Flicker characteristics of efficient lighting assessed by the IEC flickermeter

• An experimental study of efficient lamps’ behavior under supply voltage fluctuations.
• New lighting technologies do not imply better responses to voltage fluctuations.
• Some lamps can have complex and dispersed illuminance frequency distributions.
• Not all lamps present a linear illuminance response under voltage fluctuations.
• Non-linear behavior of some lamps demands a new lamp model in the IEC flickermeter.

We present an experimental study of the behavior of modern lighting technologies under supply voltage fluctuations. Some studies have reported that flicker severity measurements could exceed the compatibility levels without leading to flicker complaints when modern lighting is in use. Such conclusions have resulted in two main proposals regarding the assessment of flicker: to relax the flicker compatibility indexes and to adapt standardized procedures to assess flicker based on a new reference lamp instead of the current reference, the incandescent lamp. Our work presents alternative tools for analyzing the effect of efficient lighting on the assessment of flicker. Our main findings challenge the assumption that efficient modern lighting is not sensitive to voltage fluctuations, at least over a considerable frequency range. Furthermore, the results oppose the use of the standardized functional model of the incandescent lamp for assessing the flicker severity produced by modern lamps.