JPH01200975A - Gas discharge type light printing head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To lessen emission start lag time with a small sized head, by a method wherein when discharge and emission are performed by impressing voltage to a printing anode and a printing cathode, auxiliary discharge is performed with a projection electrode and discharge start lag is controlled. CONSTITUTION:In a gas discharge type printing head wherein a printing cathode 12 and a printing anode formed by two substrate 11, 15 are opposed to each other via a discharging gas medium and light is emitted by impressing voltage, a projection electrode 18 is formed to the printing cathode 12 (or the anode 16) via an emission control film 13 to be positioned on the opposed printing anode 16 side. Then, when discharge and emission are performed by impressing voltage between both electrodes 12, 16, auxiliary discharge is performed with the projection electrode 18, and discharge start lag is controlled. Emission start lag time in an emission part can be thus decreased without arranging an auxiliary discharge electrode separately, and therefore, the head can be miniaturized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an optical print head that utilizes light emission by gas discharge, and particularly to a gas discharge type optical print head that has an auxiliary discharge function that suppresses a delay in the start of discharge.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 5 is a cutaway perspective view of essential parts of a conventional example of this type of gas discharge type optical print head.

In the figure, 1 is a rear substrate, and 2 is a predetermined number of printing cathodes provided on this rear substrate 1. Here, each printing cathode 2
The odd numbered one, that is, the printing cathode 21+2:l
+25+27. . . . from one side of the back substrate 1 toward the center, and even numbered printed cathodes 2□+ 24+ 26
+211+... are formed parallel to each other from the side opposite to the - side toward the center in the same way, and the printing cathode 2++23+ is formed in the center of the rear substrate 1.
2s+, 2t+, etc. are arranged in a row adjacent to each other, and each of these printing cathodes 2 is wired so that a voltage can be applied to each of them individually.

3a and 3b are the printing cathodes 2 ++ 23+ 25+
27+ '... row and printing cathode 2□+ 24+ 26+
A light emission regulating film made of dielectric paste or the like is formed on the rear substrate l so as to cover the rows 28+, .

Reference numeral 5 denotes a front substrate made of a translucent material such as glass, which is placed on the rear substrate l via a spacer (not shown) so as to cover the emission regulating films 3a, 3b and the light emitting section 4; is sealed and fixed to the rear substrate 1 by an airtight sealing part (not shown) so that the discharge gas medium filled inside including the light emitting part 4 does not leak to the outside.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a printing anode provided on the back surface of the front substrate 5, and the printing anode 6 is formed by printing, for example, using Ni (nickel) paste so as to be perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the printing cathode 2. A printing electrode 7 is constituted by the printing cathode 2 and the printing cathode 2.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an auxiliary discharge electrode provided on the back surface of the front substrate 5, and the auxiliary discharge electrode 8 includes an auxiliary cathode 9 and an auxiliary anode 1.
Consists of 0. Here, the auxiliary cathode 9 has a common portion 9a parallel to the printing anode 10, and a common portion 9a parallel to the printing anode 10.
It consists of a plurality of discharge portions 9b protruding at right angles at regular intervals from the discharge portion 9b, and is formed by printing with Ni paste or the like.

Further, the auxiliary anode 10 is composed of a common portion 10a parallel to the common portion 9a of the auxiliary cathode 9, and a plurality of discharge portions 10b protruding from the common portion 10a at a right angle at regular intervals and facing the discharge portion 9b. , the above-mentioned Ni paste or the like.

Next, the operation of the above-described configuration will be explained.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing an example of this driving method.

First, the printing anode 6 is applied with a voltage higher than the discharge starting voltage, for example, 180 cm. Apply a voltage whose potential difference is smaller than the discharge starting voltage, for example, 90V.The driving method is to
Because of the advantage of being able to reduce the amount of noise, 8-phase pulse driving is adopted, as shown in FIG. 5, in which the printing cathodes are divided into eight groups and pulsed voltages are supplied to them.

As a result of the above, a discharge occurs between the printing cathode 2 and the printing anode 6 at the position of the groove between the emission regulating films 3a and 3b, that is, the light emitting part 4, and this discharge part emits light to obtain a desired light emission pattern. be able to.

In this case, there will be a delay in the start of discharge after voltage is applied to the printing anode 6 and printing cathode 2 until discharge occurs, so auxiliary discharge is always performed using the auxiliary discharge electrode 8.
This suppresses the occurrence of the aforementioned delay.

