Microcontrolled electronic gear for HID lamps comparisons with electromagnetic ballast

This paper presents an electronic control gear for high intensity discharge (HID) lamps that operates with a low frequency current inverter to drive the lamp, a DC-DC buck converter to control the power and lamp current, and a power factor pre-regulator based on a discontinuous conduction mode boost converter. The signals of all power stages are provided by a dedicated microcontroller. An overview of the lamp operation phases, the strategies to avoid acoustic resonance in the electronic ballast and the operation of electromagnetic ballasts are mentioned. A 70 W prototype without acoustic resonance and stroboscope effect was implemented and the results of the proposed electronic ballast and a conventional one are compared.