Filament miswire protection in an electronic dimming ballast
First Claim
1. An electronic ballast for driving a plurality of gas discharge lamps, each gas discharge lamp having a respective filament, the electronic ballast comprising:
- a filament winding magnetically coupled to an inductor and operable to supply an AC filament voltage to each of the filaments;
a filament miswire protection element coupled to the filament winding and connectable to the filaments such that the same AC filament voltage is established across a first of the filaments regardless of whether the filaments are wired in series or in parallel.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic dimming ballast that accommodates miswiring of fluorescent lamp filaments (e.g., miswiring the corresponding lamp sockets) is disclosed. The electronic dimming ballast may drive a plurality of gas discharge lamps. Each gas discharge lamp may have a respective filament. The electronic dimming ballast, via the filament miswire protection element, may establish the same voltage across a first of the filaments regardless of whether the filaments are wired in series or in parallel. The filament miswire protection element may have an impedance that is approximately equal to an impedance of at least one of the filaments. The filament miswire protection element may include one or more capacitors, inductors, and/or resistors. The filament miswire protection element may include only a capacitor.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An electronic ballast for driving a plurality of gas discharge lamps, each gas discharge lamp having a respective filament, the electronic ballast comprising:
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a filament winding magnetically coupled to an inductor and operable to supply an AC filament voltage to each of the filaments; a filament miswire protection element coupled to the filament winding and connectable to the filaments such that the same AC filament voltage is established across a first of the filaments regardless of whether the filaments are wired in series or in parallel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An electronic ballast for driving a plurality of gas discharge lamps, each gas discharge lamp having a respective filament, the electronic ballast comprising:
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a filament winding magnetically coupled to an inductor and operable to supply an AC filament voltage to each of the filaments; a filament miswire protection element coupled to the filament winding and connectable to the filaments such that a first AC filament voltage is established across each of the filaments when the filaments are wired in series and a second AC filament voltage is established across each of the filaments when the filaments are wired in parallel, wherein the first and second AC filament voltages are approximately equal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. An electronic ballast for driving a plurality of gas discharge lamps, each gas discharge lamp having a respective filament, the electronic ballast comprising:
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a filament winding magnetically coupled to an inductor and operable to supply an AC filament voltage to each of the filaments; a filament miswire protection element coupled to the filament winding and connectable to the filaments such that the AC filament voltage across each of the filaments when the filaments are wired in series is approximately equal to the AC filament voltage across each of the filaments when the filaments are wired in parallel. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification