Power Integrations has launched a new reference design for a 25-watt LED T8 tube ballast power supply. Notable for industry-leading efficiency of greater than 91%, the design (DER-287) also meets commercial requirements for power factor (PF greater than 0.9) and harmonic distortion (EN61000-3-2 Class C). DER-287 is a single-stage converter built around LNK409EG, a member of the LinkSwitch-PH family of LED driver ICs. Single-stage technology greatly increases product lifetime by eliminating the opto-isolators and large aluminum electrolytic input bulk capacitors required by conventional two-stage solutions.

According to Andrew Smith, product marketing manager at Power Integrations, Efficiencies above 88% are extremely difficult to achieve cost-effectively in a T8 tube form factor unless a single-stage topology is used; this design easily exceeds 91%. Most regions require either low THD or high PF in commercial and industrial lighting installations – specifications that the LinkSwitch-PH LED driver IC easily meets, enabling designs that can be used worldwide. Details are available in this new report.

In addition to the highly integrated monolithic design that combines controller, driver, and switching MOSFETs into a single package, Power Integrations’ LinkSwitch-PH family features a number of protection features, including over-temperature and over-current protection. This means that very few external components are required to implement the solution – a very important consideration in compact T8 tube enclosures.

This new design example report (DER-287) can be downloaded from the Power Integrations website at www.powerint.com/sites/default/files/PDFFiles/der287.pdf. The LinkSwitch-PH video, data sheet, application notes, and other design examples are available on the company’s website at http://www.powerint.com/linkswitch-ph.