High power cold cathode gas discharge lamp using sub-electrode structures

Abstract

A high power cold cathode gas discharge system employs two electrode structures, where each structure includes a plurality of sub-electrodes connected in parallel to a driver so that the current delivered by the system is spread over multiple sub-electrodes. Each sub-electrode is connected to the driver through a current limiting device such as a capacitor which limits the current delivered by each sub-electrode to be below a certain threshold. By spreading the current delivered by the system over multiple sub-electrodes, the useful life of the system will not be reduced because of sputtering, which results in a high power and long life fluorescent lamp and other gas discharge devices.

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