Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems – Pulsating or a.c. supply
Patent
1996-04-08
1999-08-24
Kinkead, Arnold
Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems
Pulsating or a.c. supply
315 72, 315291, 3403847, 307106, H05B 3900, H05B 3904, H05B 3909
Patent
active
059428589
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for feeding an electrical load having a predetermined nominal voltage, comprising an input for connection to a supply voltage source and an output for the load.
2. Description of Related Art
Such an apparatus, in its simplest form, consists of a mechanical switch for closing a circuit connecting a supply voltage source, e.g. a battery or the electric network, to the load. The load most typically is an incandescent bulb. The circuit may contain in addition a fuse against overload.
By way of specific measures in circuit technology, the load may be fed with more or less energy in order to control for example the brightness of an incandescent bulb from 0 per cent to 100 per cent. This is effected e.g. with the aid of a potentiometer. Commonly used at present are so-called phase-angle controls with thyristors or triacs connecting each half-wave of an alternating voltage to the load at a delayed, selectable moment of time.
Feeding of an electrical load with direct current and feeding of an electrical load with alternating current each involve advantages and disadvantages. Attempts have been made specifically with incandescent bulbs and other illumination devices to obtain an increased luminosity factor or light yield (with a given electrical power) by improving the efficiency.
For feeding electrical loads it is known in particular also with stepping motors or the like to apply a pulse-shaped supply voltage to the load, with the duty cycle of the pulse train, i.e. the ratio of pulse width to pulse spacing or interval, determining the power supplied to the load from 0 to 100 per cent. In the extreme case of such pulse-shaped feeding, pure direct current is fed to the load. The pulse width then is 100 per cent, whereas the interval is 0 per cent, corresponding to a duty cycle (pulse/interval) of infinity. The voltage amplitude of the voltage pulses must in each case correspond to the nominal voltage of the load.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims at achieving a considerably higher efficiency in feeding an electrical load as compared to the prior art, in particular in the case of ohmic loads, e.g. incandescent bulbs, but also with purely or mainly inductive or capacitive loads, which are of poor efficiency, so as to obtain an enhanced exploitation of electrical energy.
According to the invention, this is achieved by a needle pulse shaper applying a train of needle pulses to the output connected to the load.
In the ideal case, these needle pulses are Dirac surges, i.e. pulses with an extremely high amplitude and an extremely short, but stable pulse duration.
The amplitude of the needle pulses fed to the load is limited by the presently available electronic circuit means for producing the pulses. With presently available electronic circuit means, pulse durations in the order of magnitude of 100 nanoseconds can be realized. Accordingly, very high voltages can be employed which are greater than the nominal voltage of the load by a factor in the range of one or two orders of magnitude.
With a direct current circuit, care must be taken that the supply voltage fed to the load is by no means substantially greater than the nominal voltage. However, it is known that there is an almost proportional relationship between the quotient of supply voltage and nominal voltage on the one hand and the efficiency of the consumer (=brightness of an incandescent bulb) and the useful life of the consumer on the other hand. For example, when a bulb with a nominal voltage of 100 volts is fed with a voltage of only 90 or even just 80 volts, the efficiency deteriorates, i.e. the light yield becomes clearly lower. However, with decreasing efficiency, the useful life increases at the same time. When the supply voltage is in the opposite manner increased to 110 or even 120 volts, the efficiency, i.e. in the present case the light yield, is improved, but the useful life deteriorates correspondingly. When the supply voltage is considerab
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Kinkead Arnold
Nico-Elektro Aktiengesellschaft
Presson Thomas F.
Rosenblatt Gregory S.
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