Color control and arc stabilization for high-intensity, discharge lamps

Abstract

Methods of operating a discharge lamp by amplitude-modulating and pulsing the lamp input power waveform. The techniques control both the arc stabilization and color characteristics of the lamp, respectively. The alternating current (AC) input waveform is amplitude-modulated to stabilize the arc with a swept AC periodic wave (such as a sine wave, sawtooth wave, square wave, etc., or a combination thereof). The swept wave can be generally swept from about 20 kHz to 60 kHz, with a preferable band sweep of from approximately 40 kHz to 50 kHz. The sweep can also be patterned (such as allowing the sweep to have stepped rises and falls within the sweep cycle). The sweep may also contain multiple-frequency sweeps that are bundled together to modulate the carrier wave. These modulation forms are used to center, constrict and stabilize the arc. In addition to this stabilization, the lamp input waveform is pulsed to control and regulate the color characteristics of the lamp.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.