Discharge lamp lighting circuit for a plurality of discharge lamps

A discharge-lamp lighting circuit for turning on a plurality of discharge lamps, comprising:

• starting circuits for supplying starting pulses to the respective discharge lamps said starting circuit including:
• a plurality of transformers equal in number to the discharge lamps, each of the transformers having a primary and a secondary winding connected to the respective discharge lamps;
• and
• a circuit provided on the primary side of the transformer, including a plurality of capacitors having a first end and second end, each first end being connected to a terminal of the primary winding of corresponding transformer, and the second end being connected to a pole of a single switch element,
• wherein when the accumulated charge in each capacitor is discharged via the primary winding of the transformer as the switch element conducts, the starting pulse is generated and supplied to the discharge lamp via the secondary winding of the transformer;
• DC-DC converter circuits for converting DC input voltage to desired DC voltage and outputting the DC voltage;
• and
• a voltage supply source for supplying voltage to the starting circuits,
• wherein electric charge is accumulated in the capacitor in each starting circuit because of the potential difference between the output voltage of the DC-DC converter circuit and the voltage supplied by the voltage supply source.

A discharge-lamp lighting circuit for turning on a plurality of discharge lamps, comprising:

• starting circuits for supplying starting pulses to the respective discharge lamps, said starting circuit including:
• a plurality of transformers equal in number to the discharge lamps, each of the transformers having a primary and a secondary winding connected to the respective discharge lamps;
• and
• a circuit provided on the primary side of the transformer, including a plurality of capacitors having a first end and second end, each first end being connected to a terminal of the primary winding of corresponding transformer, and the second end being connected to a pole of a single switch element,
• wherein when the accumulated charge in each capacitor is discharged via the primary winding of the transformer as the switch element conducts, the starting pulse is generated and supplied to the discharge lamp via the secondary winding of the transformer;
• and
• a voltage supply source for supplying voltage to the starting circuits,
• wherein electric charge is accumulated in the capacitor in each starting circuit because of the potential difference between the voltage supplied by the voltage supply source and the potential at the grounding line.