Patent ID: 7309963

Claim:
An electronic ballast for a discharge lamp (LA) having: a converter, which has a switching element (S 1 , S 2 ) and an AC output (M) for the AC supply to the discharge lamp (LA), two lamp terminals (KL 1 , KL 2 ), via which the discharge lamp (LA) can be connected between the AC output (M) and one of the supply potentials (N, P) of the converter (S 1 , S 2 ), in each case one lamp inductor (L 1 , L 2 ) being connected between one of the lamp terminals (KL 1 ), which is on the AC-output side, and the AC output (M), on the one hand, and between one of the lamp terminals (KL 2 ), which is on the supply-potential side, and the supply potential (N, P), on the other hand, characterized by a smoothing circuit (LS, RD, CS), which has a series circuit (CS, RD, LS) comprising a smoothing capacitor (CS) and a decoupling component (LS), said series circuit being connected between the AC output (M) and one of the supply potentials (N, P) of the converter (S 1 , S 2 ), the smoothing capacitor (CS) being connected in parallel with, and the decoupling component (LS) being connected in series with, the series circuit comprising the lamp inductors (L 1 , L 2 ) and the lamp terminals (KL 1 , KL 2 ), with the result that voltage jumps (ΔU) caused by the switching elements (S 1 , S 2 ) switching are reduced at the lamp terminals (KL 1 , KL 2 ).