3 Bit Constant Current LED Driver with PWM Control
A6280
7
Allegro MicroSystems, Inc.
115 Northeast Cutoff, Box 15036
Worcester, Massachusetts 01615-0036 (508) 853-5000
www.allegromicro.com
PWM Luminance Control
The A6280 controls the intensity of each LED by PWMing the
current of each output. The A6280 has three 10 bit luminance
registers, one for each output. These luminance registers set the
PWM count value at which the outputs switch off during each
PWM cycle. Each 10 bit luminance register gives 1023 levels of
light intensity. The duty cycle, DC (%), can be determined by the
following equation:
DC = [(PWMn + 1) / 1024] ×100 ,
where PWMn is the PWM value greater than zero that is stored
in the luminance register. When the luminance register is set to
zero, the outputs remain off for the duration of the PWM cycle
for a 0% DC. When a luminance register is set to 1023, the LED
for that output remains on (100% DC) when OEI is active and
begins the PWM cycle. The output remains on when the PWM
counter rolls over and begins a new count.
The PWM counter begins counting at zero and increments only
when the OEI pin is held low. When the PWM counter reaches
the count of 1023, the counter resets to zero and continues
incrementing. The counter resets back to zero either on a rising
edge of OEI, upon recovery from UVLO, or when powering up.
Latching new data into the luminance registers will not reset the
PWM counter.
There is a programmable clock divider that attenuates the
clock input of the CI pin. See table 1 for bit assignments of the
programmable clock divider. The PWM counter is incremented
on every rising edge of the CI pin divided by the clock divider
count value when the OEI pin is low. For example, if the clock
divider is programmed to divide the CI by 2, then the PWM
counter will increment once every 2 CI cycles. Given a 5 MHz
CI frequency, the clock period would be 200 ns.
The clock divider data in the shift registers is latched on a rising
edge of the Latch In (LI) pin. The latched clock divider data
remains latched on a rising OEI signal.
The total number of possible colors of an RGB pixel is over
1 billion. Refer to figure 6 for the mapping of shift register bits
to latches.
Output Current Selection
The overall maximum current is set by the external resistor,
REXT , connected between REXT and LGND. Once set, the
maximum current remains constant regardless of the LED volt-
age variation, supply voltage variation, temperature, or other
circuit parameters that could otherwise affect LED current. The
maximum output current can be calculated using the following
equation:
IO(max) = 753.12 / REXT.
The relationship of the value selected for REXT and IO is shown
in figure 5.
Internal Linear Regulator
The A6280 has a built-in linear regulator. The regulator oper-
ates from 5 to 17 V, and is intended to allow the VIN pin of the
A6280 to connect to the same supply as the LEDs. This will
simplify board design by eliminating the need for a chip supply
bus and external voltage regulators.
The V
REG pin is used by the internal liner regulator as an
energy reservoir. This pin is for internal use only and is not
intended as an external power source. The V
REG pin should
have a 1.0 μF, 10 V ceramic capacitor connected between the
V
REG pin and LGND. The capacitor should be located as close
to the V
REG pin as possible.
Table 1. Clock Divider Configurations
Bits Divide By Count
78
0 0 ×1 (no division)
10 ×2
01 ×4
11 ×8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
515253545556575
REXT (kΩ)
IO (mA)
Figure 5. Output Current versus External Resistor, REXT