Energy saving power control system

A method for providing power regulation for a system having an AC power source and a load having a combination of resistive and reactive impedances, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a source waveform;
• (b) modifying the source waveform in a power-savings mode, the modified waveform characterized by a substantially same peak value of the source waveform and a substantially lower RMS value than the source waveform;
• and
• (c) applying the modified waveform to the load.

An AC power regulation system for controlling load power to a load, said power regulation system having an input for coupling to an AC power source and having an output for coupling to the load, said power regulation system comprising:

• a controllable switch coupled in series between the input and the output;
• circuitry for supplying capacitance coupled in parallel with the controllable switch, the capacitance being proportional to the line current and operable to pass the line current during a substantial portion of a half cycle of the line current;
• circuitry for turning-on the controllable switch to a conducting state;
• circuitry for turning-off the controllable switch to a non-conducting state;
• and
• switch control circuitry for generating control signals to control said circuitry for turning-on and said circuitry for turning-off such that the controllable switch is turned on to a conducting state at a selected turn-on time, and is turned off to a non-conducting state at a selected turn-off time prior to a line current zero-crossing point, said turn-off time being selected by said switch control circuitry in response to a reference signal;
• wherein the switch control circuitry is operable to modify the load waveform for loads comprising different load impedances.