JP3431089B2 - Manufacturing method of low pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp containing a fixed amount of mercury.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as a method of enclosing mercury in a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp typified by a fluorescent lamp, the most common method is to drop liquid mercury through a thin tube connected to the lamp. Difficult to encapsulate. In order to solve this, the present inventors have developed a method in which mercury is formed into a solid pellet of mercury alloy silver, which is sealed in a glass bulb and then heated to release mercury. In this mercury alloy, mercury is excessively melted in the mercury-releasing metal substrate,
A substance that releases excess mercury when heat is applied, and this substance itself is known. After the excess mercury has been released, there remains a mercury-releasing metal substrate with an appropriate amount of mercury forming an alloy with the metal.

[0003]

In this case, when to enclose the mercury-releasing metal substrate is a very important issue. This is because if the sealing timing is incorrect, the mercury vapor discharged from the mercury-releasing metal substrate may leak out of the lamp in the exhausting process, or it may be difficult to seal the mercury-releasing metal substrate. In particular, the step of encapsulating the mercury-releasing metal substrate significantly changes the conventional manufacturing process,
Alternatively, the manufacturing index should not change significantly.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to easily fill a mercury-releasing metal substrate, suppress the outflow of mercury during the manufacture of a lamp, and to suppress the mercury-releasing metal. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp in which the step of encapsulating the substrate does not significantly change the conventional manufacturing steps or the manufacturing index.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp, including a glass bulb , a discharge medium containing mercury and a rare gas, the discharge medium being enclosed in the glass bulb .
A discharge electrode provided on the glass bulb is sealed in the glass bulb, the mercury release metal substrate to release mercury at this temperature range with melt below exceed the valve tube wall temperature during lamp operation and the glass bulb softening temperature In the method for manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp, the mercury-releasing metal substrate has a temperature of the glass bulb which is equal to or higher than a melting temperature of the mercury-releasing metal substrate after exhausting the inside of the glass bulb.
Thus, before the temperature falls below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate, the mercury-containing metal substrate is enclosed in a glass bulb containing mercury, and then the mercury is released into the glass bulb.

A method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 2 is the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 1, wherein the low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp has an exhaust pipe at one end of the glass bulb, and exhausts into the glass bulb and into the glass bulb. The mercury-releasing metal substrate is introduced through this exhaust pipe.

A method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the second aspect, the introduction of the mercury-releasing metal substrate into the glass bulb is performed with the glass bulb standing upright. And

[0008] manufacturing method of the low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 4, the ring-shaped glass bulb, a discharge medium including this glass mercury enclosed in the bulb and a rare gas, a discharge electrode provided on the glass bulb , encapsulated in a glass bulb, of the low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp having a mercury releasing metal substrate to release mercury at this temperature range as well as melted in the valve tube beyond the wall temperature and less than the glass bulb softening temperature during lamp operation In the manufacturing method, the inside of the glass bulb is evacuated after the straight tube glass bulb is formed into a ring shape, and the temperature of the glass bulb is melted by the mercury-releasing metal substrate.
The mercury-releasing metal substrate is sealed in a glass bulb containing mercury before the temperature falls below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate, and then mercury is released into the glass bulb. It is characterized by being done.

[0009]

According to the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp of claim 1, in the step of exhausting the glass bulb, the temperature of the glass bulb is equal to or higher than the melting temperature of the mercury-releasing metal substrate,
Before the temperature falls below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate, the mercury-releasing metal substrate is charged into the glass bulb, and the temperature of the glass bulb causes the mercury-releasing metal substrate to release mercury into the glass bulb. I'm releasing it.
This saves energy because it is not necessary to reheat the mercury-releasing metal substrate to release mercury.

In the method for manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to a second aspect of the present invention, the introduction of the mercury-releasing metal substrate can be performed relatively easily by introducing the mercury-releasing metal substrate through the exhaust pipe.

The method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 3 is the method according to claim 2, wherein the introduction of the mercury-releasing metal substrate into the glass bulb is carried out with the glass bulb standing upright. The release metal substrate can be easily introduced by utilizing the natural fall.

