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US 2014/0175980 A1Published application
System and method for improved rapid cycling performance of instant start fluorescent lamps
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsJacint Gergely, Laszlo Petras, Peter Lucz, Gabor Schmidt, Peter Almosdi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is a system for improving rapid cycling performance of instant start compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamps. The system provides a ballast driver circuit including a lamp driver, a lamp voltage detector, an additional cathode heating driver, and a wire lamp. The additional cathode heating driver applies an additional amount of current to the cathodes of the wire lamp during the glow phase after the ignition of the lamp.
Claims20
A lighting system, comprising:
- a wire lamp;
- a lamp driver in communication with the wire lamp;
- a lamp voltage detector in communication with the lamp driver and the wire lamp;
- and
- a cathode heating driver in communication with the lamp voltage detector and the wire lamp, wherein the cathode heating driver applies heat to the wire lamp during glow phase.
2 more elements
A lighting system, comprising:
- a driver ballast in electrical communication with a lamp;
- a cathode heating driver in communication with the driver ballast, wherein the cathode heating driver applies a heat to a lamp during glow phase and prior to arc phase of the lamp;
- a first cathode heating loop in communication with the driver ballast, the first cathode heating loop including:
- a first coil, and
- a first cathode of the wire lamp in communication with the first coil;
- a second cathode heating loop in communication with the driver ballast, the second cathode heating loop including:
- a second coil;
- and
- a second cathode of the wire lamp in communication with the second coil;
- and
- a wire lamp having first and second cathodes, the wire lamp being in communication with the cathode heating driver, wherein the wire lamp receives heat from the cathode heating driver to reduce the peak current in glow phase of the wire lamp.
8 more elements
A lighting method, comprising:
- energizing a lighting driver and a lamp voltage detector;
- energizing a wire lamp with the general lamp driver;
- detecting lamp voltage via the lamp voltage detector;
- and
- heating the cathodes of the wire lamp via a heating current applied by a cathode heating driver during glow phase.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.