JP3335458B2 - Discharge lamp start inspection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a discharge lamp starting inspection apparatus capable of quantitatively judging a variation in the starting characteristics of a discharge lamp and judging a good product and a defective product at the time of manufacture and shipment of the discharge lamp. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, high-intensity discharge lamps such as metal halide lamps and high-pressure sodium lamps have become widespread, and as a start-up inspection device for such discharge lamps, a phase-advanced type comprising a leakage transformer and a main capacitor has conventionally been used. A method of lighting and inspecting a discharge lamp using a copper-iron type ballast such as a ballast or a choke coil type ballast has been used, but recently, in order to reduce the size and weight, electronic lighting using a high-frequency inverter has been used. An inspection method using an electronic lighting method using a method or a rectangular wave has been used.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional discharge lamp starting inspection device using an electronic lighting method for performing rectangular wave lighting. 8, reference numeral 101 denotes an AC power supply, and 102 denotes an AC power supply.
1 is a rectifying / smoothing circuit for converting the AC power from 1 into DC power, 103 is a step-down inverter circuit, which is composed of a switching transistor 104, a DC reactor L and a smoothing capacitor C, and the switching transistor 104 is a constant power feedback circuit 105. It is driven by a control signal from the controller. 106 is a discharge lamp input voltage detecting element formed of a voltage dividing resistance element, 107 is a discharge lamp input current detecting element formed of a series resistance element, and detection signals of the detecting elements 106 and 107 are input to a feedback circuit 105, respectively.
Reference numeral 108 denotes a full-bridge type low-frequency inverter including four switching transistors. Each switching transistor is driven by a drive signal from a drive circuit 109. 110 is the low frequency inverter 108
A starting circuit connected to the output end of the choke coil 111; a charging / discharging capacitor 112 connected to one end of the choke coil 111;
Bidirectional switching element connected to the center tap of 1
And a charging resistor 114 connected to the other end of the bidirectional switching element 113. Reference numeral 115 denotes a capacitor for bypassing a high-voltage pulse generated from the starting circuit 110, and reference numeral 116 denotes an inspection discharge lamp connected to the output terminal of the low-frequency inverter 108 via the starting circuit 110.

In the discharge lamp starting inspection device using the electronic lighting system configured as described above, AC power from an AC power supply 101 is rectified by a rectifying and smoothing circuit 102, and the DC power is input to a step-down inverter circuit 103. You. Then, the switching transistor 104 is controlled by a control signal from the constant power feedback circuit 105 to which each detection signal detected by the input voltage detection element 106 and the input current detection element 107 is input, and the constant power control of the step-down inverter circuit 103 is performed. The output of the step-down inverter circuit 103 is input to a full-bridge low-frequency inverter 108. Then, a rectangular wave alternating power by the operation of the low frequency inverter 108 driven by the drive circuit 109 and a high voltage pulse by the starting circuit 110 are applied to the discharge lamp 116 to start the discharge lamp 116, and after starting, constant power control is performed. When the rectangular wave lighting is started, an inspection of the starting state of the discharge lamp is performed.

The operation of the starting circuit 110 will now be described. In other words, the low-frequency inverter
When the alternating voltage from 108 is applied, the charge / discharge capacitor
The electric charge is accumulated in 112 via a charging resistor 114. When the breakover voltage of the bidirectional switching element 113 connected in parallel with the capacitor 112 is reached, the switching element 113 turns on and accumulates in the capacitor 112 via a part of the winding of the choke coil 111. The discharged charge is discharged. As a result, a breakover voltage of the switching element 113 is generated in a part of the choke coil 111, and the choke coil 111 is determined by the turn ratio.
A high voltage is generated at both ends of 111 and applied to the discharge lamp 116 as a starting pulse. As a result, when the discharge lamp 116 is started and lit, the lamp voltage decreases, so that the capacitor 11
2, a voltage that does not reach the breakover voltage of the switching element 113 is applied to the switching element 113.
Will not turn on, and the generation of the high voltage pulse will automatically stop.

