JPH0256844A - Neon sign lamp and operating mechanism thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operating property and operating mechanism by using a flat-form electrode with a conductibility, and operating with an AD voltage of about 100V to about 300V in a high-frequency wave at the voice frequency or higher. CONSTITUTION:As a tube-form lamp sealing a rare gas such as neon or argon, a mechanism to operate at a high-frequency wave at the voice frequency or higher, that is, 400Hz or higher, and with an AC voltage of about 100V to about 300V is adopted. To realize such an operating mechanism, flat-form electrodes 1 with a conductibility are used, and base pins 3 for conduction and sockets 4 neighboring an insulating plate at both ends of the lamp are provided. As a result, a neon sign lamp generates a glow discharge at a low voltage, and the lighting from the glow discharge can be obtained. Consequently, since the consumption of the electrodes, the evaporation of the phosphor substance, and the like are little, the service life of the lamp can be extended longer than the conventional unit, and a flickering of the lamp and the like can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to audio frequencies ranging from about 200 Hz to about 2000 Hz.
Hz) high frequency alternating current and low voltage (approx. 100v to approx.
00v) and a neon sign lamp adapted thereto.

B. Purpose of the Invention A neon sign is a neon sign in which a cylindrical electrode is provided at both ends of a long and thin glass tube, and an inert gas consisting mainly of neon and argon or a mixed gas of mercury and a trace amount of argon is sealed at several mmHg. It is excited to emit light, and if mercury is mixed in, the mercury is excited to emit ultraviolet light, and then visible light is separately emitted from a fluorescent substance coated on the inner wall of the glass tube.

By the way, conventional neon signs use general alternating current voltage (usually 50Hz or 60Hz) to excite inert gas.
In addition, a high voltage of about 750v to 1500v is used.

This is because with general frequency alternating current, it is not possible to excite the inert gas and mercury without using such a high pressure.

However, by using such a high voltage, it becomes possible to: ■ conductive parts (picture electrodes, cap pins, conductive wires that connect them, the inside of the neon lamp tube where electrons that excite inert gas, etc. travel) and non-conductive parts ( Special care must be taken to insulate the conductor from the slum around the conductor (the tube wall of the neon lamp), and for this reason, if a circular socket similar to that of a fluorescent lamp is used at the end of the lamp, ,
This kind of socket cannot be used because there is a risk of arcing between the conductor and the socket. ■ If the insulation between the conductive part and the non-conductive part is broken, the arc will occur. However, there were disadvantages such as: (1) the high cost of achieving good insulation as mentioned above;

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide a neon sign operating mechanism and a neon sign lamp that have various advantages.

C. Structure of the Invention The present invention has the following features: (1) Audio frequency range (approximately 200Hz to approximately 2000H)
z) high frequency AC low voltage (approx. 100v to approx. 300v)
Operating mechanism of neon sign lamp by applying (
(2) A high-frequency, low-voltage neon sign lamp used in the operating mechanism according to claim (1), characterized in that (2) a flat plate electrode made of a conductive material is used; (3) yttrium oxide is used as the conductive material; Claims (1) A high-frequency, low-voltage neon sign lamp used in the described operating mechanism; (2) Claims in which a conductive base pin and a socket adjacent to the glass plate are provided at the end of the lamp ( 1) Consists of a high frequency low voltage neon sign lamp used in the described operating mechanism.

As is clear from the outline of the above configuration, in the present invention, the neon sign lamp has a frequency of about 200Hz to about 2000Hz.
It uses a high frequency similar to the audio frequency of Hz and approximately 100 Hz.
The neon sign is powered by a low voltage of about 300 V (note that the meaning of "low voltage" in this case is that it is lower than the voltage required to operate a conventional neon sign lamp). The basic technical idea is to operate the lamp and to provide a neon sign lamp suitable for operation with such high frequency alternating current low voltage.

Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a circuit that supplies a high frequency similar to the audio frequency and a low voltage to a neon sign lamp, but such a high frequency low voltage supply circuit is of course similar to the embodiment shown in Fig. The circuit is not limited to any particular type, and any circuit that can supply high frequency and low voltage as described above may be used.

The present invention provides that when such high frequency voltage is applied to a neon sign lamp, the conventional 50Hz
Or, it originates from the unexpected discovery that neon sign lamps can be operated with a lower voltage than the voltage of 60 Hz.

