LED driver trims down lighting BOM

Microchip has expanded its CL88XX family of lighting LED products with the launch of a sequential linear LED driver for offline lighting applications. The CL88020 chip is designed to drive a long string of low-cost LEDs directly from the 120-Vac line input.
The new LED driver allows developers to create reliable, cost-effective and compact LED lighting applications by having a high power factor without the need for switch-mode power conversion, which is typically required in LED lighting designs.

So, unlike the conventional AC/DC switch-mode power supply, the basic driver circuit consists of the CL88020 chip, two small ceramic capacitors, and a bridge rectifier. And that eliminates the need for high-voltage capacitors, transformer or inductors, EMI filters, or power factor correction (PFC) circuitry.

Microchip’s new IC is designed to minimize driver circuit component count and enable an ultra-small and efficient design compared to traditional LED solutions. It also leads to a much simpler lighting design as it’s based on a single-layer PCB.