[0006]

When the starting state of a discharge lamp is inspected by using such an electronic lighting method, all the discharge lamps of the same standard are started with the same high-voltage pulse for starting. Inspection is performed by applying constant-power controlled power to the lamp, and even for discharge lamps of the same standard, there are variations in the starting characteristics. Although it is not possible to make a fault, the started discharge lamp is shipped without knowing how much margin there is in the starting performance, and depending on the use environment conditions on the user side, a start failure occurs and it becomes a complaint. In some cases, excessive starting power may be applied to a discharge lamp having good starting characteristics at the time of inspection, resulting in inadvertent stress on the electrodes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional discharge lamp starting inspection apparatus, and quantitatively measures the variation in the starting characteristics of the discharge lamp to obtain a predetermined margin for the rated power. It is an object of the present invention to provide a discharge lamp start inspection device capable of selecting a discharge lamp having a starting performance capable of reliably starting with a discharge lamp.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a power supply control means capable of changing the power supply capability to a discharge lamp, and a power supply control means which is set by the power supply control means at the time of starting operation. Means for detecting the faulty point of the discharge lamp or the start completion state each time the supplied power is supplied, a load curve corresponding to the supply power to the discharge lamp at the completion of start, and a reference corresponding to the rated power of the discharge lamp. Means for determining whether the discharge lamp starting characteristics are good or not by comparing the load curve with the load curve, wherein the power supply control means sequentially starts until the discharge lamp is completely started based on a fault detection signal from the detection means. The power supply capacity is set to be increased, and the rated power of the discharge lamp is supplied based on the start completion detection signal from the detection means, thereby constituting a discharge lamp start inspection device.

As a result of various studies by the present inventors on the problem that the starting becomes unstable due to the variation in the starting characteristics of the discharge lamp, the starting becomes unstable only when the generation of the high-voltage pulse for starting is properly performed. It has been found that proper control of electric power is not performed at the time of starting, rather than control.
Therefore, in order to stably start a discharge lamp having a variation in starting characteristics, the idea was reached that the discharge lamp input power should be controlled so that appropriate power injection is performed at the time of starting. It constitutes a discharge lamp start inspection device.

[0010] In the discharge lamp start-up inspection device configured as described above, when the discharge lamp does not start and the faulty point state is detected by the faulty point detection signal, the power supply capability of the power supply control means changes the power supply capability of the discharge lamp to completion of the start-up. Until they do. When the start completion state is detected by the start completion detection signal, the load curve at that time is compared with a reference load curve corresponding to the rated power, and the start performance of the discharge lamp is quantitatively determined.

Therefore, even if the starting characteristics of the discharge lamps vary, the starting energies of all the discharge lamps are quantitatively determined, and the discharge lamps having the starting characteristics within a predetermined range can be selected. Further, since the individual discharge lamps for inspection can be started with the minimum energy, the start inspection can be performed without applying careless stress to the electrodes and without impairing the life of the discharge lamps.

[0012]

Next, an embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a block circuit configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a discharge lamp starting inspection device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a commercial power supply,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a rectifier circuit for full-wave rectifying the AC power supplied from the commercial power supply 1, and reference numeral 3 denotes a boost inverter circuit for boosting an output voltage of the rectifier circuit 2, and includes a boost coil 11, a boost switching transistor 12, a diode 13, It is composed of a capacitor 14 and an input current detection resistor 15. Reference numeral 4 denotes a step-down inverter circuit for converting the output of the step-up inverter circuit 3 into constant power. The step-down switching transistor 16, the freewheel diode 17, the step-down coil 18, and the smoothing capacitor 19
And a discharge lamp current detection resistor 20. Reference numeral 5 denotes a rectangular wave circuit for supplying the output of the step-down inverter circuit 4 to the discharge lamp 7 as rectangular wave alternating power, and is constituted by switching transistors 21 to 24 connected in a full bridge form. Reference numeral 6 denotes a starting circuit for generating a high-voltage pulse to be applied to the discharge lamp 7 together with the rectangular wave alternating power of the rectangular wave circuit 5 at the time of starting. For example, a circuit having the same circuit configuration as the conventional example shown in FIG. .

