JP2006092890A - Fluorescent lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fluorescent lamp capable of further improving a luminous flux rising characteristics, immediately after the lighting start. <P>SOLUTION: This fluorescent lamp is provided with a filament (electrode) 1 disposed at an end in a glass bulb 21 (22); two lead-in wires 2 supporting the filament 1 and electrically connected to the filament 1; an lead-in wire 3 connected to one of the lead-in wires 2; an auxiliary amalgam 4 supported by the lead-in wire 3; and a mount part 8. A phosphor is applied to the inside surface of the glass bulb 21 (22); and a discharge medium is enclosed in the glass bulb 21 (22). The glass bulb 21 (22) is sealed by the mount part 8 at an end thereof. The auxiliary amalgam 4 is supported by the lead-in wire and disposed on the side of a discharge path of the filament or at the position of the filament. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp in which a discharge medium is sealed, and more particularly to a fluorescent lamp having improved luminous flux rising characteristics immediately after the occurrence of discharge.

  A bulb-type fluorescent lamp whose arc tube is hermetically sealed with a glass globe, a resin case or the like uses amalgam capable of optimally controlling the mercury vapor pressure at high temperatures because the tube wall temperature of the arc tube rises. However, amalgam has a problem in that the vapor pressure of mercury is low at the time of start-up, resulting in poor luminous flux rise characteristics.

  In order to solve such problems, conventionally, a small amount of auxiliary amalgam is installed on the electrode mounting side at both ends in the glass bulb in addition to the main amalgam for controlling the mercury vapor pressure during steady lighting. This auxiliary amalgam adsorbs the floating mercury in the tube when the light is extinguished and releases the adsorbed mercury when heated by the heat of the filament at the beginning of lighting, including when starting. As a result, the rise of the luminous flux is improved.

Various proposals have been made regarding the use of this auxiliary amalgam. For example, the fluorescent lamp described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-260583 includes means for disposing an auxiliary amalgam in a discharge path other than the tube end of the arc tube, and causing a discharge current to flow into the auxiliary amalgam when the lamp is lit. However, the auxiliary amalgam provided at the tube end of the arc tube is installed on the electrode mounting side.
JP 2002-260583 A

  In the conventional technique using such an auxiliary amalgam, there is still a problem that sufficient luminous flux rising characteristics cannot be obtained as compared with general fluorescent lamps and light bulbs not using an amalgam.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a fluorescent lamp capable of further improving the luminous flux rising characteristic immediately after the start of lighting.

  The object is to provide an arc tube provided with a main amalgam in one glass bulb or a plurality of communicating glass bulbs, electrodes disposed at both ends of the glass bulb, and lead wires connected to the electrodes. , A fluorescent lamp provided with an auxiliary amalgam disposed on the lead-in line, the auxiliary amalgam being achieved by a fluorescent lamp arranged on the discharge path side of the electrode or at the position of the electrode.

  Here, the auxiliary amalgam may be disposed so as to surround the electrode. The auxiliary amalgam may be a mesh metal body. Further, the fluorescent lamp can be a bulb-type fluorescent lamp.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the fluorescent lamp which can improve the light beam rise characteristic immediately after lighting start can be provided further. This is because the auxiliary amalgam is arranged on the discharge path side of the electrode or at the position of the electrode, so heat from the discharge between the electrodes is applied to the auxiliary amalgam, which can warm the auxiliary amalgam faster and at the same time, This is because the adsorbed floating mercury is diffused faster in the tube.

  Embodiments of a fluorescent lamp with further improved luminous flux rise characteristics according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings with reference to examples, but before that, as an example of a fluorescent lamp according to the present invention An outline of the bulb-type fluorescent lamp will be described.

  FIG. 1A is a partially cutaway view showing an example of a bulb-type fluorescent lamp. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is an arc tube, 12 is a light bulb shaped glass globe, 13 is a plastic case, and 14 is a base. In this example, the arc tube 11 is integrated by connecting four U-shaped glass bulbs. In the structure, U-shaped glass bulbs are arranged on each side of the square, and communicate with the adjacent U-shaped glass bulbs at the bottom.

