Patent ID: 7888880

Claim:
A driving method for a dielectric barrier discharge lamp (DBDL) system, wherein the system comprises a driver circuit and a DBDL, the driver circuit receives a DC input voltage for generating an AC output voltage and comprises a transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding, the DBDL is connected to the secondary winding, and the DBDL system further comprises a burst mode dimming circuit (BMDC) having a first switch connected to the primary winding, comprising the steps of: (a) lighting up the DBDL via the driver circuit; (b) providing a plurality of driving voltage pulses, each pulse having an amplitude of V, to the DBDL and lasting for a first time period; (c) stopping a power supply of the DBDL for a second time period; and (d) going to the step (b) wherein there is a restarting time when it is transferring from step (d) to step (b), a pulse restarting voltage is provided to the DBDL during the restarting time, and an amplitude of the pulse restarting voltage is larger than V; wherein during the restarting time, the first switch is turned on when the DBDL is starting such that a conducting path is formed by the primary winding and the first switch so as to apply the pulse restarting voltage to the DBDL, the first switch is turned off when the DBDL is breaking through by the pulse restarting voltage so as to apply the driving voltage pulses to the DBDL; and wherein near the end of a turn-on time of a burst mode, the first switch is turned on to release an energy stored in the DBDL to diminish an oscillation.