Reduction of crest factor of electronic ballast for fluorescent lamp using pulse frequency modulation control

Abstract

When electronic ballasts are used for fluorescent lamps, lifetime of the lamp is greatly affected by starting scenario and crest factor. A new method to reduce the crest factor of the lamp is proposed, and the proposed electronic ballast is controlled in the mode of pulse frequency modulation (PFM). Electronic ballasts with 50% valley-fill PFC are dealt with in this paper. The characteristics of electronic ballast with the proposed PFM control scheme are comprehensively investigated through several simulations and experiments.