JPH0727754B2 - Fluorescent lamp manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp having a bulb body in which a plurality of glass bulbs are connected at their sides.

(Prior Art) A single discharge is formed by sealing discharge electrodes at both ends provided at one end of the bulb body, in which a plurality of tube-shaped glass bulbs having phosphor coatings on the inner surface are connected at their side surfaces. Fluorescent lamps that form a passage and have a bulb base attached to the end of the bulb body are commercially available as compact power-saving light sources. In the conventional manufacture of this type of fluorescent lamp, the tube glass bulb is bent at multiple points to form the bulb body, or the tube glass bulbs are connected, and then the phosphor suspension is introduced. There is a method of forming a phosphor coating by using the above method. With this method, it was difficult to discharge the phosphor suspension liquid that had flowed in, and it was difficult to form a phosphor film with a uniform film thickness. As another method, there is a method of flowing a phosphor suspension into a straight glass tube to form a phosphor coating, and then forming an outwardly projecting opening for connection with an adjacent glass bulb. It is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-133730. This method does not have the same problem as the above-mentioned method, but the phosphor existing in the opening causes cracks or breakage in the bulb during heating of the glass bulb for opening and heating for connection with the adjacent glass bulb. There is a risk of causing it.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp in which a plurality of glass bulbs each having a phosphor coating on its inner surface are connected to form one discharge path. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp in which the body coating can be easily formed uniformly, the glass bulbs can be easily airtightly connected to each other, and the bulbs are not broken.

[Structure of Invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention includes a step of removing a portion of a phosphor coating adhered to an inner surface of a glass bulb having an open end at least at one end thereof in the vicinity of the open end of the glass bulb, and after the above step, The step of closing the opening end of the glass bulb, the step of forming a through hole on the side surface of the glass bulb from which the phosphor coating has been removed after the step of removing the phosphor coating at the opening end of the glass bulb, and the through hole were formed. And a step of forming a bulb body by air-tightly connecting the through holes of the plurality of glass bulbs.

(Operation) In the method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp of the present invention, the phosphor coating is applied to the inner surface of the tubular glass bulb of the bulb body, and the phosphor coating near the opening end including the opening end of the glass bulb is removed. After that, since the through hole is formed on the side surface of the glass bulb of the phosphor coating removal portion, the glass bulb is heated by the heating for forming the through hole on the side surface of the glass bulb on which the phosphor coating is applied. As described above, the phosphor coating is formed on a U-shaped or annular simple shape glass bulb that does not have cracks or breakage and does not have a plurality of curved portions. Therefore, a uniform phosphor coating can be manufactured easily. It is possible to easily manufacture the obtained fluorescent lamp having a bulb body in which a plurality of tube-shaped glass bulbs are connected at the side surface.

(Example) A method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp of a bulb body will be described with reference to an illustrated example. 1 to 6 are front views for explaining the steps of one embodiment of the manufacturing method of the present invention. The phosphor suspension is introduced into the inner surface of the straight glass bulb (1) to form a phosphor coating. The straight glass bulb (1) is heated and bent as shown in FIG.
Form a glass bulb (2) in the shape of a letter. After that, the phosphor film in the vicinity of the open ends (3) and (4) of the U-shaped glass bulb (2) is removed to remove the phosphor film removing portion (5),
(6) is formed. In this step, a notch portion (7) for forming a through hole for connecting with another U-shaped glass bulb in a later step is formed in one phosphor film removing portion (6).

A stem (8) provided with a discharge electrode is sealed to the phosphor film removal portion (5). (9) is an exhaust pipe of the stem. Since the open end (4) is still open in this step, the open end (4) is heated and closed. FIG. 4 shows a U-shaped glass bulb (2) after completion of the above steps, in which the phosphor coating removal portion (5) has a stem (8) sealed, and (6) is closed. This is the closed end (10).
Heating the notch (7) on the side surface of the phosphor coating removal portion (6) of the glass bulb (2) to blow dry air or an inert gas rack through the exhaust pipe (9) of the stem (8). Thus, the notch (7) of the phosphor film removal portion (6) is blown to form a through hole (11).

FIG. 5 is a side view of the glass bulb after the formation of the through hole. Another glass bulb (12) in which the position of the through hole is formed on the opposite side surface of the glass bulb in the same process as the above process
Then, the glass bulb (2) and the glass bulb (12) provided with the thin tube (13) are connected with the through holes aligned. Sixth
The figure is a front view of the fluorescent lamp in the intermediate step after the above connecting step, in which (14) is the front side connecting portion. The thin tube (13) located on the back side in FIG. 6 is sealed before the exhausting step. The connection of the through holes of the glass bulbs (2) and (11) is the glass burr that is generated when the concave portion on the side surface of the phosphor removing portion is heated and air or the like is blown to blow the concave portion as described above. It can be said that the protrusions can be said to be fused and airtightly connected to each other before being solidified, or may be airtightly connected by another glass tube. The fluorescent lamp in the intermediate step of FIG. 6 is exhausted from the exhaust pipe (9), and the fluorescent lamp is manufactured by an ordinary step.

