Modeling the warm-up phase of a high-pressure-lamps lighting network

This work presents a study of the dynamic regime of a lamp-network interaction corresponding to the warm-up phase of a high-pressure mercury discharge lamp. The lamp´s behavior is described by a variable pressure model using the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) concept. Indeed, this model covers the most interesting phase of the network dynamic regime, where discharge lamps appreciably impose their nonlinearity. We first analyze the electrical behavior of the discharge lamp in a single phase circuit, taking into account the ballast saturation. Then a micronetwork is studied and are show the influence of the discharge´s evolution on currents in phases and neutral conductors. Finally, from the results of the physical model, we set up a simple parametric modeling which reproduces the electrical behavior of the lamp during its warm-up phase. Such an approach can be useful for electrical engineers working on the discharge supply circuits at industrial frequency (50-60 Hz)