Resonant energy recovery for electro-luminescent lamp panels

Details Resonant energy recovery for electro-luminescent lamp panels Resonant energy recovery for electro-luminescent lamp panels

2001-07-31

2003-09-23

Vu, David (Department: 2821)

Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems

Periodic switch in the supply circuit

Impedance or current regulator in the supply circuit

C315S169300

Reexamination Certificate

active

06624595

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to electro-luminescent lamp panels and, more particularly, to a resonant circuit for recovering energy stored in these panels that would otherwise be dissipated during the discharge cycle of a drive circuit.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Electro-luminescent lamps act as capacitors, electrically. These lamps store energy, as do all capacitors, in the form of an electrical voltage charge. In the normal electro-luminescent lamp driver circuit, this charge is dissipated, and therefore lost, during the discharge cycle of operation.
Electro-luminescent lamp driver circuits are well known in the prior art, exemplary of which are the Supertex HV803 and the Toko TK659XX. A typical one of these circuits is illustrated in FIG.
1
. In that circuit, components L
1
, S
0
, D
1
, and C
1
constitute a high voltage boost or step-up converter which receives a low voltage (less than 6 volts) and boosts it to between 20 and 100 volts on the capacitor C
1
. Components S
1
, S
2
, S
3
, and S
4
constitute an H-bridge circuit that is used to commutate the high DC voltage on capacitor C
1
into a high AC voltage across an electro-luminescent lamp capacitor (C lamp) that is about twice the DC voltage on capacitor C
1
. This AC voltage charges and discharges the capacitor C lamp, with the energy stored in the capacitor C lamp being dissipated in components S
3
and S
4
of the H-bridge during the discharge cycle.
It would be advantageous to recover this energy, existing in the form of charge at high voltage, from the electro-luminescent lamp capactior C_lamp, and reuse it, thus making the entire electro-luminescent lamp driving system more efficient. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method utilizing capacitor C_lamp in a resonant circuit to implement the recovery of this otherwise lost energy, which is significant in the case of large electro-luminescent lamps that are driven to higher voltages.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5144203 (1992-09-01), Fujita et al.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Resonant energy recovery for electro-luminescent lamp panels does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Resonant energy recovery for electro-luminescent lamp panels, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Resonant energy recovery for electro-luminescent lamp panels will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3107222