Reference numeral 8 denotes a boost control circuit which includes an input voltage detection circuit 25 for detecting the input voltage of the boost inverter circuit 3, a boost voltage detection circuit 26 for detecting the output voltage of the boost inverter circuit 3, and a boost control circuit 26. 3, an input current detection circuit 27 for detecting an input current using the input current detection resistor 15, the input voltage detection circuit 25, and the boosted voltage detection circuit 26.
Receiving the detection signal from the input current detection circuit 27 and the boosting switching transistor 12 of the boost inverter circuit 3.
An input voltage / input current / step-up voltage operation circuit 28 for outputting a first pulse signal for pulse width modulation (PWM) of the step-up signal. The boost voltage is kept constant, and the waveform distortion of the input current to the boost inverter circuit 3 is corrected so that the input power factor is controlled to 100%. That is, the step-up control circuit 8 performs a comparison operation between the detection signal obtained from the step-up voltage detection circuit 26 and the reference voltage to make the step-up voltage constant, and a function to input the full-wave rectified signal obtained from the input voltage detection circuit 25 It has a function of comparing the detection signals obtained from the current detection circuit 27 and correcting the waveform distortion of the input current to set the input power factor to 100%.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a step-down control circuit, which is a microprocessor (digital signal processor:
A personal computer control circuit 10 including a personal computer with a built-in 31; a discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 for detecting a discharge lamp voltage which is an output voltage of the step-down inverter circuit 4;
A discharge lamp current detection circuit 30 using the discharge lamp current detection resistor 20 of the step-down inverter circuit 4 is provided. The product sum of the respective detection signals obtained from the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 and the discharge lamp current detection circuit 30 The arithmetic operation is performed at high speed by the DSP 31 built in the personal computer control circuit 10, the pulse width modulation (PWM) of the step-down switching transistor 16 of the step-down inverter circuit 4 is performed, and the power is supplied to the next-stage rectangular wave circuit 5. A second pulse signal for controlling to be constant is:
It is configured to output. That is, at the time of starting, the personal computer control circuit 10 performs a product-sum operation of the detection signal obtained from the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 and the detection signal obtained from the discharge lamp current detection circuit 30 to obtain the instantaneous output power of the discharge lamp. When the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 determines that there is no fault by detecting the discharge lamp voltage, the discharge voltage of the step-down inverter circuit 4 is determined until the start completion state is determined. The control is performed so that the electric power supplied to the lamp is set to increase sequentially. And
When the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 determines that the starting is completed, the load curve at that time is displayed on the CRT display unit 33 connected to the personal computer control circuit 10 together with the reference load curve corresponding to the rated power. It is made to let.

Further, the step-down control circuit 9 includes a rectangular wave control circuit 32 for sending a drive signal for driving each of the switching transistors 21 to 24 of the rectangular wave circuit 5, and the rectangular wave control circuit 32 Controlled by a third pulse signal from the personal computer control circuit 10, the switching transistors 21 to 24 are alternately turned on and off, and the rectangular wave circuit 5 outputs rectangular wave alternating power. Note that the rectangular wave control circuit 32 may be provided outside the step-down control circuit 9 so as to be operated by a control signal from the step-down control circuit 9.

Next, the operation of the discharge lamp starting inspection apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, the conventional discharge lamp starting inspection device of the constant power control,
The supply power control of the step-down inverter circuit is set in advance according to the rated power of the discharge lamp (for example, 150 W). In this case, the load curve (rainbow curve) of the discharge lamp is represented by the discharge lamp voltage on the horizontal axis. Taking the supplied power on the vertical axis, it becomes as shown in FIG. When the discharge lamp is started, power is supplied to the discharge lamp while moving from right to left on the load curve a. This load curve is determined in accordance with the rated power irrespective of the variation in the starting characteristics of the individual discharge lamps. However, a discharge lamp with good startability can be used even with a rainbow curve with a small supply power as shown in FIG. On the contrary, a discharge lamp having poor startability requires a rainbow curve having a large supply power as shown in FIG. 2C. As described above, since the starting characteristics of the discharge lamps differ depending on the individual discharge lamps, ideally, if the starting inspection device can supply the starting energy corresponding to the respective starting characteristics, the starting lamps of the respective discharge lamps can be used. It is possible to determine how much margin the starting performance has with respect to the reference energy (rated power).

In the present invention, from such a viewpoint,
In the discharge lamp start inspection device having the above configuration, the power supply to the discharge lamp is started from the lowest value at the time of starting, and if the discharge lamp does not start, the power supply amount is gradually increased until the start is completed, and the start of the start is completed. Is performed, a load curve corresponding to the supply power at that time is drawn on the CRT display unit 33, and compared with a reference load curve corresponding to a preset rated supply power, the starting characteristics of the discharge lamp are compared. Is determined.

