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Fluorescent lamps are in general driven by ac ballasting currents. The cyclic variation in arc discharging power results in light fluctuation at twice the frequency of the ac current. Light fluctuation may be intolerable when a steady light output is required in some particular applications. To eliminate light fluctuation, an electronic ballast with dc current is proposed to operate the fluorescent lamp at a constant power. The main power conversion of the electronic ballast employs the single-stage high-power-factor inverter, which is originated from a combination of the half-bridge resonant inverter and the buck-boost converter. With such a circuit configuration, the output power can be regulated by asymmetrical pulse-width-modulation. The ac output of the inverter is then rectified and filtered to provide the dc ballasting current. Driven by dc current, however, the fluorescent lamp emits electrons unilaterally from one end leading to wearing out of emission material on the cathode filament. To solve this problem, an inverter is integrated for commutation of the lamp electrodes. Furthermore, a preheating control is included to start the fluorescent lamps with zero glow-current. A prototype is designed and built for the OSRAM T5-80W fluorescent lamp. The dc operating characteristics of starting transient, light fluctuation, lighting spectra, color temperature as well as the light fluctuation are investigated from experiments. Experimental results also show that the electronic ballast is capable of high-power-factor, dimming capability and zero glow-current preheating.

A flash lighting circuit with the fluorescent lamp is designed to produce lighting flicker by means of controlling the operating frequency and the duty-ratio of the lamp voltage and current. The intensity of the flash lighting is adjusted by the DC-link voltage of the electronic ballast circuit. The circuit structure is mainly composed of the class-D series-resonant inverter, the full-bridge rectifier, the LC filter and the commutation circuit. A control circuit with complex programmable logic device (CPLD) is used to accomplish the regulation of the operating frequency and the duty-ratio, which should be carefully controlled to ensure a stable lighting arc. In the meantime, a flash lighting detected circuit is designed to transform the flash lighting into a voltage signal. Experiment tests are conducted to human visual perception to demonstrate the applicability of the flash lighting circuit.

A single-stage high-power-factor electronic ballast is designed for fluorescent lamps with dimming capability. The circuit configuration is originated from the integration of the half-bridge resonant inverter and the buck-boost converter. The buck-boost converter is designed to operate in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) to provide nearly unit power factor at a fixed switching frequency. With asymmetrical pulse-width-modulation (APWM), the lamp power can be effectively regulated. The power switches of the inverter exhibit either zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) or zero-current-switching (ZCS) over the whole dimming range. Design equations are derived and computer analyses are performed based on a power-dependent lamp model and fundamental approximation. Design guidelines for determining circuit parameters are provided. A prototype circuit for a T8-36W fluorescent lamp is built and tested to verify the analytical predictions.

To minimize the size of the electronic ballast, a half-bridge load- resonant inverter with a cascading Rosen-type piezoelectric transformer (PT) is designed for cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs). The electrical characteristics of the PT are investigated to obtain a higher voltage gain by adapting the load impedance to the interposed network. The circuit parameters are selected under the considerations of (1) the minimum inductor size, (2) the higher circuit efficiency, (3) the rated current of the PT, and (4) the stable lamp operation. The electronic ballasts are designed for operating the lamp at the rated lamp power and with dimming control by asymmetrical pulse-width-modulation (APWM),respectively. Laboratory circuits are assembled and, experimental tests are carried out to validate the theoretical analyse

A single-stage high-power-factor electronic ballast with class E inverter is proposed for driving the fluorescent lamp. The circuit configuration is obtained from the integration of a buck-boost converter for power-factor- correction (PFC) and a class E resonant inverter for ballasting. The integrated ballast circuit requires only one active power switch and simple control. Operating the buck-boost converter in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) at a fixed frequency, the electronic ballast can achieve nearly unity power factor. With pulse-width-modulation (PWM), the electronic ballast can provide an appropriate filament current for preheating, a high voltage for ignition, and then a desired lamp current for steady-state operation. An additional control circuit is included to eliminate the glow current during preheating stage. The operation of the ballast-lamp circuit is analyzed by fundamental approximation. Computer simulations are made and design equations are derived on basis of the power-dependent resistance model of the fluorescent lamp. With carefully designed circuit parameters, the active power switch can be switched on at zero current to reduce the switching losses leading to a higher efficiency. An experimental circuit designed for a PL-27W compact fluorescent lamp is built and tested to verify the computer simulations and analytical predictions. Experimental results show that satisfactory performances can be obtained on the proposed electronic ballast.

This thesis proposes a single-stage high-power-factor electronic ballast with series-resonant inverter for rapid-start fluorescent lamps with zero glow current during preheating period. A buck-boost converter is integrated into the ballast as the power-factor-corrector. Two auxiliary windings are wound on the same core of the buck-boost inductor for filament heating. During the preheating period, the buck-boost converter is initiated while the series-resonant inverter is disabled by controlling the corresponding active power switches. Due to zero voltage across the lamp, the glow current can be effectively eliminated. As the filaments reach appropriate emission temperature, the series-resonant inverter is activated. The lamp is then ignited and consequently operated at the rated lamp power. Circuit analyses and experimental tests of the proposed preheating control scheme are carried out on an electronic ballast for a T8-40W rapid-start fluorescent lamp.

For a back-light module with multiple cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) in mid-size or large size liquid crystal displays, a balance scheme must be included to have approximately equal currents among the lamps and hence to output equal brightness. In this thesis, a half-bridge inverter is adopted to drive multiple step-up transformers with the same turn ratio, in which the primary windings of the transformers are connected in series whereas the second windings drive CCFLs in parallel. Due to the series connection of the transformer sets, the current going through the primary windings is identical, so that the lamp currents from second windings tend to be equal. A driver circuit with the proposed scheme is designed for 8 U-type cold cathode fluorescent lamps in a 32-inch backlight module. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the balance scheme, even for the lamps operating at low current.

This dissertation proposes a new starting profile with some modifications to the definition of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to interpret the starting process of fluorescent lamps driven by high- frequency electronic ballasts. To identify the times of preheating, ignition, and steady-state, the staring transient waveforms of lamp voltages as well as the lamp currents are scrutinized from the experiments on a diversity of ballasting techniques. A glow-to-arc transition is considered to account for the stage between glow discharging and a stable lamp arc. In addition, the filament preheating is not limited to the constant voltage but can be current preheating which is more commonly used in commercial products. By the new definition, the glow current and the glow-to-arc current can be calculated to evaluate the lamp starting performance. The applicability of the starting profile is confirmed experimentally by the instant-start, preheat-start, rapid-start, modified rapid-start, and programmable rapid-start schemes.

A high-frequency half-bridge series resonant inverter with multiple output transformers is developed for driving multiple cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) with dimming feature. The primary sides of the transformers are connected in series with the resonant inverter to have an identical current, while the secondary sides are loaded by CCFLs with galvanic isolation to each other. To ensure a high circuit efficiency, the active power switches of the inverter are designed to be switched on at zero voltage. The resonant current of the inverter can be regulated by controlling the switching frequency of the inverter, so that all CCFLs can be dimmed simultaneously. On the other hand, the primary sides of the output transformers are associated with parallel switches to dim the CCFLs individually. These dimming switches are operated at a low frequency by integral cycle control with zero current switching (ZCS) to reduce the switching losses. The resonant circuit is tactfully designed to alleviate the variation of the resonant current caused by the switching of dimming switches. A laboratory circuit is built for driving 5 CCFLs. The intended circuit performances are confirmed by test results. The variation of the resonant current is less than 10% when the dimming switches are switching, and the measured efficiency for the circuit is 96.15% under the rated powers.