• Driver

With all the attention devoted to LEDs and LED lighting, you hear surprisingly little about the rest of the electronics in LED products — what is known as the driver. The driver design determines such things as whether the product is properly loaded or inefficient, or whether the LEDs have to be tightly selected or can be loosely binned. Driver design is evolving rapidly to keep up with new applications and new requirements, such as improved power factor correction, low harmonics and higher efficiency for more reliability.

• IC’s

The big market in LED drivers is in LED lighting. LED lighting products are in the market for many years, but in architectural lighting, exit signs, and flashlights. With the promise of large-volume sales in replacement (traditional lights to equivalent LED lights) market but extreme demands are being made on size, efficiency, and cost. After that will come growth in general commercial and industrial luminaires, as building owners choose LED lighting for the lower-life-cycle cost compared to traditional lighting.