IR Introduces Industry's First PFC and Ballast Control IC Integrated in an 8-Pin SO-8 Package for Energy Efficient Lighting Applications

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — International Rectifier, IR® (NYSE: IRF), a world leader in power management technology, today introduced the industry's first IC to integrate power factor correction (PFC) and ballast control in a single compact 8-pin SO-8 package. The new IRS2580DS Combo8 IC simplifies design and reduces overall component count to speed up design in energy efficient lighting applications.

The IRS2580DS includes a boost converter control circuit operating in critical-conduction free-running frequency mode to provide power factor correction with ultra-low THD. The new IC also includes a 600 V half-bridge control circuit working at 50 percent duty-cycle and variable frequency for driving the resonant mode lamp output circuit.

"Unlike alternative approaches, the IRS2580DS Combo8 IC offers excellent PFC performance, a high degree of accuracy and ultra-low THD across a wide line and load range in a single 8-pin package. Furthermore, because two of the eight pins are the primary control pins for the complete ballast, it provides a simple solution with reduced component count that significantly speeds up design time," said Tom Ribarich, IR's director, Lighting Systems and Applications, Energy Saving Products Business Unit.

Complete fault protection circuitry is also included for protection against such conditions as mains interrupt or brown-out, lamp non-strike, lamp filament failure and end-of-life. The IRS2580DS requires only two primary control pins to perform all of the necessary ballast functions. These functions include an analog voltage-to-frequency input pin for programming the different operating frequencies for preheating, igniting and running the lamp, and a PWM output pin for controlling the on and off times during each switching cycle of the PFC boost converter.

A datasheet is available via the part number link above. A reference design, the IRPLLNR8, featuring the IRS2580DS is also available through IR Sales Representatives.