use
PFC cell circuits are given in Table 4. Power factor correc- polymers or small organic molecules as their optically
tion (PFC) or harmonic distortion should comply with active element. OLEDs are very thin, comparatively more
the IEC 61000‐3‐2 standards. This turns out to be the flexible and can be produced in a variety of shapes and
greatest challenge in the design of power supply architec- sizes.36 In traditional OLEDs, the small organic molecules
tures. The detailed review of the novel topologies for driv- deposited on glass are used to produce light. The other
ing the high‐brightness (HB) LEDs, red‐green‐blue (RGB) type of OLEDs uses large plastic molecules namely
LEDs and organic LEDs is presented in the succeeding light‐emitting polymers (LEPs) or polymer LEDs
sections. (PLEDs). OLED lamps can be driven by a linear regulator.
YADLAPALLI ET AL.
(A)
(B)
FIGURE 4 DC‐DC Converter
Topologies. (a) Buck. (b) Boost. (c) Buck‐
Boost. (d) Cuk. (e) SEPIC. (f) ZETA.
(C)
However, they exhibit poor efficiency with large energy
storage components. On the other hand, switched‐mode
power supplies emit EMI noise in addition to more output
voltage ripple. Nevertheless, OLED lamps are driven by
switched capacitor (SC) converters. They are built using
switches, diodes and capacitors. These converters have
high power density with a favourable reduction in the
size of switched capacitors.70-75 Thus, these topologies
are highly attractive and the various SC converter topolo-
gies are shown in Figure 7. On the other hand, organic
LEDs need dedicated LED drivers which are expensive
compared to the other LEDs.
3.2 | A SEPIC converter for multiple
lighting LED applications
A SEPIC PFC converter is depicted in Figure 8.76 This
topology has attractive features such as high efficiency,
high power factor and reduced device stresses. A burst‐
mode dimming is applied to adjust the current through
them.77-79 A 64.4 W laboratory prototype is demonstrated
and realizes the universal ac input voltage operation.
However, it requires additional components like dimming
resistors and zener diodes.
3.3 | A flicker free twin‐bus converter for
dimmable LED lighting applications
An improved twin‐bus converter for a 50 W LED load is
shown in Figure 9.80 This converter has reduced switch
stresses and operates at a switching frequency of 1.08
MHz. Moreover, the dimming switch operates at a lower
7
(D)
(E)
(F)
frequency in order to ensure high efficiency of 98.3 %. It
uses more compact inductors besides achieving fast LED
current slew rates. However, this topology requires n+1
active switches for an n‐string LED.
3.4 | An integrated buck–flyback
converter for high brightness‐LED
applications
The integrated buck–flyback converter for a 70 W LED
load is shown in Figure 10.81,82 The DCM based buck
and flyback converters achieve both PFC as well as less
output current ripple. Moreover, the dc bus voltage is
lower compared to boost and buck‐boost based topolo-
gies. This lower bus voltage eliminates the need of a bulk
capacitor ensuring long life. Also, the bus voltage is inde-
pendent of the input voltage or duty cycle changes. This
topology features low cost, universal ac input voltage
operation, good dynamic response and enables PWM
dimming at 125 Hz. This converter exhibits poor effi-
ciency ranging from 75 % ‐ 80 % in the universal ac input
voltage operation.
3.5 | A transformer less
resonance‐assisted buck converter for LED
replacement lamps
A 13.2 W resonance‐assisted buck converter is shown in
Figure 11.83 The main idea is based on the elimination
of intermediate storage capacitor for minimizing the con-
version losses. The DCM operation can achieve dimmer
device compatibility and PFC. This topology eliminates
8 YADLAPALLI ET AL.

