Power factor correction circuit for low-cost electronic ballast using current-source type

Introduction. With the adoption of standards such as IEC555-2, there is a need to develop electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamps which can perform line current harmonic reduction and high input power factor correction (PFC). Among various filtering techniques, the active power factor corrector with a tioost converter has, been proven to be effective [l 31. The boost-type PFC circuit is one of the most popular configurations due to aiivantages such as llow ripple and good regulation of DC-link voltage, low flickering, etc. Nevertheless, the boost converter circuits lead to higher circuit complexity and thus higher product cost. In an attempt to search for a lower cost and less complex solutiorl, cost-effective electronic ballasts with high power factor have beeri proposed [l ~ 31. When discharge lamps, such as fluorescent lamps, have to be driven in parallel with more than two connected, a current source ratlher than a voltage source drive is more suitable, and a new lowcost high PFC circuit for current-source type electronic ballast is needed. In this Letter, a new power factor corrector combined with a charge-pumping capacitor pair [l] and CS-PPRI [ 31 is presented. This power factor corrector is capable of drawing high quality current waveform from an AC power line by inserting a pair of capacitors connected to the inverter and two DC-capacitors combined with secondary-side of current transformer.