High-power LED Shunt Protection using Zener diodes with constant-current LED Driver

Question

I'm about to build a custom high-power lamp. The lamp will operate a total of 60 high-power LEDs (operating point: 2800mA @3.1V per led) connected in series.

The original plan was to have the LEDs driven by a high-power constant-current LED driver, saving complexity in the circuit and ensuring that - since the same current is passed through each LED - all of them will be lit with the same intensity. Moreover, the constant-current driver also acts as a protection against short-circuit failure of the LEDs, because would any of them fail short it will adapt its terminal voltage to achieve the set current automatically, avoiding thermal runaway of the whole string.

However, what I'm not able to do is to identify a suitable protection for the LEDs failing open. Indeed, since there are many LEDs in the array and they are connected in series, I'd like the array to keep working even if some of them fails open.

I surveyed the market but found no component to achieve LED open protection. Indeed, most components designed for that purpose can't operate at such high values of current (2800 mA) and the same applies for the majority of Zener diodes I found. Therefore, my idea was to employ a Zener nodes + a NPN transistor in parallel with the LED.

The principle of operations should be that, once the LED fails open, the current regulator senses a high resistance and adjusted the terminal ∆V according. Once the voltage drop across the Zener becomes higher than its breakdown voltage, it allows a current flowing to the base of the transistor, opening up the collector-emitter line. This way the Zener diode is dissipating much less power, and most current is carried by the transistor (conversely, high-current transistor are easily found on the market).

I tried this circuit on Falstad and it seems to work; however, I'd like to have other opinions on this application because I'm worried about the model used in Falstad for the Zener/NPN Transistor being too simplistic, making me missing something I shouldn't.

Moreover, do I need additional resistances in the sub-circuit despite working in constant-current?

^{simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab}

Answer 1

On the face of it what you propose is valid, but it does add significant cost and complexity. I’ve designed a number of commercial LED products and don’t recall ever seeing a LED fail to open circuit though. The 2N3904 that you’ve specified won’t handle the current or power, as you’re probably aware; you’ll need something that can handle more than the 10W rating if the LED, as the zener voltage + Vbe drop must necessarily be somewhat higher than the LED forward voltage.