A Simple Sustain Power Conversion Scheme for AC Plasma Display Panel

A simple sustain power conversion scheme for a plasma display panel (PDP) is proposed. The proposed scheme is comprised of two-stage power conversion. The power factor correction circuit converts ac line voltage into dc-link voltage and provides a high power factor while maintaining a constant dc-link voltage. The proposed sustain driver converts the dc-link voltage into the sinusoidal voltage generated by the resonant inverter. Since a sinusoidal voltage is applied to the panel, the charging or discharging surge current can be eliminated without using an energy recovery circuit. Also, the soft switching of the switching devices can be achieved by the resonant tank. Thus, the proposed sustain driver features fewer components and lower electromagnetic interference noise. Moreover, since the proposed sustain driver is implemented with a transformer, the dc-dc converter that is used to generate sustain power in the conventional sustain power conversion scheme can be eliminated. Therefore, the proposed sustain power conversion scheme features a simple structure and low cost. The operation principle and analysis of the proposed circuit is presented in detail. The performance of a 32-inch ac PDP equipped with the proposed driving scheme is investigated. The luminance efficacy of this scheme is over 10% better than that obtained by the conventional sustain driving scheme.