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Flicker from LED lighting has become a health concern, particularly those frequencies that are not easily noticed but which are still biologically active - eg 100 Hz or 120 Hz . With the long lifetime of LED lamps we risk designing in problems for years to come. Are driver manufacturers taking this issue seriously?
The concern of 100 Hz or 120 Hz line content exists in all lighting products powered from the mains, be it halogen, incandescent, fluorescent or LED. A good reference on this can be found in this presentation. \n\nhttp://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ ... ly2010.pdf\n\nAs a manufacturer of IC's that are to used to make LED drivers there are a number of different topology choices that our customers use to implement complete driver solutions and drives can be designed that have virtually no 100/120 Hz content if that is so desired. Normally the amount of 100/120 Hz content is dictated by the topology (Power Factor Corrected, Single or dual stage, and external component selection such as output capacitance) so this is simply a design tradeoff between size, efficiency, and cost.
Answered by: ON Semiconductor
2012-09-18 21:23:26.0