TABLE 3 Review of conventional topologies TABLE 4 Classification of PFC cell circuits used in LED drivers

DC‐DC Classification of PFC Cells

Advantages Disadvantages
Converter type Features
Active Buck Simple with few Cross‐over
Buck High efficiency. PFC components. distortion in AC
No right half plane (RHP) zeros. Cells Natural PF correction line current.
Ability to control voltages and currents during in DCM operation. Limits THD and PF.
fault conditions. Easy to control. High‐side bus‐
Discontinuous source and continuous load Reduced downstream voltage sense or
currents. voltages, more high‐side driver
Boost More efficiency. robustness and requirement.
Presence of right half plane (RHP) zeros. reliability. Complicated surge
Continuous input and discontinuous output Lower bus voltage. management.
currents. Soft start. Large bulk capacitors
More inrush currents. Low‐cost, reduced and less hold‐up
Should have a load connected to its output. switch ratings. time.
Buck‐Boost Discontinuous currents. Boost Low THD and best PF. Inrush limiting
Higher switch and diode stresses. Good hold‐up time. mechanism is
Presents stability problems for duty cycles Simple gate driver and required.
above 0.5. current sensing. Higher common
DCM for low power mode EMC noise.
Cuk Ground connection of switch control terminal. levels. Considerable drop in
Continuous currents and reduced EMI. CCM for high power efficiency at low
More passive components. levels. line voltage.
High efficiency compared to buck‐boost with Buck‐ Output voltage is Output voltage
the same output. boost adjusted by duty polarity inversion.
SEPIC Ground connection of switch control terminal. cycle. Integrated design is
More passive components. Operates in DCM. complex.
Continuous input and discontinuous output Bridgeless buck‐boost Unsuitable for high
currents. PFC alleviates voltage
conduction losses in applications.
Zeta Ground connection of switch control terminal.
line side rectifier.
More passive components.
Integrated double
Discontinuous input and continuous output
buck‐boost has
currents.
current ripple curtail,
Flyback Discontinuous conduction mode based flyback high efficiency and
suited for constant output current PF.
applications. SEPIC Eliminates large input More power
Fast response in DCM. filter. components.
Discontinuous input/output currents. Reduced device Higher cost.
Output voltage ripple increases. stresses. Lower power density.
Forward Output voltage ripple minimization. High efficiency and PF.
Poor transformer utilization. DCM operation.
Flyback Safety and reliability. Peak and average
Push‐pull More efficiency and better regulation than
Better PF with DCM currents are
forward converter.
compared to CCM or higher.
Need for dead band compensation.
CRM operation. Energy loss of switch.
Flux imbalance may occur.
Passive Uses passive Bulky and heavy
Half‐bridge More complex control.
PFC components. size compared to
Filter capacitors are bulky and costly.
Cells Free from EMI. the active PFC
Smaller output inductor and capacitor
Simple control. cells.
compared to forward converter.
Different conditions
Full‐bridge Good transformer utilization. affect the PF.
More complex driver circuitry.
Flux imbalance may occur.
the switching current ripples in the output charge
hold‐up capacitor. It is possible to use a high‐density
electrolytic capacitor with lifetimes comparable to those
YADLAPALLI ET AL.
FIGURE 5 V‐I characteristics of LED36 [Colour figure can be
viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 6 Relationship of forward current and luminous
efficiency36 [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
of the LEDs. For the universal ac input voltage range of
90 V ‐ 240 V, the efficiency changes by 2 % with a varia-
tion from 92.5 % to 90.5 %.
3.6 | High power factor driver for power
LED applications
A 70 W integrated double buck–boost (IDBB) prototype
converter is shown in Figure 12.84 This is analogous to
cascading of two buck–boost converters. The input induc-
tor operates in DCM to
9
achieve a near unity power factor (PF). Moreover, the
output inductor operates in CCM for obtaining lower out-
put current ripple. The CCM results in lower bus capaci-
tance and allows the usage of a film capacitor in place
of electrolytic capacitors. This topology has the features
like long life, low LED current ripple, high PF and effi-
ciency. The PWM dimming frequency ranges from 200–
500 Hz. The measured efficiency range of this converter
is from 84 % to 85 %. The major losses occur in the
MOSFET switch and two inductors.
3.7 | Hybrid input (Utility and PV) LED
driver for uninterruptible applications
A single stage modified‐SEPIC embedded‐boost converter
(MSEBC) based 80 W HB‐LED driver is shown in
Figure 13.85 The coupled inductor is incorporated to
replace the second inductor of traditional SEPIC and the
choke of boost converter. This converter can realize both
the power factor correction and maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) of the PV panel. It exhibits fast dynamic
response with transition timing less than 2 msec. The effi-
ciency of the converter is found to be 90.5 %. Inspite of the
above, there is a need to focus on the efficiency improve-
ment methods.10-12
3.8 | A high frequency resonant DC/DC
converter for LED lighting applications
A very high frequency 5 W SEPIC resonant converter is
implemented using standard n‐channel MOSFETs for 40
V to 15 V conversion at a switching frequency of 51
MHz as depicted in Figure 14.86,87 This converter is
cheap, compact and allows higher input voltages. The
converter can feed a string of LEDs with 12‐15 V forward
voltage drop. The power density of this converter is 8.9
W/cm3. These converters suffer low power factor and also
poor efficiency ranging from 80 % ‐ 84 %.
3.9 | A CMOS based flicker‐free LED
driver for visible light communications
Figure 15 shows a 2.4 W buck converter based LED driver
applicable for optical wireless communication and dim-
mable illumination control.88 The complementary metal
oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology enables 89 %
efficiency at a load current of 120 mA. The converter
switching frequency is 300 kHz at 25 V input/20 V output.
The dimming control can be performed from 10 to 90 %.
The feedback mechanism provides a flicker free uniform
10 YADLAPALLI ET AL.