Next, a series of operation steps up to stable lighting of the discharge lamp performed by the discharge lamp starting inspection apparatus of the first embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.
First, the commercial power supply 1 is turned on (step 51), and then DS
In the personal computer control circuit 10 including the personal computer including P31, a load curve corresponding to the power supplied by the step-down inverter circuit 4 is set to an initial pattern (step 52). The initial pattern of the load curve is the lowest level load curve that is considered to be startable in consideration of the variation in the starting characteristics of the discharge lamp for starting inspection. For example, in the case of a 150 W metal halide lamp, the initial pattern is set so that the input power is about 30% of the rated power. Next, a second pulse signal corresponding to the set initial pattern is sent to the step-down switching transistor 16 of the step-down inverter circuit 4, and the step-down inverter circuit 4 uses the sent second pulse signal to reduce the supply power to the set pattern. (Initial pattern) is controlled (step 53). At this time, the step-down inverter circuit 4 includes the step-up inverter circuit 3
A voltage (rated voltage) controlled to a predetermined constant value is applied. Next, the rectangular wave control circuit 32 is controlled by the third pulse signal, and the rectangular wave circuit 5 is driven by the driving pulse from the rectangular wave control circuit 32, and the rectangular wave circuit 5 is alternately driven in a state where the load curve is set to the initial pattern. The voltage is applied to the discharge lamp 7 via the starting circuit 6 (step 54). Next, the starting circuit 6 operates by applying the alternating voltage to generate a high-voltage pulse, and the starting operation of the discharge lamp 7 starts (step 55).

Next, the discharge lamp current and the discharge lamp voltage are detected by the discharge lamp current detection circuit 30 and the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 (step 56), and the discharge lamp voltage detection is performed based on the detected discharge lamp voltage value. It is determined in the circuit 29 whether the discharge lamp 7 has started (step 57). Here, the discharge lamp voltage falls below the no-load voltage and the start of the discharge lamp 7 is completed (discharge start).
Is determined, the generation of the high-voltage pulse of the starting circuit 6 is automatically stopped due to the decrease in the discharge lamp voltage (step 58).
If the discharge lamp 7 does not start, the operation of the rectangular wave circuit 5 is temporarily turned off (step 59), and the supply power setting pattern (initial pattern) is increased and changed in the personal computer control circuit 10 (step 60). Based on the setting pattern, the operations of the step-down inverter circuit 4, the rectangular wave circuit 5, and the starting circuit 6, and the steps 53 to 57 until the detection of the current and voltage of the discharge lamp and the determination of the starting state are completed. Repeat until

When the completion of the starting operation is confirmed, the starting circuit 6
When the operation is stopped, the personal computer control circuit 10 calculates the required power of the discharge lamp 7 based on the current and voltage detection values of the discharge lamp 7 at that time (step 61).
Find the power pattern corresponding to the required power (Step 6
2). Next, the personal computer control circuit 10 determines whether or not the supply power setting pattern set at that time, that is, the time when the start of the discharge lamp is completed, matches the required power pattern of the discharge lamp (step 63). When the required power pattern of the discharge lamp coincides with the supply power setting pattern, that is, a power pattern based on the detected current and voltage values is drawn along the load curve A set at the completion of the start shown in FIG. If it is confirmed that the discharge lamp has been started and lit (discharge sustained state), the load curve (supply power pattern) is set to the load curve of the rated power of the discharge lamp (150 W). (Step 64), the stable lighting of the discharge lamp is continued (Step 65).

If the required power pattern of the discharge lamp does not match the supply power setting pattern set at the completion of the start, that is, as shown by a curve B below the load curve A set at the completion of the start shown in FIG. When the curve is drawn, it is regarded as the disappearance or the start failure, and the operation of the rectangular wave circuit 5 is temporarily turned off and the supply power setting pattern is changed in the same manner as in the case where it is determined in the start determination step 57 that the start is not performed. Then, the process returns to steps 59 and 60 in which the supply power is increased and the starting operation is performed again, and the starting operation is performed again. In the above-described discharge lamp start inspection device, by performing such operation steps, all the inspection discharge lamps are started and turned on with the minimum starting energy.

