JPH053017A - Fluorescent lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable reaching to a stable condition in a short time and lighting with high efficiency by improving the starting characteristics, the beam rise characteristics, and the stability in electrical characteristics at the time of a low and middle temperature in a fluorescent lamp for use in a range of low and middle temperature (0 to 50 deg.C). CONSTITUTION:The mercury vapor pressure of a master amalgam 7 in the temperature range of 0 to 50 deg.C is made 1/3 or more of that of pure mercury in the same temperature range and the mercury vapor pressure of an auxiliary amalgam 8 is made 1/3 or more of that in the temperature range of 0 to 50 deg.C. The mercury vapor pressure of the master amalgam in the range of 0 to 50 deg.C is much higher than that of a conventional same-purposed amalgam, so that the light output in the low and middle temperature range is remarkably improved to enable obtaining a sufficient light emission efficiency. Further, since the balance between the mercury vapor pressures of the auxiliary amalgam and master amalgam in the temperature range of 0 to 50 deg.C is improved, the amount of mercury vapor absorbed into the auxiliary amalgam when the lamp is lit out is suppressed while the amount of mercury vapor emitted from the auxiliary amalgam at the time of starting can be suppressed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention encapsulates a main amalgam and an auxiliary amalgam in a low to medium temperature range (0 ° C to 50 ° C).
In the fluorescent lamp used in (1), the ratio of mercury vapor pressure of both amalgams is improved to improve the rise of luminous flux at starting and the stability of electrical characteristics.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bulb-shaped fluorescent lamp in which a saddle-shaped fluorescent lamp is housed in a spherical globe and a U-shaped bulb,
Like a compact fluorescent lamp made by folding back into an H shape or double H shape, the temperature of the tube wall during lighting becomes extremely high (high temperature range 80 to 120 ° C). In order to control to an appropriate range even below, an amalgam made of bismuth, indium, mercury, etc. is sealed near the electrode instead of pure silver.

Further, in recent years, in order to minimize overfilling due to variation in the filling amount and excess release to the environment, which were inevitable in filling with liquid mercury, the above-mentioned solid amalgam was used as a fluorescent lamp instead of liquid mercury. It came to be enclosed.

In such a conventional amalgam-filled fluorescent lamp, since the mercury vapor pressure of bismuth, indium, mercury amalgam is low, the lighting characteristic at high temperature, that is, the light output characteristic is improved, but at the time of starting (lighting after switching in) From the start to the stabilization of the luminous flux) and the stability of the electrical characteristics is slow. As a countermeasure, for example, indium, which has a lower mercury vapor pressure than the above-mentioned main amalgam near the electrode, is used.
Auxiliary amalgam made of mercury is provided, and when starting preheating,
A technique has been developed in which the auxiliary amalgam is heated by the heat from the electrode (filament) to expel most of the contained mercury at a stretch to increase the mercury vapor pressure and rapidly raise the luminous flux.

On the other hand, in recent years, low temperature region and medium temperature region (0
Fluorescent lamps using amalgam that operate at temperatures between 50 ° C and 50 ° C have been developed. This is one in which the auxiliary amalgam is used as it is, and an amalgam such as bismuth, tin, or mercury whose mercury vapor pressure is close to that of pure silver is used as the main amalgam, and the lighting characteristics at low temperature, that is, the light output is improved.

[0006]

As described above, as the main amalgam, a fluorescent lamp using bismuth / tin / mercury amalgam with a mercury vapor pressure close to that of pure silver and indium / mercury as an auxiliary amalgam. The lighting characteristics at low temperature, that is, the light output characteristics are remarkably improved, but on the other hand, the rise of the luminous flux and the stability of the electric characteristics are not improved, and it takes a long time to reach a steady state, and the light output during that time is weak. It was In addition, the starting characteristics were deteriorated, that is, it was difficult to start the discharge.

The inventors of the present invention have investigated and studied the reason why the fluorescent lamp has poor stability in starting characteristics, luminous flux rise and electrical characteristics under low temperature and medium temperature ranges. It was found that the auxiliary amalgam maintained an excessively low mercury vapor pressure, especially at low temperatures, and the luminous flux rise and stability was due to excess mercury released from the auxiliary amalgam at the beginning of startup.