(A) (B) (I) (J)

(C) (D) (K) (L)

(E) (F) (M) (N)

(G) (H) (O) (P)

FIGURE 7 Switched Capacitor (SC) converter topologies. (a) Step‐up non‐resonant SCC. (b) Step‐down non‐resonant SCC (c) Non‐
resonant SC Inverter (d) Step‐up resonant SCC (e) Step‐down resonant SCC (f) Step‐down Dual‐phase RSCC (g) Step‐up Fractional RSCC
(h) Step‐up Dual‐phase RSC (i) Step‐down RSCC with coupling inductors (j) Uni‐directional step up RSCC (k) Resonant SC Inverter (l)
Fractional RSC Inverter (m) Step‐down HB RSCC with isolation TF (n) Step‐down Dual‐phase RSCC (o) Dual‐phase RSC Inverter (p)
Bidirectional MCB‐RSCC.72

light output along with the peak current control. Inspite
of many advantages, it is well suited for low power
applications.
3.10 | A single‐stage LED driver for low
power applications
to absence of electrolytic capacitors. Moreover, 50 kHz
to 300 kHz switching frequency variation is realized with
a fixed duty ratio of 40 %. The efficiency of the driver is
found to be 85 %. However, it gives better performance
with as many as parallel LEDs resulting in the summation
of higher LED capacitance.

A single‐stage 8 W/23 V output single‐switch converter
employing DCM and CRM is shown in Figure 16.89 It
has less number of components, smaller input filter,
reduced cost, low voltage stresses and a lower peak input
current compared to the pure DCM operation. The
measured power factor is found to be 0.98. However, this
converter has a poor efficiency of 82 %. It is well suited for
low power level offline driver applications.
3.11 | |LED driver for capacitor‐less
applications with low output ripples
Figure 17 shows a capacitor‐less DC‐DC converter as an
LED driver.90 It utilizes the LED internal capacitance
and replaces the smoothing capacitor for minimizing the
output ripple. Thus, the driver life time is enhanced due
3.12 | Quadratic boost converter for high
voltage gain with lesser duty cycle LED
applications
A novel 9‐16 V input/115 V output, 40 kHz high step up
integrated quadratic‐boost converter along with the volt-
age doubler is highlighted in Figure 18.91 The high volt-
age gain is obtained with a slight increase in the switch
duty ratio. The voltage doubler further enhances the volt-
age gain as the turns ratio rises. This converter has one
single switch, fewer components and reduced switch
stresses. The leakage inductance of the transformer
achieves zero current switching (ZCS) of the diodes in
the second boost stage as well as the voltage doubler.
The measured efficiency is found to be 92 %. However,
they require relatively more numbers of components
compared to the existing boost topologies.
YADLAPALLI ET AL. 11

