Fundamentals of LED Dimming

LEDs are "hot" because they run cool. They offer high efficiency and flexibility, require just a basic current source for drive, and used for indicators, displays and, now, even large-area illumination. Dimming them in illumination applications, so their intensity matches the situation as well as to save energy, should be no problem, right?

But it's not so simple. There are issues of power supply and dimming circuitry, LED color shifts, EMI/RFI, visual flicker, and even thermal and mechanical stress to consider. In this course, you'll learn about:

• The basic approaches to driving single and multiple LEDs, including analog- and switching-power sources and output control
• Issues of dimming range, resolution, color shift, and human perception
• Tradeoffs and alternatives to solving dimming design problems
• Using the standard Triac-based dimmer with LEDs
• How targeted ICs can overcome limitations of conventional dimming approaches