Testing of fluorescent DC lamps for Solar Home Systems

With the advent of the Universal Technical Standard for Solar Home Systems, procedures to test the compliance of SHS fluorescent lamps with the standard have been developed. Definition of the laboratory testing procedures is a necessary step in any lamp quality assurance procedure. Particular attention has been paid to test simplicity and to affordability, in order to facilitate local application of the testing procedures, for example by the organisations which carry out electrification programmes. The set of test procedures has been applied to a representative collection of 42 lamps from many different countries, directly acquired in the current photovoltaic rural electrification market. Tests apply to: lamp resistance under normal operating conditions; lamp reliability under extreme conditions; under abnormal conditions; and lamp luminosity. Results are discussed and some recommendations for updating the relevant standard are given. The selected technical standard, together with the proposed testing procedures, form the basis of a complete quality assurance tool that can be applied locally in normal electrical laboratories. Full testing of a lamp requires less than one month, which is very reasonable on the context of quality assurance programmes

Emissions and economic costs of cycling compact fluorescent lamps with integrated ballasts

This paper proposes a way to quantify the emissions of mercury (Hg) and CO2 associated with the manufacture and operation of compact fluorescent lamps with integrated ballasts (CFLis), as well as the economic cost of using them under different operating cycles. The main purpose of this paper is to find simple criteria for reducing the polluting emissions under consideration and the economic cost of CFLi to a minimum. A lifetime model is proposed that allows the emissions and costs to be described as a function of degradation from turning CFLi on and their continuous operation. An idealized model of a CFLi is defined that combines characteristics stated by different manufacturers. In addition, two CFLi models representing poor-quality products are analyzed. It was found that the emissions and costs per unit of time of operation of the CFLi depend linearly on the number of times per unit of time it is turned on and the time of continuous operation. The optimal conditions (lowest emissions and costs) depend on the place of manufacture, the place of operation and the quality of the components of the lamp/ballast. Finally, it was also found that for each lamp, there are intervals when it is turned off during which emissions of pollutants and costs are identical regardless of how often the lamp is turned on or the time it remains on. For CO2 emissions, the lamp must be off up to 5 minutes; for the cost, up to 7 minutes and for Hg emissions, up to 43 minutes. It is advisable not to turn on a CFLi sooner than 43 minutes from the last time it was turned off.