JP2005116418A - Flat-plate fluorescent lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flat-plate fluorescent lamp capable of a self-luminous information display. <P>SOLUTION: Electrodes, of which at least one is covered with a dielectric, are formed on an inner face of a flat-plate discharge vessel with translucency, and it is so structured that phosphor is coated between the electrodes so that information on characters, graphics or the like can be displayed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp that emits light in a planar shape. In particular, the present invention relates to a lamp suitable for displaying various information by itself.

A conventional flat fluorescent lamp is described in Patent Document 1, for example. As shown in FIG. 3, the conventional flat fluorescent lamp is composed of a sealed container 101 having a discharge space 108 having a flat cross section and having a phosphor 107 coated on the inner surface thereof. A pair of discharge electrodes 104 and 105 whose surfaces are covered with a dielectric 106 are provided near both ends of the discharge space. The discharge space is filled with a mixed gas of xenon and argon. By applying a high-frequency voltage between the electrodes, a planar rare gas discharge is generated in the discharge space, and the phosphor is excited by ultraviolet rays generated by the discharge, so that visible light is emitted and emitted to the outside. A conventional flat fluorescent lamp is a lamp that emits white light uniformly over the entire light-emitting surface for illumination or for backlights of liquid crystal display devices.
In addition, there are conventional advertising signs, evacuation guide lights, etc., which have characters, figures, pictures, etc. drawn on metal plates etc., but lighting is necessary indoors and at night, so fluorescent lamps etc. It is necessary to install it separately in front of the signboard. Furthermore, in another form such as an advertising billboard, in order to display the information, letters, figures, pictures, etc. are drawn on the surface of the light-transmitting plastic container, and a cylindrical tubular fluorescent lamp is provided in the plastic container. Some are installed and illuminated from the inside to display various information regardless of day or night.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-251982

  Conventional advertising billboards and evacuation guide lights require separate illumination lamps for indoor and night illumination, have a complicated configuration, are large in shape, and require a wide installation space. The present invention is to optimize the above flat fluorescent lamp for illumination for information display, and to provide a flat fluorescent lamp excellent in information display capability with a thin and self-luminous type.

  In order to solve the above problems, a discharge vessel having a flat discharge space, a pair of electrodes in which at least one electrode on the inner surface of the discharge vessel is covered with a dielectric, and a phosphor is applied to the inner surface of the discharge vessel, In a flat fluorescent lamp in which a discharge gas is sealed in a space, the phosphor is applied so that information such as characters and figures can be displayed.

  Furthermore, the present invention is configured such that a plurality of pairs of electrodes are provided as discharge electrodes, and one or more pairs are appropriately selected and turned on to display different information.

  Further, the discharge gas is configured to be Xe or a mixed gas of two or more kinds of rare gases containing Xe.

  Further, the discharge gas is configured to be a mixture of Hg and a rare gas.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information display apparatus excellent in the display capability can be provided. In addition, it is very thin with a thickness of about several millimeters, and it is excellent in decoration, requiring only a small installation space. Further, a plurality of information can be displayed with only one lamp.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of a flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, in which (a) is a partially cutaway perspective view, and (b) is a view seen from the front. Reference numeral 1 denotes a plate-like front plate, and 2 denotes a thin plate-like back plate, both of which are made of soda glass. The front plate 1 and the back plate 2 are sealed with sealing glass (not shown) to form a sealed structure. Reference numerals 3 and 4 denote electrodes, which are printed in parallel on the inner surface of the front plate 1. Further, at the portion of the electrodes 3 and 4 that are in contact with the discharge space, the dielectric film 5 is thickly printed thereon to cover the electrodes. On the inner surface of the front plate 1, information to be displayed such as character strings and figures is applied with a phosphor 7. 7 'is a cross section of the phosphor 7 at the notch. Since the front plate 1 is made of plate glass, the phosphor 7 can be printed easily even with complicated figures, pictures, etc. using thick film printing. A phosphor 8 is applied on the back plate 2. Here, the phosphor 7 and the phosphor 8 have different emission colors. A mixed gas of Xe, Ne, and Ar is sealed in the container. The operation of the flat fluorescent lamp of FIG. 1 is as follows. A high-frequency rectangular wave voltage is applied between the electrode 3 and the electrode 4 to generate a flat discharge in the entire discharge vessel. Ultraviolet light emitted from Xe during discharge reaches phosphors 7 and 8 and is converted into visible light and emitted to the front surface. At this time, the portion where the phosphor 7 is not printed on the inner surface of the front plate 1 becomes the emission color of only the phosphor 8, and the portion where the phosphor 7 is printed becomes a mixed color with the phosphor 8. . For example, if the emission colors of the phosphor 7 and the phosphor 8 are complementary colors, only the overlapping portion is white. This makes it possible to display information.

