JP2003217521A - Gas discharge lamp, and information display system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas discharge lamp emitting flat-shaped light, capable of making an intended dot emit an intended color in one lamp, and to provide an information display system using the same. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of electrodes (line-shapes negative electrodes and positive electrodes) 1, covered by an insulation substance 4, arranged alternately and nearly in parallel with each other, are formed on the inner surface of a back panel of a flat discharge container having opposing surfaces formed by a visible light transmissive front panel and a back panel. The gas discharge lamp of which, RGB are not mixed up, is realized by a phosphor 3 selectively coated in RGB three colors (red, blue, and green), and a gas discharge lamp emitting flat-shaped light, capable of making an intended dot emit an intended color in one lamp, and an information display system using the same can be provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas discharge lamp and an information display system using the same, and more particularly to a dielectric barrier gas discharge whose basic feature is that electrodes are not exposed in a discharge space. The present invention relates to a lamp and an information display system configured using the lamp, such as general lighting such as indoor lighting and a back light source of a liquid crystal display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Liquid crystal displays are used as thin information display systems replacing CRTs, especially for personal computers and mobile phones. In recent years, it is becoming popular for so-called TVs, which mainly display moving images.

For full-color display on the display, RG
The dots of B, which emit three colors independently, are required. In a liquid crystal display, since the back light source is white light, each dot is equipped with an optical filter corresponding to RGB (cutting out unnecessary wavelength components), thereby realizing full color display.

[0004]

According to this method, even if the back light source is lit in white, each dot is RG.
Since only the light of B is used, only about 20% of the total amount of light is used on average for the entire screen. In other words, when performing full color display using the above optical filter,
About 80% of the back light source is consumed as completely ineffective light, that is, ineffective power. Despite these problems, this method is used as the most standard one.

Therefore, if the back light source emits RGB light corresponding to each RGB display dot, the above optical filter can be dispensed with, and the efficiency of the liquid crystal display can be greatly improved, that is, the consumption can be reduced. Although power can be realized, the current back light source employs a method of arranging a straight tube cold cathode fluorescent lamp that emits white light at the edge or directly below the liquid crystal screen, and lights it in RGB according to the display dot. It is not possible.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is one lamp which cannot be realized by a back light source of a conventional straight tube cold cathode fluorescent lamp, but a desired dot has a desired color. It is an object of the present invention to provide a planar light emitting gas discharge lamp capable of emitting the above light and an information display system using the same with an inexpensive and simple configuration.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a flat discharge vessel having two flat plates, a front plate and a back plate facing each other, and alternately on an inner plane of the back plate. A linear electrode composed of a plurality of linear cathodes and an anode, each of which is formed substantially in parallel and covered with an insulator, and the phosphor is formed only on the inner plane of the front plate. And a gas discharge lamp. It should be noted that the cathode and the anode mean that the potentials can be independently controlled, and the cathodes and the anodes are not limited to the same potential and the bipolar electrodes whose polarities change with time. Further, hereinafter, a linear electrode and a positive electrode will be referred to as a linear electrode when both are shown without distinction.

As a result, although it is one lamp,
A gas discharge lamp capable of emitting light of a desired color on a desired dot is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, in order to display information, a screen control device for controlling transmission and non-transmission of visible light is provided on a back surface of the screen control device.
An information display system characterized by using the above gas discharge lamp as a light source.

As a result, it is possible to obtain an information display system capable of realizing a large increase in efficiency, that is, a reduction in power consumption.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a flat discharge vessel having two flat plates of a front plate and a back plate facing each other, and alternately and substantially on the inner plane of the back plate. A linear electrode composed of a plurality of linear cathodes and anodes each of which is formed in parallel and covered with an insulator, and the phosphor is formed only on the inner plane of the front plate. It is a gas discharge lamp that
It has an effect that light of a desired color can be emitted to a desired dot.

Further, as in the invention described in claim 2, the linear cathode and the linear electrode can be independently operated in potential, and the gas discharge lamp according to claim 1 may be used. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the linear cathode and the linear electrode are bipolar electrodes whose polarities change with time, and the gas discharge lamp according to the second aspect is characterized. It may be.

Further, as in the invention described in claim 4, the phosphors of three colors (red, blue and green) are separately coated without being mixed. The gas discharge lamp according to any one of 1.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, partition walls which are non-fluorescent materials are formed between the fluorescent materials, and the fluorescent materials are arranged so as not to come into contact with each other. The gas discharge lamp according to claim 4 is suitable.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, the height (thickness) of the partition wall is higher than the height of each phosphor and lower than the distance between the front plate and the rear plate. The gas discharge lamp described is preferred.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in a plurality of linear cathodes and anodes, the distance between each cathode and each anode adjacent thereto is substantially the same. The gas discharge lamp according to any one of items 1 to 6 is preferable.

Then, as in the invention described in claim 8,
It is preferable to use the gas discharge lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the distance between each linear cathode and the anode is 5 mm or more and 100 mm or less.

