A high-frequency electronic ballast for HID lamps based on a λ/4-long distributed constant line

A novel type of solid-state ballast, which operates in the megahertz-range frequency, is presented in this paper. A circuit composed of a voltage-source half-bridge inverter, a distributed constant line and a parallel LC resonant circuit has been developed for this purpose. The high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp is connected to the output terminal of the inverter through the distributed constant line. Here, since the length of the line is adjusted to 1/4 of the propagation wavelength λ (λ/4 condition), the output voltage of the voltage-source inverter can be converted to a current source on the load side. Therefore, the ballast can supply not only high voltage to the HID lamp for initiating discharge, but also stable current to it during discharge condition. The modification of the proposed circuit is also proposed in order to expand the operating frequency without increasing the undesirable harmonic current. The experimental results from a prototype system verify the theoretical procedure