12-Volt Vacuum Fluorescent Display Drive Circuitry for Electronically Tuned Radios

The trend towards battery voltage vacuum fluorescent displays continues the technological advances in design and construction of VFD's, as they are applied to the automobile environment. With the ever increasing use of electronic displays for electronically tuned radios (ETR's), compact disc (CD) players, and other entertainment systems, advances in battery voltage displays and their associated drive circuitry have become a necessity. With the inherent advantages of low voltage operation and high information density, VFD's will continue to dominate the automobile audio markets.

This paper will discuss battery voltage displays, the basic circuitry necessary to operate a vacuum fluorescent display, and comment on the “off the shelf” controller and driver circuitry available.