Ballast circuit for gaseous discharge lamps without inductive electrical components or filaments

An improved ballast circuit which does not require the use of any inductive electrical components or any filaments to ignite and continually illuminate a gaseous discharge lamp, the circuit comprising:

• (a) a rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit receiving a supply voltage of E.sub.in by an AC power source, said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit outputting a first no-load voltage signal of approximately 2.sqroot.2 E.sub.in ;
• (b) a multiplying circuit supplied by the AC power source, said multiplying circuit receiving said first no-load voltage signal from said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit and outputting a second no-load voltage signal of approximately 3.sqroot.2 E.sub.in ;
• (c) a filtering capacitor connected between output terminals on said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit, said filtering capacitor to filter out AC frequency ridges in said first no-load voltage signal;
• (d) a low power oscillating circuit connected between said output terminals on said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit and connected in parallel with said filtering capacitor, said low power oscillating circuit outputting a 2.sqroot.2 E.sub.in high frequency square wave signal;
• (e) a high voltage amplifier circuit which receives, and takes an average voltage of, said second no-load voltage signal from said multiplying circuit and said high frequency signal from said low power oscillating circuit, said amplifier circuit multiplies said average voltage by a factor of G to obtain a high frequency amplifier output signal of 2G.sqroot.2 E.sub.in to ignite a gaseous discharge lamp;
• (f) a triggering capacitor connected to the AC power source, said triggering capacitor significantly lowering the supply voltage E.sub.in upon sensing an increase in current once the lamp is ignited;
• and
• (g) a DC maintenance current, said maintenance current being supplied to the lamp after the lamp is ignited.

An improved ballast circuit, the ballast circuit being operable without the use of any inductive electrical components, and the ballast circuit being operable without the use of any filaments to ignite and continually illuminate a gaseous discharge lamp, the ballast circuit comprising:

• (a) a rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit receiving a supply voltage of E.sub.in by an AC power source, said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit outputting a first no-load voltage signal of approximately 2.sqroot.2 E.sub.in ;
• (b) a multiplying circuit supplied by the AC power source, said multiplying circuit receiving said first no-load voltage signal from said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit and outputting a second no-load voltage signal of approximately 3.sqroot.2 E.sub.in ;
• (c) a filtering capacitor connected between output terminals on said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit, said filtering capacitor to filter out AC frequency ridges in said first no-load voltage signal;
• (d) a low power, high frequency, oscillating circuit connected between said output terminals on said rectifying and voltage-doubling circuit and connected in parallel with said filtering capacitor, said low power oscillating circuit outputting a 2.sqroot.2 E.sub.in high frequency square wave signal;
• (e) a high voltage amplifier circuit which receives, and takes an average voltage of, said second no-load voltage signal from said multiplying circuit and said high frequency signal from said low power oscillating circuit, said amplifier circuit multiplies said average voltage by a factor of G to obtain a high frequency amplifier output signal of 2G.sqroot.2 E.sub.in to ignite a gaseous discharge lamp;
• (f) a triggering capacitor connected to the AC power source, said triggering capacitor significantly lowering the supply voltage E.sub.in upon sensing an increase in current once the lamp is ignited;
• and
• (g) a DC maintenance current, said maintenance current being supplied to the lamp after the lamp is ignited.