Electronic ballast
First Claim
1. A ballast for providing electrical energy to one or more fluorescent bulbs having electrical discharge filaments, comprising:
- a pre-heating circuit having a first resonant frequency, coupled to pre-heat the filaments;
an electron-discharge circuit having a second resonant frequency, coupled to ignite an electrical discharge through a gas between the filaments; and
driver circuitry, which provides power to the pre-heating and electron-discharge circuits in succession so as to ignite the one or more bulbs by first providing power to the preheating circuit substantially at the first resonant frequency and subsequently providing power to the electron-discharge circuit substantially at the second resonant frequency.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A ballast for providing electrical energy to one or more fluorescent bulbs having electrical discharge filaments. The ballast includes a pre-heating circuit having a first resonant frequency, coupled to pre-heat the filaments. An electron-discharge circuit having a second resonant frequency is coupled to ignite an electrical discharge through a gas between the filaments. Driver circuitry provides power to the pre-heating and electron-discharge circuits in succession, so as to ignite the one or more bulbs. The driver circuitry first provides power to the pre-heating circuit substantially at the first resonant frequency and subsequently provides power to the electron-discharge circuit substantially at the second resonant frequency.
21 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A ballast for providing electrical energy to one or more fluorescent bulbs having electrical discharge filaments, comprising:
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a pre-heating circuit having a first resonant frequency, coupled to pre-heat the filaments; an electron-discharge circuit having a second resonant frequency, coupled to ignite an electrical discharge through a gas between the filaments; and driver circuitry, which provides power to the pre-heating and electron-discharge circuits in succession so as to ignite the one or more bulbs by first providing power to the preheating circuit substantially at the first resonant frequency and subsequently providing power to the electron-discharge circuit substantially at the second resonant frequency. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for providing electrical energy to one or more fluorescent bulbs having filaments, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a driving current at a first frequency to pre-heat the filaments of one of more bulbs, wherein the driving current is generated as a resonant current flow in pre-heating circuitry coupled to the one or more bulbs in order to be driven through the filaments; and changing the driving current to a second frequency in order to ignite an electrical discharge between the filaments within the one or more bulbs, wherein the driving current at said second frequency is generated as a resonant current flow in electron-discharge circuitry coupled to the one or more bulbs in order to be driven through gas between the filaments in the one or more bulbs. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification