Apparatus and method for operating a high intensity gas discharge lamp ballast

摘要

A method of and apparatus for operating a high intensity gas discharge lamp is provided wherein the inverter circuit operates at a controlled frequency such that deleterious effects of the lamp's acoustic resonant frequencies are minimized. The inverter utilizes a transformer output with high leakage inductance. The high leakage inductance provides low loss switching operation and simplified control of lamp current during both ignition and warm-up. High frequency operation as well as judicious component design and specification reduces component count, assembled size and cost of ballast.