JPH0371551A - Variable luminescent color lighting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To readily vary luminescent color by applying two kinds of fluorescent material, i.e., that for exciting ultraviolet radiation and that for exciting electron beams to the inner face of a tube body having mercury vapor sealed therein, and applying different voltages between a thermoelectron emission type cathode and an electron transmitting anode. CONSTITUTION:Mercury vapor is sealed in a tube body 3 and two kinds of fluorescent material, i.e., that for exciting ultraviolet radiation and that for exciting electron beams are applied to the inner surface of the tube body 3. A thermoelectron emission type cathode 1 and an electron-transmitting anode 2 are provided inside the tube body 3. The cathode 1 is sufficiently heated and a low voltage V for exciting the mercury vapor and a high voltage V for exciting electron beams are applied between the electrodes 1, 2. Electrons emitted by the cathode 1 are allowed to pass through the anode 2 and cause the fluorescent material for exciting electron beams to emit light when a voltage V is applied, while when the voltage V is applied they cause only the mercury vapor to emit light. Thus, luminescent color is readily varied using one lamp by varying voltages to be applied to the lamp.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a variable light color lighting device that can change the light color with one lamp.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, regarding variable color or variable light color light sources,
A lot of research and development has been carried out, and the department is even working on putting it into practical use.

However, most of them combine color incandescent light bulbs or color fluorescent light bulbs in the three colors of red, green, and blue into one unit, and change the light color by dimming them (for example,
(See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-23947). Although such a light source device can certainly vary the color of light, it is not essential and has the following drawbacks.

■ Since three lamps are integrated, the lamp itself is large and the output is low compared to its size.

■ Dimming equipment is complicated and expensive.

Under these circumstances, a group led by Dr. Itaya of Kyoto University has proposed a method of realizing variable color using a single lamp (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-42386).
. This is an attempt to extract the mercury and neon emissions separately by lighting a straight tube lamp filled with mercury and neon and changing the electric field strength of the positive column.The structure is as follows. It is something.

A single lamp contains mercury and neon, and when the lamp is turned on steadily (glow discharge), light emitted mainly from mercury, which has a low ionization voltage, is generated inside the lamp. If the lamp is a clear tube, blue light from mercury will be observed, and if the lamp is coated with phosphor, the light from the coated phosphor will be observed.

When a pulse voltage with a steep rise characteristic is applied to the lamp, the electric field strength inside the lamp (more precisely, inside the Yoko company) increases. As a result, the main source of light emission changes to neon, which has a high ionization voltage. If the lamp is a clear tube, red neon light will be observed, and if the lamp is coated with phosphor, the red neon light will be observed in addition to the light emitted by the coated phosphor.

In reality, you can change the voltage waveform applied to the lamp,
The electric field strength within the positive column is changed by changing the cycle of the applied pulse voltage.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Although this invention is very sloppy in principle, it has only one drawback. It uses very high voltages (several hundred volts to
This means that several thousand V) are required. Therefore,
There were problems in that the control circuit etc. were very expensive and the noise generated from them was also quite large.

Apart from these, there are also systems using a CRT method as a variable light color light source (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-227350 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-60).
227351), but it is difficult to use this as the main illumination in terms of output.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to be able to change the color of light emitted from a lamp using a control circuit that is simple, inexpensive, and has little noise. To provide a compact variable light color lighting device which can obtain an output sufficient for illumination.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the variable light color lighting device according to the present invention has mercury vapor or mercury vapor and a rare gas sealed inside, and an inner surface for ultraviolet excitation, l! l: 2 for electron beam excitation
A translucent tube coated with a type of phosphor, a thermionic-emitting cathode disposed inside the tube, and a distance from the cathode to a position of several to a few minutes. A lamp consisting of an electron-transmissive anode is provided, the cathode is sufficiently heated,
The voltages applied between the cathode and the anode are VL and VW (here, V
L is the voltage applied to excite the mercury vapor, Vll is a voltage sufficient to cause the electron beam excitation phosphor to emit light, and V
, <V), thereby changing the luminescence ratio of the two types of phosphors, and also by sufficiently heating the cathode of the lamp, the cathode-anode A voltage VL (a voltage suitable for excitation of the mercury vapor) is always applied between the two, and a voltage V is superimposed thereon in a pulsed manner (VL+V is a voltage sufficient to cause the electron beam excitation phosphor to emit light). , is characterized in that the emission ratio of the two types of phosphors is changed by changing the pulse width.

