Electrode-less discharge lamp lighting apparatus, bulb-shaped electrode-less fluorescent lamp, and discharge lamp lighting apparatus

Abstract

An electrode-less discharge lamp lighting apparatus which is electrically connected to a dimming unit () is provided with: an electrode-less fluorescent lamp (); and a lighting circuit () operable to apply a high-frequency voltage to the electrode-less fluorescent lamp (), wherein the lighting circuit () includes: an AC/DC converting unit () operable to convert a phase-controlled AC voltage outputted from the dimming unit () into a DC voltage; a DC/AC converting unit () operable to convert the DC voltage into a high-frequency voltage; and a dimming controlling unit () that includes a resistor (), a switching element (), and a timer circuit () so as to detect a timing of a turn-on of the phase-controlled AC voltage and to, based on the detected timing, allow a current whose value is at least a threshold to flow across output terminals of the AC/DC converting unit () for at least a duration of a time lag between the turn-on of the phase-controlled AC voltage and the generation of the high-frequency voltage by the DC/AC converting unit ().