This phenomenon is caused by the fact that when the electrons reciprocating within a neon sign have a high frequency, the frequency of the reciprocating vibrations inevitably increases.
This increases the acceleration of the electrons, which is understood to be due to the fact that it is easy to excite the inert gas (mainly neon, argon) or the mixed gas of mercury and a small amount of argon in the lamp. The theoretical elucidation of this is currently insufficient and is left to future consideration.

That is, in the present invention, by setting the voltage applied to the neon sign lamp to be the above-mentioned high frequency voltage, the applied voltage value itself can be made low.

In order to operate the neon sign lamp with such a low voltage, the present invention can operate with a configuration different from that of conventional neon sign lamps.

FIG. 2(a) and FIG. 2(b) are a side view of the entire conventional neon sign lamp and a schematic diagram of the end thereof, respectively.As shown in these drawings, the conventional neon sign lamp In lamps, high voltage is applied, so the electrodes are
It is required that the electrode is made of a conductive material such as carbon and has a certain length in the longitudinal direction of the sphere, and that the tip 11 of the electrode on the side of the slam 2 is rounded, and the connection between the electrode and an external power source is required. Instead of using a socket like a fluorescent lamp, the base pin 3 is fixed to the end of the lamp by the slam 2, and the tip 11 of the electrode is electrically connected to the outside.

FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) respectively show a side view of the entire neon sign lamp according to the present invention and a schematic sketch of the end thereof.

In other words, the electrode of the present invention requires a lower voltage than the conventional neon sign lamp, so the electrode does not need to have a length in the direction of the bulb length as in the conventional case, but instead is made of a flat plate of conductive material such as metal. (This is because low voltage is used, so wear of the electrodes due to discharge is extremely less than in conventional methods.)

In addition, with conventional neon sign lamps, sockets similar to fluorescent lamps could not be used because there was a risk that a slight leakage of current would cause a discharge arc, but the present invention uses a low voltage. Therefore, there is no danger of such an arc occurring.

For this reason, as shown in Figures 3(a) and 3(b),
At the end of the lamp, a ring-shaped socket 4 similar to that of a fluorescent lamp is located near this, and a protruding shape and a base pin 3 can be used.

Effects of Invention D As described above, in the present invention, since only a low voltage is applied, there is no danger that discharge arcs are likely to occur as in conventional neon sign lamps, and the "Objective of Invention D"
There are no defects such as those found in the conventional neon sign lamps described in items 1 to 2 in the section.

Moreover, the electrode can be designed into a simple flat plate shape as described above, and a socket can be used at the end of the tube.
Mass production is possible and the cost of the lamp can be reduced.

In addition, because the voltage is low, there is less wear on the electrodes and less evaporation of the fluorescent material, so the life of the lamp is shorter than that of conventional lamps (5.0
00 hours) (The inventor's experiments have confirmed that the lifespan is 15,000 hours, about three times as long.)

Moreover, since high-frequency voltage and current are used, flickering of the lamp is extremely small.

Furthermore, since the stabilizer is for low voltage use, it is possible to make the ballast compatible with the negative characteristics of the lamp (current flowing within the lamp decreases as the voltage applied to the lamp increases) to be small and lightweight.

As described above, the neon sign lamp and its operating mechanism according to the present invention have many advantages over conventional systems, and are therefore extremely useful.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1: Embodiment circuit for operating the neon sign lamp of the present invention Fig. 2(a): Side view of conventional neon sign lamp tube 2
(b) Figure: Schematic sketch of the end of a conventional neon sign lamp. Figure 3 (a): Overall side view of the neon sign lamp of the present application. Figure 3 (b) Schematic diagram of the end of the neon sign lamp of the present application. Schematic diagram of the electrode Slam at the tip of the electrode of a conventional neon sign lamp 3.
Base pin 4. Pipe that makes up the socket lamp 6. Exhaust pipe

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) The operating mechanism (2) of a neon sign lamp by applying a low voltage of a high-frequency alternating current on the order of the audio frequency is the claim (1) which uses a flat plate electrode made of a conductive material. (3) A high-frequency, low-voltage neon sign lamp used in the operating mechanism described in claim (2), characterized in that yttrium oxide is used as the conductive material. neon sign lamp (4) A high frequency, low voltage neon sign used in the operating mechanism according to claim (1), in which a conductive cap pin and a socket adjacent to the glass plate are provided at the end of the lamp. lamp