HID-lighting-technology fundamentals A better understanding of the fundamentals of HID (high-intensity-discharge) lam ps will lead to improvements in the design of the

electronic ballast used to pow er them. Tom Ribarich, International Rectifier -- EDN, October 21, 2010 With the industry spotlight focused intensely on LEDs, HID (high-intensity-disch arge) lighting is still widely used for many outdoor architectural and general-p urpose lighting applications. These lamps are popular due to their high efficacy (120 lumens/watt), long lifetime (20,000 hours), and excellent color rendering. The electrical properties of HID lamps are unique, and little know-how exists i n the industry on their fundamental characteristics and behavior. This article e xplains the fundamentals of how HID lamps work, their electrical characteristics , and how to properly control them. HID technology HID lamps produce light using a technique similar to that used in fluorescent la mps, where mercury atoms are excited by an electrical current resulting in the p roduction of UV (ultraviolet) light. The UV light is then converted into visible light through a phosphor coating on the inside of the tube. In the case of HID lamps, they operate at a high temperature and high pressure, the arc length is v ery short, and visible light is produced directly without the need for a phospho r. Metal halide lamps consist of an arc tube surrounded by an outer "bulb" envelope (Figure 1). The arc tube is made of quartz or ceramic glass, has tungsten elect rodes located at each end, and contains a mixture of argon, mercury, and metal h alide salts. Metal halide is added to the lamp to increase lumens and improve th e light color. The lamp is started by applying a high-voltage pulse across the tube to ionize t he argon gas. Once the gas is fully ionized, a sustained arc extends from one el ectrode to another, and current (supplied by a ballast) flows across the tube. A s the pressure and temperature inside the tube increase, the materials within th e arc tube vaporize, and light is emitted in the form of visible light and UV ra diation. The outer "bulb" envelope provides a stable thermal environment for the arc tube, prevents oxidation of the arc tube, and reduces the amount of UV radi ation emitted by the lamp. HID-lamp requirements HID lamps require a high voltage for ignition (3 to 4 kV typical, >20 kV if the lamp is hot), current limitation during warm-up, and a constant power while runn ing. It is important to have a tight regulation of lamp power to minimize lamp-t o-lamp color and brightness variations. Also, HID lamps are driven with a low-fr equency ac voltage (<200 Hz typical) to avoid mercury migration and to prevent d amage of the lamp due to acoustic resonance. A typical metal halide 250W HID lam p has the following requirements: nominal wattage of 250W, nominal voltage of 10 0V rms, nominal current of 2.5A rms, warm-up time of 2 minutes, and ignition vol tage of 4000V pk. Figure 2 shows the typical start-up profile for HID lamps. Before ignition, the lamp is open circuit. After the lamp ignites, the lamp voltage drops quickly fro m the open-circuit voltage to a very low value (20V typical) due to the low resi stance of the lamp. This causes the lamp current to increase to a very high valu e and should therefore be limited to a safe maximum level (current limitation). As the lamp warms up, the current decreases as the voltage and power increase. E ventually the lamp voltage reaches its nominal value (100V typical), and the pow er is regulated to a constant level. In order to satisfy the lamp requirements and different operating modes, an elec tronic ballast circuit is needed that ignites the lamp, controls lamp power, and

produces an ac lamp voltage. HID ballast circuit topology A typical HID electronic ballast block diagram includes EMI filtering to block b allast-generated noise, a bridge rectifier to convert the ac mains voltage to a full-wave rectified voltage, a boost PFC stage for performing active power facto r correction and generating a constant dc bus voltage, a step-down buck converte r for controlling the lamp current, a full-bridge output stage for ac operation of the lamp, and an ignition circuit for striking the lamp (Figure 3). A control circuit or IC is necessary for controlling the buck and full-bridge stages and properly managing the different lamp operating and failure modes. This is curren tly one of the most standard approaches to powering HID lamps. The boost PFC stage performs active power factor correction so that the input cu rrent to the ballast at the ac mains has the same phase and shape as the mains i nput voltage. This stage also maintains a constant dc bus voltage (400V dc typic al) over a wide input line voltage and load range. Two popular control methods f or the PFC stage include critical-conduction mode or continuous-conduction mode, and many different control ICs are readily available on the market for performi ng this function. The buck stage is the main control circuit of the ballast and is used to control the lamp current and power (Figure 4). The buck converter steps the dc bus volt age down to the lower lamp voltage (100V typical during steady state) at the ful l-bridge. The lamp voltage and current are measured and multiplied together to p roduce a lamp power measurement. The lamp power measurement is then fed back to control the on-time of the buck switch (MBUCK). During the on-time, current is s upplied to the full-bridge through the buck MOSFET and inductor as it charges up linearly to a peak. During the off-time, current continues to flow to the fullbridge through the buck diode and inductor as the current ramps back down linear ly to zero. When the current reaches zero, the inductor becomes reset and the vo ltage across the secondary winding transitions quickly to signal the circuit tha t the off-time has ended and to start the next on-time period. The on-time is in creased or decreased continuously by the feedback loop to keep the lamp power co nstant. The full-bridge stage (Figure 5) is necessary to produce an ac lamp current and voltage during running. The full-bridge operates at a low frequency (200 Hz typi cal) and at a duty cycle of 50%. The full-bridge MOSFETs (M1, M2, M3, M4) are op erated in complementary mode such that the lamp voltage and current change polar ity equally each switching cycle. The full-bridge control circuit includes highand low-side gate drive signals for the MOSFETs, as well as an oscillator for c ontrolling frequency, duty cycle, and nonoverlapping dead-times. An ignitor circ uit is also contained within the full-bridge circuit for producing the necessary 4-kV pulses across the lamp for ignition. The buck and full-bridge control circuits can be realized with different multi-I C solutions ranging from discrete analog to microcontrollers. These methods stil l require a large amount of external circuitry due to the high- and low-side gat e drive signals required for the buck and full-bridge stages. A greatly simplifi ed mixed-mode analog solution for a 250W HID lamp utilizes the IRS2573D HID cont rol IC from International Rectifier (Figure 6). This IC includes the complete co ntrol for the lamp, as well as three integrated 600V high- and low-side drivers for the buck and full-bridge circuits. The design also includes the necessary ci rcuits to protect against fault conditions such as failure of the lamp to ignite , failure of the lamp to warm-up, lamp end-of-life, arc instabilities, and open/ short circuit of the output.

Conclusion HID lighting is a growing market with many applications. Outdoor lighting is esp ecially attractive due to the long lifetime and high brightness that these lamps deliver and the enormous energy-saving benefits that electronic ballasts offer. The lamp requirements are critical and the ballast requirements are challenging , making the design of the electronic ballast a difficult task. The circuit topo logy presented in this article is a standard multistage approach that allows for ease of design scalability for different lamp types and power levels. The same platform can also be used for dimming HID lamps and achieving even greater energ y savings.