Patent Application
20070273301
Discharge-lamp lighting apparatuses according to embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Parts of first embodiment that are different from those of the related art will mainly be explained. Through the drawings, a filled circle indicates a winding start point of each transformer winding. Although discharge lamps in the embodiments are CCFLs, they may be external electrode fluorescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, and the like.
On the secondary side of the apparatus, there is a second transformer T2 instead of the first and second ballast capacitors C11 and C12 of the related art. The second transformer T2 has a primary winding P2, a first secondary winding S21, and a second secondary winding S22. The three windings of the second transformer T2 are wound in order of S21, P2, and S22. The primary winding P2 and first secondary winding S21 of the second transformer T2 are loosely coupled to each other, the primary winding P2 and second secondary winding S22 of the second transformer T2 are loosely coupled to each other, and the first and second secondary windings S21 and S22 of the second transformer T2 are loosely coupled to each other.
A secondary winding S1 of a first transformer T1 is connected in parallel to a series circuit that includes a CCFL 11a and the first secondary winding S21 of the second transformer T2 and a series circuit that includes a CCFL 11b and the second secondary winding S22 of the second transformer T2. The primary winding P2 of the second transformer T2 is connected in parallel to a primary winding P1 of the first transformer T1. Polarities of the first and second secondary windings S21 and S22 of the second transformer T2 are set so that voltages generated by the first and second secondary windings S21 and S22 are additive to a voltage generated by the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1.
Operation of the discharge-lamp lighting apparatus according to first embodiment with the above-mentioned configuration will be explained. An AC voltage applied to the primary winding P1 of the first transformer T1 and the primary winding P2 of the second transformer T2 makes the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1 and the first and second secondary windings S21 and S22 of the second transformer T2 generate voltages. As a result, the CCFL 11a receives the sum of the voltage of the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1 and the voltage of the first secondary winding S21 of the second transformer T2, and the CCFL 11b receives the sum of the voltage of the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1 and the voltage of the second secondary winding S22 of the second transformer T2.
As a result, the CCFLs 11a and 11b turn on. Since the first and second secondary windings S21 and S22 of the second transformer T2 are loosely coupled to each other, ON operation of one of the CCFLs 11a and 11b do not drop a voltage applied to the other CCFL. Namely, the CCFLs 11a and 11b can stably be turned on without an influence of voltage drop caused by ON operation of the CCFLs 11a and 11b.
The loose coupling of the primary winding P2 and first secondary winding S21 of the second transformer T2 forms a leakage inductance Lr1, and the loose coupling of the primary winding P2 and second secondary winding S22 of the second transformer T2 forms a leakage inductance Lr2. These leakage inductances result in balancing currents passed to the CCFLs 11a and 11b. The voltages applied to the CCFLs 11a and 11b are shared between the first and second transformers T1 and T2, and therefore, an output voltage provided by any one of the first and second transformers T1 and T2 can be lower than that of the related art. This results in eliminating the need of large-scale safety measures to secure reliability, prevent leakage, and ensure creepage distances and spatial distances, thereby minimizing the cost of the apparatus.
According to the third embodiment shown in
The primary and secondary windings P2 and S2 of the second transformer T2 are loosely coupled to each other, and the primary and secondary windings P3 and S3 of the third transformer T3 are also loosely coupled to each other.
Operation of the discharge-lamp lighting apparatus according to the third embodiment with the above-mentioned configuration will be explained. An AC voltage applied to the primary windings P1, P2, and P3 of the first, second, and third transformers T1, T2, and T3 makes the secondary windings S1, S2, and S3 of the first, second, and third transformers T1, T2, and T3 generate voltages. As a result, the CCFL 11a receives the sum of the voltage of the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1 and the voltage of the secondary winding S2 of the second transformer T2.
Similarly, the CCFL 11b receives the sum of the voltage of the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1 and the voltage of the secondary winding S3 of the third transformer T3.
As a result, the CCFLs 11a and 11b turn on. Since the secondary windings S2 and S3 of the second and third transformers T2 and T3 are independent of each other, ON operation of one of the CCFLs 11a and 11b do not drop a voltage applied to the other CCFL. Namely, the CCFLs 11a and 11b can stably be turned on without an influence of voltage drop caused by ON operation of the CCFLs 11a and 11b.
The loose coupling of the primary and secondary windings P2 and S2 of the second transformer T2 forms a leakage inductance Lr1, and the loose coupling of the primary and secondary windings P3 and S3 of the third transformer T3 forms a leakage inductance Lr2. These leakage inductances result in balancing currents passed to the CCFLs 11a and 11b. The voltages applied to the CCFLs 11a and 11b are shared between the first and second transformers T1 and T2 and between the first and third transformers T1 and T3, and therefore, an output voltage provided by any one of the first to third transformers T1 to T3 can be lower than that of the related art. This results in eliminating the need of large-scale safety measures to secure reliability, prevent leakage, and ensure creepage distances and spatial distances, thereby minimizing the cost of the apparatus.
Like the fourth embodiment, the fifth embodiment may be modified to connect the above-mentioned series circuit in parallel to the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1. The modification provides the same operation and effect as the fifth embodiment.
The primary winding P2 of the second transformer T2 of the discharge-lamp lighting apparatus of first embodiment is connected in series with the primary winding P1 of the first transformer T1. The sixth embodiment provides the same operation and effect as the first embodiment.
Like the second embodiment, the sixth embodiment may be modified to connect the primary winding P2 of the second transformer T2 in series with the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1. This modification provides the same operation and effect as the second embodiment.
Like the fourth embodiment, the seventh embodiment may be modified to connect each of the primary windings P2 and P3 of the second and third transformers T2 and T3 in series with the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1. This modification provides the same operation and effect as the fourth embodiment.
The primary windings P2 and P3 of the second and third transformers T2 and T3 of the discharge-lamp lighting apparatus of third embodiment is connected in series with each other to form a series circuit and this series circuit is connected in series with the primary winding P1 of the first transformer T1. The eighth embodiment provides the same operation and effect as the third embodiment.
Like the fourth embodiment, the eighth embodiment may be modified to connect the series circuit consisting of the primary windings P2 and P3 of the second and third transformers T2 and T3 in series with the secondary winding S1 of the first transformer T1. This modification provides the same operation and effect as the eighth embodiment.
Although each of the first embodiment to the eighth embodiment controls two CCFLs, the present invention is applicable to form a discharge-lamp lighting apparatus that controls an optional number of CCFLs.
The present invention can realize a discharge-lamp lighting apparatus that is manufacturable at low cost, is highly reliable, and is capable of simultaneously driving a plurality of CCFLs.
The discharge-lamp lighting apparatus according to the present invention generates voltages applied to first and second discharge lamps from first and second (and third, too) transformers in a shared manner to reduce a voltage to be generated by each transformer. This results in eliminating large-scale safety measures to be taken for the apparatus, greatly reducing the cost of the apparatus, and improving the reliability of the apparatus.
Supplying voltages to the first and second discharge lamps with the use of the second and/or third transformers provides an advantage that a leakage inductance of each transformer can be used as an impedance to absorb the negative resistance characteristics of the first and second discharge lamps. This results instabilizing and balancing currents passed to the discharge lamps that are simultaneously driven.
This application claims benefit of priority under 35 USC ยง119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-145730, filed on May 25, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. Although the invention has been described above by reference to certain embodiments of the invention, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. Modifications and variations of the embodiments described above will occur to those skilled in the art, in light of the teachings. The scope of the invention is defined with reference to the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-145730 | May 2006 | JP | national |