A method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 4 is an application of the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 1 to a ring-shaped low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp, wherein the mercury-releasing metal substrate is ring-shaped. And is enclosed in a glass bulb after the evacuation process, and mercury is released into the glass bulb. As a result, the mercury-releasing metal substrate can be enclosed without significantly changing the manufacturing process of the ordinary ring-shaped low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a first embodiment of the present invention in which a ring-shaped fluorescent lamp is partially broken and partially enlarged. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes an annular main tube made of a soda lime glass bulb containing no lead component, and an ionizable medium containing a sealing gas such as mercury and argon is sealed inside. 12 is the main tube 1
1 is a fluorescent light emitting layer formed on the inner surface. Reference numeral 13 is an electrode, and the electrode 13 is installed on a stem 14 made of lead glass. No exhaust pipe is provided in the stem 14. Instead, an exhaust pipe is formed on the stem at the opposite end (not shown). Although the exhaust pipe is not provided in the stem 14, a thin pipe (or a so-called support pipe) not used as the exhaust pipe may be installed. A joint 17 is molded on the boundary 16 between the main tube 11 and the stem 14.

The knuckle 17 is for gripping the knuckle 17 with a chuck when shaping a straight glass tube into an annular shape. However, in this embodiment, it is used not only for shaping the node portion 17 into an annular shape, but also for fixing the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18. That is, the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is fixed to the end portion side of the node portion 17. The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is a metal after mercury is released, and has zinc Zn as a main component. Before this mercury was released, an alloy with mercury (concentration of mercury: 50 to 60% by weight) was formed, but since mercury is contained in excess, heat is applied to release excess mercury, and then mercury is released. Zn containing a small amount remains. Further, the enclosed amount is a size of 1.5 mm in the state of an alloy with mercury before the release of mercury. The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 does not substantially reabsorb the mercury after it has been released. Substantially means that it does not absorb mercury vapor to the extent that it affects the vapor pressure of mercury, unlike amalgam.

Such a fluorescent lamp is formed by the following manufacturing method. A stem 14 made of lead glass provided with electrodes 13 is sealed at both ends of a straight main tube 11 made of soda lime glass having a fluorescent light emitting layer 12 formed on the inner surface thereof through a phosphor firing process or the like. In this case, the exhaust pipe is formed on one stem (not shown), and the exhaust pipe is not formed on the other stem 14. Further, when the stem 14 is sealed, the glass is soft and molded so that the node portion 17 is formed at the boundary portion 16 between the main tube 11 and the stem 14. Main tube 1
After completing the steps of sealing both ends of 1 and the molding process, the entire glass bulb (main tube 11) is heated to about 700 ° C. with the end portion where the exhaust pipe is closed facing down, and the main tube 1
1 is softened. After that, grasp the lower node 17 and bend it,
Wrap it around a circular drum to shape it into a ring. At this time, the gas pressure in the glass bulb is increased to prevent the main tube 11 from being crushed. After that, the entire lamp is heated to 300 ° C to 500 ° C and exhausted from the exhaust pipe, and an enclosed gas such as argon is filled. Immediately after that, or the temperature of the glass bulb is below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate. The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 containing mercury, which has not yet been released from mercury, is put into the lamp through the exhaust pipe at a timing before it goes down. According to gravity, the enclosed mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is located at the lowermost portion in the ring-shaped main tube 11, that is, the exhaust pipe is located on the upper side of gravity,
It moves to a substantially central portion in the main tube 11 formed in an annular shape. At this time, since the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is in contact with the fluorescent light emitting layer 12, it is not fixed. Mercury may or may not be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 depending on the temperature inside the main tube 11 at this time.

After the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is sealed, the exhaust pipe is chipped off, and then the lamp is removed from the exhaust device to change the posture of the lamp. In particular, the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is formed on the main tube 11. It is moved to the vicinity of the part 17.
The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 then directly contacts the high temperature main tube 11 and the boundary portion 16 between the stems 14 without the fluorescent light emitting layer 12 interposed therebetween, and melts as it is or by applying a slight amount of heat to the boundary portion 16. Melt and stick. If mercury has not been released yet, it is always released at this time. The fluorescent lamp is completed as described above. There are various methods such as 11 evacuation of the inside of the glass bulb at the same time as the filling of the filling gas such as argon, or when each is carried out before and after, but in short, mercury is released before the temperature of the glass bulb 11 falls. Throw in the metal substrate 18,
This temperature releases mercury.

Therefore, in this method of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp, in the step of evacuating the glass bulb 11, before the temperature of the glass bulb 11 falls below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate during the exhaust. The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is put into the glass bulb 11 and the temperature of the glass bulb 11 causes the mercury-releasing metal substrate 1 to be heated.
Since mercury is released from the glass bulb 11 into the glass bulb 11 from 8, it is not necessary to separately set a heating step for releasing mercury, or even if heating is required, the degree is small and energy saving is achieved.

