Investigation of losses in commercially available self-resonant ballasts for compact fluorescent lamps

Commercially available integrated Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) use self-resonant electronic ballasts on grounds of cost. To improve ballast efficiency, it is necessary to quantify the losses. The losses occurring in these ballasts have been directly measured using a precision mini-calorimeter. In addition, a PSPICE model has been used to simulate the performance of an 18 W integrated CFL. The lamp has been represented by a behavioral model and the Jiles-Atherton equations were used to model the current transformer. The predicted loss is in close agreement with measurements from calorimetry, confirming the accuracy of the model. The total loss was then disaggregated into component losses by simulation.