LED controller revisits automotive lighting with a linear design

Texas Instruments (TI) has unveiled a three-channel high-side linear LED controller that works without internal MOSFETs and provides developers with greater flexibility in automotive lighting designs. The TPS92830-Q1 chip facilitates higher power and better thermal dissipation than conventional LED controllers.

Conventional LED drivers, which integrate the MOSFET, limit a designer’s ability to customize features. So, in order to achieve the desired system performance, automotive lighting engineers often have to make significant design modifications.

On the other hand, TPS92830-Q1’s flexible onboard features provide designers the freedom to select the best MOSFET for their system requirements. And that allows them to optimize lighting power designs according to automotive system requirements and desired dimming features.
Flexible dimming is now a key priority, and on-chip pulse-width modulation (PWM) input enables it. Designers can use either the analog control or PWM to manage an output current of more than 150 mA per channel and power the automotive rear combination lamps and daytime running lights.

Improved thermal dissipation is another prominent feature enabled by the linear architecture that pairs the LED controller with an external MOSFET. Automotive designers can achieve the required high-power output while distributing the power across the controller and MOSFET and thus avoid system overheating.

TI’s new LED controller also provides protection and built-in open and short detection features to help designers meet system reliability requirements set by the automotive OEMs. And the output current derating feature protects the external MOSFET under high-voltage conditions to ensure system reliability.