A novel ballast for electrodeless fluorescent lamps

Electrodeless, inductively coupled discharges eliminate the prevailing cause of lamp failure. The torus shaped arc yields a very compact, long life luminary, capable of instant light and fast warm-up. This paper reviews contemporary electrodeless technologies, from a ballast perspective. The focus of the paper is a new, complementary, Class D inverter, its attributes and its design methodology. A frequency shift keying (FSK) technique controls the power applied to the induction coil. Applications include recessed lighting and table lamps.