Current sink with bypass for an led chain

Abstract

A current sink (22) contains two supply poles (28a,b) for a continuous DC voltage (UG) and a current path (30) connecting said supply poles that, during operation (B), carries a total current (IG), the following being connected in series in the current path (30): a connection (32) for the LED chain (20), a shunt resistor (36) for mapping the total current (IG) to a measurement voltage (UM), a switch (40) for opening or closing the current path (30), a controllable resistor element (42) containing a parallel connection comprising a load resistor (44) and a bypass path (46) containing a controllable current brake (48) for controlling a bypass current (IB) through the bypass path (46), and a control unit (60) to take the measurement voltage (UM) as a basis for controlling the current brake (48) in regard to the magnitude of the bypass current (IB) such that, when the switch (40) is closed, a predeterminable total current (IG) is produced in the current path (30). A light source (6) for a light device (4) of an aircraft (2) contains the current sink (22) and the LED chain (20) connected to the connection (32). A light device (4) for an aircraft (2) contains at least one light source (6a-c).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.