A lamp power control scheme for dimmable electronic ballasts to minimize the temperature effect on the lamp brightness

A hybrid lamp power control scheme for dimmable electronic ballasts is proposed. Apart from adjusting the brightness of the lamp, the proposed method can also minimize the ambient temperature effect on light output. Instead of regulating the lamp current, the proposed method is based on regulating the power supplying the lamp. First, the dimming operation is achieved by regulating the dc voltage at the ballast inverter input. Second, variation of the lamp power (due to the temperature effect) is regulated by sensing the inverter average input current to adjust the switching frequency of the inverter. An 18 W prototype has been built and tested. The lamp power and luminous output of the prototype at the ambient temperature from 5°C to 35°C have been studied.