JPH05182775A - Lighting method and lighting device for metal halide lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain excellent color rendering properties immediately after a lamp is lighted by lighting the lamp again every several seconds after the lamp has been turned out or by gradually cooling the lamp. CONSTITUTION:A starting condition forming circuit 20 which is made up of a first timer 21 and of a second timer 22, is added to a lighting device 10 composed of a power supply means 11 and of an ignitor 12. When a lamp switch SW is disconnected by an operator, the circuit 20 allows a relay RL to be opened, consequently a metal halide lamp 1 is turned out with the means 10 disconnected, and the timer 21 is simultaneously actuated, so that limited time T1 set in the timer is maintained for the period of 5 to 10 seconds after the lamp has been turned out. The timer 22 is actuated after the limited time T1 has elapsed, and the relay RL is turned on again for the period of limited time T2, so that the lamp 1 is instantly lighted again. By this constitution, Silver and metal halide which are sealed in the inside of a bulb, are adhered thereon in a state that it is splashed over to the whole inner surface of the bulb, which allows metal halide to be instantly excited while excellent color rendering properties are exhibited when the lamp is lighted next, so that traffic safety can thereby be enhanced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the lighting of a metal halide lamp, and more specifically, to providing a good color rendering property to the metal halide lamp when it is instantly started, immediately after lighting. The present invention relates to an enabling lighting method and device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional metal halide lamp 9 of this kind.
FIG. 6 shows a state before the start-up of 0 is performed, and the xenon gas 92, the mercury 93, and the metal halide 94 are enclosed in the valve 91.
3 and the metal halide 94 are liquid or solid at room temperature and exist in the form of a deposit on the bottom surface of the bulb 91.

In this state, the metal halide lamp 90
2 is instantaneously activated, it is sure that light emission excellent in color rendering can be obtained by the emission of the xenon gas 92 immediately after the activation, as indicated by a broken line P in FIG. However, when the temperature of the bulb 91 rises due to lighting, the evaporation of mercury 93 having a lower boiling point is started first,
Since the light emission by the mercury vapor is much more efficient than the light emission by the xenon gas 92, the light emission by the mercury vapor occupies most of the light amount, and thus the color rendering property is extremely lowered. After this, the evaporation of the metal halide 94 having a higher boiling point is started, whereby the color rendering property again shifts to an excellent state, and after about 15 seconds to 20 seconds have passed since the lighting, the original metal halide lamp 90 Color rendering can be obtained.

[0004]

However, when the metal halide lamp 90 described above is used as a headlamp for an automobile, it takes about 15 seconds after the lighting.
While the color rendering property is reduced for 20 seconds, it is extremely difficult to read a road sign drawn in red, for example.
It will cause extremely serious problems in ensuring safety,
The solution to this point has been an issue.

[0005]

As a concrete means for solving the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention is a metal halide lamp in which xenon gas, mercury, and a metal halide are enclosed in a bulb, which is several times as stable. In the method of lighting a metal halide lamp when applying a starting current for instantaneously starting, the mercury is generated by lighting the metal halide lamp again at an interval of a few seconds after lighting or by gradually cooling at the end of the previous lighting of the metal halide lamp. The metal halide and the metal halide are diffused and adhered to the entire surface of the inner wall of the bulb, and the metal halide lamp is provided with a method of instantly starting in this state to provide excellent color rendering immediately after lighting. That is, the above-mentioned conventional problems are solved.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 denotes a metal halide lamp, which is different from the conventional one in that the bulb 2 of the metal halide lamp 1 is filled with xenon gas 3, mercury 4, and metal halide 5. Although it is exactly the same, it is assumed that the mercury 4 and the metal halide 5 are deposited as a film in a diffused state on the entire inner surface of the bulb 2 of the metal halide lamp 1 before the lighting is started. As a result, the metal halide 5 covering the entire inner surface of the bulb is caused to emit light by an arc immediately after the start of the discharge, and the color rendering can be improved as shown by a solid curve T in FIG.

The method and apparatus for depositing the mercury 4 and the metal halide 5 in the form of a film on the entire inner surface of the bulb 2 will be described below. This film-like deposition is in accordance with the present invention. 1 is performed at the previous extinguishing time. Specifically, in the first embodiment described below, the metal halide lamp is momentarily a few seconds after the extinguishing is performed as shown in a sequence diagram in FIG. It is supposed to be carried out by turning on 1 again.

FIG. 4 shows a specific circuit configuration for realizing the sequence (procedure) of the first embodiment described above and shown in FIG. 3, and includes a power supply device 11 and an igniter 12. A starting state generating circuit 20 is added to the conventional lighting device 10 configured according to the present invention, and the above-described sequence is realized by the first timer 21 and the second timer 22 which constitute the starting state generating circuit 20. is doing.

That is, the start-up state generating circuit 20 causes the relay R to be disconnected by disconnecting the lamp switch SW by the driver's operation.
At the same time that L is opened to disconnect the lighting device 10 to turn off the metal halide lamp 1, the first timer 21 is started, and the time is set to 5 to 10 seconds from the time when the first timer 21 is turned off. Hold T1.

The second timer 22 is set to have an extremely short time of 1 second or less, and the relay RL is closed during this set time. Further, the output of the first timer 21 is set. The relay RL is connected and activated after a lapse of a time period set in the first timer 21, so that the relay RL is activated after a lapse of a predetermined time period T1 set in the first timer 21 after the light is turned off. The momentary limit T2 set in the second timer 22 is re-closed, whereby the metal halide lamp 1 is momentarily re-lighted, and the intended sequence can be realized.

Now, the operation and effect of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure will be described. The metal halide lamp 1
Is turned on again after a certain period of time has passed after the light is turned off, so that the mercury 4 and the metal halide 5 sealed inside the bulb 2 are attached to the entire inner surface of the bulb 2 in a scattered state. When the light is turned on, the color rendering property described above can be improved.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, whereas the previous first embodiment achieves the object by re-lighting after a predetermined time period after extinguishing. ,
In this second embodiment, the metal halide lamp 1 is gradually cooled at the previous extinguishing time so that the mercury 4 and the metal halide 5 adhere to the entire inner surface of the bulb 2 as in the previous embodiment. The starting state generation circuit 30 of the embodiment is composed of a heater 31 provided in close contact with the metal halide lamp 1 and a heater control circuit 32 which is started by disconnecting the lamp switch SW.

Here, the heater control circuit 32 operates to gradually lower the temperature of the heater 31 by gradually lowering the energization rate to gradually cool the metal halide lamp 1, for example, When the metal halide 5 is sodium iodide, energization is said to be terminated when the tube wall temperature of the valve 2 becomes 650 ° C. or lower of the melting point of sodium iodide. still,
Since the operation and effect obtained in this second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, at the end of the previous lighting of the metal halide lamp, mercury and the metal halide can be separated by instantaneously lighting again at intervals of several seconds after lighting or by gradually cooling. By providing a method for lighting a metal halide lamp that instantly starts in this state and a lighting device for the same, the metal halide is immediately discharged by the arc when lighting. Is to be excited to emit light, and it is possible to obtain excellent color rendering properties immediately after lighting, eliminating the misidentification of road information when this type of metal halide lamp is used as a lighting source for automobiles, and improving traffic safety. It has an extremely excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a method for lighting a metal halide lamp according to the present invention in a state before lighting the metal halide lamp.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the color rendering properties of the lighting method according to the present invention and the color rendering properties of the conventional example.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a sequence of the first embodiment of the lighting method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a first embodiment of the same.

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

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a metal halide lamp according to a conventional lighting method in a state before lighting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Metal halide lamp 2 ... Bulb 3 ... Xenon gas 4 ... Mercury 5 ... Metal halide 10 ... Lighting device 11 ... Power supply device, 12 ... Igniter 20, 30 ... Startup state generation circuit 21 ... ... first timer, 22 ... second timer 31 ... heater, 32 ... heater control circuit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H05B 41/18 310 7913-3K

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of lighting a metal halide lamp when a starting current is applied to a metal halide lamp in which xenon gas, mercury, and a metal halide are enclosed in a bulb, which is several times as high as when it is stable, to instantly start the metal halide lamp. At the end of lighting, the mercury and the metal halide are diffused and adhered to the entire inner wall of the bulb by momentarily lighting again or gradually cooling at a few seconds after lighting. A method of lighting a metal halide lamp, which is characterized by instantly starting in a state. 2. A lighting device for a metal halide lamp in which a starting current that is several times higher than that at the time of stability is applied to a metal halide lamp in which xenon gas, mercury, and a metal halide are enclosed in a bulb to instantaneously start, and the lighting device ends lighting. And a first timer that holds a time period of several seconds from the end of lighting, and a lighting current is applied again to the metal halide lamp after the end of the time period set in the first timer to perform instantaneous lighting. A lighting device for a metal halide lamp, which is provided with a start-up state generating circuit including a second timer for turning on. 3. A lighting device for a metal halide lamp in which a starting current that is several times higher than that at the time of stability is applied to a metal halide lamp in which a xenon gas, mercury, and a metal halide are enclosed in a bulb to instantaneously start, and the lighting device ends lighting. A lighting device for a metal halide lamp, characterized in that a start-up state generation circuit is provided which interlocks with, and gradually cools the metal halide lamp in a predetermined period from the end of lighting.