Sightings of cool technology at SAE’s WCX2017 World Congress

A “tail” of advanced lighting
Automotive tail lights are big users of LED technology, and WCX17 booths provided several examples. This one was at the ON Semiconductor display. It features drivers for LED rear combination lamps. One driver contains eight linear programmable constant-current sources that allow two brightness levels, one for stop, the other for tail illumination. An external ballast FET can be added for handling high currents. Drivers can handle eight LED strings individually while ensuring an equal current distribution among the strings.
NEXT PAGE: Not your father’s fuel tank