Single electronic ballast for HPS and HPMV lamp testing

This paper describes the analysis and design of an electronic ballast devised to drive both, high pressure sodium vapor (HPS) and high pressure mercury vapor (HPMV) lamps, in dimmed operation with no need of parameter modification. The main objective is to achieve weight and volume reduction of a public lighting components bench test equipment, used to perform basic operational tests in a Brazilian electric utility company. Specifically, the analysis, design and implementation of an electronic ballast, based on a series-parallel loaded resonant inverter, for 70W HPS and 125W HPMV lamps testing is presented. Experimental results from a lab prototype, performing high intensity discharge (HID) lamp tests in dimmed operation and no discharge arc instability, evidences the feasibility of the proposed ballast concerning the intended application.