Purpose Of Capacitor In Fluorescent Lamp

Adding a capacitor to each lamp corrects the power factor bringing it back close to unity 1 0.

Purpose of capacitor in fluorescent lamp.

The process that occurs inside a fluorescent light involves molecules of mercury gas being heated by electricity and made more conductive. Fluorescent lamps form an inductive load on the ac mains supply. Question is the function of capacitor across the supply to the fluorescent tube is primari ly to options are a stabilize the arc b reduce the starting current c improve the supply power factor d reduce the noise e leave your comments or download question paper. A familiar and widely used example is the inductive ballast used in fluorescent lamps to limit the current through the tube which would otherwise rise to a destructive level due to the negative differential resistance of the tube s voltage current characteristic.

Illumination types of lamps. Fluorescent starters are used in several types of fluorescent lights. Without a ballast to control this there would be too much current for the light to take and it would burn out and possibly even catch fire. The ultraviolet light makes particles that coat the inside of the tube and these particles glow or fluoresce see how fluorescent lamps work for details.

As a result large installations of such lamps suffer a poor power factor and resultant voltage drop. Probably not such a big deal when you consider individual lamps in homes but when you start looking at hundreds or thousands aggregate of homes or. An electrical ballast is a device placed in series with a load to limit the amount of current in an electrical circuit. A fluorescent light does not have the usual glowing filament of an incandescent bulb but instead contains a mercury vapor that gives off ultraviolet light when ionized.