Dialog Semiconductor smart lighting Dual-Dim™ LED driver IC provides single-chip triac and digital dimming

April 26, 2016
The iW3690 LED driver IC bridges the gap between traditional wall dimmers and the latest digital solutions accelerating smart lighting penetration in a market which is forecast to be worth 58 billion USD annually by 2020

London, United Kingdom – Dialog Semiconductor plc (FWB:DLG), a provider of highly integrated power management, AC/DC power conversion, solid state lighting (SSL) and Bluetooth® low energy technology, has announced the iW3690, a revolutionary LED driver IC for smart lighting that combines digital control (I2C) with the company's advanced phase-cut TRIAC dimming technology. For the first time, a single chip solution provides Smart LED luminaires the ability to dim using digital commands, including those sent wirelessly, while working concurrently with traditional TRIAC wall dimmers.

Suitable for applications up to 25W, the IC’s Dual-Dim technology enables dimming from 100% to 1% without flicker or shimmer. The LED driver IC works with any wireless protocol including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee. Optimal wireless connectivity is made cost effective and easy using Dialog’s SmartBond™ DA14580 Bluetooth low energy System-on-Chip (SoC) to create a high-performance wireless smart dimming platform with the minimum number of external components and the lowest system bill of materials (BOM).

The iW3690 enables digital link dimming and remote on/off at any AC phase conduction angle. It employs resonant control and features 0.95 power factor (PF), less than 20% total harmonic distortion (THD) and 85% typical efficiency, comfortably meeting DesignLights Consortium™ (DLC) requirements. The device automatically protects against over-temperature conditions, LED open and short circuits, AC line over-voltage, and output over-current.

“Until now, designers were forced to compromise on legacy dimmer control in order to provide users with digital smart lighting control. Combining support for legacy analog dimmers with a digital interface in a single unifying IC offers designers of LED luminaires the most cost-effective and easy-to-implement control solution for smart lighting,” said Davin Lee, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dialog’s Power Conversion Business Group. “Combining our leadership positon in innovative LED driver ICs and Bluetooth low energy SoCs enables Dialog to provide optimal interfacing and best-in-class standby power; an important factor given that smart lighting must be always-on in order to receive wireless commands.”

The iW3690 is sampling now and will be available in production quantities this quarter.

Dialog’s Dual-Dim controllers and Bluetooth solutions are being demonstrated at 2016 Lightfair International (LFI), April 26 – 28 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.

NOTES
Market forecast from Transparency Market Research: Smart Lighting Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 – 2020.
The DesignLights Consortium™ is a trade organization that brings stakeholders together to define and promote leading edge, high quality, high efficiency commercial lighting.
Dialog, the Dialog logo, Dual-Dim™ and SmartBond™ are trademarks of Dialog Semiconductor plc or its subsidiaries. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © Copyright 2016 Dialog Semiconductor. All rights reserved.

About Dialog Semiconductor
Dialog Semiconductor provides highly integrated standard (ASSP) and custom (ASIC) mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs), optimized for smartphone, computing, IoT, LED Solid State Lighting (SSL) and smart home applications. Dialog brings decades of experience to the rapid development of ICs while providing flexible and dynamic support, world-class innovation and the assurance of dealing with an established business partner. With world-class manufacturing partners, Dialog operates a fabless business model and is a socially responsible employer pursuing many programs to benefit the employees, community, other stakeholders and the environment we operate in.

Dialog’s power saving technologies including DC-DC configurable system power management deliver high efficiency and enhance the consumer’s user experience by extending battery lifetime and enabling faster charging of their portable devices. Its technology portfolio also includes audio, Bluetooth® low energy, Rapid Charge™ AC/DC power conversion and multi-touch.

Dialog Semiconductor plc is headquartered in London with a global sales, R&D and marketing organization. In 2015, it had approximately $1.35 billion in revenue and was one of the fastest growing European public semiconductor companies. It currently has approximately 1,650 employees worldwide. The company is listed on the Frankfurt (FWB: DLG) stock exchange (Regulated Market, Prime Standard, ISIN GB0059822006) and is a member of the German TecDax index.

Twitter: @DialogSemi

Contact:

Lauren Ofstedahl - Dialog Semiconductor
+1 (408) 845 8518