Here, as in the invention described in claim 9,
9. The gas discharge lamp according to claim 1, wherein a thin plate having an ultraviolet diffusion function is formed between the phosphor on the inner surface of the front plate and the electrodes formed on the back plate. Is more preferable.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in order to display information, a light source is provided as a light source on the back of a screen control device for controlling transmission and non-transmission of visible light. The information display system is characterized by using a gas discharge lamp.

Then, as in the invention described in claim 11,
11. The information display system according to claim 10, wherein liquid crystal is used as the screen display device.

According to the invention of claim 12,
The information display system according to claim 11, characterized in that the red, blue, and green display cells of the liquid crystal screen and the phosphors of the gas discharge lamp are colored one-to-one. It is suitable.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
Will be explained.

Although the present invention does not limit the material and shape of the discharge vessel, the most realistic one is the flat discharge vessel made of glass. The embodiment described in 1. uses a flat plate discharge vessel made of glass.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a discharge vessel of a gas discharge lamp according to the present embodiment.
(A) is a flat container provided with a plurality of linear cathodes and an anode, which is the most basic concept of the present invention, and phosphors of different colors are applied only to the front plate side. It is a cross-sectional view of a gas discharge lamp showing that. FIG. 1 (b) is a cross-sectional view of a gas discharge lamp in which barrier ribs are formed between phosphors so that the separately coated phosphors do not come into contact with each other. Figure 1
In FIG. 1, 1 is a plurality of linear cathodes and linear anodes, 2 is a dielectric covering the linear cathodes and anodes, 3 is a phosphor coated with RGB, and 4 is two opposed flat plates, that is, a visible light-transmitting front surface. A flat discharge vessel having a face plate and a back plate, and 5 is a partition wall formed between the phosphors so that the separately coated phosphors do not come into contact with each other.

In FIG. 1, the linear cathodes and the linear anodes 1, which are alternately formed, are covered with a dielectric 2 and are not exposed to the inner and outer spaces of the discharge container 4 except for the electrode terminal lead-out portion. It is formed on the face plate side. Adjacent electrodes are arranged at substantially equal intervals.

The RGB phosphors 3 are painted in a desired pattern only on the front plate side. In the present embodiment, the phosphor is formed in a stripe shape, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any shape such as a square shape for each dot or a meandering linear shape may be used.

Regarding the linear electrode, in FIG.
Although the case of the book-four anodes is shown in the figure, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same effect can be obtained in a larger number of cases. The number of linear electrodes may be the same,
It is preferable that the number of cathodes and the number of anodes are different from each other because more stable operation is possible. That is, when the number of linear cathodes is m and the number of linear anodes is n, it is preferable that the difference between m and n is different by one, that is, m−n = ± 1.

Further, the cathode and the anode mean that the potentials can be independently controlled, and the cathodes and the anodes are not limited to the same potential and the bipolar electrodes whose polarities change with time.

Regarding the material of the linear electrode, various metals such as Ag, Ni and Al and ITO which is a transparent conductor were tried, but in any case, the present invention is not limited and effective. However, when aiming for a uniform light source of visible light, IT is used for the linear electrode material.
It is more preferable to use O. With regard to the width and thickness of the linear electrode, it is preferable that the width and thickness are as thin as possible.

Moreover, it is difficult to limit the numerical value because the type and pressure of gas and the properties of the dielectric covering the electrode are also related, but within the range of the implementation, metal or IT is used for the electrode.
When O is used, the width is 0.1 mm to 5 mm and the thickness is 0.1.
About 10 μm to 10 μm was available.

The width and thickness of each linear electrode are not limited to the same. For example, when the width of each of the two ends of the linear cathode in the present embodiment is set to about 50% of that of the others, it is more suitable for uniforming the overall brightness.

Next, regarding the distance between the adjacent linear electrodes, it is preferable that the distance is large in order to realize high luminous efficiency. However, it becomes difficult to discharge and emit light with all the linear electrodes, which is the basic function of the surface emitting lamp of the present invention. In addition, it is difficult to realize high brightness. Distance between electrodes is 5 mm to 100 m
m were available.

Regarding the gas to be enclosed, Xe 100%,
Xe30% -Ar70%, Ne90% -Ar10%, Xe100%
+ Hg, Xe30% -Ar70% + Hg, Ne90% -Ar10%
It carried out about 6 kinds of + Hg. As an example, the above six types were carried out, but there is no particular limitation on the type of gas as long as it contains at least a rare gas. The usable gas pressure range was about 10 torr to 200 torr.

Next, regarding the distance between the substrate (rear plate) on which the linear electrodes are formed and the other substrate (front plate), that is, the internal height of the discharge vessel, at least 0.3 mm or more is required. However, below this, it was difficult to achieve uniform discharge and light emission. Also, considering the brightness of the discharge lamp, 10
The usable range was about mm or less.