This auxiliary discharge discharges the common portion 9a of the auxiliary cathode 9 to, for example, 0.
For example, 300 mm is applied to the common part 10a of the auxiliary anode lO.
The glow discharge can be performed by constantly applying a voltage of 1, and here the glow discharge is performed simultaneously in the region A shown by the broken line between all the discharge parts 9b and 10b facing each other.

In other words, the gas discharge type optical print head shown in FIG. 5 applies a voltage of, for example, 180 V to the printing anode 6 while simultaneously performing auxiliary discharge between the respective discharge portions 9b and 10b of the auxiliary discharge electrode 8. Print cathode 2, . 2. ．． 2. ,...
By setting a desired one of them to the O■ state and applying a voltage of, for example, 90 V to the other parts, the light emitting part 4
The light emission start delay time can be reduced.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, according to the prior art with the above-mentioned configuration, it is necessary to prepare a DC high-voltage power supply for the auxiliary discharge electrode, and such a DC high-voltage power supply is usually a DC-DC voltage converter or an AC-DC voltage converter. There was a problem in that it was produced using a converter or the like, resulting in extremely high costs.

In addition, an electrode for auxiliary discharge must be formed in addition to the electrode for printing, resulting in a problem that the head becomes larger.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a gas discharge type that reduces the light emission start delay time in the light emitting section without providing an auxiliary discharge electrode, thereby realizing a lower cost of the device and a smaller size of the head. The purpose is to obtain an optical print head.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adds an auxiliary discharge function to a pair of electrodes arranged for printing.

That is, the present invention has at least one row of electrode pairs configured by opposing a printed cathode and a printed anode formed on two substrates via a gas medium for discharge,
In a gas discharge optical print head that applies a voltage to a pair of electrodes to emit light by discharging, a protruding electrode is formed on either the printing cathode or the printing anode, and the protruding electrode is connected to the opposite printing When the protruding electrode is placed on the cathode or printing anode side and a voltage is applied to the printing anode and printing cathode to emit light by discharge, an auxiliary discharge is performed at the protruding electrode and the printing cathode or printing anode opposite thereto to start the discharge. It is characterized by suppressing the delay.

[For production]

With the above configuration, the present invention applies a voltage to a pair of electrodes in which a printed cathode and a printed anode formed on two substrates are opposed to each other via a discharge gas medium, and emits light by discharging. The delay in the start of discharge of the electrode pair can be suppressed by the auxiliary discharge that is simulated in the protruding electrode portion when the voltage is applied.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below according to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the main part of the same embodiment.

In the figure, 11 is the rear substrate, and 12 is the rear substrate 11.
a predetermined number of printed cathodes provided above.

Here, among the printing cathodes 12, odd numbered ones, that is, printing cathodes 12. , 123+ 12.12ff, . . . from one side of the back substrate 11 toward the center, and even numbered printed cathodes 122.12<, 12−, 12a, .
. are formed parallel to each other from the side opposite to the - side toward the center, and the printing cathode 12 . is formed in the center of the rear substrate 11 . , 123°125, 12. ,
... are arranged in a row adjacent to each other, and each of these printing cathodes 12 is wired so that a voltage is applied to each of them individually.

13a and 13b are the printing cathodes 121, 123, 125
, 127. ... column and printing cathode 12□, 124.1
A light emission regulating film made of dielectric paste or the like is formed on the back substrate 11 so as to cover the rows 2-, 12a+, etc., and a groove as a light emitting part 14 is provided between the light emission regulating films 13a and 13b to emit light. The area is regulated.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a front substrate made of a transparent material such as glass, which is placed on the back substrate 11 via a spacer (not shown) so as to cover the emission regulating films 13a, 13b and the light emitting section 14. The portion is sealed and fixed to the back substrate 11 by an airtight sealing portion (not shown) so that the discharge gas medium filled inside including the light emitting portion 14 does not leak to the outside.

16 is a printing anode provided on the back surface of the front substrate 15, and the printing anode 16 is formed by printing, for example, with Ni paste so as to be perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the printing cathode 12, so that the printing anode 16 and the printing A print electrode 17 is configured by the cathode 12 .

Reference numeral 18 denotes a protruding electrode branched from the printing cathode 12, and the protruding electrode 18 is connected to the emission regulating film 13a as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, they are arranged on the top of 13b, thereby positioning the protruding electrodes 18 on the printing anode 16 side.

19 is a light shielding film provided on the surface of the front substrate 5;
The light shielding film 19 hides discharge light emitted between the protruding electrode 16 and the printing anode 16.

