A dynamic collisional-radiative model of a low-pressure mercury-argon discharge lamp: a physical approach to modeling fluorescent lamps for circuit simulations

A dynamic collisional-radiative model of a low-pressure mercury (Hg)-argon (Ar) discharge lamp for application in circuit simulations is presented. The model is implemented in MATLAB as a set of coupled rate equations that are solved simultaneously to give the electron density, the density of the 6/sup 3/P/sub 0,1,2/ states and the electron temperature. These parameters are used to compute the electrical parameters of the discharge positive column and hence the time-dependent voltage-current characteristics of the lamp. The parameters predicted by the model are compared with published experimental data and show good agreement. Calculated lamp voltage-current characteristics based on the model are shown to be in good agreement with direct measurements on commercial fluorescent lamps.