News from Signify - February 2025
In the ALL2GaN project, Signify aims to reduce the size and or the power losses of its LED drivers by introducing Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices. Only the lower output capacitance of GaN devices can already help to reduce the circulating current in the resonant tank. This will result in lower losses and or size reduction. Further size reduction can be obtained by increasing the switching frequency. At Signify Research a 1000W LED driver prototype with a switching frequency up to 1 MHz has been designed, built and evaluated. Next to evaluating GaN devices at 1 MHz, this involved the design of magnetics for 1 MHz and EMC analysis. The picture below shows a GaN LED driver recently released in the market: a 320 W outdoor driver for the US market. Making use of the lower output capacitance of GaN devices combined with doubling the switching frequency, it was possible to increase the power level from 180 W to 320 W while reducing the housing size by 50%.