Efficiency Analysis for Interleaved Buck Converters Employed as Extra-High Current COB LED Drivers

This work presents a performance evaluation concerning interleaved buck structures used to drive extra-high current (up to 12 A) chip-on-board (COB) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The analysis is carried out employing nonideal elements in simulations so that a better and reliable approach can be obtained as close to real results as possible. Aiming at a thorough analysis of conduction losses at very high current levels in floodlighting applications, interleaved buck converters (IBCs) are employed to establish a comparative approach concerning global efficiency and component count for conventional and synchronous topologies. Furthermore, the 3-cell IBC is experimentally implemented to evaluate and compare the total losses for this very-high current lighting application.