FIGURE 8 SEPIC PFC converter.76

FIGURE 13 Schematic diagram of modified‐SEPIC embedded‐
boost converter (MSEBC).85 [Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]

FIGURE 9 An improved twin bus converter for off‐line LED

lighting applications.80

FIGURE 10 Integrated buck–flyback AC‐DC converter.81

FIGURE 11 Resonance‐assisted buck LED driver.83

FIGURE 14 Resonant DC/DC converters. (a) Class DE inverter

FIGURE 12 Schematic diagram of integrated double buck–boost and class E rectifier. (b) Class E inverter and rectifier. (c) Class
converter.84 EF2 inverter and class E rectifier. (d) SEPIC converter.86
12 YADLAPALLI ET AL.

FIGURE 15 Schematic diagram of CMOS LED driver.88 FIGURE 19 Schematic of voltage‐source‐mode and current‐
source‐mode converters (a) Voltage to voltage conversion (b)
Voltage to current conversion (c) Current to voltage conversion (d)
Current to current conversion.92

have inherently no inductors, they are widely used for

building multiple‐output driving topologies with mini-
mum number of inductors compared to the existing
SIMO converters. A high‐voltage‐step down ratio is natu-
FIGURE 16 Schematic diagram of low power single‐stage LED rally obtained by a CSM high‐voltage step‐down converter
Driver.89 without transformers and also enacts a fixed low voltage
stress. However, the number of switches, diodes and
capacitors increases proportionally with rise in the num-
ber of outputs.

3.14 | A soft‐switching converter based on

self‐oscillating technique for LED driver
FIGURE 17 Schematic diagram of a capacitor‐less buck applications
converter.90
A 21 V, 25 W self‐oscillating ZCS based converter is pro-
posed as a LED lamp driver as shown in Figure 20.93 This
converter is more robust, cost effective, no output current
feedback and achieves a high efficiency of 90 %. The con-
verter performance sustains IEC61000‐3‐2 standards
without any additional element. However, the peak cur-
rent of the switch is more than the average current. It is
well suited for low power LED applications.

FIGURE 18 Schematic diagram of quadratic boost converter.91

3.13 | Voltage‐source and current‐source

converters for Inductor less LED
applications

The current‐source‐mode converters are derived based on

the application of the duality principle. The various con-
figurations designed for LED lighting applications are FIGURE 20 Schematic diagram of self‐oscillating soft‐switched
depicted in Figure 19.92 As current‐source‐mode drivers converter.93
YADLAPALLI ET AL.
3.15 | LED series current regulator for
adjustable DC impedance LED applications
A 40 W, 80 V, 500 mA optimized class‐E resonant inverter
for LED lamp driver applications is shown in Figure 21.94
It has only one controlled switch and operates at a
switching frequency of 200 kHz. The feed forward control
compensates the bus voltage variations by varying the duty
cycle in proportion to the input voltage.95 This converter
has a measured efficiency of 93 %. Moreover, the LED
current ripple is 7.5 % and satisfies the regulations given
in IEEE PAR1789. However, the converter efficiency
depends on both the LED voltage and bus voltage, but the
LED voltage has a negligible effect on the output current.
3.16 | A soft switching based LED driver
for battery operated system applications
An 8 W resonant buck converter with coupled inductors
is shown in Figure 22.96 The leakage inductance of
coupled inductors enables the ZCS turn‐off of the switch.
In addition, zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn‐on and
ZCS turn‐off of both the diodes can alleviate the con-
verter from reverse recovery problems. The measured effi-
ciency of this converter is 91 % at 200 kHz. It has simple
structure with less number of power components. Never-
theless, it is well suited for applications with limited input
power.
3.17 | High efficiency single switch
quadratic buck converter for LED lighting
applications
A 3.4 W quadratic buck converter (QBC) is shown in
Figure 23. It has the ability to achieve high conversion
FIGURE 21 Schematic of LED series current regulator.94
FIGURE 22 Schematic of soft switching LED driver.96
13
FIGURE 23 Schematic of DC‐DC quadratic buck converter.97
ratios over a wide range of operating conditions. The
current regulation of the LED lamp is found to be good
with sliding‐mode current controller compared to the
average current mode controller.97-99 However, efficiency
enhancement techniques are to be employed for this
topology. 10-12
Table 5 shows the comparison of the above discussed
topologies in terms of number of power components, fre-
quency of operation, power rating and efficiency.
4 | RESEARCH HOTSPOTS OF LED
DR I VER S
4.1 | New semiconductor materials
The silicon based power semiconductor devices operate
at lower switching frequencies (<10kHz). Therefore,
the power electronic converters require large passive
components and thereby increase the volume and
weight of the system. Moreover, the power conversion
efficiency depends on the on‐state resistance of the
power switches. In view of the above, the wide bandgap
(WBG) semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide
(SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are used in place of Si
for achieving low on‐state resistance, high switching
speed, high voltages, high power density, high reliability
and high efficiency.10,100,101 These materials can with-
stand up to a temperature of 700oC compared to 150oC
over the silicon based counterparts. The presence of
higher critical field results in lower leakage current
and high voltages. Moreover, higher switching frequency
operation is due to high electron mobility and electron
saturation velocity. A GaN based high power density
LED driver is proposed by utilizing a film and ceramic
capacitor based stacked switched capacitor (SSC) energy
buffer.102 The efficiency as well as power density of this
LED driver are 91.0 % and 28.0 W/in3 across a range of
switching frequencies from 500 KHz to 1 MHz. With
further improvements, a quasi‐resonant floating buck
converter is proposed.103 For the specified switching
frequency range of 2.5‐4.4 MHz, the efficiency as well
as power density of this LED driver are 91.2 % and
36.93 W/in3.
14 YADLAPALLI ET AL.

