Patent ID: 10368410

Abstract:
A technique to eliminate perceptible flickering by LEDs being dimmed by PWM pulses is disclosed. A controllable oscillator controls a switching frequency of a converter for supplying a regulated current or regulated voltage. The converter controls a first switch at a switching frequency. A varying second signal level is generated by a spread spectrum control (SSC) circuit for controlling the oscillator to vary the switching frequency during operation. A PWM dimming circuit generates a string of PWM pulses that control a switch in series with the LEDs. The SSC circuit is synchronized with the PWM pulses to generate the same second signal level at a start of each PWM pulse, such that the switching frequency of the converter is forced to be substantially the same at the start of each PWM pulse while the pulse widths are constant. The repeating driving current waveform eliminates perceptible flicker by the LEDs.