JPH04332426A - Bulb sealing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily cover a mount with an opening portion by crushing the end portion of a bulb so as to form it into an elliptical shape followed by conducting seal with a large clearance between metal foil conductors and the inner surface of the bulb. CONSTITUTION:One end of a bulb 1 is opened and the other end thereof is welded to an exhaust pipe 8, where the opening portion is formed into a round shape. The opening portion is softened with application of heat, followed by crushing, for an elliptical shape, thus sealing a mount 10. The mount 10 is formed into a U-shape with its outside lead wires 7a, 7b continued in a line, and the U-shaped continuous portion 7 is inserted into a mount holder 11, to be held therein. In covering the mount 10 with a mold opening end portion 20 of the bulb 1, a plurality of metal foil conductors 6a, 6b of the mount 10 are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the end portion 20. The end portion 20 is crushed so that the conductors 6a, 6b are sealed in the crushed sealing portion. Consequently, a clearance between the conductors 6a, 6b and the inner surface of the bulb can be enlarged, thereby facilitating work.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sealing method for sealing a plurality of metal foil conductors to the end of a bulb such as a single-sealed metal halide lamp.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, high-pressure metal vapor discharge lamps (HID), which have the characteristics of high efficiency, high color rendering, high output, and long life, have been increasingly used for low-ceiling indoor lighting in stores and the like. Since such high-pressure metal vapor discharge lamps are used indoors, it is necessary to miniaturize the lamp. Therefore, a crushing seal is formed only on one end of the bulb, and a pair of electrodes is sealed in this crushing seal. It uses a so-called single-sealed structure.

The structure of such a single-sealed discharge lamp is shown in FIG.
I will explain based on this.

The drawing shows an arc tube of a metal halide lamp with a lamp input of 150 W. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes an arc tube bulb made of quartz glass, which is formed into an ellipsoidal shape with an internal volume of 0.5 cc. A flat crushing sealing part 2 is formed at one end of such a valve 1. A mount, that is, a pair of electrodes 3a, 3b is sealed inside the bulb 1, and these electrodes 3a, 3b are connected to an electrode shaft portion 4a,
4b and electrode coil parts 5a and 5b. The electrode shaft parts 4a and 4b are made of pure rhenium wire with a wire diameter of 0.5 mm, for example, and the electrode coil parts 5a and 5b are made of pure rhenium wire with a wire diameter of 0.5 mm, for example.
A 5 mm thoriated tungsten wire is wound three to four times around the bent tips of the electrode shafts 4a and 4b.

[0005] The electrode shaft portions 4a and 4b each have a metal foil conductor 6 such as Mo or the like sealed to the crush sealing portion 2.
a, 6b. These metal foil conductors 6a, 6
External lead wires 7a and 7b are connected to b, respectively, and these external lead wires 7a and 7b are led to the outside from the end surface of the crush sealing portion 2.

[0006] Inside the valve 1 are a starting rare gas, a predetermined amount of mercury, and SnI2, NaI, TlI, InI.
, NaBr, LiBr, and other metal halides are enclosed.

In such a single-sealed metal halide lamp, the lamp current I during stable lighting is 1.
8A, and the lamp input power W at this time is set to be 150W. And the inner surface area S of the arc tube
is about 3.5 cm2, and the lamp load per unit surface area of the arc tube is about 43 W/cm2.

[0008] Since the metal halide lamp constructed as described above has only one crushed sealing portion 2, the heat loss is smaller than that of a double-end sealed bulb, and therefore the luminous efficiency can be improved. , it has the advantage of not requiring much effort to mold and can be made smaller.

By the way, when manufacturing such a single-sealed arc tube, a method as shown in FIGS. 7(a) to 7(c) has conventionally been adopted.

That is, in FIG. 7, one end of the valve 1 is open, and the exhaust pipe 8 is connected to the other end, and the opening 1a at the one end has a substantially perfect circular shape as shown in FIG. 7(c). ing. The mount 10 is inserted into such an opening 1a, and the mount 10 is connected to the external lead wires 7a, 7b.
The U-shaped continuous portion 7 is inserted into the mount holder 11 and supported.