That is, since the main amalgam temperature at the beginning of startup is almost the same as the ambient temperature, its mercury vapor pressure is low, but when the electrode is preheated at the beginning of startup, the heat heats the auxiliary amalgam. It releases almost all of the contained mercury at once. Therefore, in the initial stage of discharge, the mercury vapor pressure exceeds the optimum mercury vapor pressure, and the mercury vapor pressure is too high, so the discharge current is high and the light output is reduced, but as the mercury vapor is absorbed by the main amalgam, the mercury vapor pressure becomes higher. The discharge current decreases and the discharge current decreases. During this period, the temperature of the main amalgam rises due to the heat radiation from the electrodes and the discharge space, and the mercury vapor pressure in equilibrium with this rises to reach the equilibrium state. And
When the light is turned off, the temperatures of the main amalgam and the auxiliary amalgam decrease to absorb mercury vapor, but the absorption at this time occurs preferentially to the auxiliary amalgam, which has a low mercury vapor pressure and the flow of the enclosed gas is strong.

As described above, when the main amalgam is replaced with bismuth / tin / mercury amalgam having a high mercury vapor pressure, the main amalgam absorbs a small amount of mercury vapor when the lamp is turned off. More. Therefore, the amount of mercury released from the auxiliary amalgam after starting is too large, and the absorption of excess mercury vapor by the main amalgam is slow, and the output decrease due to excess mercury vapor pressure is large, and the decrease duration is long and the steady state is reached. It takes a long time to reach it.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve the stability of starting characteristics, luminous flux rise and electrical characteristics at low and medium temperatures in a fluorescent lamp used in a low and medium temperature range, reach a stable state in a short time, and achieve high efficiency. Is to be able to light up.

[0011]

According to the present invention, in a fluorescent lamp, the mercury vapor pressure of the main amalgam is 1/3 or more of that of pure silver at the same temperature in the temperature range of 0 to 50 ° C., and the mercury vapor of the auxiliary amalgam. By making the pressure 1/3 or more of that in the temperature range of 0 to 50 ° C.,
The fluorescent pressure of the fluorescent lamp at low and medium temperatures is close to that of pure water silver, and excessive mercury absorption of the auxiliary amalgam at the time of extinguishing is reduced to improve the starting characteristics and the stability of the luminous flux rise and electric characteristics at the starting. is there.

[0012]

When the mercury vapor pressure of the main amalgam in the temperature range of 0 to 50 ° C is set to 1/3 or more of that of pure silver, the mercury vapor pressure is much higher than that of the conventional amalgam of bismuth, indium, and mercury, and rather. It is close to the mercury vapor pressure of pure silver, and the light output in the low and medium temperature range is remarkably improved, and sufficient luminous efficiency can be obtained even when the ambient temperature is low.

If the mercury vapor pressure of the auxiliary amalgam in the temperature range of 0 ° C. to 50 ° C. is set to 1/3 or more of that of the main amalgam at the same temperature, the mercury vapor pressures of the two are balanced, and when the light is turned off. , The amount of mercury vapor absorbed by the auxiliary amalgam is suppressed, and as a result, the amount of mercury released from the auxiliary amalgam at start-up is reduced and the excess amount is reduced.
After startup, mercury vapor quickly reaches a steady state, and at the same time the electrical characteristics are quickly stabilized.

[0014]

The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In FIG. 1, (1) is a glass bulb which is a part of the envelope, (2) is a fluorescent film formed on the inner surface of the bulb (1), (3) and (3) are bulbs (1). The stems (only one of which is shown in the figure), (4), (4), etc., which are the other parts of the envelope that closes both end surfaces of the valve, pass through these stems (3), (3) and the valve (1 ), Each pair of lead wires (5), (5) is a filament mounted between the tips of the lead wires (4), (4) ... , (6) is an exhaust pipe led out from the stem (1), (7) is a main amalgam sealed in the exhaust pipe (6), and (8) is a lead wire close to the filament (5). It is an auxiliary amalgam attached to (4). A discharge gas such as argon is sealed in the bulb (1). By way of example, the shape and dimensions of each part of the fluorescent lamp are as follows: bulb (1) shape U-shaped bulb (1) inner diameter (D) 15.5 mm Exhaust pipe (6) wall temperature 40.0 ° C Mercury vapor pressure 6 × 10 ^-3 Torr In order to satisfy such conditions, the main amalgam (7) may be, for example, bismuth / tin / mercury (Bi / Sn / Hg).
Using amalgam, as auxiliary amalgam (8), for example, bismuth-indium-lead (Bi-In-Pb) on a nickel plate of length 7 mm x width 2 mm x thickness 0.03 mm.
An alloy-plated product is attached to a portion of the lead wire (4) in the vicinity of the filament (5), and mercury is absorbed in the first lighting to form an amalgam.

