Patent ID: 8076864

Claim:
A circuit arrangement for starting and operating at least one discharge lamp, the circuit arrangement comprising: a first input terminal and a second input terminal for connecting a supply voltage; an inverter, which comprises at least one first main transistor and one second main transistor in a half-bridge arrangement, which main transistors are coupled in series between the first input terminal and the second input terminal; a first output terminal and a second output terminal for connecting the at least one discharge lamp; at least one lamp inductor, which is coupled in series with the first output terminal; at least one capacitor, which is coupled in parallel with the first output terminal and the second output terminal; a transformer with a primary winding and a first secondary winding and a second secondary winding, a series circuit comprising the primary winding and the at least one lamp inductor being coupled between the half-bridge center point and a reference potential; and a first control circuit for driving the first main transistor and a second control circuit for driving the second main transistor, each control circuit having an input and an output, the output of the first control circuit being coupled to the control electrode of the first main transistor, and the output of the second control circuit being coupled to the control electrode of the second main transistor, with the input of the first control circuit being coupled to the first secondary winding and the input of the second control circuit being coupled to the second secondary winding, each control circuit having a timing circuit, whose time constant varies as a function of the voltage across the input of the respective control circuit, each timing circuit having at least one first auxiliary transistor, the working electrode of the first auxiliary transistor being coupled to the control electrode of the associated main transistor and the reference electrode of the first auxiliary transistor being coupled to a reference potential, the control electrode of the first auxiliary transistor being coupled to the center point of a frequency-dependent voltage divider, which is coupled firstly to the respective secondary winding and secondly to the respective reference potential; wherein the frequency-dependent voltage divider of each timing circuit comprises at least one inductance and a nonreactive resistor, the voltage drop across the nonreactive resistor being coupled to the control path of the first auxiliary transistor; at least one timing circuit comprising a second auxiliary transistor, which is connected in parallel with the associated inductance, the second auxiliary transistor comprising a drive circuit, which is designed to bridge the associated inductance as a function of the voltage across the associated secondary winding by virtue of the second auxiliary transistor.