Control mechanism for regulating the temperature and output of a fluorescent lamp

A control mechanism for regulating the temperature of a cold spot of a fluorescent discharge lamp member located within a housing, the control mechanism comprising:

• a cold spot mechanism coupled to the lamp member and defining the cold spot for the lamp member, the cold spot mechanism having a first portion positioned within the housing and a second portion positioned outside of the housing;
• a heating mechanism contiguous with the second portion of the cold spot mechanism, the heating mechanism warming the cold spot mechanism to a substantially optimum cold spot temperature that allows the lamp member to generate a substantially maximum intensity of light output;
• a power supply coupled to the heating mechanism for delivering operational power to the heating mechanism;
• and
• a temperature sensing mechanism coupled to the power supply, the temperature sensing mechanism monitoring the temperature of the cold spot mechanism and controlling operation of the power supply based upon the temperature of the cold spot mechanism to maintain the substantially optimum cold spot temperature.