In the above operation steps, the inspection discharge lamp is started and lit. When a start completion state is determined in the start determination step 57 in the series of steps, the load curve corresponding to the supply power at that time is determined. The final data is stored in the memory of the personal computer constituting the personal computer control circuit 10, and the load curve is displayed on the CRT display section 33 based on the data. In addition, the reference load curve corresponding to the rated power when the ballast actually used is used is input in advance to the memory of the personal computer, and the reference load curve and the completion of the start of each discharge lamp obtained at the time of the start inspection. A comparison is made with the load curve at the time to judge how much the starting characteristic of the inspected discharge lamp is lower than the reference load curve, and a good product and a defective product are selected. For example, those having a margin of 30% or more, that is, those whose startup has been completed with the starting power of 70% or less of the rated power are determined to be good, and the others are determined to be defective. Note that these determinations may be performed by a personal computer, and the results may be displayed on the CRT display unit 33.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The first embodiment applies a constant voltage to the discharge lamp,
Although the configuration in which the discharge current is sequentially increased until the discharge lamp is started has been described, the second embodiment described below has the opposite configuration in which the discharge current is fixed and the applied voltage of the discharge lamp is started. FIG. 5 is a block circuit diagram showing the structure of the apparatus, which is sequentially raised until completion. In this embodiment, in order to make the discharge current of the discharge lamp constant and to make the applied voltage variable, as shown in FIG.
The personal computer control circuit 10 including a personal computer having a built-in circuit includes a step-down switching transistor 16 of the step-down inverter circuit 4.
And outputs a second pulse signal so as to control the discharge current of the discharge lamp to be constant. Further, at the time of starting, the DSP 31 performs a product-sum operation of the detection signal obtained from the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 and the detection signal obtained from the discharge lamp current detection circuit 30 at a high speed, thereby obtaining an instantaneous change in the discharge lamp input power. When the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 determines that there is no fault by detecting the discharge lamp voltage, the discharge voltage of the step-down inverter circuit 4 is determined until the start completion state is determined. The boost control circuit 8 controls the lamp supply power so as to increase sequentially.
A control signal is sent to the input voltage / input current / boost voltage calculation circuit 28 of the step-up circuit, and the boosting switching transistor 12 of the boost inverter circuit 3 is pulse-width-modulated by the first pulse signal from the boost control circuit 8 so that The boost voltage to the circuit 4 is sequentially set to increase.

Next, the operation of the discharge lamp starting inspection apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described. FIG. 6 shows a load curve (rainbow curve) of the discharge lamp when the voltage applied to the discharge lamp is changed. The starting point of the load curve in this case is
As the voltage rises, it spreads from left to right, and accordingly the set power has a constant current and variable voltage,
It rises in proportion to the voltage. Therefore, for example, the characteristic of the load curve a 'changes as shown by b' when the voltage is decreased, and changes as shown by c 'when the voltage is increased. Therefore, depending on the starting performance of the discharge lamp, the load curve a ',
It is only necessary to select a load curve corresponding to an appropriate starting energy such as b ', c', etc., and by sequentially changing the applied power pattern from the lower applied voltage to the higher one, all the discharge lamps for inspection can be selected. Can be reliably started, and its starting characteristics can be determined.

Next, how such an operation is performed in the above embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, similarly to the first embodiment, in the personal computer control circuit 10 including the personal computer with the built-in DSP 31, a load curve corresponding to the power supplied by the step-down inverter circuit 4 is set to an initial pattern (step 52). The initial pattern in this case is also set to correspond to the input power of about 30% of the rated power. Next, a control signal corresponding to the set initial pattern is sent to the input voltage / input current / boost voltage calculation circuit 28 of the boost control circuit 8, and the boost signal is supplied to the first pulse signal by the control signal. Is sent to the boosting switching transistor 12 of the boosting inverter circuit 3 and pulse width modulated to control the output voltage of the boosting inverter circuit 3, whereby the power supplied from the step-down inverter circuit 4 changes the setting pattern (initial pattern) (Step 53). At this time, the discharge current of the discharge lamp in the step-down inverter circuit 4 is controlled by the step-down control circuit 9.
Is controlled to a constant value (rated current) by the step-down switching transistor 16 driven by the second pulse signal from.

Thereafter, the rectangular wave circuit 5 is driven in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the alternating voltage is applied to the discharge lamp 7 via the starting circuit 6 with the load curve set in the initial pattern (step 54). Then, the starting circuit 6 operates to start the starting operation of the discharge lamp 7 (step 55).

In this state, if the discharge lamp 7 does not start, the personal computer control circuit 10 increases and changes the supply power setting pattern (step 60), and sends a control signal to the boosting control circuit 8 based on the change setting pattern. , The first pulse signal from the boost control circuit 8 is changed to increase the output voltage of the boost inverter circuit 3, the starting operation is performed again, and the above operations are repeated until the starting operation is completed.