TABLE 5 Summary of LED lamp driver topologies

No. of power components Switching Power

Topologies Inductor Capacitor Diode Switches Isolation frequency rating Efficiency Features
72
1 2 2 2 X 217 kHz 25.5 W 88.0% Compactness, low cost, low EMI
and high efficiency
76
1 2 2 1 √ 100 kHz 64.4 W 95.0% Can drive multiple LED lamps,
high PFC and efficiency
80
3 X 4 3 X 1.08 MHz 50 W 98.3% Low‐voltage rating power
MOSFET's and diodes, high
efficiency, dimming from zero to
rated current, low size
81
1 2 4 1 √ 100 kHz 70 W 75‐80% Low cost, reduced bus voltage
83
2 2 2 1 X 56 kHz 13.2 W 89.69% Permits high‐density electrolytic
capacitor, lesser cost
84
2 2 3 1 X 50 kHz 70 W 84‐85% High PF and no need of electrolytic
capacitors
85
1 2 2 3 √ ‐ 80 W 91.5‐93.5% Compact, cost effective, multiple
functions
86
2‐4 5‐6 1 1‐2 X 51 MHz 5W 84.0 % low cost, high W/cm3
88
1 1 1 1 X 300 kHz 2.4 W 89.0% Independent control, less flickering
89
1 2 4 1 √ ‐ 8.0 W 82.0% High PF, reduces the component
count and cost
90
1 0 3 1 √ 300 kHz ‐ 85.0% Minimize the output ripple and
extended life time
91
1 4 5 1 √ 40 kHz 38 W 90.0% High voltage gain and low device
stresses, energy is recycled to load
92
1 n n+1 n+1 X 50 kHz ‐ ‐ High‐voltage‐step‐down
applications, minimum number
of inductors, low device stresses,
low cost
93
1 2 2 1 √ 50 kHz 25 W 90.0% Constant output current, does not
need additional output current
feedback, soft switching, low cost
and efficiency
94
2 3 3 1 X 200 kHz 40 W 93.0% Simple control, low switching
losses, fewer components, less
frequency variation
96
2 2 3 1 X 200 kHz 8.9 W 91.0% Reduced voltage stresses
,17,97-99 2 2 3 1 X 100 kHz 3.4 W 80.1% Extended life time of output
capacitors