This embodiment with the above configuration has a printing cathode 12 and a printing anode 16.
When a voltage is applied to emit light by discharging, a discharge starts between the printing anode 16 and the protruding electrode 18 which is closer to the printing cathode 12 at the beginning of the voltage application. This becomes a pseudo auxiliary discharge and suppresses the delay in the start of discharge of the printing electrode 17.

The operating principle is as follows.

Figure 3 shows a gas mixture containing (100-X)% Ne, X% Ar, and the range of These are Paschen curves measured with various distances between the cathode and the anode when sealed.

The part a to b of this graph is a part where the discharge starting voltage is relatively stable with respect to (pressure of discharge body) x (distance between cathode and anode) used in the plasma discharge light emitting device.

As is clear from this figure, in the part where (pressure of the discharge body) x (distance between the cathode and the anode) is larger than a, if the pressure of the discharge body is kept constant, the larger the distance between the cathode and the anode, the greater the distance between the cathode and the anode.
The discharge starting voltage increases.

That is, when replaced with this embodiment, it can be seen that the discharge starting voltage between the protruding electrode 18 and the printing anode 16 is smaller than the firing voltage between the printing cathode 12 and the printing anode 16.

Further, FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the applied voltage and the discharge delay time in this example. P indicates the discharge between the printing cathode 12 and the printing anode 16, Q indicates the discharge between the protruding electrode 18 and the printing anode 16, and the dotted line portion is the portion below the discharge starting voltage,
In other words, it shows a part that does not discharge even if a voltage is applied. Taking these into consideration, measurements were made using the device shown in the example shown in FIG. 1, and a graph like R was obtained. From this graph, it can be seen that since the area between the protruding electrode 18 and the printing anode 16 is discharged first, the area between the printing cathode 12 and the printing anode 16 is a good substitute for the auxiliary discharge electrode.

Due to this, when the pulse voltage shown in FIG. 6 is applied, a measurement result as shown in R in FIG. 4 can be approximately obtained. From this result, the protruding electrode 18 of this example
It is clear that the discharge at the printing anode 16 replaces the auxiliary discharge of the conventional auxiliary discharge electrode.

Furthermore, similar results were obtained when a protruding electrode portion was provided on the printing anode 16 instead of the printing cathode 12.

Note that the present invention is also applicable to gas discharge light emitting devices that utilize plasma discharge light emission, such as plasma display panels.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, according to the present invention, at least one
In a gas discharge type optical print head having a row of electrode pairs and emitting light by discharge by applying a voltage to these electrode pairs, a protruding electrode is formed on one of the electrode pairs for printing. These are arranged close to the other electrode, and when a voltage is applied to the printing anode and the printing cathode to emit light by discharge, an auxiliary discharge is performed at the protruding electrode to suppress a delay in the start of discharge. Therefore, the electrode pair arranged for printing has an auxiliary discharge function.

This makes it possible to reduce the delay time for the start of light emission in the light emitting section without providing an auxiliary discharge electrode, and has the effect of providing a gas discharge optical print head that achieves lower device costs and smaller heads. There is.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a cutaway perspective view of the main part showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of the main part of the same embodiment, and Fig. 3 shows the relationship between the cathode-anode distance and the discharge starting voltage. Graph, Figure 4 is the first
A graph showing the relationship between the applied voltage and the discharge delay time in the embodiment shown in the figure, FIG. 5 is a cutaway perspective view of the main part of the conventional example, and FIG. 6 is a time chart showing an example of the driving method of the conventional example. 12...Printed cathode 16...Printed anode 18...Protruded electrode 19...Light-shielding film patent applicant: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. Representative: Patent attorney Takashi Kanakura Two cathode-anode distances and discharge start Graph Tsumugi showing the relationship between voltage 3 Graph showing the relationship between applied voltage and discharge delay time 4
circle

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] At least one row of electrode pairs formed by opposing a printed cathode and a printed anode formed on one or two substrates with a gas medium for discharge interposed therebetween; In a gas discharge type optical print head that applies a voltage to a pair of electrodes to emit light by discharging, a protruding electrode is formed on either the printing cathode or the printing anode, and the protruding electrode is connected to the opposite printing cathode. Alternatively, it is placed on the printing anode side, and when a voltage is applied to the printing anode and printing cathode to emit light by discharge, an auxiliary discharge is performed at the protruding electrode and the printing cathode or printing anode opposite thereto to start the discharge. A gas discharge type optical print head characterized by suppressing delays.