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HID lighting ballast
2014-04-14 15:33:08

 The term High Intensity Discharge or HID describes lighting systems that produce light through an electrical discharge which typically occurs inside a pressurized arc tube between two electrodes. In general, these systems feature long life, high light output for the size of the lamp and increased efficiency compared to fluorescent and incandescent technologies. HID lamps are named by the type of gas and metal contained within the arc tube. There are five different families of HID: 

Mercury Vapor, High Pressure Sodium, Quartz Metal Halide, Pulse Start Quartz Metal Halide, and 
Ceramic Metal Halide. HID lamps come in various shapes and types, such as elliptical and tubular. The lamp bases come 
in various shapes and types as well, such as screw base, double ended, bi-pin and many others. 
 
A HID lighting ballast is a piece of equipment required to control the starting and operating voltages of electrical gas discharge lights. Examples of gas discharge light sources include fluorescent and neon lights and high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. The term lighting ballast can refer to any component of the circuit intended to limit the flow of current through the light, from a single resistor to more complex devices.

A lighting ballast is necessary to operate discharge lights because they have negative resistance, meaning they are unable to regulate the amount of current that passes through them. A lighting ballast must be used to control current flow; otherwise the light could fail. Small light sources can use passive components, which require no additional power to operate, as ballasts. An example would be a series resistor that limits the flow of current across its terminals. For high-powered lights, however, a resistor would waste a large amount of electricity, so a more complex lighting ballast is required.


An electromagnetic lighting ballast uses electromagnetic induction to provide the starting and operating voltages of a gas discharge light. Inside each is a coil of wire and an electromagnetic field that together transform voltage. Some also include an igniter for high-power applications.

 
HID lamps require a ballast to operate. Typically, the HID ballast (sometimes with the addition of a capacitor and igniter) serves to start and operate the lamp in a controlled manner. HID lamps take several minutes to warm-up. Full light output is reached after the arc tube temperature rises and the metal vapors reach final operating pressure. A power interruption or 
voltage drop will cause the lamp to extinguish. Before the lamp will re-light, it must cool to the point where the lamp's arc will restrike.

 

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