Sports lighting luminaire having a broken glass safety shutdown circuit

A luminaire having a broken glass detection arrangement comprising:

• a reflector member having an open end;
• a high intensity light source disposed within said reflector member;
• a cover member disposed so as to cover at least a portion of said light source, said cover member being effective for filtering UV radiation emitted by said light source;
• ballast means receptive of line power and being effective for converting such line power into conditioned power operable for energizing said light source;
• a conductive strip disposed on at least a portion of said cover member, said conductive strip being effective such that, in the event of a breakage of said cover member, an electrical signal normally passed through said conductive strip during normal operation of said luminaire, is interrupted;
• interrupting means coupled to said ballast means and effective for interrupting current flow in said ballast means upon detecting the absence of said electrical signal indicative of the occurrence of such breakage condition of said cover member;
• and
• wherein said interrupting means includes a fuse member and a relay contact arranged in parallel electrical relation to one another, said fuse member being normally bypassed by said relay member during steady state operating conditions of said ballast means.

A lamp ballast arrangement having a broken glass detection circuit, aid lamp ballast arrangement comprising:

• input terminals receptive of line power;
• output terminals connected to a high intensity light source;
• ballast means connected between said input terminals and said output terminals and being effective for conditioning such line power so as to energize said light source;
• interruption means coupled to said ballast means and effective for interrupting current flow to said output terminals upon detecting the absence of a signal indicative of a safety feature associated with said light source;
• and
• wherein said interrupting means includes a relay member and a fuse member arranged in parallel electrical relation to one another, said fuse member having a thermal operating parameter associated therewith that allows conducting a high initial current pulse for a predetermined period of time without blowing and wherein said relay member has a closing speed associated therewith that allows bypassing said fuse member before expiration of such predetermined time.