[For production]

First, the operation of the invention according to claim 1 will be explained based on FIGS. 1 to 4. Electrons thermally emitted from the cathode 1 move toward the anode 2 while being energized by the voltage applied between the cathode 1 and the anode 2, and then move toward the anode 2.
(see Figure 3). This electron is denoted by et. If the energy of the electron e is high, the phosphor for electron beam excitation is excited to emit light together with the enclosed gas. On the other hand, electronic et
When the energy is low, only the enclosed gas (mercury vapor) is ionized and excited to emit light. That is, cathode 1-
By changing the voltage applied between the anodes 2 as shown in FIG. 4, the energy of the electrons moving from the cathode 1 to the anode 2 changes. This determines whether only the internal gas (mercury vapor) is excited to generate ultraviolet rays and only the phosphor for ultraviolet excitation emits light, or whether the phosphor for electron beam excitation also emits light.

Next, the invention according to claim 2 will be explained in detail.

The principle is the same as the invention according to claim 1, and the difference is that the electron acceleration method is based on the superposition of a pulse voltage vP (see FIG. 5).

〔Example〕

On the inner surface of the tube body 3 with a diameter of 50 mm, there are three types of phosphors that emit light of different colors, for example, a red emitting phosphor (Y!O!:Eu).
, a green-emitting phosphor (ZnO: Zn) and a blue-emitting phosphor ((SrCaBaMg)s(PO2)C1:
Apply Eu). Here, Yz03:Eu and (
SrCaBaMg)s(P○JCI:Eu is a phosphor that reacts strongly to ultraviolet rays, and ZnO: Zn is a phosphor that responds to ultraviolet rays but has a strong reaction to electron beams.The electrode structure (cathode 1 and The anode 2) is similar to that shown schematically in FIG.

A voltage as shown in FIG. 5 is applied to the lamp having such a configuration (VL=20 V, V)+=80 V, T=T, /
(T, +T,)=about 0.2) and a color change occurred.

This indicates that the luminescence rate of ZnO:Zn (green) increased due to electrons.

The present invention would be more useful if a phosphor could be obtained that does not respond to ultraviolet light but responds strongly to energies as low as 100 eV.

〔Effect of the invention〕

By having the above configuration, the present invention can change the luminous color of the lamp using a simple configuration, that is, an inexpensive and low-noise control circuit, and has an output that can be used as the main lighting. We were able to provide a compact variable light color lighting device that provides the following.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a lamp according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention, and Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively applied FIG. 3 is a diagram showing voltage waveforms. l...Cathode 2...Anode 3...Tube body Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A translucent tube filled with at least mercury vapor and coated with two types of phosphors for ultraviolet excitation and electron beam excitation on the inner surface, and a thermoelectronic tube disposed inside the tube. Using a lamp consisting of an emitting cathode and an electron-transmissive anode disposed at a distance of several mm to several cm from the cathode, the cathode is sufficiently heated and a voltage is applied between the cathode and the anode. A variable light color lighting device characterized in that the light emission ratio of the two types of phosphors is changed by changing the voltage to V_L and V_M. However, the voltage V_L is a voltage suitable for excitation of the mercury vapor, and the voltage V_M is a voltage sufficient to cause the electron beam excitation phosphor to emit light, and V_L<V_M. (2) A translucent tube filled with at least mercury vapor and coated with two types of phosphors for ultraviolet excitation and electron beam excitation on the inner surface, and a thermoelectronic tube disposed inside the tube. A lamp consisting of an emitting cathode and an electron-transmitting anode disposed at a distance of several mm to several centimeters from the cathode is heated sufficiently to create a voltage V_L between the cathode and the anode. A variable light color lighting device characterized in that a voltage V_P is constantly applied, a voltage V_P is superimposed thereon in a pulse manner, and the pulse width is changed to change the light emission ratio of the two types of phosphors. However, the voltage V_L is a voltage suitable for excitation of the mercury vapor, and (V_L+V_P) is a voltage sufficient to cause the electron beam excitation phosphor to emit light.