Battery-Operated Electronic Ballast of Fluorescent Lamps for Photovoltaic Applications

A novel battery-operated electronic ballast of fluorescent lamps for photovoltaic applications is presented in this paper. In order to reserve the electrical power transformed from photovoltaic modules, a battery charger with high performance, low switching losses, low cost and high efficiency should be designed. This paper presents a novel battery charger with electronic ballast which is characterized with simple structure, less component count, small volume, light weight, low cost, high efficiency and high power density. Moreover, the electronic ballast uses a current-sourcing push-pull resonant inverter to supply a 40W fluorescent lamp. This new electronic ballast structure can accept 12V DC voltage input to provide the power that the lamp needs. Derivation and operating principles of the proposed topology are performed. All switches in the system can achieve zero-voltage-switching. Experimental results show the functionality of the overall system as well as prove it to be a good solution for several photovoltaic applications.