When the completion of the starting operation is confirmed, the starting circuit 6
Is stopped, based on the current and voltage detection values of the discharge lamp 7 at that time, the step-down control circuit 9
The power required by the discharge lamp 7 is calculated (step 61), and a power pattern corresponding to the required power is obtained (step 62).
Hereinafter, by the same step operation as in the first embodiment, the discharge lamp is stably turned on, and the starting characteristics of the discharge lamp are inspected. Also in the second embodiment in which the voltage is varied as described above, by performing the above operation steps, all the discharge lamps can be reliably started with the minimum starting energy and the starting characteristics can be inspected.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the applied voltage and the discharge current of the discharge lamp are changed, and the values are sequentially increased until the start of the discharge lamp is completed. Therefore, the third embodiment will be described using the discharge lamp start-up inspection device shown in FIG. DSP 31 in the third embodiment
Performs the product-sum operation of the detection signal obtained from the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29 and the detection signal obtained from the discharge lamp current detection circuit 30 at high speed, and sequentially calculates the instantaneous value of the discharge lamp input power. In the discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 29, when a failure state is determined by detecting the discharge lamp voltage, the discharge lamp supply power of the step-down inverter circuit 4 is sequentially increased until the start completion state is determined. And the second
The discharge current and the applied voltage of the discharge lamp are sequentially increased by the input pulse / input current of the boost control circuit 8 to which the control signal is sent from the DSP 31 and the first pulse signal from the boost voltage calculation circuit 28. It is configured.

Next, the operation of the discharge lamp starting inspection apparatus having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 7 shows a load curve of the discharge lamp when the applied voltage and the discharge current of the discharge lamp are changed. The starting point of the load curve in this case extends from left to right, and accordingly, the set power also increases synergistically with an increase in the voltage and the current because both the voltage and the current are variable. Therefore, for example, the characteristic of the load curve a ″ is
When both the voltage and the current are lowered, it changes as shown by b ″,
When both the voltage and the current are increased, the load curve changes as indicated by c ″. Therefore, according to the starting performance of the discharge lamp, a load curve corresponding to an appropriate starting energy such as a load curve a ″, b ″, c ″ is determined. All the discharge lamps can be reliably started and the starting characteristics can be determined by sequentially changing the applied power pattern from the lower applied voltage to the higher applied power pattern.

Next, how such an operation is performed in the above embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, as in the first and second embodiments, D
In the personal computer control circuit 10 including the personal computer with the built-in SP 31, a load curve corresponding to the power supplied by the step-down inverter circuit 4 is set to an initial pattern (step 52).
The initial pattern in this case is also set to correspond to the input power of about 30% of the rated power. Next, a second pulse signal corresponding to the set initial pattern is sent to the step-down switching transistor 16, and a control signal is sent to the input voltage / input current / step-up voltage calculation circuit. Thereby, the discharge current of the discharge lamp by the pulse width modulation of the step-down switching transistor 16 is controlled to a predetermined value, and the step-up switching transistor based on the first pulse signal from the step-up control circuit 8 to which the control signal is input.
The voltage applied to the discharge lamp is controlled to a predetermined value by the pulse width modulation of 12, and the power supplied from the step-down inverter circuit 4 is controlled so as to become a set pattern (initial pattern) (step 53).

Thereafter, as in the first and second embodiments, the rectangular wave circuit 5 is driven, and the alternating voltage is applied to the discharge lamp 7 via the starting circuit 6 with the load curve set in the initial pattern ( Step 54), the starting circuit 6 operates to start the starting operation of the discharge lamp 7 (step 55).

In this state, if the discharge lamp 7 does not start, the setting pattern of the supplied power is increased and changed in the personal computer control circuit 10 including the personal computer with the built-in DSP 31 (step 60), and based on the changed setting pattern. The discharge current is increased by changing the second pulse signal, and the first pulse signal from the boost control circuit 8 for inputting the control signal is changed to increase the output voltage of the boost inverter circuit 3 and start again. The operation is performed, and the above operation is repeated until the starting operation is completed.

When the completion of the starting operation is confirmed, the starting circuit 6
Is stopped, the DSP 31 detects the discharge lamp 7 based on the current and voltage detection values of the discharge lamp 7 at that time.
Is calculated (step 61), and a power pattern corresponding to the required power is obtained (step 62). Hereinafter, by the same step operation as in the first embodiment and the second embodiment,
Perform stable lighting of the discharge lamp and inspect the starting characteristics of the discharge lamp. As described above, also in the third embodiment in which the voltage and the current are made variable, by performing the above operation steps,
All the discharge lamps can be reliably started with the minimum starting energy, and the starting characteristics can be inspected.

