Fluorescent Light Technology

Fluorescent lamps produce light through a process known as the “gas discharge mechanism.” Upon application of high voltage, argon gas inside the bulb creates an energy discharge.  This discharge then excites mercury vapor to create ultraviolet light.  Finally, the ultraviolet light strikes a phosphor powder coating inside the glass wall of the lamp.  The coating is "phosphorescent” and glows, producing visible light. 

Because fluorescent lamps generate light through the excitation of gas instead of the resistance heating of a metal filament, the energy required to emit a given quantity of light is substantially less than incandescent lighting.

The “ballast” provides a mechanism for controlling current to the lamp.  The ballast must create the power level of electrical resistance to avoid lamp destruction while still maintaining lamp efficiency.  It must supply sufficient voltage to start the lamp and thereafter maintain a reduced voltage to create constant light output.While the functions of fluorescent ballasts have not changed over the years, the approaches to ballasting have.  To date, there have been three main approaches to ballast design: magnetic, hybrid and electronic.

Fluorescent Lamp Ballasts

The first ballasts for fluorescent lamps used simple “core-and-coil” electromagnetic technology.  Magnetic ballasts use a heavy magnetic core of several laminated steel plates wrapped with copper wire windings.  This configuration allows electricity to pass through the winding and create the electrical resistance necessary to control voltage reaching the fluorescent lamp. Alternative designs use aluminum windings and lower grades of steel for the core to reduce costs.

Although magnetic ballasts overall are low cost and very reliable, they can cause energy losses of 10-12% in control system operation. In addition, they pose problems with flickering, noise, poor regulation, power quality disruption and potential health hazards from older core and coil ballast with PCBs or that used tar to suppress core vibrations.  As a result, in1990, the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) effectively banned the use of a majority of magnetic technology for new lighting applications, forcing the industry to move toward electronic ballasts.

Electronic Lamp Ballasts

Purely electronic ballasts provide low total life cycle costs and enhanced lighting quality but have been plagued by poor reliability, inefficient design, and high costs.  As a result, many ballasts used today are a hybrid of electromagnetic and electronic technologies.

The BIOIZER^® Ballast

The electronnic ballast used in BIOIZER lamps overcomes the high cost of pure electronic ballasts, enabling the use of high-grade components to yield superior performance and reliability.

The ballast works on a simple principle: integration of the processes of power control and lamp control onto a unified operation providing increased energy efficiency.  This simple approach is a major advance in ballasting due to the impact the unified miniature power control and lamp control have on product cost and performance. 

BIOIZER ballasts weigh less, operate at lower temperatures, create fewer power distortions, use less energy and offer product reliability and longevity far past any conventional lighting system on the market today. At one-fourth the size of similar products, the BIOIZER integrated circuit design construction’s cooler operating temperature eliminates overheating and increases lamp longevity by optimizing its operation.  Sound rated A, they offer virtually silent operation and are flicker free.