4.2 | Smart LED lighting systems
The purpose of smart LED lighting systems are to
improve visual comfort and energy efficiency.104-106 The
block diagram of a smart LED lighting system is pre-
sented in Figure 24. It eliminates the manual mode
operation of the overall system. The smart LED lighting
system consists of an energy efficient LED driver, digital
sensors and actuators, advanced control algorithms for
color reproduction in real‐time and also communication
interfaces.104 These systems are employed with Micro‐
spectrometer, RGB colour sensor, PIN diode for VLC sys-
tems, PIR occupancy detector, digital temperature sensor
for LED PCBs and photo cell. Diverse digital communica-
tion interfaces are based on digital addressable lighting
interface (DALI), LON, KNX, DMX, TCP/IP power line,
YADLAPALLI ET AL.
FIGURE 24 Block diagram of smart LED lighting system104
[Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 25 Block diagram of programmable LED lamp driver108
[Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
ZigBee light link or Bluetooth Ethernet, Wi‐Fi and VLC.
Moreover, to minimize visible and non‐visible flicker at
lower frequencies, the LED driver is featured with the
dynamic dimming capabilities.
4.3 | |Programmable LED drivers
The common problem in LED drivers is the incompatibil-
ity that exists due to the replacement of the existing LEDs
with more efficient ones. Hence, the circuit may get dam-
aged because of the over currents or light flickering may
occur. Therefore, the programmable LED drivers are able
to set the current to a lower value ensuring the same
lumen output. The block diagram of the programmable
LED driver is shown in Figure 25.107,108 Thus, they help
to prevent the common problem of mismatched fixtures
in the field when higher lumen fixtures have been
installed alongside existing lower output fixtures.
Fulham's programmable LED drivers are available in
the market ranging from 40 W to 200 W. It also features
the impressive hotspot plus emergency driver that works
both as LED driver and emergency driver. These drivers
can perform 0‐10 V dimming, pulse dimming, DALI dim-
ming or a wireless protocol.109
5 | CONCLUSION
The commercial LED lighting systems demand attractive
driver topologies for achieving long life, high efficiency,
high density and high reliability with a motto of
expanding the LED application areas. But then, it is
important that the performance of LED drivers should
meet the international regulations and standards. In view
15
of the above, this paper presents the updated survey of
LED driver structures, isolated/non‐isolated DC‐DC con-
verter topologies and active PFC cell circuits along with
their modes of operation.
At first glance, a review on switched capacitor
converters for driving the organic LEDs is highlighted.
These converters have high power density compared to
linear power supplies and conventional DC‐DC con-
verters. Furthermore, the salient features and limitations
of various potential distinctive topologies have been
presented. This paper discusses the real time applica-
tions based on the prominent features like multiple
lighting LED lamps, dimmable LED lighting, high‐
step‐down‐ratio transformerless driver with high density
electrolytic capacitors, either solar PV or grid connected
uninterruptable LED drivers, very high frequency reso-
nant drivers, visible light communication, high voltage
gain with reduced voltage stresses, LED driver as an
adjustable dc impedance, capacitor less drivers with
high reliability, and also low volume inductor less solu-
tions. However, some of the driver topologies are found
to have low efficiency, being limited to low power appli-
cations. Not only this, the switching frequency has also
become a constraint. Hence, these topologies are to be
employed with soft switching techniques or efficiency
enhancement methods. The future trend is to develop
low cost, high efficiency and high power density LED
drivers using wide bandgap semiconductor materials.
Also, the circuit parameter variations are to be
considered while designing the programmable LED
drivers. In addition, IoT‐based smart LED lighting sys-
tems can realize energy saving in household, streets
as well as industry environment. This paper provides
the guidelines for design engineers to choose the
right topology.
ORCID
Ravindranath Tagore Yadlapalli https://orcid.org/0000-
0001-7094-4427
Rajanand Patnaik Narasipuram https://orcid.org/0000-
0001-6875-6443
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How to cite this article: Yadlapalli RT,
Narasipuram RP, Kotapati A. An overview of
energy efficient solid state LED driver topologies.
Int J Energy Res. 2019;1–19. https://doi.org/10.1002/
er.4924