Further, in this embodiment, the glass bulb 11 has a ring shape, and the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is enclosed after being processed into the ring shape, so that the mercury-releasing metal substrate is placed outside the annular portion of the node portion 17 (the position shown in FIG. 1). 18 is located and can be easily done when some heating is required.

Further, in this fluorescent lamp, since the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is solid, it is easy to carry out a fixed amount encapsulation. When fixing the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18, the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 adheres to the node 17 as in the above embodiment. Therefore, if it is simply melted and fixed to the glass bulb 11 and further fixed to the nodal portion 17 at the end of the glass bulb 11, the nodal portion 17 is curved as shown in the vertical cross-sectional view, and the fixing contact area becomes large. Hard to drop off. Further, if the mercury-releasing metal base 18 is fixed to the lead glass bulb 11, the lead component of the glass bulb 11 becomes compatible with the mercury-releasing metal base 18 and is unlikely to fall off. Further, since the stem 14 is usually lead glass, the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 can be easily and firmly fixed to this portion.

Further, the introduction of the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 through the exhaust pipe makes it relatively easy to introduce the mercury-releasing metal substrate into the lamp.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a straight tube type fluorescent lamp showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and particularly shows a state immediately before the exhaust pipe 15 is completely sealed. This is a straight tube fluorescent lamp, but is different from the first embodiment in that the main tube 11 is a straight tube and there is no node portion as compared with the ring fluorescent lamp. Of course, there is no problem even if a node is formed at the end of the straight tube fluorescent lamp, and if the fixation of the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is desired to be stronger, the node may be formed.

This straight tube fluorescent lamp is manufactured by the following manufacturing method. A stem 14 made of lead glass provided with electrodes 13 is sealed at both ends of a straight main tube 11 made of soda lime glass having a fluorescent light emitting layer 12 formed on its inner surface through a fluorescent material firing process or the like as it is as a straight tube type bulb. Stop. In this case, as in the first embodiment, the exhaust pipe 15 is formed on one stem and the exhaust pipe is not formed on the other stem 14. After that, support the lamp in the vertical direction (vertical direction) and keep the entire lamp at 300 ° C to 500 ° C.
Exhaust is performed from the exhaust pipe 15 while heating to the ambient temperature, and an encapsulating gas such as argon is filled. Immediately after that, or immediately before the temperature of the glass bulb falls below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate, mercury is released. The former mercury-containing metal substrate 18 containing mercury is introduced into the lamp through the exhaust pipe 15. The enclosed mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 falls on the boundary portion 16 between the lowermost main tube 11 and the stem 14 in the straight tube-shaped main tube 11 according to gravity. The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is the main tube 1 of the high temperature there.
It directly contacts the boundary portion 16 between 1 and the stem 14 without interposing the fluorescent light emitting layer 12, and melts as it is or by applying a little heating, and melts and adheres to the boundary portion 16. Mercury is released at this time. The fluorescent lamp is completed as described above. There are various methods such as 11 evacuation of the glass bulb at the same time as the encapsulation of an enclosed gas such as argon, or both before and after, but the point is that the temperature of the glass bulb 11 changes from the mercury-releasing metal substrate to mercury. The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is charged before the temperature drops below the temperature at which the mercury can be released, and mercury is released at this temperature.

Therefore, in this method of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp, in the step of evacuating the glass bulb 11, before the temperature of the glass bulb 11 drops below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate during the exhaust. The mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is put into the glass bulb 11 and the temperature of the glass bulb 11 causes the mercury-releasing metal substrate 1 to be heated.
Since mercury is released from the glass bulb 11 into the glass bulb 11 from 8, it is not necessary to separately set a heating step for releasing mercury, or even if heating is required, the degree is small and energy saving is achieved.

In the above embodiment, the mercury-releasing metal substrate is introduced through the exhaust pipe 15, so that the mercury-releasing metal substrate can be relatively easily introduced. Further, since the mercury-releasing metal substrate is introduced into the glass bulb in a posture in which the glass bulb is erected in the vertical direction, the mercury-releasing metal substrate can be easily introduced by utilizing the natural fall. Further, since it is fixed to the lower end of the glass bulb in the vertical direction, it is not necessary to change the attitude of the glass bulb during the manufacturing for fixing. Since the mercury-releasing metal base is fixed to the end opposite to the one end where the exhaust pipe 15 is provided, the mercury-releasing metal base can be introduced and fixed by natural fall through the exhaust pipe 15.

Also in this fluorescent lamp, since the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is solid, it is easy to encapsulate in a fixed amount, and since mercury is released at a relatively low temperature, no special means for releasing is required.

