Adaptive ballast control chip for CFL

30 June 2004 Power Electronics / Power Management

International Rectifier's IR2520D is a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) ballast control IC that can adapt to changing supply voltage, frequency and lamp conditions to increase lamp life and reliability. All necessary ballast features are integrated into a single 8-pin DIP or SOIC, it says. The IR2520D includes a novel zero voltage switching (ZVS) circuit that maintains soft switching, regardless of supply voltage, frequency and lamp conditions, and includes internal crest factor over-current protection and an integrated bootstrap diode. It has a voltage-controlled oscillator with an externally programmable minimum frequency. Other common ballasts that use self-oscillating bipolar transistor solutions are very simple, but are not self-starting, and require additional components and circuitry such as DIACs and free-wheeling diodes. Key specs: 250/400 mA output drive; 15,6 V Zener diode clamp on Vcc, startup less than 300 µA; built-in 30 to 125 kHz oscillator. The IC also features advanced fault and protection circuitry.

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