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:
Jun. 12, 2012
Filed:
Aug. 25, 2010
Etsuji Morimoto, Osaka, JP;
Kazuhiko Itou, Osaka, JP;
Masayoshi Gyoten, Shiga, JP;
Akira Takahashi, Osaka, JP;
Etsuji Morimoto, Osaka, JP;
Kazuhiko Itou, Osaka, JP;
Masayoshi Gyoten, Shiga, JP;
Akira Takahashi, Osaka, JP;
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
Provided is a lighting unit and a discharge lamp each of which is capable of causing a capacitor to break down by heat generated in a heat generating component, so that circuit operation is safely terminated without any additional cost. A compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamp is provided with a lighting unit () housed in a case. The lighting unit () causes an arc tube to emit light and is composed of a plurality of electronic components, including a rectifier/smoothing circuit portion, an inverter circuit portion having transistors (Qand Q), a resonant circuit portion, and a preheating circuit portion having a positive temperature coefficient element. Among the plurality of electronic components, the transistors (Qand Q) and the positive temperature coefficient element generate excessive heat when, for example, the lamp is operated at the end of electrode's life. Capacitors (Cand C) disposed in the vicinity of the positive temperature coefficient element would break down by heat in a short mode.