International Rectifier, a leader in power management technology, introduced a reliable, highly efficient and cost effective control IC for magnetic ballasts used in fluorescent lamps. The IRS2538DS emulates the behavior of a magnetic ballast control system, leveraging IR's patented ballast and high-voltage technologies to offer an easy to use, high-performance, cost effective one-chip magnetic replacement ballast solution. Available in a compact SO8 package, the IRS2538DS utilizes a novel control method to achieve high power factor with ultra-low THD to eliminate the need for a Power Factor Correction (PFC) stage and electrolytic capacitor at the input. The new IC integrates a 600V half-bridge control circuit, bootstrap MOSFET and comprehensive set of protection features to further reduce component count and PCB area, and increase reliability. "As traditional magnetic ballasts continue to be phased-out of the marketplace due to their low efficiency, manufacturers are looking for an electronic replacement with equivalent reliability and low-cost," said Tom Ribarich, Director of Lighting Systems and Applications, IR's Energy Saving Products Business Unit. "The IRS2538DS delivers all of the benefits of an electronic ballast solution such as high efficiency, small size, light weight, and no lamp flicker while additionally offering excellent reliability and cost efficiencies for an affordable, greener alternative to existing approaches," he added. The IRS2538DS also features preheat, ignition and running lamp modes, closed-loop lamp current control, fixed pre-heat time (2s typical), adaptive deadtime (0.5us to 1.5us typical), lamp insert auto-restart, micropower start-up (125uA) and an internal 15.6V Zener diode clamp on Vcc. International Rectifier
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