Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper presents a novel technique for thermally compensating the power output of a DC-DC converter that supplies automotive lighting/signaling systems with multiple LED branches. The method ensures stable bias voltage for the current drivers controlling each branch, maintaining consistent power consumption across a wide temperature range. This issue has been minimally addressed in existing literature, providing few solutions which are too complex for industrial production. The approach proposed is simple and involves incorporating a temperature-sensitive thermistor into the DC-DC converter’s control loop, enabling the output voltage to adjust with ambient temperature. Different control loop configurations are explored, demonstrating that a simple resistor-thermistor network can approximate the desired voltage response under diverse thermal conditions. The power dissipated in the current drivers is kept within a controlled range, improving system efficiency and reducing heat loss. Additionally, it minimizes the need for additional current drivers, lowering the cost of these systems, improving battery life of the DC-DC converter, and decreasing CO2 emissions. For the case studies analyzed, an optimized configuration with appropriate resistor values and thermistor models achieves a 75% relative reduction in power dissipation by the current driver and a 50% improvement in the relative efficiency of the LED branch system.
Source: Sensors
DOI: 10.3390/s25175392
Authors: Jose R. Martínez-Pérez, Miguel A. Carvajal, Juan J. Santaella, Pablo Escobedo, Nuria López-Ruiz, Antonio Martínez-Olmos
Institution: Universidad de Granada
Language: English
Topic: Advanced DC-DC Converters
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,137
OpenAlex ID: W4413930236