Patent ID: 7710043

Claim:
A discharge-lamp lighting apparatus having a first discharge lamp and a second discharge lamp, comprising: a first transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding, the primary winding receiving an AC voltage generated by turning on/off switching elements that are connected to a DC power source, and the secondary winding transforming the AC voltage received by the primary winding into an output voltage; and a second transformer having a primary winding, a first secondary winding, and a second secondary winding, the primary winding of the second transformer being driven in synchronization with the first transformer, and each of the first and second secondary windings of the second transformer being connected to the secondary winding of the first transformer with polarities being set so that a voltage of each secondary winding of the second transformer becomes additive to a voltage of the secondary winding of the first transformer, wherein the first discharge lamp is connected in parallel to a series circuit that includes the secondary winding of the first transformer and the first secondary winding of the second transformer; and the second discharge lamp is connected in parallel to a series circuit that includes the secondary winding of the first transformer and the second secondary winding of the second transformer.