Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems – Current and/or voltage regulation
Patent
1998-09-24
2000-10-24
Wong, Don
Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems
Current and/or voltage regulation
315199, 315209R, G05F 100
Patent
active
061372382
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
For a long time, ferromagnetic ballasts were the only means of operating high-pressure sodium-vapor lamps. These ballasts involved losses ranging from 16% in the best cases to 50% or more, and this led to a considerable waste of electrical energy, which was manifested as heat generated in the ballasts and radiated both to the environment and to the other components that were part of the unit, such as the lamp ignitor starting circuit and the power-factor correction capacitor. In addition to having considerable weight due to their basic iron and copper construction, ferromagnetic ballasts produce a harmonic distortion upwards of 20%. In order to obtain ignition, these ballasts apply high-voltage pulses to the lamp ranging from 2500 to 5000 volts, at a frequency of 120 to 240 pulses per second; these pulses can damage the lamp when an attempt is made to re-light it while it is hot, since it cannot be re-lighted until it is cool.
Although they are called self-regulated, ferromagnetic ballasts which attempt to supply regulated energy to the lamp with respect to line voltage changes, they cannot do this very well, since they increase or decrease the power consumption of the ballast-lamp unit, as well as the amount of light produced, in accordance with the respective increase or decrease in the input voltage. Due to the aforementioned problem, a Regulating Trapezoid was created, which defines the limits that restrict the operation of the lamp and the ballast in this type of system. These limits have been established by organizations such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), wherein the power of the lamp is plotted as a function of its voltage. This graph is known as the characteristic curve of the ballast and it is established in accordance with the input voltage to the ballast-lamp unit; therefore, if the input voltage of the unit varies, a new ballast characteristic curve must be plotted, and for this reason, in ballasts known so far, there is an endless number of curves as the input voltage varies, and thus it is impossible to determine an average power consumption for the ballast-lamp unit.
Ferromagnetic ballasts supply electrical energy to the lamp at a frequency of 60 Hz, which is equal to that of the input line, producing an important stroboscopic effect at this frequency. These ballasts do not have an integrated photocell, and therefore, this device must be added to the unit as an accessory, in order to obtain automatic control of the switching-on and/or switching-off function.
There are also electronic ballasts for operating high-pressure sodium-vapor lamps as described in Patent Application 9601018. These ballasts overcome some important disadvantages of the ferromagnetic ballast technology, considering their compact size, light weight, and even more importantly, their extremely high electrical efficiency.
However, they produce a large amount of harmonic distortion, they are not regulated, and have no overvoltage protection for the case in which they are connected to a voltage that is higher than the maximum nominal voltage or if there is a line-fault. In addition, they have an infinite number of ballast characteristic curves depending on the variations in the input voltage.
In order to eliminate these and other disadvantages, we developed the present high-performance self-regulated electronic ballast with a single characteristic curve to operate high-pressure sodium-vapor lamps, which we intend to protect by means of this patent application, since it is a sufficiently novel device. This ballast is provided unique regulating characteristics, high electrical efficiency, a unitary power factor, low harmonic distortion, a single characteristic curve, energy savings, a high ballast efficiency factor, and a significant decrease in the stroboscopic effect; it also provides protection, and improves lamp usage.
The operating method of this efficient electronic ballast is clearly demonstrated in the following description, with the help of the accompanying figures, and it can be applied to all hi
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Alvarez Eduardo Salman
Lopez Arturo Hernandez
Rodriguez Nefi Sifuentes
Tran Chuc
Wong Don
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