With the above structure, an experiment was conducted in which a voltage having an appropriate driving waveform was applied to each linear electrode to cause discharge between all the linear electrodes.

The R, G, and B phosphors were emitted from the front plate side without being mixed with the R, G, and B fluorescent colors due to the excitation of ultraviolet rays by the discharge.

The width of the stripe of the phosphor is 0.05, 0.
The patterns of 1, 0.5, 1.0, and 10 mm were evaluated, but in any case, it was possible to take out light emission without mixing the RGB colors.

Further, in the lamp shown in FIG. 1 (b) in which the partition walls are formed between the phosphors, the clearer emission separation of the RGB phosphors than described above is possible, and the visual observation is made from the angle inclined from the front of the front plate. Even with this, emission separation of the phosphor was possible.

Further, if a thin plate having an ultraviolet diffusion function is formed between the phosphor on the inner surface of the front plate and the electrode formed on the back plate, it is possible to eliminate a slight remaining luminance unevenness of the gas discharge lamp. Was more suitable.

As described above, the present embodiment cannot be realized with the back light source using the conventional straight tube cold cathode fluorescent lamp.
It is possible to realize a planar light emitting gas discharge lamp capable of emitting light of a desired color to a desired dot even though it is a single lamp.

(Embodiment 2) Next, a case where the gas discharge lamp of the present invention is used as a back light source of a transmissive liquid crystal display will be described. The RGB phosphors of the gas discharge lamp were separately coated so as to correspond to each pixel of the liquid crystal display, and the optical filter which was conventionally required was removed.

On the other hand, as a comparative example, a straight tube cold cathode fluorescent lamp which emits white light was arranged at the end of the same liquid crystal display as used for evaluation of the present invention.

Both were set to have the same screen brightness, and the same video information signal was inserted and displayed.

As a result, it was confirmed that the present invention can provide a clear full-color display equivalent to the conventional one. Even though the screen brightness was set to the same, it was about 6
It has been possible to realize 0% reduction in power consumption, that is, 2.5 times higher efficiency.

From the above results, in the liquid crystal display system of the present invention, it is possible to realize a gas discharge lamp and a liquid crystal information display system which can realize an extremely high efficiency.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is not possible to realize the conventional back light source using the straight tube cold cathode fluorescent lamp.
It is possible to provide a planar light emitting gas discharge lamp that can emit light of a desired color to a desired dot even though it is a single lamp.

Further, by using this as a back light source of a liquid crystal display, it corresponds to each RGB display dot and R
A back light source that emits light to GB can be realized, an optical filter can be eliminated, and as a result, a significant increase in efficiency (low power consumption) of the liquid crystal display can be achieved, which is an advantageous effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a discharge container showing an arrangement of phosphors according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Linear cathode and anode 2 dielectric 3 RGB painted phosphors 4 discharge vessel 5 partitions

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2H091 FA41 FA43 LA15 LA18                 5C094 AA07 BA31 BA32 CA19 CA23                       HA08

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A flat discharge vessel having two flat plates, a front plate and a back plate facing each other, and a plurality of wires formed alternately and substantially parallel to each other on an inner plane of the back plate and covered with an insulator. A linear electrode composed of a cathode and an anode, and a phosphor is formed only on an inner plane of the front plate. 2. The gas discharge lamp according to claim 1, wherein the linear cathode and the linear electrode can be independently operated for potential. 3. The gas discharge lamp according to claim 2, wherein the linear cathode and the linear electrode are bipolar electrodes whose polarities change with time. 4. The gas discharge lamp according to claim 1, wherein the phosphors of three colors (red, blue and green) are separately coated without being mixed. 5. The gas discharge lamp according to claim 4, wherein partition walls, which are non-fluorescent materials, are formed between the fluorescent materials and are arranged so that the fluorescent materials do not come into contact with each other. . 6. The gas discharge lamp according to claim 5, wherein the height (thickness) of the partition wall is higher than the height of each phosphor and lower than the distance between the front plate and the back plate. 7. The gas discharge according to claim 1, wherein in the plurality of linear cathodes and anodes, the distance between each cathode and each anode adjacent thereto is substantially equal. lamp. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the distance between each linear cathode and the anode is 5 mm or more and 100 mm or less.
A gas discharge lamp according to any one of 1. 9. The thin plate having an ultraviolet diffusion function is formed between the phosphor on the inner surface of the front plate and the electrode formed on the back plate, according to any one of claims 1 to 8. Gas discharge lamp. 10. Transmission of visible light to display information,
An information display system, characterized in that the gas discharge lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is used as a light source on the back surface of a screen control device that controls non-transmission. 11. The information display system according to claim 10, wherein liquid crystal is used as the screen display device. 12. A red, blue and green display cell of a liquid crystal screen,
The information display system according to claim 11, wherein the coating of the fluorescent material of the gas discharge lamp and the coating of the fluorescent material correspond to the one-to-one correspondence.