In this paper, we examine the self-oscillating series resonant inverter for
electronic ballast applications from a system point of view. By considerin
g the discharge lamp as a linear resistor in steady state, we derive a time
-domain closed-form expression of the circuit state variables. Importantly,
we observe that the self-oscillating series resonant inverter with lamp lo
ads can be naturally modeled as a relay system. Based on this formulation,
the self-oscillating frequencies of the inverter for variable lamp impedanc
e conditions are found via the Tsypkin's locus. The stability of the self-o
scillating frequencies is determined in a sampled-data system framework.