Thermalization of the high pressure mercury lamp positive column during the warm-up phase

This work deals with the modeling of high pressure mercury lamp positive column thermalization. Because of the important pressure variation during the start-up phase, the discharge properties change fundamentally before the steady state is reached. For this reason the corresponding pressure range is split into three phases, namely the low pressure, intermediate and high pressure phases, in which interesting simplifications of the simulation can be obtained. A self-consistent collisional-radiative model is used to simulate the first phase. In the second, the model has been modified in order to include the significant reactions of this phase. Finally a LTE model describes the high pressure phase. Partial validation of the models are obtained from the study of the warm-up of a mercury lamp supplied under DC conditions. The results obtained are in good agreement with literature experimental data and, furthermore, allow the discussion of the validity limits for each model