JPH10233192A - Flat fluorescent lamp device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flat fluorescent lamp device whose starting voltage can be lowered. SOLUTION: A flat fluorescent lamp comprises a light emitting tube in which a spiral discharge path is formed and a base strip for holding the light emitting tube and for guiding an electrical connecting terminal to the outside, and electrodes 5, 6 are placed at the center and the terminal of the spiral of the spiral discharge path, respectively. A phosphor is applied to the interior wall surface of the light emitting tube, and discharge gases including, e.g. mercury gas and argon gas, are sealed therein. Such a flat fluorescent lamp 1 is mounted in a device main body 7 via the base, a lighting device such as a ballast is mounted in the device main body 7, and a partly cut circular conductor 10 is placed on the partition plate 9 of the device main body 7 along the flat surface of the lamp 1. An alternating current is supplied to each end of the conductor 10 via an AC power supply 11 during startup.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat fluorescent lamp device having a spiral discharge path, and more particularly to a flat fluorescent lamp device capable of reducing the starting voltage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional flat compact fluorescent lamp used as a light source for illumination is disclosed in JP-A-8-1718.
No. 85, JP-A-57-118358 and the like are known. These documents describe the structure or performance of the flat fluorescent lamp in detail, but do not describe a starting voltage or the like when combined with a lighting device.

[0003] In order to light a fluorescent lamp having electrodes, it is necessary to apply a voltage between the two electrodes sufficient to cause dielectric breakdown. It is well known that the higher the breakdown voltage, that is, the starting voltage, the larger the capacity of the ballast and the higher the cost of the ballast. As a method of reducing the starting voltage, a method in which a proximity conductor is provided on the outer surface or the inner surface of a lamp bulb, such as a rapid start fluorescent lamp, is known.

[0004]

Although the starting voltage is desirably low as described above, the flat compact fluorescent lamp generally has a problem that the starting voltage is very high. From the viewpoint of a discharge path, a flat fluorescent lamp is formed by bending a long thin tube into a flat shape or in a spiral shape, so that the loss due to recombination of electrons increases, and the lamp voltage and starting voltage increase. The voltage tends to increase. Further, since the discharge path is bent, the electron loss at the time of starting further increases, and the starting voltage increases. The fact that the starting voltage of the lamp is high not only increases the cost as described above, but also increases the burden on the lighting device such as a ballast.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flat-type fluorescent lamp device capable of reducing a starting voltage.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a flat-type fluorescent lamp having a spirally formed discharge path, and having electrodes disposed at the spiral center and end of the discharge path, respectively. In a flat-type fluorescent lamp device provided with a lamp, an electric conductor is disposed on the flat-type fluorescent lamp or the device main body, and an alternating current is applied or an alternating voltage is applied to the electric conductor only at the time of starting. Things.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view thereof.

First, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a flat fluorescent lamp 1 has a glass arc tube 3 having a spiral discharge path 2 formed therein, and holds and electrically connects the arc tube 3. The spiral discharge path 2 has electrodes 5 and 6 at the center and at the end of the spiral discharge path 2, respectively. A reflective film or a phosphor (not shown) is applied to the inner wall surface of the arc tube 3, and a discharge gas containing, for example, mercury gas or argon gas is sealed inside.

In the present embodiment, the size of the flat fluorescent lamp 1 is such that the diameter of the disk-shaped arc tube 3 is about 130 mm,
The thickness is about 16 mm. A discharge is formed between the center electrode 5 and the terminal electrode 6, and the distance between the electrodes is about 850 mm.

As shown in FIG. 2, the flat-type fluorescent lamp 1 is mounted on a device body 7 via a base 4 to constitute a flat-type fluorescent lamp device. A lighting device 8 such as a ballast is attached to the apparatus main body 7, and a ring-shaped conductor 10 partially cut is provided on a partition plate 9 of the apparatus main body 7 on the flat surface of the flat fluorescent lamp 1. It is arranged along. An alternating current is applied to both ends of the conductor 10 via an AC power supply 11 at the time of starting.

When the thus-configured flat-type fluorescent lamp device is turned on, an alternating current flows through the conductor 10 at the time of starting, an electromagnetic induction electric field is generated in the discharge space of the spiral discharge path 2, and a small amount of electric field is generated in the discharge space. Discharge occurs. The starting voltage is reduced by this minute discharge.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram showing a second embodiment. In this embodiment, disc-shaped conductors 12 and 13 are disposed on both sides of the above-mentioned flat fluorescent lamp 1 so as to face each other. An AC voltage is applied via.

