JPH01117265A - Fluorescent lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of an abnormal sound and the change of a temperature condition by preventing an amalgam in a capillary from moving to either side of a discharge space or a capillary tip with a shift prevention part and a rod, and fixing the amalgam at a constant position. CONSTITUTION:Mercury is discharged from an amalgam 10 housed in a capillary 8 during the lighting of a fluorescent lamp and mercury vapor pressure in a discharge space 3 is controlled. In the capillary 8, a glass rod 11 is provided at the side of the space 3, another glass rod is provided at the tip of the capillary 8 and the amalgam 10 is clamped with the rods 11 and 12, thereby being prevented from shifting. Also, there is no change of a temperature condition due to the shift of the amalgam 10 and, therefore, the control characteristics of vapor pressure do not fluctuate. By fixing the amalgam at the predetermined position as aforementioned, there is no generation of an abnormal sound and a temperature condition is free from a change.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp using amalgam as a mercury source.

(Prior Art) As is generally known, fluorescent lamps are made by sealing a stem with electrodes attached to both ends of a glass bulb provided with a discharge space formed by forming a phosphor film. It is constructed by enclosing a mercury source and an inert gas.

Incidentally, recent fluorescent lamps have become more compact and have higher output, and the temperature of the bulb tends to be higher. If the temperature of the bulb is high, the vapor pressure of mercury becomes too high, leading to a reduction in light output.

In order to prevent this, a method of using amalgam as a mercury supply source in place of the conventional mercury has been adopted.

Since amalgam has a higher operating temperature than pure mercury, it is possible to maintain the mercury vapor pressure at an optimal level and prevent a decrease in light output even if the bulb temperature increases somewhat.

Incidentally, in the past, an exhaust pipe protruding from a stem sealed at the end of the valve was often utilized, and amalgam was housed within the exhaust pipe.

In addition, as another structure, a thin tube may be specially joined to the middle part of the valve, and the amalgam may be housed within this thin tube.

When amalgam is housed in a thin tube like the one mentioned above, if the amalgam moves toward the discharge space inside the bulb, the amalgam will deviate from the optimum temperature area, making it impossible to control the mercury vapor pressure to the optimum state. .

Therefore, the thin tube is provided with a movement prevention part located on the discharge space side to prevent the amalgam from moving toward the discharge space. This movement blocking portion was constructed by accommodating a glass rod within a thin tube, or by reducing the diameter of the thin tube and providing a convex portion on the inner surface.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, although the conventional structure described above can prevent amalgam from falling into the discharge space, it can prevent amalgam from moving toward the tip of the capillary, that is, the tip-off side. There was no way to prevent it from happening.

For this reason, the amalgam moves within the tube, and this movement not only causes abnormal noise, but also makes it impossible to regulate the temperature of the amalgam with high precision.

The present invention provides a fluorescent lamp that prevents the amalgam from moving either toward the discharge space side or the tip side within the thin tube, prevents the generation of abnormal noise, and allows the temperature of the amalgam to be regulated with high precision. This is what we are trying to provide.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In the present invention, a movement preventing portion is provided on the discharge space side of the capillary tube to prevent the amalgam from moving toward the discharge space side, and a movement preventing portion is provided on the distal end side of the capillary tube. The tube is characterized in that a rod is housed inside to prevent the amalgam from moving toward the tip of the capillary.

(Function) According to the present invention, the amalgam housed in the capillary is prevented from moving toward either the discharge space or the tip of the capillary by the movement prevention portion and the rod, and is therefore fixed at a fixed position, which makes it unusual. There will be no more noise or changes in temperature.

(Example) The present invention will be described below based on an example shown in FIGS. 1 to 5.

In the figure, ■ is a glass bulb, and this glass bulb 1 is made up of, for example, four straight glass tubes 2...
are arranged like four pillars, and the ends of these straight glass tubes 2 are welded together to form a meandering discharge space 3 as a whole.

A phosphor coating 4 is formed on the inner surface of the glass bulb l.

Electrodes 5.5 are attached to both ends of the glass bulb 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the electrode 5 is mounted on a stem 6 via lead wires 7, 7, and the stem 6 is sealed to the end edge of the bulb 1.

The stem 6 has an exhaust tube 8 protruding from it 1, :,)
The exhaust thin tube is connected to the discharge space 3 through a through hole 9 which is opened on one side of the exhaust tube. This exhaust thin tube 8 is used in the exhaust process during lamp manufacturing, and is originally sealed off (tip-off) when the exhaust process is completed.
It is something that will be done.

In this embodiment, this exhaust thin tube 8 is used to
O is accommodated.

In this case, a glass rod 11 is housed in the thin tube 8 on the discharge space 3 side, that is, on the conduction hole 9 side, and this glass rod 11 prevents the amalgam 10 from falling into the discharge space 3 through the conduction hole 9. It is regulated. That is, the glass rod 11 constitutes the movement prevention part of the present invention. A gap is provided between the inner surface of the thin tube 8 and the outer surface of the glass rod 11, so that mercury vapor can pass between the amalgam 10 and the discharge space 3.

