JP5686557B2 - Fluorescent lamp, fluorescent lamp manufacturing method and lighting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp and a method for manufacturing the fluorescent lamp. The present invention also relates to an illumination device using the fluorescent lamp.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp in which mercury vapor pressure is controlled by an amalgam. This low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp controls the mercury vapor pressure in the fluorescent lamp within an appropriate range by using an amalgam having a vapor pressure lower than that of pure mercury when it is used for lighting under severe temperature conditions. The method is considered effective. The amalgam is placed in a coexistence state of a solid and a liquid depending on the temperature and is close to the electrode. Therefore, depending on the composition of the amalgam, there is a problem that it melts and flows out during lighting. Therefore, it is attempted to install amalgam as a granular lump in a thin tube (tip tube) of the stem that extends on the opposite side of the electrode, and the amalgam is introduced through the tip opening of the thin tube before sealing the thin tube, In order to prevent the amalgam from falling into the bulb of the fluorescent lamp, a throttle portion having a narrow passage shape is provided in the middle of the thin tube. In the fluorescent lamp manufacturing technology, the inside of the bulb is exhausted using a narrow tube. If the middle of the narrow tube is narrowed down, the conductance of the exhaust gas (ease of passage) becomes small, and it takes time to exhaust. The problem occurs. Therefore, in consideration of the time of exhaust, it is preferable that the passage opening shape of the narrowed portion of the narrow tube is a circular shape that allows a relatively large conductance. On the other hand, since the amalgam has a substantially spherical shape, if the shape of the passage opening of the throttle portion of the thin tube is circular, the amalgam may pass through the throttle portion and fall into the valve. Therefore, in order to provide a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp that makes it difficult for amalgam to fall off from the inside of the narrow tube, has a large conductance of the thin tube, and can exhaust the inside of the arc tube well, the passage opening shape of the narrowed portion of the narrow tube is made flat. Formed.

  In addition, in order to provide a fluorescent lamp that suppresses a decrease in the luminous flux of the lamp due to the movement of the amalgam to the high temperature side in the narrow tube, the glass from the side close to the exhaust hole formed in the narrow tube in the narrow tube of the arc tube A fluorescent lamp in which a member, an amalgam, and another glass member are sequentially provided has been proposed. This fluorescent lamp does not change its position in the narrow tube when the amalgam in the thin tube is melted or even when vibration is applied. Therefore, the mercury vapor pressure caused by the movement of the amalgam to the high temperature side is not affected. An excessive increase can be prevented, and as a result, an extreme decrease in lamp luminous flux can be avoided (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  In addition, in order to provide a fluorescent lamp capable of firmly fixing the alloy particles to the inner wall surface of the glass tube, an alloy containing mercury is enclosed in the glass tube, and the contact portion between the glass tube and the alloy and in the vicinity of the contact portion. There has been proposed a fluorescent lamp manufacturing method in which an alloy is fixed to the inner wall surface of a glass tube by applying radiation beam energy (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  In addition, in order to provide a method of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp that can reliably supply a desired amount of mercury into the interior space of the glass bulb and that does not cause unwanted residue in the glass bulb, After the mercury supply means is accommodated in the part located outside the glass bulb end, the exhaust pipe is connected to the exhaust device to inactivate the internal space of the glass bulb and the exhaust pipe. Then, the exhaust pipe is blown out so that the mercury supply means remains in the exhaust pipe communicating with the internal space of the glass bulb, and then the mercury released by heating of the mercury supply means is exhausted. A method of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp that supplies the internal space of a glass bulb through a tube and then melts the exhaust tube so that the mercury supply means does not remain in the exhaust tube communicating with the internal space of the glass bulb. There has been proposed (e.g., see Patent Document 4).

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-16513 JP-A-2-160356 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-92321 JP-A-10-31960

  However, in the case where the passage opening shape of the narrowed portion of the narrow tube is flattened as in Patent Document 1 described above, when exhausting the valve, the conductance (easy passage) of the narrowed portion is small, and it takes time to exhaust. Troubles such as needing. Therefore, the passage opening shape of the narrowed portion of the narrow tube is preferably a circular shape having a relatively large conductance. When a simple mercury-releasing alloy that does not use mercury as an amalgam (vapor pressure regulation) is enclosed in a narrow tube, the desired volume of the mercury-releasing alloy must fall into the valve. In addition, there is a demand for making the cross-sectional area of the passage opening shape of the throttle portion of the narrow tube as large as possible.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a fluorescent lamp, a manufacturing method of the fluorescent lamp, and an illumination device described below.
(1) The exhaust conductance can be improved.
(2) The tip tube does not need to be processed by the drawn portion (the drawn portion can be processed when the tip tube is manufactured).
(3) It is easy to design a cylindrical mercury releasing alloy that does not fall into the bulb.
(4) The glass distortion does not remain and the defect rate decreases.

