A study on luminescence and discharge characteristics of EEFL (External Electrode Fluorescent Lamp) driven by square wave

Abstract

EEFL can be driven by square wave driving method. A square wave is applied directly to both ends of EEFL by cascaded multi-stage full-bridge inverter. The various current shapes of lamp are achieved by various inductors between lamp and inverter. In this paper, it is newly investigated that the area of current directly influences the luminance. Furthermore, the 3-level square wave is considered to drive EEFL with self-discharge characteristics. The highest luminance efficiency is achieved by properly controlling the rate of self-discharge usage.