Analysis of the reasons for the low reliability of LED drivers

　　The high reliability of LED driver power supply is an important condition for the quality of LED products, and it is also a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently. In order to better solve the high reliability of LED driver power supply, LED-related engineers must know from the source why the reliability of LED drivers is so low? This article lists several reasons for the low reliability of LED drivers in detail, hoping to add icing on the cake for power supply engineers' designs.

　　Although LEDs have high luminous efficiency, only a small portion of the energy flowing through the LED can be radiated in the form of visible light, and most of the remaining energy is consumed in the LED in the form of heat. Therefore, the LED light source itself generates a lot of heat. The main reasons for the low reliability of the industry's LED drivers are as follows:

　　First, work at full capacity for a long time.

　　Without dimming, the LED driver is working at close to full load. However, in most application areas of switching power supplies , such as computer power supplies (adapters), communication power supplies, household appliances, etc., the average power during long-term operation is usually only a fraction of the rated power. The full-power state with all loads turned on only occurs in a specific few times.

　　Second, stay close to heat sources.

　　Although LEDs have high luminous efficiency, only a small portion of the energy flowing through the LED can be radiated in the form of visible light, and most of the remaining energy is consumed in the LED in the form of heat, so the LED light source itself generates a lot of heat. LED drivers are usually placed inside lamps, close to the LED light source. When the ambient temperature is only 20-30℃, the ambient temperature around the driver can easily reach 50-60℃. To ensure the reliability of the driver under such a high ambient temperature is very challenging for the design (especially the efficiency index).

　　Third, outdoor lighting in places such as roads and squares is easily damaged by natural phenomena such as external lightning strikes.

　　These will cause a series of problems such as post-maintenance in the large-scale application of LED semiconductor lighting.

　　The high reliability of LED driver power supply is an important condition for the quality of LED products, and it is also a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.