Contributions to the design and control of LCsCp resonant inverters to drive high-power HPS lamps

This paper presents the design criteria for full-bridge series-parallel (LC_sC_p) resonant inverters suitable for driving high-power high-intensity discharge lamps. By using the properties derived from the transfer functions of the inverter, a soft startup method is proposed. The lamp ignition is carried out maintaining the voltage and current variables below prefixed peak values, with the addition of no extra components to the power stage for this purpose. In steady-state operation, the proposed control minimizes the reactive voltamperes in the resonant tank. Moreover, the variation of the power delivered to the lamp, caused by the lamp aging, is limited in order to fulfil the standard. This design provides cost-effective circuits, simplifying the DC-AC power stage of an electronic ballast. The experimental results are given for high-pressure sodium lamps of the Sylvania SHP250W type