Multiple strike ballast with lamp protection for electrodeless lamp

摘要

A multi-strike ballast to ignite an electrodeless lamp is disclosed, and includes an inverter circuit, a protection circuit, and a controller. The inverter circuit, upon activation, sends an ignition pulse to the lamp. The inverter circuit shuts down upon receiving a deactivation signal, and activates upon receiving an activation signal, triggering another ignition pulse. The protection circuit senses a change in a voltage associated with the lamp. The sensed changed may indicate that the lamp has not yet ignited or that the lamp is broken. The controller receives the sensed change in voltage and, in response, sends a deactivation signal to the inverter circuit. The controller waits a predetermined time and then sends an activation signal to the inverter circuit. The controller repeats until a change in voltage associated with the lamp is not sensed, or until a predefined number of repeats occur, providing multiple ignition pulses to the lamp.

主权项

1. A multi-strike ballast to ignite an electrodless lamp, the multi-strike ballast comprising:
an inverter circuit configured to send an ignition pulse to the electrodeless lamp following activation of the inverter circuit, to shut down upon receiving a deactivation signal, and to activate upon receiving an activation signal; a protection circuit configured to sense a change in voltage associated with the electrodeless lamp; a controller, wherein the controller is configured to receive the sensed change in voltage associated with the electrodeless lamp from the protection circuit and in response to send a deactivation signal to the inverter circuit, to wait a predetermined time, following the predetermined time to send an activation signal to the inverter circuit, and to repeat until the protection circuit does not sense a change in voltage associated with the electrodeless lamp or until a predefined number of repeats occur; and a buck converter, wherein the buck converter is configured to receive the activation signal and the deactivation signal from the controller, such that the buck converter controls activation and shut down of the inverter circuit based on the signal received from the controller.