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US 8,283,869 B2Granted
Semiconductor light emitting circuits including light emitting diodes and semiconductor shunt devices
AssigneeCree, Inc.
InventorsGerald H. Negley, Antony P. van de Ven
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Semiconductor light emitting circuits include semiconductor light emitting diodes that are serially connected between a pair of input terminals. Four layer semiconductor devices, such as Shockley diodes and/or thyristors are also provided, a respective one of which is connected across a respective one of the semiconductor light emitting diodes. The four layer semiconductor devices can allow a string of light emitting diodes to continue to be lit if one light emitting diode fails.
Claims20
A semiconductor light emitting circuit comprising:
- a plurality of semiconductor light emitting diodes having a diode forward voltage, that are serially connected between a pair of input terminals;
- and
- a plurality of semiconductor shunt devices having a shunt device forward voltage that is approximately equal to the diode forward voltage, a respective one of which is connected across a respective one of the plurality of semiconductor light emitting diodes, so as to turn on upon failure of the respective one of the plurality of semiconductor light emitting diodes and preserve the serial connection between the pair of input terminals.
A semiconductor light emitting circuit comprising:
- a semiconductor light emitting diode having a diode anode and a diode cathode;
- a semiconductor shunt device having a shunt device anode and a shunt device cathode and connected in parallel to the semiconductor light emitting diode such that the light emitting diode anode is connected to the shunt device anode, the light emitting diode cathode is connected to the shunt device cathode and the semiconductor shunt device turns on upon failure of the semiconductor light emitting diode;
- and
- a direct current (DC) power supply that is connected across the diode anode/shunt device anode and the diode cathode/shunt device cathode.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.