JP3016705B2 - Fluorescent lamp - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to] is relates to fluorescent La <br/> down-flops of containing amalgam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a conventional amalgam-containing fluorescent lamp disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-64044. FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of an arc tube of a conventional bulb-type fluorescent lamp, in which a main amalgam 1 for appropriately controlling the mercury vapor pressure during lighting and for facilitating mercury release at the beginning of lighting. The auxiliary amalgam 8 is provided so as to secure a constant brightness from the beginning of lighting to the end of lighting. The amalgam 1 has its entire surface exposed to the discharge space, and is provided at an appropriate position in the thin tube 4. The auxiliary amalgam 8 is provided near the electrode 7. In the case of such a conventional fluorescent lamp, a copper-iron ballast circuit with a built-in glow tube is mainly used. Therefore, in the initial stage of lighting, the auxiliary amalgam was heated by the filament preheating during the operation of the glow tube, the auxiliary amalgam released mercury, the mercury vapor pressure in the fluorescent lamp rapidly increased, and greatly contributed to the rise of the luminous flux. .

[0003]

In recent years, there has been a demand for more instantaneous lighting, and an electronic ballast circuit has been widely used instead of a copper-iron ballast circuit having a built-in glow tube. When an electronic ballast circuit is used, the time for filament preheating is not sufficiently ensured. For this reason, the amount of mercury released from the auxiliary amalgam due to heating is small, and it is difficult to maintain the mercury vapor pressure in the initial stage of lighting at a certain level or more, and there has been a problem that it is not possible to expect a rising light flux.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and appropriately controls the mercury vapor pressure during lighting without using an auxiliary amalgam, and reduces the rise of the luminous flux at the beginning of lighting. It is an object to provide an improved fluorescent lamp.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a fluorescent lamp according to the present invention comprises a bulb having a phosphor attached to an inner surface thereof, and a pair of electrodes provided at both ends of the bulb.
A container provided in the vicinity of an electrode in the bulb, and comprises an amalgam containing mercury contained in the container ,
Before SL container longer than the maximum width in the direction perpendicular to the length of the tube axis direction in the pipe axis direction, has an elongated shape with an opening at the tip of the tube axis direction, the discharge of the container The opening to the space is wide enough that the mercury atoms in the amalgam are supplied to the discharge space during lamp operation, and
In order to substantially prevent mercury atoms existing in the discharge space from returning to the amalgam after the lamp is turned off and before the amalgam solidifies, the diameter of the arc is converted to a circle and the diameter is at least twice the radius of the mercury atom. and a 5mm or less, amalgam in the container in direct contact with discharge collector space is characterized by exposed at the opening portion of the container.

It is preferable that the opening of the container is provided at only one place. Alternatively, it is preferable that a plurality of the openings of the container are arranged in a dispersed manner, and the sum of the opening areas of each of the openings is not less than twice the radius of the mercury atom and not more than 0.5 mm when converted into a circle.

In each of the above structures, the container has a length in a tube axis direction longer than a maximum width in a direction orthogonal to the tube axis direction, and at least one opening is provided at a tip end in the tube axis direction. Preferably, the glass container is provided in the coolest part of the discharge space or in the vicinity thereof.

In each of the above structures, the length of the glass container in the tube axis direction is preferably 5 mm or more and 15 mm or less. In each of the above-described configurations, it is preferable that the opening provided at the tip of the glass container in the tube axis direction is disposed on a lower temperature side than on the opposite side. In each of the above structures, it is preferable that zeolite or porous glass having a plurality of holes having a size twice or more the mercury atom radius is provided at the opening of the container. In each of the above structures, the amalgam is preferably an alloy containing about 3% by weight of mercury, bismuth and indium.

[0009]

According to the fluorescent lamp of the present invention configured as described above, the mercury atoms present in the optimal amount in the discharge space during operation start moving to the amalgam as the temperature decreases after the extinguishing. The amalgam portion which is in direct contact with is, for example, an extremely small area having an opening diameter of twice or more and 0.5 mm or less of the mercury atom radius, and has a small conductance of mercury atom movement. Therefore, the amalgam sticks before many mercury atoms reach the amalgam, and the diffusion rate of the mercury atoms into the amalgam becomes extremely slow. In addition, since mercury atoms are adsorbed on the surface of the amalgam only in its very small area, the mercury concentration at the interface in contact with the discharge space of the amalgam becomes extremely high compared to other amalgam parts, and the mercury vapor pressure in that part increases. I do. As a result, the decrease in the number of mercury atoms in the discharge space can be suppressed accordingly, and the initial luminous flux at the next lighting can be increased accordingly.

