Patent ID: 9743467
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: H05B

Claim:
1. A driver device for driving a load, in particular an LED unit comprising one or more LEDs, said driver device comprising: input terminals for receiving an input voltage from an external power supply, wherein the input voltage is an alternating phase-cut voltage having a connected state, wherein the input voltage is applied to the input terminals, and a disconnected state, wherein the input voltage is not applied to the input terminals; output terminals for providing an output voltage to the load for driving the load, a converter unit for converting the input voltage to a converted voltage and for providing the converted voltage to internal connection elements of the driver device, a signal control device for applying an electrical signal (I) to at least one of the connection elements, wherein the signal control device, by applying the electrical signal (I) is configured to cause a voltage dip in the converted voltage, wherein in the connected state the voltage dip comprises a first value and in the disconnected state the voltage dip comprises a second value, wherein the second value is greater than the first value; and a detection circuit configured to determine a phase angle of the input voltage by detecting when the voltage dip of the converted voltage is equal to or exceeds the second value.