Deep pwm dimmable voltage-fed resonant push-pull inverter circuit for lcd backlighting with a coupled inductor

Abstract

An LCD backlighting inverter circuit comprising a voltage-fed series resonant push-pull inverter that is capable of efficient operation in a PWM deep dimming mode. The voltage-fed series resonant push-pull inverter comprising: a DC voltage source, a transformer having a first and a second primary winding and at least one secondary winding adapted to be connected in series with a lamp load; a first resonant circuit including a first resonant inductor and a resonant capacitor, a second resonant circuit including a second resonant inductor and the resonant capacitor, the second resonant inductor being magnetically coupled to the first resonant inductor. The inverter circuit is rapidly switched on and off to perform deep pulse with modulated (PWM) dimming. The voltage fed push-pull inverter has a low input impedance and a high output impedance for driving CCFL loads and the like in a PWM deep dimming mode. The inverter circuit is further characterized as having an initial high Q value sufficient to breakdown a lamp load (i.e., reducing the high startup resistance), and subsequent to breaking down a lamp load the Q of the circuit automatically transitions to a low Q value without the need for monitoring and/or switching circuitry. For those situations where the load is a CCFL load or the like, the driving source is current driven to stabilize the load.