Insight - How Magnetic Ballast works

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Insight - How Magnetic Ballast works

2. Internal Structure
3. Working of Magnetic Ballast
4. Coils
5. Core
6. Free TI Design & Simulation Tools
Written By: 
 Arpit Jain

Magnetic ballast is an essential component in traditional discharge lamps and tubes. In order to properly start them,
an initial high current is needed which needs to be limited afterwards to prevent the lamp from blowing out. This
function is performed by ballast. Electro-magnetic ballasts were one of the first components that could provide
sufficient starting current to fluorescent lights or low pressure tanning lamps. Although they are being replaced by
much lighter and efficient, electronic ballasts, electro-magnetic ballasts are still in trend. This article will explore the
structural features of the ballast and its working.

 
 
Casing
Numerous manufacturers are producing their own customized versions of Magnetic ballasts. Depending upon the
brands, size and the power requirements, ballasts can be of various types. Shown above is typical Magnetic ballast.
The casing is made of Aluminum and has the specifications featured over it. On its side are two connecting plugs
which connect the ballast to the fluorescent light.
 
 

The top view and side view of the ballast suggest that there are no screws or bolts to hold the casing to the internal
structure of the ballast. The casing is clamped by a steel frame at the base that aids in attaching the ballast to the
lamp frame.
 
 

A look at the base of the ballast after removing the steel plate reveals the answer, to what holds the frame and the
internal components together? The base is firmly coated by polyester reinforced with fiber glass which helps the
internal structure to hold on tight to the external aluminum frame. It is an example of potted core and coil magnetic
ballast.
 
This potting mixture provides excellent sound deadening and transfer of heat to the aluminum frame. This decreases
hum and increases efficiency of the ballast. Polyester also acts as a gasket separating the casing from the internal
structure, hence providing least parasitic inductance to the ballast.
Written By: 
 Arpit Jain

Inner Structure:
 
 

Internal structure of the ballast is also coated with fiber glass reinforced polyester resin that covered the rear portion
of the ballast. The connecting plugs are tightly attached to the ballast through this resin and cardboard paper. This is
done to provide high level of insulation while having lower costs. The wires emerging out of the plugs are also
insulated well before they connect to the copper windings.
 
Etching off the resin from the surface reveals the laminated copper coils. Thorough lamination of the coils reduces the
losses incurred due to eddy currents and inductance even at the high operating voltages and inductance value
ratings.
Written By: 
 Arpit Jain

The coiled structure looks like a transformer, but is quite simpler and different from that. The coil is the main part of
the whole assembly that is responsible for the ballast action. The coiling of the copper around a core material makes
 it an inductor. Inductors are known to oppose any change in current passing through them and this very property is
used in the ballast. Let us review the main functions of the ballast once again and see how this simple inductance coil
achieves them.
 

Ballast is used to help light up fluorescent lamps. The ends of the fluorescent lamp have electrodes which need
preheating to a substantially high temperature for the lamp to start. During this initial phase, the ballast opposes the
setting up of current flowing through the electrodes into the starter to prevent damage. This provides the necessary
current limiting.  Meanwhile voltage develops across the ballast as it goes on opposing the increase in current and
keeps on storing energy. The starter in series with the ballast acts as a time switch and initially is in ON state. The
current flow is as shown in the figure above. After a while, the starter goes to its OFF position and the current flow
now must take place through the tube. Fluorescent lamps have low pressure gas inside them which is a bad
conductor of electricity initially. So, an initial kick or a very high voltage impulse is required to strike an arc across the
lamp. This kick is provided by the voltage that had developed across the ballast all the time it was opposing the
increase in current.
 
 

But due to passage of current through the air inside the lamp, it ionizes and its resistance to current flow decreases
progressively as the current goes on increasing. If this is not checked, the lamp may get shorted and even blast. This
limiting again, is provided by the ballast. The inductance coil now acts as a reactance and limits the maximum current
that is allowed to pass through the circuit. The greater the inductance of the coil, the more it can limit the current. The
resistance goes on increasing to a maximum value after which normal current would flow through the lamp and it
would continue to glow.
Written By: 
 Arpit Jain
  

Further incisions reveal the coils to be wound over a laminated ferrite core. The ferrite core has desirable properties
like high magnetic permeability and low electrical conductivity which help reduce losses like eddy currents. Multiple
layers of coils, separated by insulators, are wound around the core. Since the magnetic ballast works at 230V supply,
a heat sink is essentially required to keep the device from overheating when subjected to longer hours of operation.
The purpose is solved by the fiber glass reinforced polyester resin and the Aluminum casing of the ballast.
Written By: 
 Arpit Jain

 
 

The image above (left) shows the transformer core. It is made up of several thin ferrite frames as shown in the picture
above (right) and has multiple layers of coils over it; the coils are insulated from each other with the help of cardboard
paper. The use of multiple layers of windings is to increase the inductance of the coil in a relatively short space. The
ferrite core is made by placing stacks of thin “U” thin metal plates. 
 
Magnetic ballasts have a major advantage over electronic ballasts that they can be recycled other than that they are
very cheap. Moreover, they serve for longer time durations and can be repaired unlike the PCB based electronic
ballasts.