The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp power supply circuit and a method of operating the same.

摘要

A circuit for supplying electric power to the fluorescent lamp has a DC power supply (10). An inverter (12) is coupled to the DC power supply (10) and provides a lamp current to the fluorescent lamp load (14). The inverter (10) is connected to the inverter control circuit (18). A protection circuit 16 for detecting the lamp current is coupled to the inverter control circuit 18 so that the inverter control circuit 18 turns off the inverter 12 whenever the protection circuit detects the absence of the lamp current .