Microsemi unveils revolutionary driver for LED street light fixtures

ALISO VIEJO, USA: Microsemi Corp. has unveiled a new LED driver designed specifically for North American street light installations. The efficient LXMG221D-0700040-D2F LED driver eliminates bulky step-down transformers typically used in street light fixtures in these markets, providing a single-step conversion from 347VAC or 480VAC down to less than 57VDC as typically required by LED fixtures.

This allows manufacturers to design lighter fixtures, which can lower product development and transportation costs. Unique features include integrated fault detection and management functionality which enable operators to respond more quickly to light fixture failures.

According to estimates from industry analyst firm Strategies Unlimited, the LED street and area lighting market in 2010 was $327 million. The market is expected to increase at a compound annual unit growth rate of approximately 26 percent from 2010 to 2015. North America, Europe and China lead in the deployment of LED lighting technology.

"The deployment of high-performance solid state lighting fixtures is accelerating and customers are beginning to benefit from the improved efficiency and longer lifetimes these products deliver," stated Roger Holliday, VP of Marketing for Microsemi's Analog Mixed Signal Group. "Microsemi's leadership in power conversion and light management, combined with our analog mixed-signal design expertise and unique supply chain setup, is why fixture manufacturers globally are choosing us as their lighting solutions technology partner."

"Street lights often represent one of the highest operating expenses for municipalities because of electricity, maintenance and replacement costs," said Irene Signorino, director of Marketing for Microsemi's Analog Mixed Signal Group. "LEDs help solve this issue by minimizing energy consumption and reducing replacement frequency. If dimming and thermal protection are supported in conjunction with the elimination of the step-down transformer losses as in our new driver, operating costs can be decreased even further."