JPH0589831A - Compact type fluorescent lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sink the re-arcing voltage of a compact type fluorescent lamp having a small bulb dia. and prevent the glow starter from resuming operation and the lamp from blinking. CONSTITUTION:An electrode 3 is fixed sealedly at the end of a light emitting bulb 1 whose inner dia. ranges 14-16 mm, and a fluorescent substance film is formed over the inner surface of the bulb 1, in which mercury and rare gases including at least argon are encapsulated. Thus a compact type fluorescent lamp is accomplished, wherein the Ar gas encapsulation pressure shall lie between 4.0-5.0Torr. Because the Ar encapsulation pressure is set high irrespective of small bulb dia., diffusion of electron and ion in a positive light column is restricted, and the velocity to reach the bulb wall is retarded, so that vanishing of electrons or ions is reduced when the lamp current is reversed at each half cycle. Therefore, the re-arcing voltage can be sunk.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a compact fluorescent lamp in which an arc tube bulb has a small diameter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, arc tube bulbs having an inner diameter of 22 mm or less are bent into U-shaped, H-shaped or W-shaped, or two U-shaped bulbs are connected or two H-shaped bulbs are connected.
Bent fluorescent lamps, which are connected to form a meandering discharge path, have been developed and are becoming widespread.

This type of lamp is called a compact type fluorescent lamp, in which an electrode is sealed at the end of a bulb having a small tube diameter, and a fluorescent film is formed on the inner surface of the bulb. Is filled with a rare gas containing mercury and at least argon.

In this type of compact fluorescent lamp, a U-shaped fluorescent lamp has an FPL and a U-shaped bulb has two.
This connected fluorescent lamp is indicated by FDL, and the W-shaped fluorescent lamp is indicated by the model such as FML. JIS standard, C76
01 defines these dimensions and characteristics.

These compact fluorescent lamps are FP
The L type has a valve inner diameter of 18 to 22 mm, which is relatively thick, but other FDL and FML types have a valve diameter of 1 mm.
It is made thin with a size of 6 to 14 mm. However, such a compact fluorescent lamp having a small tube diameter has a problem that the re-ignition voltage Vp becomes high.

That is, in a fluorescent lamp which is lit by a commercial power source having a frequency of 50 to 60 Hz, the waveforms of the lamp current IL and the lamp voltage VL are as shown in FIG. The sine wave A in FIG. 2 indicates the lamp current IL, and the substantially rectangular waveform B indicates the lamp voltage VL. In a lamp lit by AC, the direction of the lamp current is inverted every half cycle, and in the case of a commercial power source, the frequency is Since the lamp current is low, the density of electrons and ions in the bulb is attenuated when the lamp current is reversed. Since the electron and ion densities are attenuated, the lamp voltage immediately after the half cycle reversal becomes high, which is the re-ignition voltage V.
This will increase p.

Therefore, the re-ignition voltage Vp is generated depending on the behavior of the positive column of the fluorescent lamp which is lit at the commercial frequency. Further, the re-ignition voltage Vp becomes higher due to the degree of attenuation of the electron and ion density in the positive column, It becomes low. When the valves have the same diameter, the re-ignition voltage Vp
Has been found to be approximately proportional to the length of the positive column.

However, it has been found that the re-ignition voltage Vp is influenced not only by the length of the positive column but also by the diameter of the bulb. That is, Table 1 below shows the FDL 27 of a compact fluorescent lamp and the FDL of a normal ring fluorescent lamp.
30 shows various characteristics with 30.

The re-ignition voltage Vp is measured under the following conditions: ambient temperature 15 ° C., re-ignition voltage (volt) after 10 seconds of rated lighting.
That is, a commercially available ballast specified in JIS C8108 was used, and a 0.0060 μF noise prevention capacitor was connected and turned on.

[0010]

[Table 1]

From the above measurement results, the compact fluorescent lamp FDL27 is more compact than the ring fluorescent lamp FDL3.
The re-ignition voltage is high in spite of the distance between the electrodes and thus the positive column being shorter than 0. This is because the FDL 27 of the compact fluorescent lamp has a smaller bulb diameter than the FDL 30 of the ring fluorescent lamp.

Considering this point, the extinction of electrons and ions when the lamp current is inverted every half cycle is performed near the bulb wall of the bulb, and in the case of a lamp with a small bulb diameter, electrons and ions are emitted. When diffusing, the distance to reach the tube wall is short, and therefore electrons and ions reach the tube wall earlier than in a lamp with a large bulb diameter, and therefore the annihilation speed is considered to be faster. As a result, it is estimated that the re-ignition voltage becomes high in the case of a lamp having a small bulb diameter.

[0013]

However, such a lamp having a high re-ignition voltage Vp is commercially available with a lighting tube having a low re-operating voltage under a low temperature condition, a large-capacity noise-preventing capacitor and a high impedance voltage. When it is used in combination with a ballast, etc., or when it is used in a place with a low power supply voltage, lighting does not continue depending on the reversal of the lamp current, the lighting tube restarts, and the lamp repeatedly flashes. I am worried about the malfunction.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to reduce the re-ignition voltage in a compact fluorescent lamp having a small bulb diameter to restart the ignition tube. It is intended to prevent the blinking of the lamp.

[0015]

The present invention has a pipe inner diameter of 14
A compact fluorescent lamp in which an electrode is sealed at the end of an arc tube of ~ 16 mm, a phosphor coating is formed on the inner surface of the arc tube, and a rare gas containing mercury and at least argon is sealed in the arc tube. In the above, the filling pressure of the argon gas is set to 4.0 to 5.0 Torr.

