Patent ID: 7023145

Claim:
A backlight inverter for a U-shaped lamp, comprising: a driver for supplying first and second transformer drive voltages in response to an operation control signal and cutting off the supply of the transformer drive voltages in response to a shutdown control signal; a first transformer for boosting the first transformer drive voltage from the driver in a turn ratio between primary and secondary windings thereof and supplying the resulting first drive voltage to one end of the U-shaped lamp; a second transformer for boosting the second transformer drive voltage from the driver in a turn ratio between primary and secondary windings thereof and supplying the resulting second drive voltage to the other end of the U-shaped lamp; first and second voltage detectors for detecting voltages across the secondary windings of the first and second transformers, respectively; first and second current detectors for detecting currents flowing through the secondary windings of the first and second transformers, respectively; an inverter abnormal state detector for detecting an abnormal state of the inverter on the basis of each of the detected voltages from the first and second voltage detectors, and cutting off output of each of the detected currents from the first and second current detectors upon detecting the abnormal state of the inverter and providing each of the detected currents from the first and second current detectors as output current upon detecting no abnormal state of the inverter; and a driver controller for providing the operation control signal to the driver to control a normal operation thereof, upon receiving the output current from the inverter abnormal state detector, and providing the shutdown control signal to the driver upon receiving no current from the inverter abnormal state detector.