STMicroelectronics Launches Market-Leading Fault Management IC

China, October 16, 2012 - STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across multiple electronics applications, has introduced a new fault management chip that improves the reliability and durability of critical LED lights such as car lights, street lights and emergency lights.
The new product, LBP01, is designed for lighting lamps composed of multiple LED strings. Without LBP01, a single LED failure can cause the entire string to go out, affecting the total light output of the entire system and forcing the owner to replace the lighting lamp prematurely. Lighting systems using LBP01 can bypass the faulty LED and continue to power the remaining healthy LEDs, ensuring that the lighting brightness is close to maximum. This can improve the performance and safety of the lighting system and help lighting companies such as municipal governments save on maintenance costs. The total cost of replacing a street light can be as high as $700. Compared
with similar products on the market, LBP01 has many advantages. Competitive products usually only bypass one LED, while LBP01 can bypass two LEDs, allowing designers to reduce bill of materials costs. In addition, the product provides surge protection to prevent surges from burning out LED lamps.
According to market forecasts, by 2015, the sales revenue of the safety-oriented LED advertising screen and lighting market (including car lights and street lights) will exceed US$5 billion. The LBP01 can also extend the service life of LED backlights in LCD displays of various devices. To maximize the opportunities for on-board design, STMicroelectronics offers two different packages of LBP01. Designers can choose a 3.95 x 5.6 mm SMB package to directly replace competing products, or use a 3 x 3.05 mm SOT23-5 package to design a more compact solution.
Key features of LBP01:
• 100 nA leakage current
• Manages up to 1A of LED strings
• Built-in surge protection circuit, compliant with IEC 61000-4-2 (8 kV & 15 kV) & IEC 61000-4-5 (1 kV, 24 A)
• Compatible with DC and PWM drive waveforms
• Available in unidirectional (LBP01-0803SC5) and bidirectional (LBP01-0810B) versions
LBP01 is now in mass production.