A novel flicker-free AC-DC LED driver without electrolytic capacitor

In this paper, a novel flicker-free ac/dc LED driver without electrolytic capacitor is presented. The driver comprises a single-stage boost-forward converter and a bidirectional buck-boost converter, which serves to bypass the low frequency ripple. Therefore, electrolytic capacitor is no longer needed. Compared with other electrolytic capacitor-less topologies, the proposed driver has the advantages of almost unity input power factor, less energy storage, less capacitance needed, and constant output current. The operation principle, design process, and control strategy are presented. And the feasibility of the proposed converter is verified by a prototype with 30-V, 1.0-A output.