Current fed self oscillating electronic ballast design with push pull inverter

Abstract

Electronic ballasts are commonly used due to several advantages; among electronic ballasts, self oscillating electronic ballasts are not only simple and cheap but also have high efficiency because of zero voltage switching technique. Current and voltage fed topologies are commonly used in electronic ballasts. When both topologies are compared, current fed has better start up transient response. In this study, current fed push pull inverter circuit is designed for three 36W T8 fluorescent lamps. In the design, push pull transformer is wounded on a partition bobbin. Although it has the advantages of easy and reliable production for industrial automation and lowering the cost of the circuit, the coupling between the coils is considerably weak. Because of this, the weak coupling is taken into account in the design. The design has agreement with experimental and simulation results.