In the flat-type fluorescent lamp device constructed as described above, when an AC voltage is applied between the two conductors 12 and 13 at the time of starting, the spiral discharge path 2 existing between the two conductors 12 and 13 is formed. A minute discharge is generated in the discharge space, and the starting voltage is reduced by the minute discharge.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 5 is a simplified diagram showing a third embodiment. In this embodiment, a strip-shaped conductor 14 is disposed on the upper surface of the lamp 1 along the entire discharge path 2 formed in a spiral shape. Further, an alternating current is applied to both ends of the conductor 14 via the AC power supply 11 at the time of starting.

In this flat-type fluorescent lamp device, when an alternating current is applied to the conductor 14 at the time of starting, a slight discharge is generated in the entire spiral discharge path 2, so that the starting voltage is lower than in the first embodiment. .

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 6 is a simplified view showing a fourth embodiment. The difference from Embodiment 3 is that the conductor 14 is disposed in a part of the spiral discharge path 2. . Other configurations are the same as those of the third embodiment. Also in this embodiment,
Since a slight discharge is generated along the discharge path 2, the starting voltage decreases.

(Embodiment 5) FIG. 7 is a simplified view showing a fifth embodiment, in which a strip-shaped conductor 15 is provided on the thin side surface of the flat fluorescent lamp 1, and a starting member is provided at both ends thereof. Occasionally, an AC current is supplied via the AC power supply 11. When an alternating current is applied to the conductor 15 at the time of starting, a slight discharge occurs in the discharge path 2 along the side surface of the lamp 1, and the starting voltage is reduced.

(Embodiment 6) FIG. 8 is a simplified view showing a sixth embodiment, which is different from the above-described fourth embodiment in that the conductor 14 is divided into two parts and the two divided conductive parts are formed. That is, the bodies 14a and 14b are arranged in parallel.
Further, an alternating current is applied to both ends of the conductors 14a and 14b via the AC power supply 11 at the time of starting.

In the flat-type fluorescent lamp device thus configured, when an alternating current is applied to the two conductors 14a and 14b at the time of starting, a finer image can be obtained in a single area, that is, in a wider area than in the fourth embodiment. Discharge occurs. Therefore, the starting voltage is further reduced.

[0020]

As described above, the present invention relates to a flat-type fluorescent lamp having a spirally formed discharge path and having a flat-type fluorescent lamp in which electrodes are respectively disposed at the center and the end of the spiral of the discharge path. In a fluorescent lamp device, a conductor is provided on the lamp or the device body, and when the conductor is started, an alternating current is applied or an alternating voltage is applied, so that a slight discharge is generated in a discharge space constituting a discharge path. Occurs and the starting voltage can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a first embodiment of a flat fluorescent lamp device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the first embodiment.

3A and 3B are simplified views showing a flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 3A is a plan view and FIG.

FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram showing a second embodiment according to the present invention,
(A) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 5 is a simplified diagram showing a third embodiment according to the present invention,
(A) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram showing a fourth embodiment according to the present invention,
(A) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 7 is a simplified diagram showing a fifth embodiment according to the present invention,
(A) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 8 is a simplified diagram showing a sixth embodiment according to the present invention,
(A) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 flat fluorescent lamp 2 discharge path 3 arc tube 4 base 5 spiral center electrode 6 terminal electrode 7 device body 8 high frequency lighting device 9 partition plate 10 conductor 11 AC power supply

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A flat-type fluorescent lamp device comprising: a flat-type fluorescent lamp having a spirally formed discharge path and having electrodes disposed at a spiral center and an end of the discharge path, respectively. A flat-type fluorescent lamp device comprising: an annular conductor that is partially open along a flat surface of a fluorescent lamp; and an alternating current is applied to the conductor only during starting. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the direction of the electric field induced by applying the alternating current is the same as the direction of the micro-discharge generated by the electric field applied between the electrodes. Flat fluorescent lamp device. 3. A flat-type fluorescent lamp device comprising a flat-type fluorescent lamp having a spirally formed discharge path and having electrodes respectively disposed at the center and the end of the spiral of the discharge path. A flat-type fluorescent lamp device comprising: a disk-shaped conductor disposed on both sides of a fluorescent lamp so as to face each other; and an AC voltage is applied between the two conductors only during starting. 4. A flat-type fluorescent lamp device comprising: a flat-type fluorescent lamp having a spirally formed discharge path and having electrodes disposed at a spiral center and an end of the discharge path, respectively. A flat-type fluorescent lamp device comprising: a strip-shaped conductor arranged along a discharge path of a fluorescent lamp; and an alternating current is applied to the conductor only at the time of starting. 5. The flat-type fluorescent lamp device according to claim 4, wherein the conductor is provided on an upper surface of the lamp. 6. The flat fluorescent lamp device according to claim 4, wherein the conductor is provided on a side surface of the lamp. 7. The flat fluorescent lamp device according to claim 5, wherein the conductor is constituted by two divided strip-shaped conductors.