Fusion Lighting, Inc.

Fusion Systems Corporation

James E Simpson

Brian P Turner

Mohammad Kamarehi

Michael G Ury

Mohammed Kamarehi

Douglas A Kirkpatrick

Donald A MacLennan

Charles H Wood

James T Dolan

Peter Tsai

Donald C Lynch

Yongzhang Leng

Aleksandr Gitsevich

Kent Kipling

Wayne G Love

William C Trimble

Samuel A Ola

William G Grimm

Lauren E Dymond, Jr

An electrodeless microwave discharge lamp includes a source of microwave energy, a microwave cavity, a structure configured to transmit the microwave energy from the source to the microwave cavity, a bulb disposed within the microwave cavity, the bulb including a discharge forming fill which emits light when excited by the microwave energy, and a reflector disposed within the microwave cavity, wherein the reflector defines a reflective cavity which encompasses the bulb within its volume and has an inside surface area which is sufficiently less than an inside surface area of the microwave cavity. A portion of the reflector may define a light emitting aperture which extends from a position closely spaced to the bulb to a light transmissive end of the microwave cavity. Preferably, at least a portion of the reflector is spaced from a wall of the microwave cavity. The lamp may be substantially sealed from environmental contamination. The cavity may include a dielectric material is a sufficient amount to require a reduction in the size of the cavity to support the desired resonant mode.

High brightness microwave lamp

An electrodeless lamp includes a stationary bulb ( ) containing a fill for producing a discharge, the fill has a primary radiating material which ordinarily produces an unstable discharge in the absence of bulb rotation. The fill further includes an alkali metal in an amount sufficient to stabilize the discharge without bulb rotation. The alkali metal may be, for example, cesium bromide. Preferably, the fill is excited by a non-stationary electric field (E, E ) such as, for example, a circular polarized electric field.

Non-rotating electrodeless lamp containing molecular fill

A high frequency inductively coupled electrodeless lamp includes an excitation coil with an effective electrical length which is less than one half wavelength of a driving frequency applied thereto, preferably much less. The driving frequency may be greater than 100 MHz and is preferably as high as 915 MHz. Preferably, the excitation coil is configured as a non-helical, semi-cylindrical conductive surface having less than one turn, in the general shape of a wedding ring. At high frequencies, the current in the coil forms two loops which are spaced apart and parallel to each other. Configured appropriately, the coil approximates a Helmholtz configuration. The lamp preferably utilizes an bulb encased in a reflective ceramic cup with a pre-formed aperture defined therethrough. The ceramic cup may include structural features to aid in alignment and I or a flanged face to aid in thermal management. The lamp head is preferably an integrated lamp head comprising a metal matrix composite surrounding an insulating ceramic with the excitation integrally formed on the ceramic. A novel solid-state oscillator preferably provides RF power to the lamp. The oscillator is a single active element device capable of providing over 70 watts of power at over 70% efficiency. Various control circuits may be employed to adjust the driving frequency of the oscillator.

High frequency inductive lamp and power oscillator

Compact microwave lamp having a tuning block and a dielectric located in

An RF powered electrodeless lamp utilizing an inductive tuner in the waveguide which couples the RF power to the lamp cavity, for reducing reflected RF power and causing the lamp to operate efficiently.

Inductive tuners for microwave driven discharge lamps

An electrodeless lamp waveguide structure includes tuned absorbers for spurious RF signals. A lamp waveguide with an integral frequency selective attenuation includes resonant absorbers positioned within the waveguide to absorb spurious out-of-band RF energy. The absorbers have a negligible effect on energy at the selected frequency used to excite plasma in the lamp. In a first embodiment, one or more thin slabs of lossy magnetic material are affixed to the sidewalls of the waveguide at approximately one quarter wavelength of the spurious signal from an end wall of the waveguide. The positioning of the lossy material optimizes absorption of power from the spurious signal. In a second embodiment, one or more thin slabs of lossy magnetic material are used in conjunction with band rejection waveguide filter elements. In a third embodiment, one or more microstrip filter elements are tuned to the frequency of the spurious signal and positioned within the waveguide to couple and absorb the spurious signal's energy. All three embodiments absorb negligible energy at the selected frequency and so do not significantly diminish the energy efficiency of the lamp.

