Develop more reliable and cost-effective LED lighting applications with Microchip's continuous linear LED drivers

     Microchip Technology announced the launch of a new generation of continuous linear LED drivers for offline lighting applications. The CL88020 is an extension of Microchip's popular CL88XX family of products designed to drive a long line of low-cost leds directly from 120 V AC input. With this product, customers can achieve high power factor (PF) without the switching power conversion typically required in LED lighting design, enabling reliable and cost-effective compact LED lighting applications.

     Keith Pazul, Director of Marketing for Microchip's Analog, Power and Interface division, said: "The transition from traditional lighting to LED is accelerating, and Microchip offers a rich and diverse range of LED lighting products. Our customers are constantly looking for better electronic solutions, and our new device fits their needs."

     The CL88020 is designed to reduce the number of components that drive the circuit for a very small and efficient design. The simpler the design, the easier it is to achieve a single-layer printed circuit board (PCB) design. Unlike traditional AC-DC switch-mode power supplies, the CL88020 IC's basic drive circuit consists of only two small ceramic capacitors and a bridge rectifier, without the need for high-voltage capacitors, transformers or inductors, electromagnetic interference (EMI) filters, or power factor correction (PFC) circuits. Compared to traditional LED solutions, this product not only reduces the solution size, but also reduces the total bill of materials (BOM) cost.

     Pazul continues, "Moving from communication to a direct-driven approach helps our customers solve many of the problems associated with their designs. This latest LED driver enables customers to design high-performance LED lighting systems that are simpler, smaller and more robust than ever before."