Designing a dimmable high power factor electronic ballast for fluorescent lamps

A comparison between three common types of electronic ballasts with dimming feature is made, the advantages and disadvantages of each type are highlighted and, based on practical measurements, a new low-cost single stage high power factor electronic ballast with dimming feature is presented in this paper. The dimming feature is carried out by the variation of the switching frequency, and the driver circuit is made with the self-oscillating half-bridge driver IR2151.