  FIG.1 (b) is an expanded view which shows an example of the fluorescent lamp based on this invention used for the lightbulb-type fluorescent lamp of Fig.1 (a). In this example, the number of U-shaped glass bulbs connected is two in order to simplify the description, but the number of U-shaped glass bulbs is not limited to this and can be one or more. In the figure, U-shaped glass bulbs 21 and 22 in which a discharge medium is sealed are joined at a connecting portion 23 to form one discharge path. Electrode portions 24 and 25 are provided on the glass bulbs at both ends of the U-shaped glass bulbs 21 and 22. A thin tube 26 is connected to the U-shaped glass bulb 21 and a main amalgam 27 is installed therein. The main amalgam is, for example, an alloy of Hg and In, Bi, Pb, Sn or the like. A metal body (auxiliary amalgam) for adsorbing and discharging the discharge medium is fixed to the lead wires on the electrode portions 24 and 25. The auxiliary amalgam is formed by plating In on the surface of steel or nickel, for example, so that a mercury alloy can be formed on the surface. The configuration of the electrode parts 24 and 25 will be described in detail in the following examples. When the number of U-shaped glass bulbs connected is three or more, an auxiliary amalgam can be separately arranged in the middle U-shaped glass bulb.

Example 1
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, and is a longitudinal sectional view of an electrode portion of the fluorescent lamp. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 is a filament (electrode) disposed at the end of the glass bulb 21 (22), and 2 is two lead wires that support the filament 1 and are electrically connected to the filament 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes an additional introduction line connected to one introduction line 2 by welding, for example, 4 denotes an auxiliary amalgam supported by the introduction line 3, and 8 denotes a mount portion. The lead-in wire 2 and the lead-in wire 3 may be connected by a method other than welding, or the lead-in wire 2 may be extended without using the lead-in wire 3 as a separate body, and the extension portion may be used as the lead-in wire 3. As the auxiliary amalgam 4 of this embodiment, for example, an indium-plated stainless steel mesh or the like can be used. A phosphor is applied to the inner surface of the glass bulb 21 (22), and a discharge medium is enclosed in the glass bulb 21 (22). The glass bulb 21 (22) is sealed by the mount 8 at the end. The two lead-in lines 2 are connected to a lighting circuit (not shown) through the mount portion 8 at a predetermined interval.

  In this embodiment, the auxiliary amalgam 4 is arranged on the discharge path side of the filament (electrode) 1 as shown in FIG. When the fluorescent lamp is lit by the lighting circuit, first, an electric current is supplied to the filament 1 to emit electrons that promote the occurrence of discharge from the filament 1. When the filament 1 generates heat during preheating or lighting by the operation of the lighting circuit, the auxiliary amalgam 4 is also heated by receiving the heat. However, in this embodiment, not only that, but when the lighting is started, the auxiliary amalgam 4 is further heated by receiving heat of discharge generated between both filaments (electrodes). Thereby, more mercury can be released more quickly. Unlike the conventional case, mercury vaporizes in the discharge path, so that the speed of diffusion into the tube is increased. As a result, the luminous flux starts to rise rapidly. Therefore, it is possible to improve the luminous flux rising characteristic immediately after the start of lighting.

  FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of the luminous flux rising characteristics of the present invention and the conventional fluorescent lamp. The vertical axis of the graph represents the relative light flux value (%) with respect to the stable light flux, and the horizontal axis represents the lighting time (s) from the power-on. The solid line in the graph represents the present invention, and the dotted line represents the conventional one. Conventionally, the auxiliary amalgam is disposed outside the electrode, that is, on the mount portion side with respect to the discharge path. In the present invention, the auxiliary amalgam is provided on the discharge path side of the electrode as described above. Thereby, in this invention, the light beam rise characteristic can be further improved compared with the conventional one. Further, even if this auxiliary amalgam is provided at the position of the electrode, it can similarly improve the light beam rise characteristics as compared with the conventional one. Examples relating to this will be described below.

