Discharge lamp lighting device

Claim 1

A discharge lamp lighting device, comprising: a ballast circuit (4) for supplying electrical energy to a discharge lamp (L), said ballast circuit including a first power supply circuit (2), a second power supply circuit (3) connected in parallel with said first power supply circuit, said second power supply circuit providing a voltage output higher than said first power supply circuit output voltage, and a storage capacitor (C1) connected across said parallel connected first and second power supply circuits; and a discharge lamp circuit connected to said ballast circuit (4) and including a series-connected discharge lamp (L) and secondary of a Tesla Coil (TC) connected across said storage capacitor (C1), and a starter circuit for starting said discharge lamp, said starter circuit including a high voltage pulse transformer (T2) having a primary and secondary, said primary of said pulse transformer connected through a thyristor (Th) across a starter energizing capacitor (C3), said starter energizing capacitor connected in parallel circuit with said storage capacitor (C1), said secondary of said high voltage pulse transformer and a series-connected diode (D) connected first in shunt acrosss a discharge gap (G) and secondly in shunt across a series-connected starter capacitor (C2) and a primary of said Tesla Coil, the ignition voltage of said thyristor being higher than the output voltage of said main power supply circuit.