National and Nuventix Introduce Reference Design for LED Bulbs

5th May 2009

ES Admin

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National Semiconductor and Nuventix have unveiled a new electronic drive and thermal management reference design that simplifies development of high-brightness light-emitting diode (LED) bulb fixtures that replace incandescent or compact fluorescent light bulbs in standard sockets.

The new LED electronic drive and thermal management reference design will be demonstrated in Nuventix’s booth #3260 at the Lightfair International conference in New York from May 5 to 7.

LED replacement bulbs typically require four different design components: the LED, electronic drive board, thermal management system and optics. Integrating these complex design components to produce an efficient and high-performance LED bulb system can be challenging.

A new reference design featuring National Semiconductor’s electronic drive board together with the SynJet® cooling module from Nuventix provides lighting designers with a complete electronic drive and thermal management design for high-performance LED replacement bulbs.

The SynJet thermal management module from Nuventix features a synthetic jet cooling technology that utilizes turbulent pulses of air generated from an electromagnetic actuator to reliably and efficiently cool the LED. It is compatible with standard bulb form factors including MR16 and PAR 38.

“SynJet cooling by Nuventix is essential to optimize lumen output and LED reliability for LED lighting,” said Jim Balthazar, president and CEO, Nuventix. “With this National reference design, lighting designers have a plug-and-play solution for designing the complete LED luminaire.”

The electronic drive board from National Semiconductor features the LM3429 buck-boost LED driver and LM2842 voltage regulator systems. The LM3429 system provides a constant current to the LEDs from input voltage rails of 9V to 36V, includes analog dimming capability and is configured to drive up to 12 series-connected LEDs. The LM2842 system powers the SynJet electromagnetic actuator. The form factor of the electronic drive board is compatible with the Nuventix SynJet MR16 and PAR38 modules.

“This new reference design enables lighting designers to quickly, easily, and reliably design a thermal and electronics drive system for any MR16 or PAR38 form factor LED bulb,” said Michael White, National Semiconductor vice president, power management. “Collaborating with Nuventix is just another example of how National Semiconductor is working toward providing complete system level, easy-to-use solutions.”