US 2014/0176000 A1 · Circuit for Driving Lighting Devices

Abstract

The inventive subject matter provides a circuit and a method for efficiently operating a lighting device, such as a light-emitting diode and a fluorescent lamp. In one aspect of the invention, the circuit includes an oscillator that generates a series of current pulses at a frequency that is at least 50,000 Hz and that corresponds to a resonant frequency of the circuit including the lighting device. The series of pulses is operated at a low duty cycle of no more than 15%. The lighting device has a manufacturer's specification for current consumption and power consumption for a specified luminosity. The circuit provides a current to the lighting device at no more than 1/500 of the manufacturer's specification to produce at least the specified luminosity. The lighting device also operates within the circuit at no more than 50% of the manufacturer's specification to produce the specified luminosity.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A circuit for driving a lighting device having a manufacturer's specified power consumption to produce a manufacturer's specified luminosity, comprising:

a transistor connected with the lighting device in series;
an oscillator that works with the transistor to generate driving pulses at a frequency that corresponds to a resonant frequency of the circuit and that is at least 50,000 Hz;
and
a duty cycle controller that operates the pulses at a duty cycle of no more than 15%,
wherein a power consumption level of the circuit is a function of the pulses' frequency and duty cycle;
wherein the circuit is operating at a power consumption level based on the driving pulses' frequency and duty cycle that is no more than 75% of the manufacturer's specified power consumption to produce at least the specified luminosity.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Circuit for Driving Lighting Devices

Life of this patent

Circuit for Driving Lighting Devices

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims28