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With the global concerns on the issue of how to conserve the limited energy resources, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have been forced in a lot of countries to replace the power-hungry incandescent lamps to reduce the energy cost. However, conventional passive power factor corrected electronic ballasts used in CFLs suffer two major drawbacks: 1) they are unable to achieve close-to-unity power factor and 2) they are unable to provide the same amount of light intensity under fluctuating line voltage. This paper proposed a simple lamp power regulation method for a very high-power factor single-switch electronic ballast, which allows the electronic ballast to maintain almost constant lamp power at its full-power condition for a wide range of the input voltage by controlling the dc-link voltage of the ballast power circuit through duty ratio control. When a TRIAC phase-cut dimmer is used to dim the CFL, the dc-link voltage regulation control loop is deactivated; so that the lamp power decreases accordingly during dimming. The analysis and operating principles of the controller are discussed in this paper. MATLAB, PSIM simulation, and experimental results are provided to highlight the merits of the proposed work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel multifunctional controller for a dimmable high-power-factor single-switch electronic ballast that can be used with standard phase-cut dimmers. Conventional dimmable electronic ballasts lack the ability to 1) provide smooth dimming and maintain high power factor when phase-cut dimmers are used and 2) regulate the lamp power when the input line voltage varies. A digital controller with multiple control functions is proposed in this paper. The proposed controller allows high power factor to be achieved by controlling the duty cycle during dimming with standard phase-cut dimmers. On the other hand, when dimming is not required, the lamp power is regulated through the regulation of the dc-link voltage. Additional control functions, such as lamp low-power cutoff operation, and protection function are also implemented inside the digital controller. The descriptions of the controller operating principles and its logic flow diagrams are provided in this paper. PSIM simulation and experimental results are provided on a 13-W compact fluorescent lamp to highlight the merits of the proposed work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel single-stage single-switch electronic ballast topology with a unity power factor is presented in this paper. The proposed circuit consists of an integrated buck–boost stage that operates in the discontinuous conduction mode to provide a high power factor and a single-switch current-fed resonant inverter to stabilize the lamp current. The proposed topology presents a low cost and compact electronic ballast design method. The detailed descriptions of the circuit's operating principles are provided in this paper. The design equations and mathematical analysis regarding the proposed circuit are discussed in this paper. The proposed ballast has been tested with an 18-W compact fluorescent lamp, and the experimental results confirmed that a very high power factor of 0.995 and an efficiency of 83.4% have been achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A single-stage dimmable electronic ballast with very high power factor and high efficiency is presented in this paper. A compact lamp power circuit is designed by integrating a buck-boost power factor corrector with a current-fed resonant inverter. This integration produces a single power-processing unit that minimizes the number of circuit components. The proposed resonant inverter reduces the circulating current in the resonant tank and allows simple gate drivers to be used so that isolation devices can be eliminated. With the buck-boost stage operating in the discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), a close-to-unity power factor is achieved for different lamp-power conditions. A small-signal analysis is presented, and a simple variable frequency controller is developed using the modified 555 timer to provide dimming operations. Simulation and experimental waveforms are provided to highlight the merits of the proposed circuit for a 40-W compact fluorescent lamp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]