When the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is fixed to the lead glass bulb 11 as in the above embodiment, the lead component of the glass bulb 11 becomes compatible with the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 and is unlikely to fall off. Further, since the stem 14 is usually lead glass, the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is attached to this portion.
Can be easily and firmly fixed. Furthermore, since the inner surface of the glass bulb 11 is exposed at the boundary portion, the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 is particularly unlikely to fall off.

In the above embodiment, the number of the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 to be sealed and fixed is one. However, the mercury-releasing metal substrate 18 may be divided into a plurality of parts and sealed, and in this case, even if one is not fixed at all. No problem. It suffices that the required amount of the mercury-releasing metal substrate is fixed within the range not departing from the gist of the present invention.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the fluorescent light emitting layer is formed, but a low pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp such as an ultraviolet lamp which does not form the fluorescent light emitting layer may be used.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the mercury-releasing metal substrate is glass when the temperature of the glass bulb is lower than the melting temperature of the mercury-releasing metal substrate (however, the temperature is higher than the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate). It has been enclosed in the valve, when the temperature of the glass bulb is above the melting temperature of the mercury releasing metal substrate, the mercury release metal substrate, may be enclosed within a gas Rasubarubu, in this case, mercury releasing metal Since the substrate is enclosed in the bulb and melts as soon as it comes into contact with the inner surface of the glass bulb and releases mercury, re-heating for releasing the mercury and fixing the mercury-releasing metal substrate is not necessary.

[0031]

According to the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp of the first aspect, it is not necessary to separately reheat the mercury-releasing metal substrate in order to discharge mercury. It is possible to reduce the energy consumption and reduce the energy consumption, and it is possible to suppress the thermal influence on the glass bulb as much as possible.

According to the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp of claim 2, the introduction of the mercury-releasing metal substrate can be performed relatively easily by introducing the mercury-releasing metal substrate through the exhaust pipe.

According to the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp of claim 3, the introduction of the mercury-releasing metal substrate into the glass bulb is carried out with the glass bulb standing upright. Can be easily introduced by utilizing the free fall.

According to the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp of claim 4 , the mercury-releasing metal substrate is formed into a ring-shaped low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp without significantly changing the manufacturing process of a usual annular low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp. Can be enclosed inside.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a ring-shaped fluorescent lamp showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a straight tube fluorescent lamp showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Glass bulb 12 ... Fluorescent layer 13 ... Electrode 14 ... Stem 15 ... Exhaust pipe 17 ... node 18 ... Mercury-releasing metal substrate

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Naoya Oura 4-3-1 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Toshiba Toshiba Lightec Co., Ltd. (72) Masashi Saigo 4-3-1 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Issue within Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation (56) Reference JP-A-6-283101 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01J 9/395 H01J 61/24 H01J 61 / 28

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A glass bulb, a mercury enclosed in the glass bulb and the discharge medium containing a rare gas, a discharge electrode provided on the glass bulb is sealed in the glass bulb, bulb during lamp operation the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp having a mercury releasing metal substrate to release mercury at this temperature range with melting at greater than the tube wall temperature and less than the glass bulb softening temperature, the mercury release metal substrate, a glass bulb After exhausting the inside, before the temperature of the glass bulb is higher than the melting temperature of the mercury-releasing metal substrate and falls below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate, the inside of the glass bulb containing mercury is contained. A method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp, which comprises: 2. A low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp has an exhaust pipe at one end of a glass bulb, and exhaust of the glass bulb and introduction of a mercury-releasing metal substrate into the glass bulb are performed through this exhaust pipe. The method for manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 1. 3. The method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 2, wherein the introduction of the mercury-releasing metal substrate into the glass bulb is carried out with the glass bulb standing upright. 4. A ring-shaped glass bulb, the mercury enclosed in the glass bulb and the discharge medium containing a rare gas, a discharge electrode provided on the glass bulb is sealed in the glass bulb, during lamp operation the method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp having a mercury releasing metal substrate to release mercury at this temperature range with melt below the valve tube beyond the wall temperature and the glass bulb softening temperature, to the straight tube glass bulb annulus After being molded, the glass bulb is evacuated and the temperature of the glass bulb changes to the mercury-releasing metal substrate.
Above the melting temperature of the mercury-releasing metal substrate before it falls below the temperature at which mercury can be released from the mercury-releasing metal substrate, and the mercury-releasing metal substrate is enclosed in a glass bulb containing mercury.
A method of manufacturing a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp, characterized in that mercury is then released into the glass bulb.