METHOD FOR DIMMING NON-LINEAR LOADS USING AN AC PHASE CONTROL SCHEME AND A UNIVERSAL DIMMER USING THE METHOD

摘要

A universal dimmer has a switching element, a load current measurement element, a current evaluator for evaluating the current passing through the load, and a firing angle adjuster such as a regulator or transforming element. The current passing through the load is measured and evaluated so as to direct the firing angle adjuster to adapt firing angles of the switching element so that a load RMS current is proportional to a dimmer input signal, regardless of the type of load being controlled. The universal dimmer is capable of dimming the output from linear and non-linear loads using AC power line phase angle control to vary output power of linear and non-linear loads, ranging from regular linear loads such as incandescent lamps, to non-linear loads, such as LED lamps, compact fluorescent lights (CFLs'), etc. as well as linear loads with large phase shift, that is, inductive and capacitive loads.