[0010] Further, the container has a so-called elongated shape, that is, the length in the tube axis direction is longer than the maximum width in the direction orthogonal to the tube axis direction, and at least one opening is provided at the tip in the tube axis direction. By providing a glass container and providing the glass container at or near the coldest part of the discharge space, the coldest point control of the amalgam, early fixation of the amalgam after turning off the light, and a large diffusion distance for mercury to diffuse inside the amalgam Can be taken.

Further, by disposing the opening provided at the tip of the glass container in the tube axis direction at a lower temperature side than the opposite side, that is, by exposing the glass container opposite to the opening to the higher temperature side, Liquefaction of the amalgam after lighting is promoted, and it is possible to shift to stable lighting at an early stage.

In addition, a mercury atomic radius of 2
By providing a zeolite or a porous glass having a plurality of pores twice or more in size, the conductance of the movement of mercury atoms after turning off the light can be further reduced, and the return of mercury atoms to amalgam can be further suppressed. it can. In addition, since the zeolite or the porous glass is in close contact with the amalgam, the zeolite or the like serves as a pseudo nucleus, thereby suppressing the supercooling phenomenon of the amalgam and facilitating the change of the amalgam from a liquid phase to a solid phase. As a result, a predetermined amount of mercury to be left in the discharge space is secured, and the initial light flux can be further increased. In addition, by using amalgam as an alloy containing about 3% by weight of mercury, bismuth and indium, excessive evaporation of mercury during long-time operation can be suppressed, and the mercury vapor pressure is maintained within a certain range. In addition, it is possible to prevent the luminous flux from lowering.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the fluorescent lamp of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of an arc tube of an electric lighting type bulb-type fluorescent lamp.

As shown in FIG. 1, the light-emitting tube of the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of this embodiment has a pair of electrodes 7 and a thin tube 4 at both ends of a bent bulb 6 having a phosphor 5 attached to the inner surface. ing.
A glass container 2 is provided inside the thin tube 4, and an amalgam 1 which is an alloy containing about 3% by weight of mercury, bismuth and indium is stored in the glass container 2. The glass container 2 has a length of about 10 mm, and has an opening 3 with an opening diameter of about 0.5 mm at one end. The glass container 2 has the opening 3 at a low temperature side (a side far from the electrode 7). It is enclosed in a thin tube 4.

Next, the operation principle of the present invention will be described. During the operation of the fluorescent lamp, the mercury atoms present in the optimal amount in the discharge space 6a start moving to the amalgam 1 with a decrease in temperature after the light is turned off. However, the portion of the amalgam 1 that is in direct contact with the discharge space 6a is a portion that is exposed at the opening 3 of the glass container 2, and the opening diameter is an extremely small area of several times or more and 0.5 mm or less of the mercury atom radius. is there. Therefore, the conductance of the movement of the mercury atoms is small, the amalgam 1 is fixed before many mercury atoms reach the amalgam 1, and the diffusion speed of the mercury atoms into the inside of the amalgam 1 becomes extremely slow. In addition, since mercury atoms are adsorbed on the surface of the amalgam 1 only on its very small area, the mercury concentration at the interface of the amalgam 1 in contact with the discharge space 6a is extremely higher than that of the other portions of the amalgam 1, and this portion is Mercury vapor pressure increases. As a result, the decrease in the number of mercury atoms in the discharge space can be suppressed accordingly, and the initial luminous flux at the next lighting can be increased accordingly.

Next, a prototype of the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of this embodiment having the above-described configuration was actually manufactured, and the rising relative luminous flux at the time of lighting was measured. At the same time, as a comparative example, a bulb-type fluorescent lamp having the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 2 (conventional example) and a bulb-type fluorescent lamp (reference example) in which only amalgam and auxiliary amalgam are excluded and only mercury is sealed are prepared. The measurement was performed similarly. FIG. 3 shows the measurement results. FIG. 3 shows a relative relationship between the rising luminous flux of the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of the present embodiment (curve A) and the bulb-shaped fluorescent lamps of the conventional example (curve B) and the reference example (curve C), with the maximum luminous flux being 100%. These values are compared by value. Each of the fluorescent lamps was turned on for a long time at an ambient temperature of 25 ° C. and turned off for 15 hours.
Relighting was performed using the electronic lighting circuit from which the filament preheating mode was eliminated.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of this embodiment, the conventional bulb-type fluorescent lamp starts from a relative luminous flux of about 20%, while it is not as large as the reference example but about 50%. % Relative luminous flux. When the lamp is lit for a long time, the maximum luminous flux can be substantially maintained in the embodiment of the present invention and the conventional compact fluorescent lamp. On the other hand, in the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of the reference example, the mercury vapor pressure is too high and the luminous flux is low. The reason why the conventional compact fluorescent lamp starts from a relative luminous flux of about 20% is that the auxiliary amalgam 8 and the amalgam 1 have a low mercury vapor pressure.

