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Simulink model of an Incandescent Bulb

The model of an incandescent bulb is more or less the same as the model of a resistor in
Matlab. Below given is the Simulink model of a 60 W incandescent bulb.

Though the bulb acts as a variable resistive load for a very short period of time here it is
modelled using its hot resistance. The resistance value was obtained from manufacturers data
sheets. In this case it is 880 ohms for this 60 W Phillips incandescent bulb. The results of the
simulation were very similar to the practical results obtained. Below given are the simulation
results.

According to the results obtained from the practical and simulations we can come to the
following conclusions.

Incandescent bulbs can be directly identified based on the change of active power.
Incandescent bulbs can be directly identified based on the change of line current.

Simulink model of a CFL Bulb


Model of a CFL bulb is a complex one than the model of an incandescent bulb. Below given
is a model of a 18 W CFL bulb including the ballast.

Values for RLC in the ballast was obtained using manufacturers datasheets.
Model of Subsystem1 is given below.

Simulation results of the above given model are given below.

As we can clearly see both the current waveform and voltage waveform contain harmonics.
When we compare this with practical current and voltage waveforms we can see that CFL
bulbs have a significant 3rd harmonic component in line current.
Therefore it is very clear that we can use this property of current waveform in CFL bulbs to
differentiate them from other devices.

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