Electronic Ballast, Neon Lighting (EB)

Overview

An electronic ballast is a component which combines a high voltage charger to light a fluorescent lamp and a control system to make lighting status stable. Some fluorescent lights have a multiple lighting level control. An existing fluorescent lighting ballast consists of a number of discrete semiconductor devices. However, the increasing demand of energy savings has meant that the discrete devices that formed the controlling element of the ballast are being replaced by microcontrollers. For larger systems the lighting may be controlled remotely over a communications bus such as DALI (Digitally Addressable Lighting Interface).

Renesas' range of 8-bit microcontrollers, which have a strong track record in inverter control, are ideally suited for modern lighting ballast control systems.