New ballast may start CFL revolution
New ballast may start CFL revolution
A new power-supply circuit from the small French electronics firm HBI marks the birth of a new generation of CFLs with drastically reduced size, excellent power quality characteristics, and low price. A new CFL production line based on HBI technology, with an output of 1 million lamps per month, will start operating in France in September 1998.
The ballast can be made extremely small. A prototype version is housed in the metal E27 (Edison) screw-base of the lamp (photo above). Meanwhile, a lamp with a larger hybrid version of the ballast consisting of only three components (an 8-pin single-in-line circuit, a coil, and a choke) will be produced in the French factory, according to HBI.
The company claims that the new circuit also can be used to produce miniature self-compensated ballasts for linear fluorescent lamps and extremely efficient low-voltage transformers for halogen 12-V lamps, etc. The circuit could also become important in other applications that are not related to lighting: If used as an ac/dc power supply in electronic appliances, operating losses could be reduced, and the stand-by power consumption could drop below 0.15 watt.
New alliances
Development of the new HBI ballast started in 1996, and the new lamp design was tested in close cooperation with the giant French utility EDF. However, EDFÕs interest never materialized into a real commercial commitment, and HBI had a Chinese plant produce a small quantity of lamps (about 100 000 per month) which were sold in French supermarkets at a price of FF39 (~US$ 5.50). The lamps sold out quickly.
HBI is now cooperating with a large French electronics firm (the name of the firm has not yet been announced) which has formed an independent company with a plant in the city of Tours that will produce the new lamps under license. Lamps will be produced primarily for the French market and sold in various supermarket stores. The French-built lamp should retail at a similar price as that of the Chinese version.
The lamp to be produced in France will be about the same size as a standard CFL. However, the power quality characteristics are much better than those of most CFLs available on the market (GE and Irish Lumin8 also produce a high power quality lamp). The new French lamp will have a power factor of 0.99 (1 being the maximum) and a total harmonic distortion (THD) of less than ten percent. Another difference is that the ballast operates at 100 kHz, whereas other electronic ballasts typically operate at frequencies between 20 and 50 kHz. Although most consumers could care less about such differences, the excellent power characteristics in combination with the low price could encourage electric utilities and other agencies to use the lamp in their market transformation programs.
Since production at the new factory has not started yet, it will take some time before any lamps become available for independent testing. However, HBI claims that the lamp specification meets all international testing criteria, including the tougher power quality criteria for larger linear fluorescent ballasts (see IAEEL Newsletter 3-4/95) .
Smaller than small
The new lamp poses a formidable challenge to established lamp-makers: Since the ballast consists of so few components it should be possible to produce a lamp that is much cheaper than current electronic CFLs on the market, and since the lamp is European-made it will be difficult for the big manufacturers to refer to it as a cheap far-Eastern import. Obviously, quality will be a crucial factor.
The greatest challenge is still to come, however. Since the next generation of the ballast is so small that it can be housed in the screw-base of the lamp, the lamp«s length can be shortened substantially. According to HBI, it may take at least a year before production of the new miniature ballast can get under way.
Officially the response of the large manufacturers has been cool, but according to HBI at least two global lamp manufacturers have shown extremely keen interest in licensing the technology. This has been confirmed by independent sources with good insight into the process.
The small size of the ballast would also make it an ideal electronic ballast for dedicated CFL luminaires.
Nils Borg
For further information, contact
HBI, Tel: + 33 2 47 20 73 33
Fax: + 33 2 47 05 39 55