[0035]

As described above with reference to the embodiments,
According to the present invention, when the starting characteristics of the discharge lamps vary, the starting characteristics of each of the discharge lamps are determined based on how much margin the starting characteristics with respect to the reference energy (rated power) set for the discharge lamp. Since it is possible to quantitatively determine whether the discharge can be completed and to complete the start-up with the supply of minimum energy to each discharge lamp, no careless stress is applied to the electrodes, and the life of the discharge lamp is shortened. Inspection of the starting characteristics can be performed without loss.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a discharge lamp starting inspection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a variation in a load curve required for starting the discharge lamp due to a variation in starting characteristics of the discharge lamp.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing load curves at the time of starting the discharge lamp and at the time of starting failure.

FIG. 5 is a block circuit configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a load curve when a voltage is variable.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a load curve when a voltage and a current are made variable.

FIG. 8 is a block circuit configuration diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional discharge lamp start inspection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Commercial power supply 2 Rectifier circuit 3 Step-up inverter circuit 4 Step-down inverter circuit 5 Square wave circuit 6 Starting circuit 7 Discharge lamp 8 Step-up control circuit 9 Step-down control circuit 10 Personal computer control circuit 11 Step-up coil 12 Step-up switching transistor 13 Diode 14 Electrolytic capacitor 15 Input current detection resistor 16 Step-down switching transistor 17 Freewheel diode 18 Step-down coil 19 Smoothing capacitor 20 Discharge lamp current detection resistor 21 to 24 Square wave drive transistor 25 Input voltage detection circuit 26 Boost voltage detection circuit 27 Input current detection circuit 28 Input voltage / input current / boost voltage calculation circuit 29 Discharge lamp voltage detection circuit 30 Discharge lamp current detection circuit 31 DSP 32 Square wave control circuit 33 CRT display

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Mototaka Sone 7-18-19 Higashibayashima, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa Examiner Shin-ichi Mukago (56) References JP-A-62-84771 (JP, A) JP-A-56 −112046 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/42 G01R 31/24

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A power supply control means capable of changing a power supply capacity to a discharge lamp, and when the power set by the power supply control means is supplied during a starting operation, the discharge lamp is pointed out or the start is completed each time. Means for detecting the state, and means for comparing the load curve corresponding to the power supplied to the discharge lamp at the time of completion of starting and the reference load curve corresponding to the rated power of the discharge lamp to determine the quality of the discharge lamp starting characteristics. The power supply control means, based on the point detection signal from the detection means, until the start of the discharge lamp is completed, the power supply capacity is set to increase sequentially, the start completion detection signal from the detection means On the basis of,
A discharge lamp start inspection device configured to supply rated power of a discharge lamp. 2. The power supply control means includes a constant voltage circuit for applying a constant voltage to a discharge lamp, and a current control circuit for controlling a discharge current of the discharge lamp. 2. The discharge lamp start inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the discharge current of the discharge lamp is sequentially increased until the start of the discharge lamp is completed based on a point detection signal from the detection means. 3. The power supply control means includes a voltage control circuit that controls a voltage applied to a discharge lamp, and a current control circuit that controls a discharge current of the discharge lamp, wherein the voltage control circuit includes:
2. The discharge lamp starter according to claim 1, wherein the voltage applied to the discharge lamp is sequentially increased until the start of the discharge lamp is completed based on a point detection signal from the detection means. Inspection equipment. 4. The power supply control means includes a voltage control circuit for controlling a voltage applied to a discharge lamp, a current control circuit for controlling a discharge current of the discharge lamp, and a voltage value set by the voltage control circuit. Means for calculating the applied power of the discharge lamp by multiplying the current value set by the current control circuit; and applying the applied power calculated by the applied power calculation means to the discharge lamp based on the point detection signal from the detection means. 2. The discharge lamp start inspection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for controlling the voltage control circuit and the current control circuit so that the voltage control circuit and the current control circuit are sequentially increased until the start of the discharge lamp is completed. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the discharge lamp applied power calculating means and the means for controlling the voltage control circuit and the current control circuit are configured by a control circuit including a personal computer having a built-in microprocessor capable of performing parallel processing sequentially. The discharge lamp starting inspection device according to claim 4, characterized in that: