Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J61/00—Gas-discharge or vapour-discharge lamps
  • H01J61/02—Details
  • H01J61/04—Electrodes; Screens; Shields
  • H01J61/06—Main electrodes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01K—ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS
  • H01K1/00—Details
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J9/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture, installation, removal, maintenance of electric discharge tubes, discharge lamps, or parts thereof; Recovery of material from discharge tubes or lamps
  • H01J9/50—Repairing or regenerating used or defective discharge tubes or lamps
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01K—ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS
  • H01K1/00—Details
  • H01K1/02—Incandescent bodies
  • H01K1/04—Incandescent bodies characterised by the material thereof
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01K—ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS
  • H01K1/00—Details
  • H01K1/18—Mountings or supports for the incandescent body
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01K—ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS
  • H01K3/00—Apparatus or processes adapted to the manufacture, installing, removal, or maintenance of incandescent lamps or parts thereof
  • H01K3/30—Repairing or regenerating used or defective lamps
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
  • Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
  • Y02W30/50—Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies
  • Y02W30/82—Recycling of waste of electrical or electronic equipment [WEEE]

Definitions

• Light source and method for regenerating a light source
• the invention relates to a light source and a method for the regeneration of a light source with a heatable filament or an electrode, the filament or the electrode being arranged in a bulb or in a tube.
• Light sources of the type in question have long been known in practice and exist in a wide variety of embodiments. Electric incandescent lamps, electric halogen incandescent lamps and electric discharge lamps in low-pressure or high-pressure versions and electronic light-emitting diodes are known in particular. The light sources are based on the glow emission, the shock excitation of gases or a luminescent effect, for example in the case of luminescent tubes.
• a disadvantage of all these known light sources is that the filaments or electrodes which glow during operation change disadvantageously with increasing operating time.
• the change can be a chemical change such as e.g. B. a transformation or poisoning due to a chemical reaction with chemical components of the atmosphere surrounding the filament or the electrode.
• the change can be a physical change due to the effects of heat or temperature on the filament or the electrode, for example an evaporation of filament or electrode material or a melting or crystallization effects with subsequent fracture phenomena. All of these changes are signs of aging and increasingly impair or even prevent the functionality or the generation of light of the known light sources or lamp types.
• the present invention is therefore based on the object of specifying a light source of the type mentioned at the outset and a method according to which the service life of the light source can be extended using structurally simple means.
• the above object is achieved by a light source with the features of claim 1 and by a method for the regeneration of a light source with the features of claim 42.
• a filament or an electrode that has undergone a change due to operating time or aging can be regenerated to a certain extent.
• a chemical element is fed to the filament or the electrode, which is evaporated from the filament or the electrode, for example, during the operating or aging process.
• the process of changing the filament or the electrode can at least be suppressed and, to a certain extent, also reversed, the material of the filament or the electrode which has been changed due to operation or aging being able to be virtually restored.
• the filament or the electrode is assigned a depot with at least one chemical element, which also has the filament or the electrode.
• the filament or the electrode is supplied with the at least one chemical element from the separate depot during the operation of the light source, so that the changes in the filament or the electrode which are dependent on the operating time or aging are at least suppressed and to a large extent also undone can be made.
• the filament or the electrode is virtually “recharged”. It is important that this is not the return of material that was originally part of the filament or the electrode, but rather additional material that is provided by the depot ,
• the light source according to the invention realizes a light source in which the service life is prolonged using simple constructional means.
• the extension of the life of the light source takes place during the normal operating state of the light source. During this operating state the filament or the electrode of the light source can be quasi regenerated. The operation of the light source does not have to be stopped for this.
• the element could be able to be guided on or in the filament or the electrode.
• a particularly safe regeneration of the filament or the electrode can be implemented, since reactions which are favorable for the regeneration could be promoted by a direct contact between the element and the material of the filament or the electrode.
• the element could be able to be supplied by means of a gas or vapor which has the element.
• the gas or steam could fulfill a transport function for the element.
• the supply of the element to the filament or the electrode could be accelerated by a supply under the influence of heat. This can accelerate transport processes.
• the element could be in the depot in solid or liquid form or in gaseous or vapor form. This is based on the respective application. Furthermore, the element in the depot could be in chemically bound or chemically unbound form with or without a carrier substance. Here too, the choice of the type of provision of the element could be based on the respective application.
• the depot has an organic substance containing the element.
• the depot could have a support for the element with a view to providing the chemical element safely.
• a carrier could, for example, be immersed in a liquid organic substance containing the element before it is used.
• the carrier could be immersed in an organic solvent containing the element, for example in acetone, in formaldehyde or in acetic acid before use.
• a predeterminable amount of the substance into which the carrier is immersed usually remains adhering to the carrier. This amount then serves as the depot containing the chemical element.
• the carrier could be made of rubber or polymers, and training as a rubber O-ring or polymer O-ring has proven to be particularly practical, since such a rubber O-ring or polymer O-ring is simpler Is insertable into a flask or a tube.
• the carrier could be porous, so that it has quasi inner surfaces.
• a particularly large amount of liquid substance can be arranged on the carrier or in the carrier.
• the carrier could be formed, for example, from a ceramic, from polymers, polymer plastic, from a metal foam or from a sintered material.
• the depot could be arranged in the piston or in the tube with a view to a particularly secure feeding of the element to the filament or the electrode.
• An arrangement of the depot on a foot of the bulb is particularly advantageous since the light radiation from the light source is usually not shielded or hindered.
• the light source could have a heating device for the depot and thus for the element.
• a separate heating device for the depot is advantageous for example for evaporation or outgassing of the element.
• the heating device could work inductively in a convenient manner.
• the heating device could be an electrical resistance heater.
• the heating device could be formed by components of the light source that are coupled to the depot in a heat-conducting manner. Waste heat from existing components of the light source could be used to heat the depot.
• the temperature of the depot and thus of the element could be controlled by the spatial distance of the depot from the filament or the electrode.
• the depot when the depot is heated by radiant heat from the filament or the electrode, the depot could be arranged closer to the filament or the electrode at a higher desired temperature. Accordingly, the depot could be placed further away from the filament or electrode at a lower desired temperature.
• the temperature of the depot and thus of the element could be controlled in a concrete manner by the neck length of the piston in connection with the arrangement of the depot in the neck of the piston. Accordingly, the temperature of the depot when the filament or electrode is placed in a tube could be controlled by the length of the tube in connection with the placement of the deposit in the tube.
• the depot could be arranged in the filament or the electrode. It is basically an internal depot in which the chemical element is provided in the filament or the electrode.
• the depot could be formed integrally with the filament or the electrode.
• the depot could contain carbon or be formed from carbon.
• the depot is a carbon compact with a filament or electrode applied to the carbon compact.
• the chemical element for example carbon, could be supplied during the operation of the light source with the filament or electrode heated to generate light. The supply could then take place via a diffusion process from an inner region of the filament or the electrode to the outer region of the filament or the electrode.
• the light source could have at least two filaments or electrodes that can be operated or heated independently of one another.
• the filaments or electrodes could be arranged in the same piston or in the same tube.
• the chemical element evaporating from a filament at a high operating temperature could be fed to a filament at a lower operating temperature in order to regenerate it during the operation of the light source or after the operation of the light source. If the service life of a filament at a high operating temperature is exhausted, the light-generating operation at the high operating temperature can be switched to a filament that has been regenerated up to that point. Then the exhausted filament at z. B. lower process temperature can be regenerated in the same way. Such a mutual regeneration of two or more filaments enables a considerable extension of the life of a light source.
• the filament or the electrode could preferably be heatable cyclically to different temperatures.
• the light source could have a heating device for the filament or the filaments or for the electrode or the electrodes.
• a separate heating device could be assigned to each filament or electrode.
• the heating device could be used to generate an electrical alternating voltage or a pulsed or clocked one electrical voltage for heating the filament or the filaments or the electrode or the electrodes.
• the filament or the filaments or the electrode or the electrodes could be heated by means of an inductively operating heating device. In the previous configurations, the particular application and the particularly favorable regeneration cycles must be taken into account.
• an at least binary gas mixture with a lighter and a heavier gas or steam could be present in a gas atmosphere in the piston or in the tube.
• a gas mixture is particularly advantageous in the case of a dense arrangement of a hot filament and a filament that is relatively cooler to it, with a high temperature gradient between the two filaments in the surrounding, for example carbon-containing gas or steam, and thereby efficient carbon transport by thermal diffusion in contrast to transport by diffusion or convection can be generated.
• at least one binary gas mixture must then be present in the process gas atmosphere around the filaments with a much lighter gas or steam - for example hydrogen or helium - than the free gaseous carbon or the carbon compounds present.
• the heavier process gas components such as carbon or carbon compounds then concentrate in the cooler area, while the lighter process gas components concentrate in the hotter area.
• Thermal diffusion transport to a filament or an electrode that is to be regenerated can also be promoted by the filaments or electrodes being surrounded by two pistons or tubes. More specifically, the piston or the tube in which or in which the filaments or electrodes are arranged is then surrounded by a second piston or a second tube. The second piston or the second tube forms a seal to the outside atmosphere or environment.
• a vacuum or a very thin, weakly heat-conducting gas atmosphere could be formed in the space between the first piston and the second piston or between the first tube and the second tube.
• the piston surface of the inner piston then heats up during operation outer pistons more, because it is or can be convection-cooled or forced-cooled in the outer air atmosphere.
• the temperature gradient and the resulting element transport due to the thermal diffusion from the filaments or electrodes to the inner surface of the piston can thus be reduced.
• element transport can be improved due to the thermal diffusion from the hot filament or from the hot electrode to the filament which is colder relative thereto or the electrode which is colder relative to it.
• the filaments could be arranged in a mutually wrapping manner.
• a light source or light bulb designed according to the invention could have two mutually wrapping coiled filaments which are electrically contacted at one end at different webs and at the other ends at a common web.
• the light source can have a total of three electrical contacts or webs. Electrical contacting with two separate webs per filament is also conceivable. In principle, these designs can also be designed with more than two filaments.
• This constructive design with two tubes or pistons also reduces an annoying precipitation of the chemical element - for example carbon - on the hot inner surface of the first piston or the first tube.
• the second piston or the second tube still serves as a protective cover if, for example, the inner piston or the inner tube should burst due to the effects of pressure or temperature.
• the filament or the electrode could have tantalum carbide.
• the element could be carbon.
• a method for regenerating a light source with the features of claim 42 a method for regenerating a light source with the features of claim 42.
• a method for regenerating a light source with a heatable filament or an electrode, in particular a light source according to one of claims 1 to 41, is provided, the filament or the electrode being arranged in a bulb or in a tube.
• a depot is first assigned to the filament or the electrode, the depot having at least one chemical element which also has the filament or the electrode. The element is then fed to the filament or the electrode.
• the element could be guided on or in the filament or the electrode.
• the element could be supplied by means of a gas or vapor that contains the element.
• the element could be fed to the filament or electrode under the action of heat.
• the element could be fed to the filament or electrode at a temperature of the filament or electrode of about 2000 degrees Celsius.
• the supply could take place by means of diffusion, thermal diffusion or convection.
• a support for the element assigned to the depot could be immersed in a liquid organic substance containing the element or in an organic solvent containing the element, for example in acetone, in formaldehyde or in acetic acid, before it is used. This results in a simple arrangement of a desired substance on the carrier.
• the temperature of the depot and thus of the element could be controlled by the spatial distance of the depot from the filament or the electrode.
• the temperature of the depot and thus the element could be controlled by the neck length of the piston or the length of the tube in connection with the arrangement of the depot in the neck of the piston or in the tube. It is assumed that the filament or the electrode on a operated at high temperature. The temperature of the depot and thus of the element then usually decreases with increasing distance from the filament or the electrode.
• the filament or the electrode could preferably be heated cyclically to different temperatures in order to achieve the most favorable operating temperature for the regeneration of the filament or the electrode.
• a filament or an electrode could heat up another filament or another electrode via thermal radiation and / or via a thermally conductive contact. In this way, waste heat from a filament heated to generate light or an electrode heated to generate light could be used in an energetically favorable manner.
• the filament or the electrode could be heated with an alternating electrical voltage or with a pulsed or pulsed electrical voltage according to the principle of resistance heating.
• the filament or the filaments or the electrode or the electrodes could alternatively be heated by means of an inductively operating heating device.
• two or more filaments or electrodes could be operated alternately to generate light and at the same time the element could be supplied to at least one or a filament or electrode not operated to generate light.
• the method for regenerating a light source can be applied to a light source according to one of claims 1 to 41.
• essential aspects of the invention are explained again below:
• the present invention is in contrast to the known tungsten halogen circuit in a conventional halogen incandescent lamp with a tungsten filament.
• tungsten evaporating from the hot filament surface is guided back to the hot filament surface by means of the chemical tungsten halogen circuit during operation of the lamp.
• this does not represent a regeneration of the filament, since the evaporated tungsten originating from the filament is only returned to the surface area of the filament in order to increase the tungsten vapor concentration there. This then reduces the effective evaporation rate and evaporation rate of the tungsten from the filament.
• This chemical cycle is a closed chemical cycle during lamp operation, to which no additional chemical components for regeneration are fed from a separate depot. The evaporation rate and evaporation rate remains positive in any case and at any time and no additional chemicals required for regeneration are introduced into the chemical process of lamp operation.
• the invention described here enables an effective negative evaporation rate, that is to say a kind of “charging” of the filament or the electrode within an operating cycle, when the lamp is operated cyclically the consumption of additional chemical substances from a depot.
• tantalum carbide or tantalum carbon as glow filament material
• the tantalum carbide at high operating temperatures well above 2000 degrees Celsius, for example at typically 3600 degrees Celsius loses its carbon content due to the evaporation of the carbon from the filament surface.
• the very temperature-resistant appearance phase of the tantalum carbide filament produced by suitable preparation is converted into a less temperature-resistant phase, which then leads to the filament being destroyed by melting or breaking after a certain period of time at the operating temperatures used.
• the preparation and regeneration of the high-temperature-resistant initial phase of the tantalum carbide filament can take place at lower operating temperatures of typically around 2000 degrees Celsius, the carbon being supplied to the filament surface by, for example, carbon-containing gases or vapors.
• the tantalum or the tantalum carbide phase present here absorbs the carbon again at approx. 2000 degrees Celsius under a suitable gas atmosphere condition and forms the high-temperature-resistant tantalum carbide starting phase again.
• the carbon-containing gases or vapors can come from a depot, which also releases them.
• other suitable chemicals can also be supplied from a depot for regeneration.
• the filament may have to be brought cyclically to different operating temperatures or the process of regeneration or the supply of the regeneration chemicals can be superimposed on the process of degradation at the same operating temperature at the same time.
• the different temperature cycles can be generated, for example, by an applied electrical operating voltage or a pulsed or clocked electrical operating voltage.
• the carbon-containing gases or vapors or other chemicals necessary for regeneration can be supplied in a simple manner by diffusion or thermal diffusion or convection.
• two or more filaments can be be arranged to each other.
• Two-dimensional filaments can be arranged with surface normals parallel to one another and linear filaments can be arranged coaxially or parallel to one another.
• This dense arrangement of the filaments fulfills the task of heating another neighboring filament to the necessary process temperature for regeneration by the radiant heat of a filament under electrical operation.
• the necessary process temperature can, however, also be generated by direct electrical heating of the filament to be regenerated or by thermally conductive contacting of the filament to be regenerated with the hot filament in operation or by inductive electromagnetic heating.
• the depot for the chemicals required for regeneration can be inside the filament or the electrode or outside the filament or the electrode.
• An example of an internal depot is, for example in the case of the tantalum carbide filament, a carbon compact which is coated with the tantalum carbide and thus forms a tantalum carbide filament.
• the carbon evaporates from the outer surface of the tantalum carbide. However, it is absorbed again by the carbon pellet through the tantalum carbide via the inner tantalum carbide surface, thus compensating for the harmful carbon loss of the tantalum carbide.
• the regeneration process can take place in a single filament lamp at the normal light generating lamp filament operating temperature.
• the chemicals required for regeneration could be in solid or liquid or gaseous form with or without a carrier outside the filament to be regenerated.
• the external depot gradually releases the chemicals used for regeneration, for example continuously into the atmosphere around the filament to be regenerated.
• a constructive example of an external depot is given in the described multi-filament lamp with tantalum carbide filaments.
• the filament that is currently in the light-generating hot mode evaporates carbon as a regeneration chemical, for example, which is supplied to the cooler filament currently in the regeneration mode by, for example, diffusion.
• the hot light-generating filament is an external depot for the colder filament to be regenerated.
• the chemicals can e.g. B. organic compounds such. B. fats / oils, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, kettones, organic acids etc. or pure carbon or inorganic carbon compounds such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide etc., which can react or dissociate in the lamp atmosphere to form further, possibly more complicated or less complicated chemical compounds .
• B. organic compounds such. B. fats / oils, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, kettones, organic acids etc. or pure carbon or inorganic carbon compounds such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide etc.
• the necessary heat of vaporization or any necessary dissociation energy is supplied to the chemicals by thermally or directly or indirectly coupling the chemicals or their carriers or their depot to a heat reservoir, for example the hot filament, by means of radiant heat or heat conduction, or by directly heating them electrically or electromagnetically.
• the examples for an internal and an external depot described above simultaneously represent examples for an electrically heated depot a thermally conductive coupling z. B. happen on the electrical metal lines, filament or electrode webs or the lamp bulb or the lamp base wall on which the depot can be located.
• the feed rate of the chemicals is determined constructively by the degree of thermal coupling or the heat conduction coefficients and the heat conduction geometry of the special lamp or by the radiation geometry of the filaments or the electrical heating current strength or the coupled electromagnetic energy.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a first embodiment of a light source according to the invention
• Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of a second embodiment of a light source according to the invention.
• Fig. 3 is a schematic side view of a third embodiment of a light source according to the invention.
• Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a first embodiment of a light source according to the invention.
• the light source has a heatable filament 1, the filament 1 being arranged in a bulb 2.
• the filament 1 is a depot 3 associated with at least one chemical element, which also has the filament 1. The element can be fed to the filament 1 from the depot 3.
• the depot 3 has a carrier 4 for the chemical element, which is designed as a rubber O-ring. Before it is used, the carrier 4 is immersed in a liquid organic substance containing the elements and then arranged in the piston 2 at its base.
• the filament 1 radiates heat onto the depot 3. This causes the element 4 located in the depot 3 to diffuse or thermodiffuse towards the filament 1 move. In this way, material is fed back to the filament 1, which the filament 1 has lost during operation of the light source, for example due to evaporation. However, it is not original filament material that is fed to filament 1, but additional material that has been introduced into piston 2 through depot 3. In this embodiment of the light source, no separate heating device is required for the depot 3.
• the light source has two filaments 1, which are arranged in a common bulb 2.
• the filaments 1 are tantalum carbide filaments which are kept at a high temperature during their operation and thereby evaporate carbon. This leads to the aging of the tantalum carbide filaments 1.
• the light source can be operated so that the filaments 1 are alternately in the light-generating operation. This has the advantage that the carbon that evaporates from a filament 1 that is currently in operation can be fed to the filament 1 that is not currently in operation for the regeneration and regeneration of tantalum carbide. The filaments 1 thus mutually form a depot 3 for the other filament 1.
• the light source shown in FIG. 2 has a second bulb 7, in which the first bulb 2 is completely accommodated.
• This has the advantage that the transport of evaporated filament material is reduced to the inner surface of the piston, since the inner piston 2 can be kept at a higher temperature in this embodiment than in an embodiment in which the piston 2 is the only piston and is in direct contact with the cooler environment.
• the space between pistons 2 and 7 forms thermal insulation from the environment. In the embodiment with two pistons 2 and 7, the deposit of filament material on the inside of a piston can be reduced.
• Fig. 3 shows a schematic side view of another embodiment of a light source according to the invention.
• the light source has a filament 1, which is arranged in a bulb 2 and is formed around a depot 3 made of carbon.
• the depot 3 is a carbon compact and the filament 1 is a tantalum carbide coating of the carbon compact.
• the filament 1 and thus indirectly the depot 3 are heated via electrical contacts 8 and 9. Carbon evaporating from filament 1 is replaced by carbon from depot 3 by diffusion from depot 3 to filament 1.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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• Resistance Heating (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

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• 2003
  • 2003-02-17 WO PCT/DE2003/000474 patent/WO2003075315A2/de active Application Filing
  • 2003-02-17 KR KR10-2004-7013855A patent/KR20040097144A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-02-17 CN CNA038098903A patent/CN1650386A/zh active Pending
  • 2003-02-17 JP JP2003573675A patent/JP2005530308A/ja active Pending
  • 2003-02-17 EP EP03743287A patent/EP1481412A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-02-17 AU AU2003210146A patent/AU2003210146A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2004
  • 2004-09-03 US US10/933,942 patent/US7026760B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

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