Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd.

Mitsubishi Mining and Cement Co. Ltd.

Masafumi Ochi

Motonobu Masui

Akio Uchida

Kanichi Tachibana

Yoshio Ohtagaki

Ikuo Iwai

In a high pressure discharge lamp device provided with an inductive stabilizer and a starting circuit consisting of a serial circuit of a resistor and a bimetal switch, a pulse waveform conversion circuit is arranged therein to reduce the pulse peak of the starting voltage and also broaden the pulse width of the starting voltage. The pulse waveform conversion circuit comprises a serial circuit of a resistor and a switching element, such as micro-gap element, which operates at a voltage lower than the starting voltage of the discharge lamp but higher than the secondary load-free voltage of the stabilizer.

High pressure discharge lamp with incorporated starter

A high pressure discharge lamp with a starting circuit contained therein includes an arc tube provided with a pair of opposed electrodes at the hermetically sealed opposite ends thereof. The interior of the arc tube is filled with at least a luminous metal and gas. The discharge lamp further includes a series circuit consisting of a thermo-responsive switch and a resistor and shunted to the electrodes of the arc tube, and an outer envelope for containing therein the series circuit and the arc tube. The resistance value of the resistor is set such that a sufficient current to induce a pulse of higher voltage than the starting voltage flows through the series circuit while, on the other hand, the current flowing through the series circuit is substantially equal to or less than the lamp current during the stable state of the lamp.

High pressure discharge lamp with a starting circuit contained therein

Growing community of inventors

Kitamoto, Japan

Masafumi Ochi