  Further, for example, the phosphor 7 on the front plate can be configured to emit multicolor light by a plurality of thick film printings.

  FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention. As in FIG. 1, the discharge vessel has a sealed structure in which a soda glass front plate and a back plate are sealed with sealing glass. An electrode, a phosphor, and a dielectric film are formed in the same manner as in the embodiment of FIG. 1, and a discharge gas is enclosed. In the present embodiment, the electrode is divided into two on the left and right, and the discharge region is divided on the left and right. Furthermore, phosphors having different emission colors are applied to the front plate side and the back side corresponding to the respective discharge areas. For the same discharge region, the same phosphor is used on both the front plate side and the back side. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes 11 and 12, the left region is discharged and the phosphor 15 is discharged. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes 13 and 14, the right region is discharged and the phosphor 16 emits light. Accordingly, different information can be displayed by appropriately selecting either the left side, the right side, or both of the lighting areas.

  In any of the above embodiments, the electrode is covered with a dielectric. However, if one of the divided electrodes is covered with a dielectric, the other may be exposed to the discharge space.

  Further, the above embodiment can be easily modified. For example, by thickly applying the phosphor on the back plate side, more visible light converted from the ultraviolet light from the discharge is mainly emitted toward the discharge space side, and hence toward the front plate. For this reason, the luminance of the front plate can be increased together with the light emitted in the direction of the front plate, and a large amount of light can be extracted only on one side. Further, for example, the container may be a glass plate-like front plate and a rear plate, and the side surfaces may be sealed by using different side glass plates. Further, an MgO film may be further formed on the dielectric film on the electrode. Hg and Ar gas may be used as the enclosure.

It is one Example of the flat fluorescent lamp by this invention. It is another Example of the flat fluorescent lamp by this invention. It is a conventional example of a flat type lamp.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,102: Front plate 2, 103: Back plate 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14: Electrode 5: Dielectric film 7, 8, 15, 16, 107: Phosphor 101: Airtight container 104, 105: Discharge electrode 106: Dielectric layer 108: Discharge space.

Claims (4)

A discharge vessel having a flat discharge space, a pair of electrodes in which at least one electrode on the inner surface of the discharge vessel is covered with a dielectric, and a phosphor is applied to the inner surface of the discharge vessel, and a discharge gas is enclosed in the discharge space In a flat fluorescent lamp,
A flat fluorescent lamp, characterized in that the phosphor is applied so as to display information such as characters and figures. The flat fluorescent lamp according to claim 1,
A flat fluorescent lamp characterized in that it has a plurality of pairs of discharge electrodes as electrodes and displays different information by selecting and lighting one or more pairs as appropriate. The flat fluorescent lamp according to claim 1 or 2,
A flat fluorescent lamp characterized in that the discharge gas is Xe or a mixed gas of two or more rare gases containing Xe. The flat fluorescent lamp according to claim 1 or 2,
A flat fluorescent lamp characterized in that the discharge gas is a mixture of Hg and a rare gas.

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