Application Information (Continued)
Applying a voltage on BRGT between 0 to 3 volts will linearly
vary the LED current. Voltages above 3V do not increase the
LED current any further. The voltage on the V
BRGT
pin is fed
into an internal resistor network with a ratio of 0.385. The
resulting voltage is then summed with a measured offset
voltage of 0.188V, which comes from the reference voltage
being fed through a resistor network (See Functional Block
Diagram). The brightness control circuitry then uses the
summed voltage to control the voltage across R
SET
.An
equation for approximating the LED current is:
20028540
I
LED
CURRENT SELECTION PROCEDURES
The following procedures illustrate how to set and adjust
output current levels. For constant brightness or analog
brightness control, go to “Brightness control using BRGT”.
Otherwise refer to “Brightness control using PWM”.
Brightness Control Using PWM
1. Set the BRGT pin to 0V.
2. Determine the maximum desired I
LED
current. Use the
I
LED
equation to calculate R
SET
by setting BRGT to 0V or
use Table 3 to select a value for R
SET
when BRGT
equals 0V.
3. Brightness control can be implemented by pulsing a
signal at the SD pin. LED brightness is proportional to
the duty cycle (D) of the PWM signal. For linear brightness control over the full duty cycle adjustment range,
the PWM frequency (f) should be limited to accommodate the turn-on time (T
ON
= 100µs) of the device.
D x (1/f)
>
T
ON
f
MAX=DMIN÷TON
If the PWM frequency is much less than 100Hz, flicker
may be seen in the LEDs. For the LM2794, zero duty
cycle will turn off the LEDs and a 50% duty cycle will
result in an average I
LED
being half of the programmed
LED current. For example, if R
SET
is set to program
15mA, a 50% duty cycle will result in an average I
LED
of
7.5mA. For the LM2795 however, 100% duty cycle will
turn off the LEDs and a 50% duty cycle will result in an
average I
LED
being half the programmed LED current.
Brightness Control Using BRGT
1. Choose the maximum I
LED
desired and determine the
max voltage to be applied to the BRGT pin. For constant
brightness, set BRGT to a fixed voltage between 0V to
3V.
2. Use Table 3 to determine the value of R
SET
required or
use the I
LED
equation above to calculate R
SET
.
3. Use Table 4 as a reference for the dimming profile of the
LEDs, when BRGT ranges from 0V to 3V.
TABLE 3. R
SET
Values
LED Current
BRGT 5mA 10mA 15mA 20mA
0.0V 374Ω 187Ω 124Ω 93.1Ω
0.5V 768Ω 383Ω 255Ω 191Ω
1.0V 1.15KΩ 576Ω 383Ω 287Ω
1.5V 1.54KΩ 768Ω 511Ω 383Ω
2.0V 1.91KΩ 953Ω 624Ω 475Ω
2.5V 2.32KΩ 1.15KΩ 768Ω 576Ω
3.0V 2.67KΩ 1.33KΩ 909Ω 665Ω
R
SET
values are rounded off to the nearest 1% standard values.
TABLE 4. LED Current
R
SET
Values
BRGT 2.67KΩ 1.33KΩ 909Ω 665Ω
0.0V 0.7mA 1.4mA 2.1mA 2.8mA
0.5V 1.4mA 2.9mA 4.2mA 5.7mA
1.0V 2.1mA 4.3mA 6.3mA 8.6mA
1.5V 2.9mA 5.8mA 8.4mA 11.5mA
2.0V 3.6mA 7.2mA 10.5mA 14.4mA
2.5V 4.3mA 8.7mA 12.7mA 17.3mA
3.0V 5.0mA 10.1mA 14.8mA 20.2mA
CHARGE PUMP OUTPUT (P
OUT
)
The LM2794/5 charge pump is an unregulated switched
capacitor converter with a gain of 1.5. The voltage at the
output of the pump (the P
OUT
pin) is nominally 1.5 x VIN. This
rail can be used to deliver additional current to other circuitry.
Figure 2 shows how to connect additional LEDs to P
OUT
.A
ballast resistor sets the current through each LED, and LED
current matching is dependent on the LED forward voltage
matching. Because of this, LEDs driven by P
OUT
are recommended for functions where brightness matching is not critical, such as keypad backlighting.
Since P
OUT
is unregulated, driving LEDs directly off P
OUT
is
usually practical only with a fixed input voltage. If the input
voltage is not fixed (Li-Ion battery, for example), using a
linear regulator between the P
OUT
pin and the LEDs is
recommended. National Semiconductor’s LP3985-4.5V lowdropout linear regulator is a good choice for such an application.
The voltage at P
OUT
is dependent on the input voltage
supplied to the LM2794/5, the total LM2794/5 output current,
and the output resistance (R
OUT
) of the LM2794/5 charge
pump. Output resistance is a model of the switching losses
of the charge pump. Resistances of the internal charge
pump switches (MOS transistors) are a primary component
of the LM2794/5 output resistance. Typical LM2794/5 output
resistance is 3.0Ω. For worst-case design calculations, using
an output resistance of 3.5Ω is recommended. (Worst-case
recommendation accounts for parameter shifts from part-topart variation and applies over the full operating temperature
range).
LM2794/LM2795
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