One end opening 1a of the valve 1 is placed over the mount 10, and once the pair of metal foil conductors 6a and 6b are inserted into the one end opening 1a of the valve 1, this opening end is heated with a gas burner (not shown) or the like. do. When the opening 1a of the valve 1 is softened, the opening 1a of the valve 1 is crushed by a pincher (not shown) in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 3(c), thereby crushing and sealing the valve end.

[0012] Therefore, a pair of metal foil conductors 6a and 6b are sealed side by side in the crushing sealing part 2.

[0013]

However, such a small metal halide lamp is characterized in that the tube shape of the bulb 1 is thin. Therefore, when the opening 1a at one end of the bulb 1 is placed on the mount 10, the distance s between the pair of metal foil conductors 6a, 6b and the inner surface of the bulb 1 is small, as shown in FIG. Due to variations, the metal foil conductors 6a and 6b may come into contact with the inner surface of the bulb 1.

If the spacing s is small as described above, it becomes difficult to cover the opening 1a at one end of the bulb 1 with the mount 10, and the metal foil conductors 6a and 6b are too close to the inner surface of the bulb 1, resulting in poor sealing. This may result in poor adhesion or leakage during use. In addition, when softened quartz glass is crushed, the flow of the quartz glass will cause the metal foil conductor 6 to
In some cases, the distance between the electrodes may be changed by widening the distance between a and 6b.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to ensure a large distance between the metal foil conductor and the inner surface of the bulb when the opening of the bulb is covered with a mount. The object of the present invention is to provide a method for sealing a tube, which facilitates the covering operation and prevents poor sealing and leakage.

[0016]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the present invention, the open end of the valve is previously formed into an oval or elliptical shape, and a plurality of metal foil conductors of the mount are attached to the formed end in the longitudinal direction of the formed end. The plurality of metal foil conductors are inserted side by side, and the ends of the bulbs are crushed to seal the plurality of metal foil conductors.

[0017]

[Operation] According to the present invention, since the open end of the valve is previously formed into an oval or elliptical shape, a plurality of metal foil conductors of the mount are attached to the formed end in the longitudinal direction of the formed end. If they are inserted side by side, a large distance between the metal foil conductor and the inner surface of the bulb can be ensured. Therefore, the work of covering the valve, that is, the work of inserting the mount, becomes easy, and it is possible to prevent poor sealing and leakage.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a method of sealing a single-sealed metal halide lamp in the order of steps, and FIG. 1 shows a step of preforming a bulb 1. As shown in FIG.

The valve 1 is open at one end and has an exhaust pipe 8 connected to the other end, and the opening 1a at the one end is connected to the exhaust pipe 8.
has a substantially perfect circular shape as shown in FIG. 1(b).

The opening of the valve 1 is heated and softened and crushed to form the opening shown in FIGS. 1(c) and 1(d).
As shown in the figure, it is processed into an oval shape.

The valve 1 whose opening end has been shaped into an oval shape in this manner is transferred to a mount sealing process shown in FIG. 2.

In FIG. 2, the mount 10 has a U-shape in which external lead wires 7a and 7b are continuous as one, as in the conventional case, and this U-shaped continuous portion 7 connects to the mount holder 1.
1 and is supported.

The molded opening 20 of the valve 1 is placed over the mount 10 as described above.

In this case, as shown in figure (c), a pair of metal foil conductors 6a and 6b are inserted into the oval opening 20 along the long axis thereof.

Once the pair of metal foil conductors 6a and 6b are inserted into the molded opening 20 of the bulb 1, the opening ends are heated with a gas burner 30, etc., which will be explained later. and valve 1
When the opening 20 of the valve 1 becomes soft, the opening 20 of the valve 1 is crushed by the first pinchers 41, 41 and the second pinchers 42, 42 shown in FIG.

[0027] This crushes and seals the end of the valve.

According to such a sealing method, the valve 1
Since the opening end portion of is previously formed into an oval shape, if the pair of metal foil conductors 6a and 6b are inserted into this opening 20 along the long axis of this oval opening 20, these metal foils A large distance s between the conductors 6a, 6b and the inner surface of the bulb is ensured.

Therefore, when the opening 20 of the valve 1 is placed over the mount 10, there is a large gap, so there is plenty of room for insertion, making the insertion work easier. Even if some processing variations occur, the metal foil conductors 6a and 6b will remain in the valve 1.
There is no need to worry about it coming into contact with the inside of the body. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of poor sealing and the occurrence of leakage during use.

