Patent ID: 6172464
Filing Date: 2001-01-09
Classification: H02M,H03K,H05B,Y02B,Y10S

Abstract:
An arrangement comprising:a screw-base inserted into and held by a lamp socket adapted to accept and hold an ordinary household incandescent light bulb; the screw-base having base terminals and being otherwise characterized by having a central screw-base axis around which the outer boundary of the screw-base forms an approximately cylindrical surface; the lamp socket having socket terminals at which is provided AC power line voltage such as that normally provided from an ordinary electric utility power line;a fluorescent lamp having lamp terminals; the fluorescent lamp being characterized by including at least two straight cylindrical light-emitting glass-enclosed sections disposed parallel to each other as well as to a central lamp axis; a lamp terminal being disposed at one end of each of the two straight cylindrical light-emitting glass-enclosed sections; the other ends of the two straight cylindrical light-emitting glass-enclosed sections being connected together via a transversely disposed light-emitting glass-enclosed section; said transversely disposed section being of a maximum dimension substantially no longer than just sufficient to reach between said other ends;electronic sub-assembly having power input terminals connected with the base terminals and power output terminals connected with the lamp terminals; the sub-assembly being operative, whenever supplied with AC power line voltage at its power input terminals, to supply an alternating lamp current to the lamp terminals; the alternating lamp current being of frequency distinctly higher than that of the AC power line voltage; the sub-assembly being additionally characterized by not including a transformer having a primary winding connected across the power input terminals; the electronic sub-assembly being further characterized by including two terminals across which exists a DC voltage having a substantially constant absolute magnitude that is distinctly higher than the peak absolute magnitude of the AC power line voltage; andstructure means operative to hold together the screw-base, the fluorescent lamp, and the electronic sub-assembly, thereby to form an integral screw-in lamp structure characterized by having an overall longitudinal axis parallel with the central screw-base axis as well as with the central lamp axis.