Design and testing of a separate-type lighting system using solar energy and cold-cathode fluorescent lamps

This paper presents a solar-powered lighting system, using cold-cathode fluorescent-lamps (CCFLs), with its battery-charging circuit and lamp-ignition circuit being separated so that its solar panels can be installed at any distance deemed necessary away from the lighting site in order to receive the maximum solar energy available. This system adopts the maximum-power point tracking (MPPT) method to control the power output of the solar panels and uses the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) DC–DC converter, as the charging circuit, to increase the panels’ power generation efficiency and the charging circuit’s conversion efficiency. The electronic ballast circuit for the CCFL is constructed with a half-bridge inverter, a resonant inductor, and a Rosen-type piezoelectric transformer, which forms a piezoelectric resonant-type inverter: to simplify the circuitry and to improve the power conversion efficiency, the ballast circuit is designed to directly step up the battery voltage in igniting the lamp. We also establish the transmission-parameter model for the piezoelectric resonant-type inverter to provide the base for the electric-power circuit design. Our experimental results indicate that the proposed system possesses some advantages, such as greater energy efficiency, circuitry simplicity, and so on, and is suitable for night lighting in house yards, parks and advertising panels.