Next, the mercury vapor pressure characteristics of each of the above amalgams, amalgams generally used in the past, and pure silver were investigated. First, Table 1 shows the compositions of these amalgams and pure silver.

[0016]

[Table 1]

Next, FIG. 2 shows the mercury vapor pressure characteristics of the amalgam and pure water silver shown in Table 1 above. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents temperature in ° C, and the vertical axis represents mercury vapor pressure on a logarithmic scale in Torr. The solid lines (a) and (-) indicate (a) pure water silver in Table 1. , The alternate long and short dash line (c) (-.-) is (c) bismuth-tin-mercury (Bi-Sn-H) described in Table 1.
g) Amalgam, two-dot chain line (f) (-.---) is (f) bismuth-indium-lead-mercury (Bi-In)
・ Pb ・ Hg) amalgam, long broken line (e) (-)
Is (e) bismuth, lead, mercury (Bi, Pb) listed in Table 1.
・ Hg) Amalgam, short broken line (g) (----)
(G) Bismuth-indium-mercury (Bi-In)
-Hg) amalgam, dotted lines (h) (...) Indicate mercury vapor pressure characteristics of (h) indium-mercury (In-Hg) amalgam shown in Table 1. However, (b) and (d) are excluded. As is clear from this figure, pure water silver has the highest mercury vapor pressure, and the mercury vapor pressure of bismuth / tin / mercury amalgam at 0 to 50 ° C is 1/3 or more of that of pure silver at the same temperature. The mercury vapor pressure of bismuth, indium, tin amalgam at 0 to 50 ° C. is slightly lower than that of bismuth, tin, mercury amalgam at the same temperature. In contrast, bismuth indium. The mercury vapor pressure at 0-50 ° C of mercury amalgam has a value greater than 1/3 of that of bismuth-indium-lead-mercury amalgam at this same temperature. And bismuth / indium / mercury amalgam is 80 ~ 120 ℃
In this temperature range, it has a stable mercury vapor pressure of about 8 to 9 × 10 ⁻³ . In comparison, bismuth / tin / mercury amalgam has a much higher mercury vapor pressure in the high temperature range of 80 to 120 ° C than that of bismuth / indium / mercury amalgam and is rather close to that of pure water silver. From FIG. 2, it is suggested that the fluorescent lamp using bismuth, tin, and mercury amalgam is similar to those of the pure water silver sealed lamp in terms of luminous flux rise at low and medium temperatures, stability of electric characteristics, and starting characteristics. ..

Next, in the fluorescent lamp using bismuth / tin / mercury amalgam as the main amalgam, the bismuth / indium / lead / mercury amalgam of the above-mentioned embodiment and the conventional indium / mercury amalgam as the auxiliary amalgam. And those without auxiliary amalgam, and these are the luminous flux in the high temperature region and low and medium temperature region together with the conventional mercury-sealed lamp,
The luminous flux rise, discharge characteristics and blackening characteristics in the low temperature region were investigated. The results are shown in Table 2 below.

[0019]

[Table 2]

Next, the fluorescent lamps listed in Table 2 above were used.
The lamp was turned on in an environment of ℃, and the time course of the luminous flux of the lamp was investigated. The result is shown in FIG. In the figure, the horizontal axis shows the lighting time after starting in logarithmic scale in units of time, and the vertical axis shows the luminous flux as a relative value with the luminous flux in the steady state of the mercury-containing lamp as 100, and the solid line (i) ( -) Is in Table 2 above
Pure water silver enclosed lamp, two-dot chain line (s), (k) (-
..-) is a lamp (s) whose main amalgam is the lead, tin, and mercury amalgam described in Table 2 above and which does not use an auxiliary amalgam.
And a lamp (k) that uses bismuth / lead / mercury amalgam as the main amalgam and no auxiliary amalgam.
The two are so close that they cannot be distinguished on the drawing. The alternate long and short dash lines (n), (o), (g), (r) (-.-) are shown in Table 2 above.
In the embodiment of the present invention described, a lamp using bismuth / lead / mercury amalgam as the main amalgam and bismuth / indium / lead / mercury amalgam as the auxiliary amalgam (n), and bismuth / lead mercury amalgam as the main amalgam and the auxiliary amalgam. A lamp using bismuth, indium, lead, and mercury amalgam (o), lead, tin, and mercury amalgam as the main amalgam, and bismuth, indium, and
Lamp (q) using lead / mercury amalgam, and lead /
There are four types of lamps (r) that use tin / mercury amalgam as the main amalgam and bismuth / indium / lead / mercury amalgam as the auxiliary amalgam. The broken line (p) (----) indicates that the main amalgam is bismuth / indium / lead / mercury amalgam described in Table 2 above, and the auxiliary amalgam is bismuth / indium /
It uses mercury amalgam. Dotted line (j),
(L) and (m) (...) are the conventional examples described in Table 2 above,
A lamp using bismuth / indium / mercury amalgam as the main amalgam and indium / mercury amalgam as the auxiliary amalgam (j), and a lamp using bismuth / lead / mercury amalgam as the main amalgam and indium / mercury amalgam as the auxiliary amalgam (l). ) And bismuth / indium / lead / mercury amalgam as the main amalgam and the auxiliary amalgam using indium / mercury amalgam as the lamp (m).

