Controls and Control Theory Commons^™

A Novel Discrete Dimming Ballast For Linear Fluorescent Lamps, Haiyan Wang, Ana Vladan Stankovic, Louis Nerone, David Kachmarik

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A novel discrete dimming ballast for linear fluorescent lamps is proposed in this paper. A proposed dimming control circuit is combined with a ballast module for multiple lamps to realize control of three discrete lighting levels. Compared with conventional step dimming or ON-OFF control methods, the proposed discrete dimming method has the following advantages: 1) digital signal is generated by the dimming control circuit to control the lamps' turn- ON and -OFF, which makes the system more reliable and integrated; 2) the proposed discrete dimming system replaces relays, which are necessary in conventional lamp ON-OFF control, and therefore decreases the …