The automated system for measurement of lamps flicker curves is composed of set of instruments subsequently ensuring generation of disturbing voltage variations, a light source (placed in a test chamber) supply and measurement of luminous flux and its processing. The system control is based on virtual instrumentation in LabView.
Hardware of the system consists of a NI-PXI controller equipped by data acquisition and arbitrary waveform generation cards, linear power amplifier, Ulbricht's sphere as a test chamber with a lamp under test and of a photo-head connected to the data acquisition card.
The system software is presented by two virtual instruments. The first of them is a light flickermeter and the second is used for generation of voltage variation, measurement evaluation and results record.
The output voltage can be generated including sinusoidal/rectangular/triangular or saw amplitude modulation, or an interharmonic component. The system sets required modulation or interharmonic frequency and modulation depth or interharmonic magnitude. Using the light flickermeter there is subsequently measured and recorded corresponding short time flicker severity index, or modulation depth/interharmonic magnitude level is changed until the required Pst value measured by the light flickermeter is achieved. Then the measuring process continuous at a next modulation/interharmonic frequency according to scheduled table of frequencies.
Technical parameters:
Range of nominal voltage for a lamp supply: 100 -240 Vrms
Fundamental voltage frequency: 50, 60 Hz
Lamp maximal input power: 750 VA
Superimposed interharmonic magnitude limit: 25% of nominal voltage
Amplitude modulation depth limit: 50% of nominal voltage
Range of interharmonic frequency and modulation frequency: 0.1 Hz - 2.5 kHz
Pst aggregation period: 30 s - 10 minutes
Practical utilization of the Light flickermeter:
Measurement of lamps flicker curves.