[0016]

According to the present invention, since the pressure of the argon gas is set to be high despite the small diameter of the arc tube bulb,
Since the diffusion of electrons and ions in the positive column is regulated and the speed at which they reach the tube wall is slowed, the disappearance of electrons and ions when the lamp current is reversed every half cycle is reduced. Therefore, the re-ignition voltage can be reduced.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings.

The drawing shows a compact type fluorescent lamp of the FDL type, and 1 is an arc tube. The arc tube 1 is constructed by connecting two U-shaped bulbs 2 and 2. Each of the U-shaped bulbs 2 and 2 has a tube outer diameter of 17.5 mm and a tube inner diameter of 16 mm. The filament electrodes 3 and 3 are sealed at their ends, and the other ends of the two are not shown. It is made to communicate by fusing each other. In this case, the U-shaped valves 2 and 2 are juxtaposed such that the planes including the U-shapes face each other. Therefore, the arc tube 1 has a meandering discharge path formed between the electrodes 3 and 3.

A phosphor coating (not shown) is formed on the inner surfaces of the bulbs 2, 2. The arc tube 1 is filled with a rare gas containing mercury and at least argon. The argon gas filled in the arc tube 1 is 4.0 to
The filling pressure is 5.0 Torr.

Such an FDL type compact fluorescent lamp has a frequency of 50 Hz, a rated input voltage of 100 V, a lamp power of 27 watts and a lamp current IL.
Is 0.610 amps and the lamp voltage VL is 50 volts or more, that is, 56 volts.

In the compact fluorescent lamp having such a structure, since the filling pressure of the argon gas is increased, the diffusion of electrons and ions is restricted by the positive column, and the speed of reaching the tube wall becomes slow. For this reason, the decay of the electrons and ions when the lamp current reverses every half cycle is delayed, and when the ramp current reverses, the decay does not end and a large amount of electrons and ions remain, so the re-ignition voltage can be lowered. it can.

By the way, the present inventors have tried to shorten the distance between the electrodes based on the insight that the re-ignition voltage can be lowered by shortening the length of the positive column. However, it has been found that when the distance between the electrodes is shortened, the lamp voltage is lowered, and when it is excessively shortened, the lamp current is significantly increased and exceeds the standard value.

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention changed the filling pressure of the argon gas to a range of 3.0 to 6.0 Torr and filled it, and examined the characteristics at that time. The compact fluorescent lamp used in the test was FDL27, and the re-ignition voltage Vp was measured under the same conditions as in the case of the measurement shown in Table 1. The ambient temperature was 15 ° C and the re-ignition voltage Vp after 10 seconds of rated lighting (Bolt) and JI
Using a commercially available ballast specified in S C8108, 0.00
A 60 μF noise prevention capacitor was connected and turned on. The lamp voltage VL (volt) and the lamp current IL (mA) are measured values after 100 hours of rated lighting.

[0024]

[Table 2] From Table 2 above, it can be seen that the re-ignition voltage decreases correspondingly when the pressure of the argon gas is increased.

This is because when the filling pressure of argon gas increases, diffusion of electrons and ions is regulated by the filling pressure of argon in the positive column, so that it takes time for the electrons and ions to reach the tube wall. It reaches the wall slower. That is, the ambipolar diffusion rate of electrons and ions becomes slower, which delays the decay of electrons and ions when the lamp current reverses every half cycle. Therefore, the attenuation is not yet finished immediately after the direction of the current is reversed, and a large amount of electrons and ions remain, so that re-ignition becomes easy, and as a result, the re-ignition voltage Vp can be lowered. Thought to be a thing.

However, if the filling pressure of the argon gas is excessively increased, the movement of electrons is shortened and the lamp voltage rises. When the pressure of argon is 6.0 Torr or more, the startability is deteriorated and the standard is not met.

The re-ignition voltage Vp is preferably 120 V or less in consideration of compatibility with various lighting circuit parts and the like, and in consideration of stopping the lamp voltage and the lamp current at the same level as in the prior art, argon is used. Encapsulation pressure of 4.0
It is necessary to set the pressure to Torr or higher, and it is necessary to set the argon filling pressure to 5.0 Torr or lower in order not to impair the startability.

Although the FDL27 type compact fluorescent lamp has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is applicable to the FDL9, 13, and 18 types, the FML type, the FWL type, and the FP type.
In a bent type fluorescent lamp that is so-called compact type such as L type, the inner diameter of the bulb is 14 to 16 mm.
It is effective when applied to a lamp having a rated input voltage of 100 V and a lamp voltage of 50 V or more.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the filling pressure of the argon gas is increased despite the small diameter of the bulb, the diffusion of electrons and ions in the positive column is restricted,
The speed of reaching the tube wall becomes slower, and the disappearance of electrons and ions when the lamp current is reversed every half cycle is reduced. Therefore, the re-ignition voltage can be lowered, and the blinking operation of the lamp is prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an FDL27 type compact fluorescent lamp showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a lamp current and a lamp voltage.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Arc tube, 2 ... Bulb, 3 ... Electrode.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrode is sealed at an end portion of an arc tube having an inner diameter of 14 to 16 mm, and a phosphor coating is formed on an inner surface of the arc tube. The arc tube contains mercury and at least a rare gas containing argon. A compact fluorescent lamp containing a gas, wherein the pressure of the argon gas is set to 4.0 to 5.0 Torr. 2. The compact fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the lamp has a rated input voltage of 100 V and a lamp voltage of 50 V or more.