Novel Fault Tolerant DC-DC Converter Architecture for LED Lighting Systems Operating in DC Microgrids

The ever-increasing evidences showing the benefits related to the transition to a more sustainable framework of energy distribution at buildings, based on DC microgrids, calls for the development of suitable technologies. Residential lighting systems based on LED technologies gain further significance as these technologies become mature. Unfortunately, power electronic technologies used to drive LED lighting systems are unable to correspond with the longevity levels of LED devices. Particularly, active semiconductors pose one of the major hurdles to the full exploitation of the LED lifetime. Accordingly, the development of reliable LED driving systems, capable of fully exploiting the lifetime of LEDs, becomes critical. Keeping in mind that adoption of DC microgrids at homes and offices is a scenario that is rapidly taking shape, it is important to develop power conversion solutions for such end. This paper proposes a fault tolerant LED driving system, based on a DC-DC converter, suitable for residential DC microgrids.