Method and apparatus for powering an electrodeless lamp with reduced

An electrodeless lamp arrangement powered by RF energy. The lamp arrangement having an envelope that is rotated and most importantly the envelope forms the center of a coaxial arrangment used to transfer the RF energy into the envelope.

Electrodeless lamp with elimination of arc attachment

An apparatus which couples microwave energy to an electrodeless lamp. A source of microwave energy is connected to a wave guide having a slot along one wall thereof. A nominally cylindrical cavity enclosing an electrodeless lamp is closed at one end and coupled at a second end to the slot. The nominally cylindrical cavity has a non cylindrical surface portion which increases coupling from said slot to a second resonant mode which is orthogonal to a first primary resonant mode, creating a high amplitude standing wave in the region of the electrodeless lamp. Once ignition of the lamp occurs, the impedance of the lamp decreases significantly, and most of the microwave power for sustaining illumination is coupled to the electrodeless lamp in the first resonant mode producing a substantially matched load to said microwave source.

Electrodeless lamp using separate microwave energy resonance modes for

Apparatus for efficiently exciting an electrodeless lamp to produce visible light. A source of microwave energy is coupled to a cylindrical cavity which encloses an electrodeless lamp. The cylindrical cavity includes a sidewall and end wall which is made from a metallic mesh which passes light produced from the electrodeless lamp. The electric field intensity within the cylindrical cavity is increased in the region above the lamp center. The increased electric field intensity produces a more uniform temperature across the bulb service, increasing the rate of plasma heating of gas molecules in the lamp.

Apparatus for exciting an electrodeless lamp with an increasing electric

Apparatus for exciting electrodeless lamps. A magnetron for generating electromagnetic energy in the microwave region includes an extension for its antenna terminal. The extension extends the length of the antenna to control the phase of loading on the magnetron. A circular ground flange and perforated screen enclose the electrodeless lamp, permitting microwave energy to excite the gas within the lamp, while confining the energy to the space bounded by the perforated screen and cylindrical ground flange. The extension for the antenna has a length which maintains the reflection coefficient phase to a level which does not adversely disturb the magnetron operating frequency.

Compact microwave source for exciting electrodeless lamps

A plasma asher which obviates microwave leakage and attendant problems by providing a microwave trap proximate the opening through which the plasma tube exits the microwave cavity.

Plasma asher with microwave trap

Apparatus for coupling electromagnetic energy to electrodeless lamps. A waveguide having one end connected to a source of electromagnetic radiation was closed at the second opposite end. A coupling device at the second end couples microwave energy from the waveguide to an electrodeless lamp. The coupling device includes a coaxial transmission line having a center conductor extending through one of the walls of the waveguide adjacent the second end. An alcove partition within the waveguide contacts the extending conductor and forms an alcove in the waveguide. The alcove portion provides for an impedance matching structure between the transmission line and waveguide. The electrodeless lamp which is positioned above the free end of the coaxial transmission line is excited with the coupled microwave energy.

Apparatus for coupling electromagnetic radiation from a waveguide to an

A power supply for providing a stable operating current to a magnetron-excited lamp. The power supply includes a DC to DC inverter for driving a primary winding of a high voltage transformer. The DC to DC inverter has a circuit including two pairs of switching elements for connecting a DC voltage supply to the primary winding. During each half of the switching cycle, one of the switching elements is pulse width modulated while the other remains on for a substantially fixed period of time. During the second half of the cycle, the remaining pair operates so that one switching device is on for a pulse width modulated period of time, and the other is on a substantially constant amount of time. The on time for the pulse width modulated switching elements is defined by an input voltage setting representing a desired brightness level for the lamp, the output magnetron current, and a representative of the integral of the current flowing through the primary of the inverter transformer.

Apparatus for controlling the brightness of a magnetron-excited lamp

A microwave powered discharge device which utilizes a TM.sub.NMO cavity. A conductive body is positioned at a null in a discharge device which utilizes a TM.sub.210 cavity to reduce direct coupling from the microwave coupling means, e.g., slot of the cavity. A plurality of TM.sub.110 cavities are ganged together, and a single discharge tube extends through all of the cavities.

Microwave discharge device with TM.sub.NMO cavity

A microwave powered lamp wherein microwave energy is coupled to a cavity in which an electrodeless bulb is disposed, such that a rotating field of constant ellipticity is established in the cavity.

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Gaithersburg, MD, United States of America

James E Simpson