Novel single stage power factor corrected LED driver topology for space constrained applications of aircraft exterior lighting system

This paper proposes a novel converter topology based on a single stage LED driver with Power Factor Correction (PFC) which is optimized for weight, volume and cost, for space constrained environments such as Aerospace exterior lighting product. The proposed topology utilizes a single switch to harmonize the input current as well as control the intensity of lighting system. A typical Power Factor Pre-regulator (PFP) uses a bulk energy storage capacitor, which is subjected to wear out at higher altitudes due to low pressure conditions and freezes at negative temperatures, resulting in poor reliability converter for Aerospace applications. Unlike a regular Power Factor Pre-regulator (PFP), the proposed topology avoids the use of bulk energy storage capacitor which results in a fast transient response with enhanced reliability, reduced board real estate and weight. The proposed LED driver topology can control the LED current with both Buck and Boost mode of control, making it a good choice for applications with wide input voltage variation. A 110 W prototype based on proposed converter was built to verify the operation of proposed topology. The experimental results are in line with the predicted performance. The proposed converter is able to achieve a power factor of 0.988 with an input current THD of <; 10%.