Filament miswire protection in an electronic dimming ballast

摘要

An electronic dimming ballast that accommodates miswiring of fluorescent lamp filaments (e.g., miswiring the corresponding lamp sockets) is disclosed. The electronic dimming ballast may drive a plurality of gas discharge lamps. Each gas discharge lamp may have a respective filament. The electronic dimming ballast, via the filament miswire protection element, may establish the same voltage across a first of the filaments regardless of whether the filaments are wired in series or in parallel. The filament miswire protection element may have an impedance that is approximately equal to an impedance of at least one of the filaments. The filament miswire protection element may include one or more capacitors, inductors, and/or resistors. The filament miswire protection element may include only a capacitor.

主权项

1. An electronic ballast for driving a plurality of gas discharge lamps, each gas discharge lamp having a respective filament, the electronic ballast comprising:
a filament winding magnetically coupled to an inductor and operable to supply an AC filament voltage to each of the filaments; a filament miswire protection element coupled to the filament winding and connectable to the filaments such that the same AC filament voltage is established across a first of the filaments regardless of whether the filaments are wired in series or in parallel.