Short circuit detection module
AssigneeII Stanley Co., Inc.
InventorsEleazar Padilla Guardado, José Miguel Mercado Peña
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Abstract
A Short Circuit Detection module capable of detecting a fail related with the Short circuit condition in one or more LEDs contained in a series connection string comply with the failure mode (One out-All out) and can send a single failure signal to a body control module (BCM). The Short Circuit Detection module also includes a lamp driver circuit adapted to detect a change in LED current or voltage that is indicative of a LED light source failure and thereafter output the failure signal to the BCM.
Claims8
An LED short circuit detection system comprising:
- an LED light source;
- an incandescent light source;
- and
- a failure detection circuit including:
- an LED driver circuit with a sensor logic adapted to monitor an input voltage supplied to the LED light source and an output voltage therefrom, and compare a differential of the input and output voltages to a threshold, for detecting an LED light source outage,
- an outage detection module adapted to monitor a current to the incandescent light source for detecting an incandescent light source outage, and
- an outage detection logic;
- wherein the failure detection circuit is configured to detect a short circuit and transmit a lamp failure signal to the outage detection logic, which in turn provides an appropriate signal to a body control module to cause a driver warning in response to a detected light source outage.
A method of detecting a short circuit within an LED lighting system, the LED lighting system including an LED light source, an outage detection module, an LED driver circuit, a body control module, and an incandescent light source, the method comprising the steps of:
- monitoring an input voltage supplied to the LED light source and an output voltage therefrom, for detecting an LED light source outage by the LED driver circuit;
- comparing a differential of the input and output voltages to a threshold;
- monitoring by the outage detection module a current to the incandescent light source for detecting an incandescent light source outage;
- transmitting a lamp failure signal to the body control module, if the differential falls below the threshold, to cause a driver warning in response to a detected light source outage;
- and
- cutting off all power to the LED light source until the lamp failure signal has been removed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.