IR's Highly Integrated, Feature-Rich IRS2573DS HID Ballast Control IC Simplifies Design for Industrial HID Lighting Applications

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — International Rectifier, IR® (NYSE: IRF), a world leader in power management technology, today introduced the full-featured IRS2573DS High-Intensity Discharge (HID) electronic ballast control IC for low-, medium- and high-power general purpose industrial HID applications including retail store spotlights, general outdoor lighting applications and outdoor street lighting.

The IRS2573DS 600V IC combines a high-side, dual-mode buck controller together with a full-bridge driver. The device's novel buck circuitry enables continuous-conduction mode control during lamp warm-up and critical-conduction mode during steady state running. The full-bridge driver includes all high- and low-side gate driver outputs as well as integrated bootstrap MOSFETs for the high-side supply voltages.

"Controlling HID lamp power within an accurate window has traditionally presented a complex design challenge. By offering complete HID electronic ballast system know-how in a chip, the highly integrated, feature-rich IRS2573DS allows companies that already have a market presence in lighting to enter the HID market very rapidly with minimal know-how," said Tom Ribarich, IR's director, Lighting Systems and Applications, Energy Saving Products Business Unit. "Furthermore, by integrating a large portion of the HID ballast system circuitry into a single device, overall system cost can be greatly reduced," he added.

The IRS2573DS offers a high degree of flexibility and programmability. The device incorporates a state machine for controlling the lamp during various operating modes including ignition, warm-up, running and fault mode, and features a multiplier circuit to accurately measure and control lamp power. Additionally, the IRS2573DS offers comprehensive fault detection and fault timer circuitry to detect open circuit, short circuit, failure to ignite, failure to warm-up, and lamp end-of-life fault conditions, as well as lamp ignition enabler and timer.

A datasheet and application note are available on the International Rectifier website at www.irf.com. In addition, a reference design, the IRPLHID2, featuring the IRS2573DS is also available.