As is clear from FIG. 3, since the mercury vapor pressure characteristics of bismuth / tin / mercury amalgam are similar to those of pure water silver, the starting characteristics of the lamps (s) and (k) without the auxiliary amalgam. Is very close to that of the pure water silver enclosed lamp (i), while the lamps (m), (o), (g) of this embodiment using bismuth / indium / lead / mercury amalgam as the auxiliary amalgam, In (r), the luminous flux rises much faster than that of the pure water silver-enclosed lamp (i), but once the luminous flux slightly decreases, it soon becomes close to that of the pure water silver-enclosed lamp (i), and then becomes a steady state.
The reason for this is that the lamps (m), (o), (g) of this embodiment,
In (r), the auxiliary amalgam is heated by filament preheating, and all the mercury is released all at once, and the discharge is rapidly started. Then, as the excess mercury released from the auxiliary amalgam is gradually absorbed by the main amalgam, the tube current increases, the temperature of the main amalgam rises accordingly, and eventually reaches a steady state. On the other hand, a lamp that uses indium mercury amalgam as the conventional auxiliary amalgam
In (j), (l), and (m), at the time of starting, the mercury release time point is faster than in this example (m), (o), (q), and (r), and the release amount is much larger than that in this example. For this reason, it takes a very long time for the excess mercury released from the auxiliary amalgam to be absorbed by the main amalgam, which causes a serious decrease in luminous flux and a long time until the steady state is reached. The reason is that the mercury vapor pressure characteristics of the indium-mercury amalgam used for the auxiliary amalgams of the lamps (j), (l), and (m) described in the conventional example are compared with those of bismuth-tin-mercury amalgam used for the main amalgam. Therefore, the auxiliary amalgam absorbs a large amount of mercury when the lamp is turned off. Therefore, as described above, the mercury emission from the auxiliary amalgam is rapidly and in large amounts at the time of starting. At this time, mercury was attached to the tube wall, and blackening was caused by the amalgam material adhering to the tube wall due to the spattering of the auxiliary amalgam itself at the time of starting, which was very unsightly in appearance.

In comparison, in the lamps (n), (o), (q) and (r) of this embodiment, the mercury vapor pressure characteristic of the auxiliary amalgam was made close to that of the main amalgam, so that when the lamp was turned off Since the amount of absorption is small, the amount of mercury released is small at the time of start-up, and the amount of excess mercury is small, the decrease in luminous flux during that period is small, and the steady state is reached in a short time. Furthermore, there is little spattering of the auxiliary amalgam at the time of starting at low temperature and lighting when the mercury vapor pressure tends to be low,
There is little blackening of the tube wall.

In the present invention, however, bismuth / indium / lead / mercury (Bi / In / Pb / Hg) amalgam and bismuth / tin / mercury (Bi / Sn) are used due to differences in the tube rating, shape, tube wall load, etc. Hg) When an amalgam having a mercury vapor pressure characteristic lower than that of pure silver such as amalgam is used as the main amalgam, the mercury vapor pressure ratio of the auxiliary amalgam to the main amalgam (the ratio of the mercury vapor pressure at the same temperature of both amalgams) is If it becomes less than 1/3, the mercury-capturing action of the auxiliary amalgam at the time of extinguishing rapidly occurs, and the mercury emission at the time of the next start increases, and as described above, the time from immediately after the start to the steady state becomes significantly long. It was.

Therefore, in the present invention, the mercury vapor pressure ratio to pure water silver is limited to 1/3 or more at the same temperature of the main amalgam, and the mercury vapor pressure ratio to the main amalgam at the same temperature of the auxiliary amalgam is set to 1/3 or more. Limited As a result, the fluorescent lamp of the present invention has good luminous flux rise, stability of electric characteristics and good starting characteristics, especially low-temperature starting characteristics, a short time from starting to a steady state, and a small decrease in luminous flux during that time. There is also an advantage that there is little blackening, and the ease of quantitative encapsulation associated with encapsulation of amalgam is not impaired at all.

