Low-frequency high-efficacy electronic ballast

An arrangement comprising:

• a source operative to provide an AC voltage at a pair of AC terminals;
• and
• a circuit connected with the AC terminals and operable to power a gas discharge lamp;
• the circuit being characterized by:
• (i) providing a conditioned voltage at a pair of terminals;
• and
• (ii) including a transistor conducting intermittently with a time-varying duty-cycle at a switching frequency, thereby being operative to maintain the absolute magnitude of the conditioned voltage substantially constant.

An arrangement comprising:

• a source providing an AC voltage at a pair of AC terminals;
• and
• an assembly of electrical components connected with the AC terminals and characterized by:
• (i) including a gas discharge lamp;
• (ii) providing an output voltage from a pair of output terminals;
• and
• (iii) including a transistor conducting intermittently at a time-varying switching frequency, thereby to maintain the absolute magnitude of the output voltage substantially constant.

An arrangement comprising:

• a source providing an AC voltage at a pair of AC terminals;
• and
• an assembly of electrical components and parts connected with the AC terminals and characterized by:
• (i) including a gas discharge lamp;
• (ii) being operable to power the gas discharge lamp at a substantially constant level of ionization, thereby causing the lamp to emit a substantially constant level of light output;
• (iii) providing an output voltage at a pair of output terminals;
• and
• (iv) including a transistor conducting intermittently at a time-varying switching frequency, thereby to maintain the absolute magnitude of the output voltage substantially constant.