A timing controllable and polarity tracked igniter for High Intensity Discharge lamp electronic ballast

This paper analyzes the factors which affect the ignition and start-up process of HID lamp and presents an improved ignition topology based on an additional pulse igniter with timing control and polarity track. This igniter could generate the ignition pulse at preset time exactly and simply. And no additional feedback circuit or extra timing devices are used. At the same time, pulse voltage and bus voltage superposing on the lamp are polarity unanimous due to the polarity tracker applied in the igniter. As a result, the ignition process becomes simpler and more effective by using the proposed igniter.