Design of a Light Chamber for the Characterisation of Flicker Behaviour of Lamps

This paper presents the design of a light chamber which can be used to investigate the flicker behaviour of various types of lamps. Using this system, a lamp can be subjected to a controlled voltage waveform while current and illuminance of the lamp are monitored. With the aid of such a voltage source capable of generating voltage fluctuations, including interharmonics and other power quality disturbances, the relationship between waveform and light flux fluctuation can be modelled. Such a system can be easily built with off the shelf equipment, but the cost would be prohibitive. To circumvent this problem, the design has been based on a combination of custom hardware, generic hardware and the LabVIEW software. The paper focuses on the various trade offs of the design as well as its initial usage with incandescent lamps and shows the how the system can be used for the verification of the model that describes the flicker behaviour of the lamp.