An energy-recyclable burn-in technology for electronic ballasts for HID lamps

Eco-friendly electronic products can help save the environment by using less electricity. However, saving energy is not only about reducing the electricity consumption of a product; it should also encompass the electricity consumed in the production process. After a product is assembled, it has to go through a burn-in process for weeding out infant mortalities and thus improving the product reliability. The use of energy-recycling in the burn-in process is popular nowadays in the power supply industry. Existing burn-in process for electronic ballasts is conducted by connecting lamps or resistors at their output. All electrical energy is converted into heat and light. Not only does this method waste electricity, it also raises room temperatures in the factory, which results in installing ventilation systems to release the excessive heat. This paper presents an energy-recyclable burn-in technology for electronic ballast for HPS lamps. The device can emulate the lamp characteristics, process high-frequency ballast output power and recycle the power back into the grid. An experimental prototype for a 400W high-pressure sodium (HPS) electronic ballast is built and evaluated.