Further, another glass rod 12 is accommodated in the thin tube 8 at a position closer to the tip than the amalgam IO, that is, on the tip-off side. This glass rod 12 is in contact with or fused to the tip-off portion of the thin tube 8, thereby holding down the amalgam 10, so that the amalgam IO is held between the glass rod 11 and the other glass rod 12.

In addition, when glass rod 12 is fused to the two tip-off parts of thin tube 8, as shown in FIG. 3, glass rod 11, amalgam 10 and By inserting another glass rod 12 and heating and melting the tip-off portion of the thin tube 8 with the burner 13, the thin tube 8 can be sealed and the glass rod 12 can be fused at the same time.

An inert gas is sealed inside such a valve 1.

Such a valve 1 is attached to a base 15.

The cap 15 is formed of synthetic resin or the like into a box shape with a bottom, and has a cap bottle 16 protruding from the bottom.

Further, a positioning engagement portion 17 that engages with a socket (not shown) is provided on the outside of the side surface.

As shown in FIG. 4, a cover 18 is fixed to the opening of the cap 15, and each of the four straight glass tubes 2 constituting the glass bulb 1 passes through the cover 18. is inserted into the base 15. Therefore, the end of the bulb l, in which the electrode 5.5 is enclosed, is also covered by the cover 18.
It is inserted into the base 15 through the amalgam l.
A thin tube 8 containing O is also inserted into the base 15.

Note that the valve l, cover 18, and cap 15 are bonded with adhesive 1.
It is joined at 9.

In the fluorescent lamp having such a configuration, mercury is released from the amalgam 10 housed in the thin tube 8 during lighting, and the mercury vapor pressure in the discharge space 3 is controlled.

The amount of mercury that evaporates depends on the temperature around the amalgam 10, and excess mercury collects in the coldest part.

Since the thin tube 8 provided protruding from the bulb l becomes the optimum temperature section, the amalgam 10 housed here controls the mercury vapor pressure in the discharge space 3 to an optimum state according to the temperature of the thin tube 8 during lighting. .

According to the configuration of the above embodiment, a glass rod 11 is housed in the thin tube 8 on the side of the discharge space 3, that is, on the side of the conduction hole 9, and the glass rod 11 allows the amalgam 10 to pass through the conduction hole 9 into the discharge space. The glass rod 12 is placed on the tip-off side of the amalgam 2 of the thin tube 8, that is, on the tip-off side, and this glass rod 12 allows the amalgam 1O to fall into the thin tube 8. Since the amalgam 10 is held down by preventing it from moving toward the tip side, the amalgam 10 is held between the glass rods 11 and 12 and is prevented from moving.

Therefore, the amalgam 10 does not move within the thin tube 8, and therefore no abnormal noise is generated due to vibrations, shocks, etc.

Furthermore, since the amalgam 1O does not move within the thin tube 8, no temperature change occurs due to movement, and the vapor pressure control characteristics do not fluctuate.

Note that since the amalgam 10 does not move, the glass rod 1
1 does not move, and no sound is generated due to the movement of the glass rod 11.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Instead of using the glass rod 11 as the movement blocking part, as shown in another embodiment in FIG.
may be formed to prevent the amalgam lO from migrating.

The rod 12 provided on the tip side of the amalgam 10 of the thin tube 8 is not limited to glass, and may be a metal rod. In this case, the amalgam I
Suitable for cooling O.

Further, the fluorescent lamp of the present invention is not limited to the structure of the above embodiment, and may be a straight tube fluorescent lamp, an annular fluorescent lamp, or a fluorescent lamp of various other shapes.
In short, any fluorescent lamp using amalgam will suffice.

Furthermore, the thin tube 8 is not limited to one using an exhaust pipe, but may be one in which a special thin tube is formed in the middle of the valve.

Furthermore, it may be such that a lighting circuit component is housed within the base.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the amalgam housed in the capillary is prevented from moving to either the discharge space side or the tip side of the capillary by the movement prevention part and the rod, so that a certain amount of Since it is fixed in place, it will not make any strange noises or change its temperature.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the end of a fluorescent lamp, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the overall appearance of the fluorescent lamp, FIG. 5 is a sectional view thereof, and FIG. 6 is a main part showing another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. ■... Bulb, 3... Discharge space, 4... Luminescent coating, 5... Electrode, 6... Stem, 8... Thin tube,
lO...Amalgam, 11...Glass rod, 12
...Other glass rods, 20...Aperture section. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a fluorescent lamp in which a glass bulb that forms a discharge space and has a phosphor coating on its inner surface is provided with a capillary tube that protrudes and communicates with the discharge space, and an amalgam is housed in the capillary tube, the discharge of the capillary tube is A movement preventing portion is provided on the space side to prevent the amalgam from moving toward the discharge space, and
A fluorescent lamp characterized in that a rod is housed inside the tip side of the thin tube to prevent the amalgam from moving toward the tip side of the thin tube. (2) Claim 1, characterized in that the movement preventing portion that prevents the amalgam from moving toward the discharge space is a rod housed in the capillary tube closer to the discharge space than the amalgam. Fluorescent lamp as described. (3) The rod that prevents the amalgam from moving toward the capillary is a glass rod, and the glass rod is fused to the sealing portion of the capillary. Fluorescent lamp according to paragraph 2.