This is particularly effective when the tube shape of the bulb 1 is thin, such as in a small metal halide lamp.

When the opening 20 of the valve 1 is crushed and sealed, the opening 20 of the valve 1 is pressed from four directions using the first pinchers 41, 41 and the second pinchers 42, 42 shown in FIG. By crushing it, the flow of the softened quartz glass can be prevented, and the pair of metal foil conductors 6a,
Since the distance between the electrodes 6b does not increase, the distance between the electrodes can be regulated with high precision.

[0032]The opening 20 of such a valve 1
The machine shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be used as a device for crushing and sealing.

That is, in the figure, 50 is a base, and the mount holder 11 is installed approximately at the center of this base 50, and the mount holder 11 has a mount as shown in FIG. 10 is supported.

[0034] A lifting platform 51 is provided on the base 50.
This elevating table 51 is moved up and down by an air cylinder (not shown). A guide plate 52 is provided on the upper surface of the lifting table 51, and a slider 53 is attached to this guide plate 52. The slider 53 is movable in the X direction and the Y direction by motors 54 and 55. And this slider-5
3, a valve chuck 5 that chucks the exhaust pipe 8;
6 is installed. This valve chuck 56 clamps the exhaust pipe 8 of the valve 1 shown in FIG. 2, thereby suspending the valve 1. Therefore, the positions of the valve 1 in the X and Y directions are adjusted by operating the motors 54 and 55, and by lowering the lifting table 51, the valve 1 is placed on the mount 10 supported by the mount holder 11. It looks like this.

Gas burners 57 are arranged around the mount holder 11. These gas burners 57...
When the valve 1 is lowered to a predetermined position, it faces the open end 20 of the valve 1 and heats the open end 20 from the outside.

Further, around the mount holder 11, the first pinchers 41, 41 and the second pinchers 42 are arranged.
, 42 are arranged.

The first pinchers 41, 41 and the second pinchers 42, 42 are arranged opposite each other and perpendicular to each other. And these first
pinchers 41, 41 and second pinchers 42, 42
are fixed to the tips of racks 43, 43, 44, 44, respectively, and these racks 43, 43, 44, 44 mesh with respective pinions 45, 45, 46, 46. The pinions 45, 45, 46, and 46 are each rotated by a motor (not shown). Such a pinion 45, 45
, 46, 46, the racks 43, 43, 44,
44 moves linearly, and the first pinchers 41, 41 and the second pinchers 42, 42 move back and forth in the horizontal direction.

Monitor cameras 60 and 61 are installed on the base 1, and these monitor cameras 60 and 61 are used to monitor the positions of the valve 1 and the mount 10 and to control their alignment. One monitor camera 60
monitors the position of the valve 1 and the mount 10 in the vertical direction, and the other monitor camera 61 monitors the position of the valve 1 and the mount 10 in the horizontal direction. These monitor cameras 60
and 61, if the positions of the valve 1 and the mount 10 are not facing the predetermined positions, the lifting platform 51 is moved up and down, or the slider 53 is moved in the X direction and the Y direction by the motors 54 and 55. This allows the valve 1 and the mount 10 to be aligned.

Further, in FIG. 5, 70 is a nozzle for blowing nitrogen N2 gas into the valve 1, and is connected to the upper end of the exhaust pipe 8. The temperature of the valve 1 is controlled by blowing N2 gas into the valve 1 while the end of the valve 1 is heated and softened, and the mount 10 is
This prevents the oxidation of

The operation of sealing the end of the valve 1 using such a sealing machine will be explained.

The valve 1 whose end portion 20 has been previously machined into an oval shape as shown in FIG. 1 is transferred to the sealing machine shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and the exhaust pipe 8 is clamped by the valve chuck 56. Then, the lift table 51 is moved to lower the slider 53, and the valve 1 is placed over the mount 10 supported by the mount holder 11. At this time, the positions of the valve 1 and the mount 10 are monitored by the monitor cameras 60 and 61, and if they are not facing each other at the predetermined positions, the lifting table 51 is moved up and down, and the slider 53 is moved by the motor 54. and 55 in the X and Y directions, thereby aligning the valve 1 and the mount 10.

