Multi-resonant boost high power factor electronic ballast for compact fluorescent lamps

A novel, low cost, high power factor ballast, referred to as the multi-resonant boost circuit, for compact fluorescent lamps is introduced. With the addition of a passive network consisting of two diodes and a small boosting capacitor a conventional low power factor electronic ballast is enhanced to a high power factor, low THD circuit. A simple lamp current feedback scheme is employed to keep the lamp current crest factor to below 1.7. The paper presents the operation, design and experimental results of the proposed approach for 230 V, 30 W application required to meet the IEC-555-2 specifications