Lighting circuit and vehicle lamp having the same

Abstract

A lighting circuit for a light source includes a drive circuit and an overcurrent protection circuit. The drive circuit supplies power to the light source. The overcurrent protection circuit is inserted between the drive circuit and the light source. The overcurrent protection circuit restricts a lamp current flowing into the light source so that the lamp current does not exceed an overcurrent threshold value. The overcurrent protection circuit includes a transistor, an inductor, a rectifier, a current sensor and an overcurrent protection controller. The current sensor generates a current detection signal according to the lamp current. The overcurrent protection controller controls ON/OFF of the transistor based on the current detection signal and the overcurrent threshold value. The transistor, the inductor and the rectifier are disposed in a T-shape.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.