Method of controlling a circuit arrangement for the ac power supply of a plasma display panel

A method of controlling a circuit arrangement for an AC power supply of a plasma display panel, in which the circuit arrangement includes at least a transistor bridge that includes bridge transistors T1, T2, T3, T4, an input voltage UO, a capacitor Cp of a plasma cell and a discharging circuit comprising an auxiliary voltage Uh, a second auxiliary transistor T12 and a second coil L2, the method comprising:

• at a beginning of a discharging operation:
• controlling the second auxiliary transistor T12 as conductive, and
• controlling the bridge transistor T1 as conductive for a delay time tv, which is greater than zero, to inhibit discharging of the capacitor Cp, and
• after the delay time tv has elapsed, controlling the bridge transistor T1 as non-conductive, to effect the discharging of the capacitor Cp.

An apparatus comprising:

• a circuit arrangement for supplying AC power to a plasma display panel, and
• a controller that is configured to control the circuit arrangement;
• wherein:
• the circuit arrangement includes:
• a transistor bridge that includes bridge transistors T1, T2, T3, T4, that is coupled to a capacitor Cp of a plasma cell, and
• a charging circuit that includes:
• an auxiliary voltage Uh,
• a first auxiliary transistor T11 and
• a first coil L1;
• and
• the controller is configured to:
• control the first auxiliary transistor T11 as conductive at a beginning of a charging operation
• control the bridge transistor T2 as conductive for a delay time tv, which is greater than zero, to inhibit charging of the capacitor Cp, and
• control the bridge transistor T2 non-conductive after the delay time tv has elapsed, to effect the charging of the capacitor Cp.