Patent ID: 8169153

Claim:
A circuit arrangement for starting a high-pressure discharge lamp having a main combustion chamber with a first and a second main electrode and an auxiliary combustion chamber, comprising: an inverter, which has at least one first and one second electronic switch and one first and one second output terminal; a drive circuit for driving the electronic switches of the inverter; and an auxiliary starting circuit comprising: a first and a second input terminal, the first input terminal being coupled to the first output terminal of the inverter, and the second input terminal being coupled to the second output terminal of the inverter; a first output terminal for connecting the first main electrode of the high-pressure discharge lamp; a second output terminal for connecting the second main electrode of the high-pressure discharge lamp; an auxiliary electrode for inducing an auxiliary starting voltage in the auxiliary combustion chamber, the auxiliary electrode being arranged on the side of the first output terminal; a cascade circuit, which provides a voltage for starting the high-pressure discharge lamp at the output of said circuit, the output of the cascade circuit being formed by the auxiliary electrode and the second output terminal of the auxiliary starting circuit; a resonant capacitor, which is coupled between the first and the second input terminal of the auxiliary starting circuit, a first terminal of the resonant capacitor being coupled to the first output terminal of the auxiliary starting circuit, and a second terminal of the resonant capacitor being coupled to the second output terminal of the auxiliary starting circuit; a first cascade capacitor; a first cascade diode; and a second cascade diode, the first terminal of the resonant capacitor being coupled to the auxiliary electrode via a series circuit comprising the first cascade capacitor and the second cascade diode; a node of the first cascade capacitor being coupled to an anode of the second cascade diode and to a cathode of the first cascade diode; and an anode of the first cascade diode being coupled to the second terminal of the resonant capacitor.