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:
Nov. 07, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 03, 2004
Peter Shackle, Rolling Hills Estates, CA (US);
John Jay Dernovsek, Madison, AL (US);
Barrie Drew, Toney, AL (US);
Qinghong Yu, Salem, MA (US);
Peter Shackle, Rolling Hills Estates, CA (US);
John Jay Dernovsek, Madison, AL (US);
Barrie Drew, Toney, AL (US);
Qinghong Yu, Salem, MA (US);
Universal Lighting Technologies, Inc., Madison, AL (US);
Abstract
An instant-start ballast for a multiple gas discharge lamp fixture has a single half-bridge inverter that is used to drive at least two series resonant output circuits. Each series resonant output circuit is used to drive two gas discharge lamps. A single output voltage limiting circuit is provided with a microprocessor that monitors the combined output voltages of the series resonant output circuits and uses a single voltage limiting transistor to control the output voltages of the circuits. A capacitor is associated with each gas discharge lamp socket in the fixture such that a voltage across the capacitor indicates that a lamp has been installed in the socket associated with the capacitor. The ignition sequence will only be initiated if the capacitor voltages indicate that a lamp has been installed in each socket of a fixture.