My old nemesis, the Xenon Arc Lamp, we meet again.
You want 8A of constant current at around 17V.
I tried to feed you from 12V by stepping up, but it was foiled again and again, for there ain't such thing as constant current boost converter.
But be afraid, since i now got 24V, and am not afraid to use them...
Ahem.
I'm looking for a simple/modern way of making a constant current regulator, that would take 24V input and provide 8-10A on the output, by stepping the voltage down.
Essentially, a buck converter with current feedback.
I can think of several ways to make it using TL494 with P-MOSFET or IR2125 or similar shenanigans, but maybe there is some neat and common regulator/controller IC nowadays that does just that without the extra complications (like dealing with either 20V gate voltage limit on P-FETs or high side driving of N-FETs)?