The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 07, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 08, 1998
Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A lighting circuit for a discharge lamp capable of improving the lighting performance of a discharge lamp with a simple circuit structure to thereby prevent a lighting failure at the end of the lifetime of the discharge lamp. The lighting circuit 1 comprises a DC power supply circuit 2, DC-AC conversion means 3 for converting a DC voltage output from the DC power supply circuit 2 to an AC voltage and supplying the AC voltage to the discharge lamp 5, a circuit element 6 (a switch element or a current limiting element) for blocking or limiting a current counter-flowing to the DC power supply circuit 2 from the DC-AC conversion means 3, and an inductive load 4 connected in series to the discharge lamp 5. A series circuit of a Zener diode 7 and a passive element 8 (a capacitor or a resistor) is provided in parallel to the circuit element 6, so that when the Zener diode 7 conducts, a rise in an auxiliary voltage for reignition is suppressed.