In the fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, mercury that is a source of mercury vapor in low-pressure mercury vapor discharge is supplied into the lamp with a mercury-emitting metal, and the mercury-emitting metal is provided in the tip tube provided for the purpose of exhausting the lamp during the lamp manufacturing In fluorescent lamps that are moored to and do not fall into the lamp tube,
When forming a circular end drawing portion with a diameter D1 at the tip of the tip tube and making the shape of the mercury-releasing metal a substantially cylindrical shape with a diameter d1,
D1 <d1
It is characterized by satisfying the relationship.

  The fluorescent lamp manufacturing method according to the present invention is the above-described fluorescent lamp manufacturing method, characterized in that the end drawing processing portion is performed by adjusting a glazing burner in a glazing process at the time of manufacturing a tip tube.

  A fluorescent lamp manufacturing method according to the present invention is the above-described fluorescent lamp manufacturing method, wherein after the inside of the lamp is evacuated by a chip tube, the mercury-releasing metal is dropped into the chip tube, and the chip tube is chipped off to remove the lamp. It is characterized by manufacturing.

  An illumination device according to the present invention uses the fluorescent lamp.

The fluorescent lamp according to the present invention has the following effects.
(1) The exhaust conductance can be improved.
(2) The tip tube does not need to be processed by the drawn portion (the drawn portion can be processed when the tip tube is manufactured).
(3) It is easy to design a cylindrical mercury releasing alloy that does not fall into the bulb.
(4) The glass distortion does not remain and the defect rate decreases.

FIG. 3 shows the first embodiment, and is a perspective view of the arc tube 100. FIG. 3 shows the first embodiment, and is a development view of the arc tube 100. The A section enlarged view of FIG. FIG. 3 shows the first embodiment and shows the tip tube 13 ((a) is a front view and (b) is a plan view). FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the first embodiment and a diagram showing a mercury releasing alloy 26 ((a) is a plan view and (b) is a side view). The B section enlarged view of FIG.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
The fluorescent lamp of the present embodiment is of a type in which a simple mercury-releasing alloy that does not use mercury as an amalgam (vapor pressure regulation) is enclosed in the tip tube of the arc tube. When the mercury releasing alloy falls into the bulb, the phosphor film is peeled off or the appearance is deteriorated, so that the mercury releasing alloy is not dropped into the bulb. To keep the mercury releasing alloy in the tip tube,
(1) It is not based on the shape which narrowed down the middle part of the tip pipe like the above-mentioned patent documents 1 from both sides;
(2) A glass member, amalgam, and another glass member are sequentially provided in the narrow tube of the arc tube as shown in FIG. 2 of Patent Document 2 from the side close to the exhaust hole formed in the narrow tube. Not;
(3) An alloy containing mercury is enclosed in a glass tube as in Patent Document 3, and the alloy is fixed to the inner wall surface of the glass tube by applying radiation beam energy to the contact portion between the glass tube and the alloy and in the vicinity of the contact portion. Not a thing;
(4) The tip part of the tip tube as in Patent Document 4 is not narrowed from one side;
It is intended to squeeze the circumference at the tip of the tip tube. Further, this drawing process is not performed after completion of the tip tube as in Patent Documents 1 to 4, but is performed by adjusting the glazing burner in the glazing process when producing the tip tube, and no additional processing is performed.

  The shape of the mercury releasing alloy is a columnar shape with a low height. Then, in order to maximize the diameter of the cylinder with the same volume, both ends are assumed to be completely flat cylinders. For example, like the iron oxide 27 of Japanese Patent No. 3639708, both end faces of the cylinder are not expanded.

  The diameter of the circumferential portion at the tip of the tip tube is preferably as large as possible within a range in which the mercury-releasing alloy does not pass through in order to increase the exhaust conductance.

  1 to 6 show the first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the arc tube 100, FIG. 2 is a development view of the arc tube 100, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion A in FIG. FIG. 5 is a view showing the tube 13 ((a) is a front view, (b) is a plan view), FIG. 5 is a view showing a mercury releasing alloy 26 ((a) is a plan view, (b) is a side view), and FIG. It is the B section enlarged view of FIG.

  An example of the arc tube 100 of the fluorescent lamp in the present embodiment will be described. An arc tube 100 shown in FIG. 1 is formed by joining three U-shaped bulbs 12 to form one discharge path. Electrodes 20 are provided at both ends of the bulb 12. The tip tube 15 is used when exhausting the valve 12. The tip tube 13 is used when evacuating the valve 12 and contains a mercury releasing alloy 26 (described later) therein.

  When the arc tube 100 shown in FIG. 1 is developed at the connecting portion 22, it becomes as shown in FIG. 2. Three U-shaped bulbs 12 are connected by a connecting portion 22 to form a discharge path between the electrodes 20 at both ends. A tip tube 15 or a tip tube 13 is attached to each valve 12. The electrode 20 and the tip tubes 13 and 15 are fixed to the valve 12 with a pinch seal portion 18.

