Houston, Tex. — Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) offers the TMS320C2000 Piccolo microcontroller (MCU) DC/DC LED Developer’s Kit that enable developers to design intelligence and advanced features into lighting applications. The kit includes complete hardware and software needed to digitally control up to 8 LED strings plus digital power supply with single Piccolo MCU.
Developers can leverage the performance of low-cost Piccolo MCUs to differentiate LED designs with advanced features such as dimming, color tone adjustment, power line communication and fault detection, while also reducing system cost through the integrated control of LED and power stages using a single Piccolo MCU.
TI said the kit is easily adaptable for different design needs, as it supports multiple power configuration options, modular Piccolo controlCARDs and a detachable LED panel. The DC/DC LED Developer’s Kit comes complete with all of the open source hardware and software needed to design energy-efficient LED electronics, including backlighting, street lighting and building automation lighting.
Key specs:
- Piccolo F28035 controlCARD provides 60 MHz of 32-bit performance, 14 PWM outputs, a 12-bit, 4.6 megasample-per-second ADC, and 128 KB of flash memory to support advanced lighting features
- Digitally controlled buck/boost DC/DC 12-24V power conversion stage allows developers to adjust voltage to match varying LED configurations
- 8 independent 5 watt LED strings allow unique current sensing for features like individual brightness adjustment and blown string detection
- Onboard isolated XDS100 USB JTAG emulation simplifies debugging and programming while reducing system cost
- Easy-to-use, open source controlSUITE software includes examples for closed loop control of DC/DC power and LED driver stages as well as detailed lab documentation of software structure and functionality
- Modular controlCARD concept allows developers to choose the right C2000 MCU to fit varying price, performance and peripheral requirements
Availability: Available now for order.
Pricing: $379 (part number: TMDSDCDCLEDKIT). controlSUITE software is free and can be immediately accessed at www.ti.com/dcdcledkit-pr-cslp.
Resources: Video overview of DC/DC LED Developer’s Kit, LED Reference Design Cookbook, multi-string LED driver block diagram, general lighting block diagram, TI lighting solutions, and TI’s microcontroller portfolio.