When the protrusions formed by blowout are fused together, the protrusions and the vicinity thereof are not covered with the phosphor, so that the connecting portions are inflated and the connecting portions are separated as shown in FIG. Can be at the end of the valve. As a result, the discharge path extends to the end portion, the discharge path length is slightly lengthened, and there is no light spot of the bulb, that is, no arc spot. In addition, the above-described manufacturing method is an embodiment, and is curved into a U-shape as shown in FIG. 2 before the phosphor coating is formed on the inner surface of the straight tube glass bulb as shown in FIG. A suspension of phosphor may be introduced to form a phosphor coating. In this case, since there is only one curved portion, it is not difficult to discharge the suspension of phosphor, and a phosphor of uniform thickness is formed. The coating can be easily formed. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an intermediate step of another embodiment of the manufacturing method of the present invention, which is an end of glass bulbs (15) and (16) curved in a U shape and having a phosphor coating coated on the inner surface thereof. The parts (17) and (18) serve as open ends, and the phosphor film in the vicinity thereof is removed to form phosphor film removed parts (19) and (20). U-shaped curved glass bulbs (15 ') and (16') (not shown) are present on the back surfaces of the glass bulbs (15) and (16).
6 ') is connected by a through hole of the phosphor film removal portion formed on the side surface thereof to form a connection portion (21). The substrate (22) is provided with discharge electrodes (23) and (24) at the positions where the glass bulbs (15) and (16) are connected, and an exhaust pipe (at the position of one of the electrodes (23)). 25) is installed. (26) is a lead wire. The open end of the glass bulb is formed by adhering the valve body (27) consisting of the tubular glass bulbs (15), (16) and (15 '), (16') to the substrate (22) with an adhesive. ), The airtight discharge space closed by is formed. The inside of the glass bulb is evacuated from the exhaust pipe (25), and a fluorescent lamp is manufactured by a usual method. FIG. 9 schematically shows a vertical cross section in the completed state. Incidentally, here, (30) is a phosphor layer.

The manufacturing method of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned fluorescent lamp. For example, two or more U-shaped glass bulbs may be connected, and the plural glass bulbs may be formed on the same surface. Further, the glass bulb is not limited to the U shape, but may be an annular shape or other shapes.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, in the method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp of the present invention, the portion of the phosphor coating adhered to the inner surface of the glass bulb having the opening end at least at one end is removed in the vicinity of the opening end of the glass bulb. A step of closing the glass bulb opening end after the above step, and forming a through hole on the side surface of the glass bulb from which the phosphor coating has been removed after the phosphor coating removal step of the glass bulb opening end, And the step of forming a bulb body by air-tightly connecting the through holes of the plurality of glass bulbs having the above-mentioned through-holes. It is easy to do the work, it is possible to form a uniform phosphor coating, and because the phosphor is removed from the through holes on the side of the glass bulb, the glass bulb is cracked or destroyed by heating when connecting it. It has an excellent effect that no

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 7 are front views for explaining the steps of the method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is a perspective view for explaining the steps of a fluorescent lamp having another structure, and FIG. 9 is completed. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows a state typically. 1,2 ...... Glass bulb, 3,4 ...... Open end, 5,6 ...... Phosphor film removal part, 7 ...... Notch part, 10 ...... Closed end, 11 ...... Perforated hole, 14 ...
… Connection

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Naotoshi, 1 1 201, 1 Funakoshi-cho, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa Inside the Yokosuka factory of Toshiba Corporation (56) Reference JP-A 64-67842 (JP, A) JP Sho 63-21723 (JP, A) JP 63-58754 (JP, A) JP 61-230256 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A fluorescent lamp in which a discharge electrode is sealed at both ends of a bulb body having a plurality of glass bulbs each having an inner surface coated with a phosphor coating and connected at its side surfaces to form a single discharge path. And removing the portion of the phosphor coating adhered to the inner surface of the glass bulb having an open end at least at one end in the vicinity of the glass bulb open end, and closing the glass bulb open end after the above step. And a step of forming a through hole on the side surface of the glass bulb from which the phosphor coating has been removed after the step of removing the phosphor coating at the opening end of the glass bulb, and the through holes of the plurality of glass bulbs in which the through holes have been formed. And a step of forming a bulb body by air-tightly connecting the two.