Method and Circuit for Driving a Gas Discharge Lamp
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorPeter Luerkens
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method for driving a gas discharge lamp and relates to a lamp driver circuit for driving a gas discharge lamp in accordance with said method. The method comprises supplying a current to the gas discharge lamp, reversing the direction of the current supplied to the gas discharge lamp and, substantially simultaneously, generating a relatively high voltage. The generated high voltage serves to prevent a series of re-ignitions of the gas discharge lamp that may lead to visible flickering of the gas discharge lamp or to extinction of the gas discharge lamp.
Claims6
Method of driving a gas discharge lamp, the method comprising:
- supplying a current to the gas discharge lamp, thereby generating an operating voltage over the gas discharge lamp;
- reversing a direction of the current supplied to the lamp;
- and
- applying a reversal voltage higher than the operating voltage to the gas discharge lamp substantially simultaneously with the step of reversing the current.
Lamp driver circuit for driving a gas discharge lamp, the driver circuit comprising:
- a current source for supplying a current to the gas discharge lamp;
- a commutation circuit operatively connected to the current source for reversing a direction of the current supplied to the gas discharge lamp;
- an ignition circuit connectable to the gas discharge lamp for generating an ignition voltage suitable to ignite the gas discharge lamp;
- and
- a reversal voltage generation circuit for generating a reversal voltage higher than an operating voltage to be applied to the gas discharge lamp substantially simultaneously with a reversal of the direction of the current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.