Universal platform for phase dimming discharge lighting ballast and lamp
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An electronic ballast comprising:
- a phase dimmer compatible circuit including an input rectifier circuit for rectifying an input voltage;
a voltage inverter circuit for receiving a rectified input voltage from said phase dimmer compatible circuit, and for providing a voltage and/or current to a discharge lamp for providing a dimmable light; and
a keep-alive feedback circuit for feeding back energy from said discharge lamp to said phase dimmer compatible circuit to support a high dimming operation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A ballast, or power supply circuit, for gas discharge lamps of the type using IC control based gate-drive circuitry for controlling a pair of serially connected switches of a d.c.-a.c. inverter. More particularly, the invention relates to a ballast having a resonant feedback circuit drawing continuous input current from a wide range of source voltages to satisfy requirements of phase control dimmers. Even more particularly, the invention relates to a universal platform for phase dimming discharge lighting using the Ballast and a discharge Lamp with a phase dimming circuit.
43 Citations
32 Claims
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1. An electronic ballast comprising:
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a phase dimmer compatible circuit including an input rectifier circuit for rectifying an input voltage; a voltage inverter circuit for receiving a rectified input voltage from said phase dimmer compatible circuit, and for providing a voltage and/or current to a discharge lamp for providing a dimmable light; and a keep-alive feedback circuit for feeding back energy from said discharge lamp to said phase dimmer compatible circuit to support a high dimming operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 7, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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5. An electronic ballast comprising:
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a phase dimmer compatible circuit including an input rectifier circuit for rectifying an input voltage; a voltage inverter circuit for receiving a rectified input voltage from said phase dimmer compatible circuit, and for providing a voltage and/or current to a discharge lamp for providing a dimmable light; and a keep-alive feedback circuit for feeding back energy from the discharge lamp to said phase dimmer compatible circuit to support a dimming operation, wherein said input rectifier circuit includes;
a plurality of diodes operating at a frequency above the frequency of the input voltage, wherein at any given time at least one diode is in a conducting mode due to said keep-alive feedback circuit. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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8. An electronic ballast comprising:
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a phase dimmer compatible circuit including an input rectifier circuit for rectifying an input voltage; a voltage inverter circuit for receiving a rectified input voltage from said input rectifier circuit, and for providing a voltage and/or current to a discharge lamp for providing a dimmable light; a controller for controlling the operation of the voltage inverter circuit; and a constant voltage supply circuit for supplying a substantially constant voltage to said controller, wherein said constant voltage supply circuit provides said substantially constant voltage both at low input currents and at high input currents, and wherein said constant voltage supply circuit provides a substantially constant voltage related to one or both of a voltage of said inverter circuit and a voltage of the discharge lamp. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 25)
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14. An electronic ballast comprising:
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a phase dimmer compatible circuit including an input rectifier circuit for rectifying an input voltage from a dimming circuit; a voltage inverter circuit having solid-state switches for receiving a rectified input voltage from said input rectifier circuit, and for providing a voltage and/or current to a discharge lamp for providing a dimmable light; a controller for controlling the operation of the voltage inverter circuit; a keep-alive feedback circuit for feeding back energy from said discharge lamp to said phase dimmer compatible circuit to allow a high dimming operation; and a constant voltage supply circuit for supplying a substantially constant voltage to said controller, wherein said constant voltage supply circuit uses a voltage of the discharge lamp to generate said substantially constant voltage during a high dimming operation of the dimming circuit, and further wherein said constant voltage supply circuit uses said voltage/current of said inverter circuit to generate said substantially constant voltage during a low dimming operation of the dimming circuit. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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26. An electronic ballast for use with an external phase dimmer comprising:
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a phase dimmer compatible circuit including a rectifier circuit adapted for rectifying a variable input current; an inverter circuit coupled to the phase dimmer compatible circuit for converting the rectified current into high frequency alternating current to power a discharge lamp; a feedback circuit for feeding back current from the discharge lamp to the phase dimmer compatible circuit in order that the phase dimmer compatible circuit can draw substantially continuous current from the external phase dimmer. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. An electronic ballast for use with an external phase dimmer comprising:
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a phase dimmer compatible circuit including a rectifier circuit adapted for rectifying a variable input current; an inverter circuit coupled to the phase dimmer compatible circuit for converting the rectified current into high frequency alternating current to power a discharge lamp; a dimming control circuit for controlling the operation of the inverter circuit through a dimming range; a constant voltage supply circuit for providing a substantially constant voltage to the dimming control circuit, said constant voltage relating to one or more of a voltage of said inverter circuit and said discharge lamp. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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Specification