(Example 2)
FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the fluorescent lamp according to the present invention. (A) is a longitudinal sectional view of the electrode part of the fluorescent lamp, and (b) and (c) are the mount part side from the longitudinal direction of the glass bulb. It is a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the filament (electrode) when looking at. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 5 is a filament (electrode) disposed at the end of the glass bulb 21 (22), and 6 is two lead wires that support the filament 5 and are electrically connected to the filament 5. , 7 is an auxiliary amalgam supported by one lead-in wire 6, and 9 is a mount. As the auxiliary amalgam 7 of this embodiment, for example, an indium-plated stainless steel mesh or the like can be used. A phosphor is applied to the inner surface of the glass bulb 21 (22), and a discharge medium is sealed in the glass bulb 21 (22). The glass bulb 21 (22) is sealed by the mount 9 at the end. The two lead-in wires 6 are connected to a lighting circuit (not shown) through the mount portion 9 at a predetermined interval.

  In this embodiment, the auxiliary amalgam 7 is arranged at the position of the filament (electrode) 5 as shown in FIG. Specifically, the auxiliary amalgam 7 can be arranged in a semicircular shape so as to surround the filament 5, for example, as shown in FIG. 4 (b). Also, as shown in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various arrangement methods can be adopted. When the fluorescent lamp is lit by the lighting circuit, first, an electric current is passed through the filament 5 to emit electrons that promote the occurrence of discharge from the filament 5. When the filament 5 generates heat during preheating or lighting due to the operation of the lighting circuit, the auxiliary amalgam 7 is also heated by receiving the heat. The heating of the auxiliary amalgam 7 can be further accelerated by arranging the auxiliary amalgam 7 so as to surround the filament 5 as in this embodiment. However, in this embodiment, not only that, but when the lighting is further started, the auxiliary amalgam 7 is further heated by receiving heat of discharge generated between both filaments (electrodes). Thereby, more mercury can be released more quickly. As a result, the luminous flux starts to rise rapidly. Therefore, it is possible to improve the luminous flux rising characteristic immediately after the start of lighting.

  As described above, the present invention utilizes the heat of the auxiliary amalgam provided at the end portion of the fluorescent tube of the fluorescent lamp not only by the heat generation of the filament but also by the heat generated between the filaments. Therefore, in this invention, an auxiliary | assistant amalgam is arrange | positioned in the position of a filament (electrode) or the discharge path side of a filament (electrode).

  The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp in which a discharge medium is enclosed, and particularly relates to a fluorescent lamp having improved luminous flux rising characteristics immediately after the occurrence of discharge, and has industrial applicability.

(A) is a partially cutaway view showing an example of a bulb-type fluorescent lamp, and (b) is a development view showing an example of a fluorescent lamp according to the present invention used in the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of (a). 1 shows an embodiment of a fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, and is a longitudinal sectional view of an electrode portion of the fluorescent lamp. It is a graph which shows an example of the light beam rise characteristic of this invention and the conventional fluorescent lamp. The other Example of the fluorescent lamp based on this invention is shown, (a) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the electrode part of a fluorescent lamp, (b) and (c) looked at the mount part side from the glass bulb longitudinal direction, respectively. It is a cross-sectional view near the filament (electrode) at the time.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 5 ... Filament 2, 3, 6 ... Introductory line 4, 7 ... Auxiliary amalgam 8, 9 ... Mount part 11 ... Arc tube 12 ... Light bulb-shaped glass globe 13 ... · Plastic case 14 ··· Base 21, 22 ··· U-shaped glass bulb 23 ··· Connection portion 24 and 25 ··· Electrode portion 26 · · · Thin tube 27 · · · Main amalgam

Claims (4)

An arc tube having a main amalgam inside one glass bulb or a plurality of communicating glass bulbs, electrodes disposed at both ends of the glass bulb, lead wires connected to the electrodes, and lead wires A fluorescent lamp comprising an auxiliary amalgam disposed on the electrode, wherein the auxiliary amalgam is disposed on the discharge path side of the electrode or at the position of the electrode. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary amalgam is disposed so as to surround the electrode. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the auxiliary amalgam is a mesh-like metal body. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the fluorescent lamp is a bulb-type fluorescent lamp.

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