In this state, N2 gas is blown into the valve 1 from the N2 gas blowing nozzle 70 through the exhaust pipe 8. Then, the gas burners 57 are ignited to heat the open end 20 of the valve 1. During this heating, the degree of softening of the valve 1 is adjusted by controlling the flow rate of N2 gas. Further, the mount 10 is prevented from being oxidized by blowing with N2 gas.

In this way, the molded open end 2 of the valve 1
When the bulb 0 is softened, the first pinchers 41, 41 are advanced, and the bulb 1 is crushed by these pinchers 41, 41 from both opposing sides. In this case, the metal foil conductors 6a, 6
It is pressed from the direction facing b. When the valve wall is crushed, the second pinchers 42, 42 are subsequently advanced, and the valve 1 is pushed by these pinchers 42, 42.

This state is shown in FIG. 3, where the crushing sealing portion 2 is pressed from two orthogonal directions to form a substantially H-shape, thereby preventing the quartz glass from flowing and sealing the pair of metal foils. This prevents the distance between the conductors 6a and 6b from increasing.

In the case of such a device, since the positions of the valve 1 and the mount 10 are monitored by the monitor cameras 60 and 61 and these positions are adjusted, there is an advantage that the sealing accuracy is improved.

[0046] In the above embodiment, the case of a single-sealed metal halide lamp was explained, but the present invention is not limited to this.

In other words, the present invention is effective when applied to a case where a plurality of metal foil conductors are sealed to one crushing sealing part, and as a bulb having such a structure, only single-sealed discharge lamps are used. A lamp with a metal foil conductor for the main electrode and a metal foil conductor for the auxiliary electrode sealed at one end is known in a discharge lamp bulb that is sealed at both ends, rather than at both ends. This can be done even with electric lights.

Furthermore, lamps are not limited to discharge lamps; lamps such as halogen light bulbs that use a quartz glass tube and have a plurality of metal foil conductors sealed at one end are also known. It is also applicable to

[0049]

As explained above, according to the present invention, the open end of the valve is formed in advance into an oval or elliptical shape, and a plurality of metal foil conductors of the mount are attached to the formed end to extend the length of the formed end. The plurality of metal foil conductors are inserted by aligning them in the axial direction, and the ends of the bulbs are crushed to seal the plurality of metal foil conductors.
The distance between the metal foil conductor and the inner surface of the bulb can be increased, making it easier to insert the mount into the opening of the bulb. Furthermore, since the distance between the metal foil conductor and the bulb is increased, poor sealing and leakage can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 shows a preforming process of a valve according to an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a side view of the valve before molding, (b) is a bottom view of the valve, and (c) is a molded A side view of the latter valve, and (d) a bottom view of the valve.

FIG. 2 shows the valve sealing process in the same example;
Figure (a) is an exploded side view of the valve and mount, Figure (b) is a side view of the valve placed on the mount, and Figure (c) is a bottom view of the valve placed on the mount.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the valve end in the same embodiment in a state where it is crushed and sealed.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a sealing machine used in the same example.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the same sealing machine.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a single-sealed metal halide lamp.

Fig. 7 shows the conventional valve sealing process, (a) is an exploded side view of the valve and mount, (b) is a side view of the valve placed on the mount, and (c) is the valve mounted. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Arc tube bulb, 2... Crushing sealing part, 3a, 3b... Electrode, 4a, 4b... Electrode shaft part, 5a, 5b... Electrode coil part,
6a, 6b...metal foil conductor, 7a, 7b...external lead wire,
10...Mount, 20...End of the valve formed into an oval shape,
41, 42...pincher.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A mount in which a plurality of metal foil conductors are arranged in parallel is inserted into the end of the bulb, the end of the bulb is crushed and sealed, and the plurality of metal foil conductors are sealed in the crush seal. In the bulb sealing method, the end of the bulb is formed in advance into an oval or elliptical shape, and a plurality of metal foil conductors of the mount are attached to the formed end in the longitudinal direction of the formed end. A method for sealing a bulb, characterized in that the plurality of metal foil conductors are inserted into the tube so as to be lined up in the tube, the end portion of the bulb is crushed, and the plurality of metal foil conductors are sealed to the crushed sealing portion.