Lamp ballast with lamp rectification detection circuitry
US5808422A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 10, 1996 |
| Grant date | Sep 15, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 10, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH05B41/2985
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A ballast for a gas discharge lamp includes a detection circuit which detects an operating state of the lamp in which the lamp current for the column discharge of one polarity is different from the lamp current for the column discharge of the other polarity by detecting the DC component of the voltage across the discharge lamp. The detection circuit includes (i) a device coupled such that a DC voltage is imposed there across when the lamp current is different for the column discharge according to one polarity verses the other polarity, and (ii) a sensing circuit for sensing the DC voltage across the device. The device may be a capacitive device, and in a particularly inexpensive implementation, is a DC blocking capacitor or a ballast capacitor. The sense circuit senses when the DC voltage across the device exceeds a threshold value, which may corresponds to fully-rectified state of the lamp or more favorably, to a lesser state of imbalance. In another embodiment, the variance in the DC voltage across the lamp is detected at the midpoint of a bridge inverter. A control circuit changes the output of the ballasting circuit when the DC voltage exceeds the threshold value to turn off th…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.