4
Theory of Operation
Electroluminescent (EL) lamps are essentially capacitors with one transparent electrode and a special phosphor
material in the dielectric. When a strong AC voltage is applied across the EL lamp electrodes, the phosphor
glows. The required AC voltage is typically not present in most systems and must be generated from a low
voltage DC source.
The D305A IC inverter drives the EL lamp by using a switching transistor to repeatedly charge an external
inductor and discharge it to the high voltage capacitor Cs. The discharging causes the voltage at Cs to
continually increase. The internal circuitry uses the H-bridge technology, using both electrodes to drive the
EL lamp. One of the outputs, Va or Vb, is used to discharge Cs into the EL lamp during the first half of the
low frequency (LF) cycle. By alternating the state of the H-bridge, the other output is used to charge the EL
lamp during the second half of the LF cycle. The alternating states make it possible to achieve 400V peak-
to-peak across the EL lamp.
The EL driving system is divided into several parts: on-chip logic control, on-chip high voltage output
circuitry, on-chip discharge logic circuitry, and off-chip components. The on-chip logic controls the lamp
operating frequency (LF) and the inductor switching frequency (HF). These signals are used to drive the
high voltage output circuitry (H-bridge) by delivering the power from the inductor to the lamp. The integrated
discharge logic circuitry uses a patented wave shaping technique for reducing audible noise from an EL
lamp. Changing the Rd value changes the slope of the linear discharge as well as the shape of the waveform.
The off-chip component selection provides a degree of flexibility to accommodate various lamp sizes, system
voltages, and brightness levels.
Typical D305A EL driving configurations for driving EL lamps in various applications are shown on the
following page. The expected system outputs for the various circuit configurations are also shown with each
respective figure. These examples are only guides for configuring the driver. Durel provides a D305A
Designer's Kit, which includes a printed circuit evaluation board intended to aid you in developing an EL
lamp driver configuration using the D305A that meets your requirements. A section on designing with the
D305A is included in this datasheet to serve as a guide to help you select the appropriate external components
to complete your D305A EL driver system.
Block Diagram of the Driver Circuitry