Next, the reason why the initial luminous flux of the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of this embodiment has increased will be considered below. The bulb-type fluorescent lamp of the present embodiment has a glass container 2 when turned on for a long time.
Since the amalgam 1 in the inside is in a liquid state at a temperature of about 120 ° C., the mercury exists homogeneously in the amalgam, and the mercury exists in the discharge space through the very small area of the amalgam 1 facing the opening 3. Liquid equilibrium. Therefore, when lighting for a long time,
The maximum luminous flux can be obtained with an almost optimum mercury vapor pressure. Then, mercury is supplied from the amalgam 1 in an amount consumed by the tube wall during the life.

Once the light is turned off, the mercury atoms attempt to return to the amalgam 1 whose temperature has dropped and the mercury vapor pressure has dropped, either directly or via the tube wall. However, the area of the opening 3 of the glass container 2 is as small as about 0.5 mm when converted into a circle, and the conductance for the movement of mercury atoms is small. Therefore, during the period when amalgam 1 exists in a liquid,
Only part of the amount of mercury present in the discharge space was amalgam 1
Can't return to At this time, the mercury adsorbed on the amalgam surface can be easily diffused into the amalgam because the amalgam 1 is in a liquid phase.

When the amalgam sticks, the rate of diffusion of mercury into the amalgam decreases extremely. Therefore, the mercury atoms coming after that are layered and adsorbed on the surface of the amalgam. However, since the amalgam 1 has only a very small area in contact with the discharge space, the concentration of the adsorbed mercury tends to increase extremely, and the mercury vapor pressure at that portion is almost the same as the mercury vapor pressure of the mercury adsorbed on the other tube wall. At that point, the movement of the mercury atoms stops. At this time, most of the amount of mercury existing in the discharge space during lighting remains in the discharge space including the tube wall. By the above process, it can be considered that the lighting initial luminous flux of the present lamp has increased as compared with the lamp of the conventional example after a certain extinguishing time.

As described above, the light-emitting tube of the bulb-type fluorescent lamp of the present embodiment has a length of about 10 mm, and a glass container 2 having an opening 3 having an opening diameter of about 0.5 mm or less at one end. Bismuth containing about 3% by weight mercury
And indium containing an amalgam 1 is an alloy, and the glass container 2 is sealed by the opening 3 in the low temperature side capillary 4, the lighting initial light beam to light after a predetermined time off, generally amalgam It can be raised more than the sealed conventional bulb-type fluorescent lamp.

The reason why the glass container 2 is formed in a long shape and the opening 3 is provided at a low temperature side far from the discharge space is that the cold spot control of the amalgam, the early fixing of the amalgam 1 after the light is turned off, and the mercury It is intended to increase the diffusion distance that diffuses inside. In addition, by exposing the glass container 2 opposite to the opening 3 to the high temperature side, liquefaction of the amalgam 1 after lighting is promoted, and it is possible to shift to stable lighting at an early stage. Further, in this embodiment, the length of the glass container 2 is set to about 10 mm, but for this purpose,
It is desirably approximately 5 mm or more and 15 mm or less.

It should be noted that, in addition to the configuration of the above embodiment, the amalgam 1 facing the opening 3 of the glass container 2
By providing a zeolite having a large number of pores twice or more the radius of the mercury atom in close contact, the conductance of the movement of the mercury atoms after the light is turned off can be reduced, and the return of the mercury atoms to the amalgam 1 can be considerably reduced. Can be suppressed. In addition, since the zeolite is in close contact with the amalgam 1, the zeolite acts as a pseudo-nucleus to suppress the supercooling phenomenon of the amalgam 1 and facilitate the change of the amalgam 1 from a liquid phase to a solid phase. 63-28
No. 4748). All of these functions are effective in securing the amount of mercury that should remain in the discharge space, and further increase the initial luminous flux, which is superior to the lamp of the above embodiment.
Rise characteristics can be obtained. Also for the purpose of decreasing the conductance of the mercury atom transfer, even by using a porous glass instead of the zeolite, the same effect can be obtained.

[0024]

As described above, the fluorescent lamp of the present invention is
A bulb having a phosphor adhered to the inner surface thereof, a pair of electrodes provided at both ends of the bulb, a container provided in the vicinity of the electrode, and an amalgam containing mercury contained in the container. The opening to the discharge space of the container,
In order to substantially prevent the mercury atoms in the amalgam from being diffused during lamp operation and being sufficiently wide, and that the vaporized mercury atoms return to the amalgam before the amalgam solidifies after the lamp is turned off. Since it is configured to have a sufficiently small area, the optimal amount of mercury atoms present in the discharge space during lighting starts moving to the amalgam as the temperature decreases after the light is turned off, but the amalgam part directly in contact with the discharge space since a very small area, fixed amalgam before a number of mercury atoms reach the amalgam, most mercury evaporate remains in the discharge space, that can increase correspondingly the initial light flux of the next lit Become.