  Since the present embodiment is characterized by the tip tube 13 that houses the mercury-releasing alloy 26 and the mercury-releasing alloy 26, these will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a substantially cylindrical mercury releasing alloy 26 is accommodated in the tip tube 13 (see also FIG. 6). The tip tube 13 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 shows a state in which the exhaust of the valve 12 is completed and the end opposite to the valve 12 is sealed.

  The end of the tip tube 13 on the valve 12 side is open, and a substantially circular opening 13a is formed. The diameter of the opening 13a is defined as D1. The diameter D1 of the opening 13a is made as large as possible within a range in which the substantially cylindrical mercury releasing alloy 26 does not fall in order to increase the conductance of the exhaust gas in the valve 12.

  The mercury releasing alloy 26 has a predetermined volume V in order to secure a desired amount of mercury. In the case where the volume V of the mercury releasing alloy 26 is constant, a shape that does not easily fall from the substantially circular opening 13a of the tip tube 13 is examined.

  First, it is assumed that the opening 13a of the tip tube 13 is circular and the circular diameter D1 is determined so as to increase the conductance of the exhaust gas in the valve 12. The shape in which the mercury releasing alloy 26 hardly falls from the opening 13a of the tip tube 13 is preferably a substantially cylindrical shape. If the diameter d1 (FIG. 5) of the cylinder is d1> D1, the mercury releasing alloy 26 does not fall from the opening 13a of the tip tube 13. At this time, the mercury releasing alloy 26 is preferably a perfect cylinder as shown in FIG. If the volume V of the mercury releasing alloy 26 is constant, the diameter d1 of the cylinder can be maximized if it is a complete cylinder.

  The column height p (FIG. 5) of the mercury releasing alloy 26 is naturally determined when the diameter d1 of the column is determined, since the volume V of the mercury releasing alloy 26 is constant.

  In order to accommodate the mercury releasing alloy 26 in the tip tube 13, it is essential that the diameter d1 of the column of the mercury releasing alloy 26 is smaller than the inner diameter of the tip tube 13.

  An opening 13a is formed at the end of the tip tube 13 on the side of the valve 12 by throttling, but it is carried out by adjusting the glazing burner in the glazing process during the production of the tip tube 13, and no additional processing is performed.

  After the lamp (bulb 12) is evacuated by the tip tube 13, the mercury releasing alloy 26 is dropped into the tip tube 13, and the tip tube 13 is further chipped off to manufacture the lamp.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Since the opening portion 13a of the tip tube 13 is circular and the circular diameter D1 is determined so as to increase the conductance of the exhaust gas in the valve 12, the exhaust conductance can be improved.
(2) At the end of the tip tube 13 on the valve 12 side, an opening 13a is formed by a restriction. 13, the processing of the drawing portion is not required (the drawing portion can be processed when the tip tube is manufactured). For this reason, the glass distortion does not remain and the defect rate is reduced.
(3) Since the mercury releasing alloy 26 is a perfect cylinder, when the volume V of the mercury releasing alloy 26 is constant, the diameter d1 of the cylinder can be maximized. As a result, the diameter of the opening 13a of the tip tube 13 can be maximized, and the exhaust conductance can be increased.

  By using a fluorescent lamp using the arc tube 100 of the present embodiment for an illumination device, an illumination device that is inexpensive and excellent in productivity can be obtained.

  12 bulb, 13 tip tube, 13a opening, 15 tip tube, 18 pinch seal portion, 20 electrode, 22 connecting portion, 26 mercury releasing alloy, 100 arc tube.

Claims (6)

Mercury, which is the source of mercury vapor in low-pressure mercury vapor discharge, is supplied into the lamp with a mercury-emitting metal, and the mercury-emitting metal is moored in a tip tube provided for the purpose of evacuating the lamp during lamp production. In fluorescent lamps that do not allow metal to fall into the lamp tube,
When forming a circular end drawing portion with a diameter D1 at the tip of the tip tube, and making the shape of the mercury releasing metal a cylindrical shape with a diameter d1 having flat ends at both ends,
D1 <d1
With satisfying the relationship,
The mercury releasing metal has a predetermined volume V including a predetermined amount of mercury,
The fluorescent lamp characterized in that the diameter d1 of the mercury releasing metal is larger than the diameter of a sphere having a volume V.   2. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the mercury releasing metal is a cylinder. The mercury releasing metal is a mercury releasing alloy that releases mercury,
3. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the mercury releasing alloy is not an amalgam that regulates mercury vapor pressure. It is a manufacturing method of the fluorescent lamp in any one of Claims 1-3 ,
The end drawing portion is formed by adjusting a glazing burner in a glazing process when manufacturing the tip tube. It is a manufacturing method of the fluorescent lamp in any one of Claims 1-3 ,
A method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp, comprising: exhausting the inside of a lamp with the tip tube, dropping the mercury-releasing metal into the tip tube, and further tipping off the tip tube to manufacture a lamp. Lighting apparatus characterized by using a fluorescent lamp as claimed in any one of claims 1-3.

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