Therefore, in the present invention, the envelope can have other shapes. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the bell jar type glass outer tube (11) has an open end made of metal,
U-shaped inner tube (12), which is closed with a flat stem (31) made of ceramics, glass, etc.
Attach the long legs (121) and (121) of (12) to the stem (3
1), the short legs (122) and (122) are arranged in parallel, and the open ends (123) and (123) are arranged close to each other, and the outer pipe (11) and both inner pipes (12), (12) and Stem (3
In 1), an envelope is constructed to form an inner tube (12), a fluorescent film (not shown) on the inner surface of (12), and the stem (3) is penetrated to the ends of both long legs (121) and (121). A pair of lead wires (41), (41) ... Are sealed in the respective parts, and a filament (5) is provided between the inner ends of these lead wires (41), (41).
(5) is mounted, the exhaust pipe (6) is provided on the outer surface of the stem (31) so as to accommodate the main amalgam (7), and the auxiliary amalgam (8) is provided near the filament (5) of the lead wire (41). ) Is fixed. Then, a starting gas such as argon is sealed in the outer pipe (11), and both inner pipes (12),
(12) Have free interaction with the inside. Then, the main amalgam (7) mentioned above has a mercury vapor pressure at a temperature of 0 to 50 ° C. which is one of that of pure silver at the same temperature as in the above-mentioned embodiment.
/ 3 or more, and the auxiliary amalgam (8) is 0
The mercury vapor pressure at a temperature of .about.50.degree. C. is 1/3 or more of that of the main amalgam (7) at the same temperature.

Also in this modification, both inner pipes (1
2), the discharge in (12) is short leg (122), (122)
Leaks from the open end of the inner tube (11) and communicates with the inside of the outer tube (11), and the discharge continues, and the ultraviolet rays generated at that time cause the inner tube (1
2), (12) The fluorescent film (not shown) on the inner surface emits light. The present modified fluorescent lamp also has the advantages that the luminous flux rises, the stability of electric characteristics and the starting characteristics, especially the low-temperature starting characteristics are good, and that the time from starting to reaching a normal state is short.

However, in the present invention, the main amalgam is not limited to being enclosed in the exhaust pipe but may be, for example, the innermost surface of the valve or the surface of the flare portion of the stem.
The point is that it should be provided near the electrode of the glass envelope, and the auxiliary amalgam is provided close to the electrode so that the filament is preheated by the radiation or heat transfer from the filament to release mercury. It should be.

[0028]

As described above, in the fluorescent lamp of the present invention provided with the main amalgam and the auxiliary amalgam, the main amalgam has a mercury vapor pressure at a temperature of 0 ° C. to 50 ° C. of pure water silver at the same temperature. 1/3 or more,
And the auxiliary amalgam has a mercury vapor pressure at a temperature of 0 ° C to 50 ° C which is 1 / of that of the main amalgam at the same temperature.
Since it is limited to 3 or more, the luminous flux rises, the stability of the electric characteristics, and the starting characteristics, especially the low-temperature starting characteristics are particularly excellent, and in particular, the time required from the start to reach the steady state is short and the decrease in the luminous flux during this period is small, Furthermore, it has the advantage of less blackening of the pipe wall, and the advantage of enclosing amalgam is not lost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an essential part of an embodiment of a fluorescent lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing mercury vapor pressure characteristics of various amalgams.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the luminous flux rise and stability of a fluorescent lamp containing various amalgams.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment according to the present invention.

[Description of Reference Signs] (1) ... Valve (11) that is a part of the envelope ... Outer pipe that is a part of the envelope (12) ... Inner pipe (121) that is a part of the envelope Long leg of the inner tube (122) ... Short leg of the inner tube (2) ... Fluorescent film (3) (31) ... Stem which is the other part of the envelope (4) (41) ... Lead wire (5) ... Filament (6) ... Exhaust pipe (7) ... Main amalgam (8) ... Auxiliary amalgam

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A fluorescent lamp in which a main amalgam is provided in a glass envelope in which electrodes are sealed at both ends and an auxiliary amalgam is provided in the vicinity of the electrodes. The mercury vapor pressure at a temperature of 0 ° C to 50 ° C is 1/3 or more of that of pure silver at the same temperature, and the auxiliary amalgam is the main amalgam at a mercury vapor pressure of 0 ° C to 50 ° C at the same temperature. Fluorescent lamp characterized by being 1/3 or more of that.