Further, the opening diameter of the container is 2 mm of the mercury atomic radius.
Because it is an extremely small area of twice or more and 0.5 mm or less, the conductance of mercury atom transfer is small, amalgam sticks before many mercury atoms reach amalgam, diffusion rate of mercury atoms into amalgam inside is extremely slow Become. In addition, since mercury atoms are adsorbed on the surface of the amalgam only in its very small area, the mercury concentration at the interface in contact with the discharge space of the amalgam becomes extremely high compared to other amalgam parts, and the mercury vapor pressure in that part increases. I do. As a result, the decrease in the number of mercury atoms in the discharge space can be suppressed accordingly.

Further, the container is a glass container whose length in the tube axis direction is longer than the maximum width in the direction orthogonal to the tube axis direction, and at least one opening is provided at the tip in the tube axis direction. By providing the container in or near the coldest part of the discharge space, it is possible to control the coldest point of the amalgam, fix the amalgam early after turning off the light, and increase the diffusion distance of mercury diffusing inside the amalgam.

Further, by disposing the opening provided at the tip of the glass container in the tube axis direction at a lower temperature side than the opposite side, that is, by exposing the glass container opposite to the opening to the higher temperature side, Liquefaction of the amalgam after lighting is promoted, and it is possible to shift to stable lighting at an early stage.

Also, a mercury atomic radius of 2
By providing a zeolite or a porous glass having a plurality of pores twice or more in size, the conductance of the movement of mercury atoms after turning off the light can be further reduced, and the return of mercury atoms to amalgam can be further suppressed. it can. In addition, since the zeolite or the porous glass is in close contact with the amalgam, the zeolite or the like serves as a pseudo nucleus, which suppresses the supercooling phenomenon of the amalgam and facilitates the change of the amalgam from a liquid phase to a solid phase. As a result, a predetermined amount of mercury to be left in the discharge space is secured, and the initial light flux can be further increased .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing an arc tube of one embodiment of a fluorescent lamp of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view showing an arc tube of a conventional fluorescent lamp.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a rising relative luminous flux at the time of lighting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: amalgam 2: glass container 3: opening 4: tubule 5: phosphor 6: bulb 6a: discharge space 7: electrode 8: auxiliary amalgam

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bulb having a phosphor attached to an inner surface thereof, a pair of electrodes provided at both ends of the bulb, a container provided near electrodes in the bulb, and mercury contained in the container. ; and a amalgam containing, before Symbol container,
The length in the tube axis direction is longer than the maximum width in the direction orthogonal to the tube axis direction, and has an elongated shape in which an opening is provided at the tip in the tube axis direction. That the mercury atoms in the amalgam are sufficiently large to be supplied to the discharge space during lamp operation, and that the mercury atoms present in the discharge space return to the amalgam before the amalgam solidifies after the lamp is turned off. in order to substantially prevent, or less 0.5mm a diameter of more than 2 times the mercury atomic radii in terms of a circle, the amalgam in the container in direct contact with discharge collector space, in an opening portion of the container A fluorescent lamp that is exposed. 2. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the opening of the container is provided only at one place. 3. The container according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of openings are dispersedly arranged, and the total opening area of each of the openings is not less than twice the radius of the mercury atom and not more than 0.5 mm when converted into a circle. fluorescent lamp according to 1. 4. The glass container, wherein a length of the container in the tube axis direction is longer than a maximum width in a direction orthogonal to the tube axis direction, and at least one opening is provided at a tip in the tube axis direction. The fluorescent lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the glass container is provided in a coolest part of the discharge space or in the vicinity thereof. 5. The length of the glass container in the tube axis direction is 5 m.
The fluorescent lamp according to claim 4 , wherein the length is not less than m and not more than 15 mm. Wherein said the tube axis direction of the opening portion provided at a distal end of the glass container, according to claim 4 or 5 fluorescent lamp according to, characterized in that arranged on the lower temperature side than the opposite side. 7. A mercury atom radius of 2 is provided at an opening of the container.
The fluorescent lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein zeolite or porous glass having a plurality of holes twice or more in size is provided. 8. The amalgam contains about 3% by weight mercury .
2. An alloy of bismuth and indium contained therein.
8. The fluorescent lamp according to any one of items 1 to 7 .