A low-cost 0.

5A 33V LED driver module with

90+% efficiency
Valentin Kulikov, Futuro Lighting - July 13, 2015

Introduction
This article describes simple constant current driver module with fast PWM input that can be used
for driving medium and high power LEDs. The module uses an integrated constant-current output,
DC-DC buck converter with output current configurable from 0.1 to 0.5A. This article outlines the
schematic, design guidelines, operation, and performance of the low cost LED driver.

Short description
LED driver module (Fig.1) is built on buck driver IC TS19376CY5 [1] in a SOT89-5 package. This buck
driver involves hysteretic regulation for relatively high efficiencies above 90% without need for
compensation. Output current is set by the combination of parallel resistors R1-R3 (Fig.1) with a
ratio of 0.13/1 A.

Fig. 1. LED driver schematic

The hysteretic regulation can be shortly described: The internal switch of the TS19376 driver
connects the input voltage to the load through inductor L1. Current through the inductor is linearly
increased and monitored as the voltage drop on R1 II R2 II R3). Once the current reaches 149.5mV
(130mV + Vcsn_hys (15% = 19.5mV)), the integrated switch turns off and current flowing through the
inductor and D1 linearly decreases until it drops to 110.5mV (130mV Vcsn_hys (15% = 19.5mV)),
when the switch turns again on and this process repeats for each cycle as shown in Fig.2.

Fig. 2. Current and voltage waveform at SW, switching node (GND oscilloscope connected to
Vcc)

The switching frequency is given by output current (ILED), input voltage (Vcc), output voltage and L1
value.

PWM dimming
Average LED current can be controlled by the PWM signal. This dimming control is popular and
easily implemented with an MCU or other technique such as a 555 timer. The PWM signal is
connected to the PWM input of the module and with active LOW <0.3V, and active HIGH > 2V
(CMOS). The TS19376 accepts relatively high PWM frequencies and therefore can realize fast PWM
dimming with more than 8 bit resolution.
 Fig. 3. LED Driver module connection diagram

The PWM input has pull-up resistor, therefore once the PWM input of the module is unconnected,
ILED reaches the maximum current value. Recommended PWM frequency is above 100Hz to avoid
visible flickering.

Practical realization
The PCB provides heat sinking for the TS19376 with extra copper on the back side of the PCB and
thermally connected to top side metal with thermal vias. A Low ESR input capacitor (C1) is required
to suppress current spikes during driver switching. The recommended value for C1 is 4.7 - 100F
and dielectric material should be chosen from X7R, X5R or better. C1 must be placed as close to the
IO1 supply pads as possible.

Optimal range of the L1 inductor is 47-120H. Lower inductance is more appropriate for higher
currents and higher inductance is more appropriate for lower currents, where switching delay is
eliminated. Careful placement of the components should follow design rules to obtain the lowest
switching loop and minimize EMI. The start of the inductor winding should be connected to the
switching node (SW pad of IO1) as well.

D1 is selected to keep low saturation currents at the highest operational temperature and low trr.
D1 forward voltage influences regulation efficiency with lower Vf resulting in higher efficiency and
lower heat dissipation.It is recommended to use ~30% margin for maximum forward diode current
compared to ILED. For this design, D1 is an SS16 1A, 60V Schottky rectifier .

C2 suppresses output current ripple, where its higher capacity results in lower ripple and lower
PWM frequency. It must be noticed that value of C2 influences maximum PWM frequency.

The design makes use of the over temperature shutdown protection integrated with the driver IC.
Once the die temperature reaches 150C the driver is disabled until the temperature drops below
115C. This protection is useful to prevent overheating the module PCB. The driver module can be
attached to an external heat sink with double-sided thermo-conductive tape to improve thermal
performance. It is also possible to extend the driver module with EMI filtering, and reverse polarity
protection (e.g. P-MOS switch), but this depends on the specific application. The driver module
tested is populated on a 16x16 mm double-sided, 1 mm thick FR4 PCB.

Conclusion
The described LED driver has numerous applications from driving middle and high power LED
arrays, to battery charging and much more where a constant current source is required. The number
of LEDs in a serial string is determined from the minimum allowed input voltage (Vcc). As can be
seen from the charts in Fig. 4, the closer VLED is to Vcc the higher the efficiency. For example for
Vcc=12V, 3xLED in series is a good choice (VLEDF~3V). All measurements in Fig. 4 were acquired on
automated measurement setup at room temperature.

Specifications:
Topology: Buck
Driver IC: TS19376CY5
Regulation: Hysteretic
Input voltage: 8-33 VDC
Output current: 100-500 mA
Switching frequency: 1 MHz max
Current ratio: 0.13 / 1 A
Dimming: PWM up to 20 kHz
Protection features:
- Thermal shutdown
- Over Current protection
Dimensions: 16 x 16 x 5.5 mm
(0.63 x 0.63 x 0.22 in)
Weight: 1.6 g

BOM
IO1 - TS19376CY5 Taiwan Semi
C1 - 4u7/50V (X7R, SMD 1210)
C2 - 1uF/50V (X7R, SMD1206)
D1 - SS16, Taiwan Semi
L1 - 100 H, 800 mA, 433 m 74404064101 Wurth
R1 - 0.39 (SMD 0805)
PCB - FuturoLighting 376, Rev.O

Literature
[1] www.taiwansemi.com