JPS58111251A - Discharge lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a discharge lamp, and particularly to an improvement in a discharge lamp whose discharge light emitting area can be variably controlled along the longitudinal direction of the discharge lamp.

The discharge lamp disclosed in Patent Application No. 131801 filed earlier by the applicant of the present invention has a linear electrode that serves as an anode locally formed inside the tube of the discharge lamp, while the surface outside the tube is The structure consists of a transparent conductive thin film that serves as a cathode in the upper part.[The electrode is formed over almost the entire area. According to the discharge lamp having such a configuration, the discharge light emission region 11I, that is, the discharge path, can be variably controlled in the longitudinal direction of the tube by sequentially increasing or decreasing the voltage level or frequency of the drive signal supplied between the anode and the cathode. can.

This type of discharge lamp can impart a dynamic effect to the information content itself displayed by emitting discharge light, so it is extremely convenient for use in display means for advertisements and the like.

By the way, when the discharge lamp having the above-mentioned configuration sequentially variably controls the discharge light emitting area along the longitudinal direction of the tube,
Since the brightness of discharge light emission** tends to gradually decrease as it moves away from the vicinity of the anode, the brightness distribution of the information content is not uniform, resulting in color unevenness and the like.

Furthermore, according to the above-mentioned discharge lamp, since the temperature range at the tip of the anode is large, blackening of the inner wall of the tube occurs in a short period of time due to evaporation of the anode electromagnetic waves, which significantly shortens the charge of the discharge lamp. There were some drawbacks.

The present invention covers the periphery of the tip of the electrode that becomes the anode with a well-known getter material such as titanium, tank, or zirconium, which has excellent adsorption properties for harmful emissions such as harmful gases and impurities in the discharge lamp tube. In addition, by attaching the getter material so as to protrude from the electrode in the longitudinal direction of the tube, the discharge meridian during discharge light emission is regulated, thereby reducing the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional discharge lamp as much as possible.

Further, since the discharge lamp according to the present invention is constructed as described above, when the ions emitted from the anode electrode pass through the getter material cylinder, they receive a multiplication effect due to secondary emission, which increases the brightness of the entire light emitting area. Not only can this be made significantly larger than in conventional discharge lamps, but it is also possible to increase the length of the discharge path itself, which makes it possible to use this type of discharge lamp as a display means. Particularly effective.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In addition, in the following examples, a case will be explained in which a relatively small discharge lamp with a tube diameter of about 2 meters to 10 meters and a tube length of about 2 meters to 200 meters is used, but if the tube diameter and tube length exceed this range. The present invention can be applied in exactly the same way even to discharge lamps larger than the above.

In FIG. 1, a discharge tube 1 forming a discharge lamp P is made of a soft glass material such as transparent soda glass, or a hard glass material such as borosilicate glass, and is formed into a straight line #C as shown. An inert gas such as neon gas, krypton gas, or xenon gas is sealed inside the discharge tube 1 under a pressure of several III Hg to several 1100 Hg. Inside the discharge tube 1, a linear electrode 412 serving as an anode of the discharge lamp P is locally provided at the end of the discharge tube 1, as shown in the figure.

When the above-mentioned soft glass material is used for the discharge tube 1, it is preferable to use Dumet wire for the electrode fM2r-, and when a hard glass material is used for the discharge tube 1, the electrode 2JC is preferably made of tungsten. It is preferable to use a wire, and the tip of the electric wire 412 is made of titanium, which has particularly excellent adsorption properties for harmful emissions such as harmful gases and impurities.
A getter material 5 made of tantalum, zirconium, etc. is attached so as to protrude from the electrode 2, thereby extending the life of the discharge lamp P.

The getter material 5 is, for example, a hollow circle l11 as shown in FIG.
After inserting the hollow part into the tip 2& of the U-shaped C-bent electrode 2, the end 31 is fixed to the tip of the electrode 2 by crimping or spot welding. . When the getter material 3 is attached to the electrode 2 as shown in FIG.
．． The discharge path at 4 is formed through the hollow part of the getter material 3. On the other hand, the electrode 4 serving as the cathode is connected to the discharge lamp P.
It is formed along the longitudinal direction of the discharge tube 1 outside the tube. The electrode 4 is formed by spraying, for example, an aqueous solution of tin halide onto the surface of the discharge tube 10 heated to 500° C. to 700° C., and depositing a transparent conductive thin film of Sunka Sume on the surface. Ru. The conductive wire 5 is for supplying power to the discharge lamp P and is connected to the electric wire ff14.

Figures 5-) to (e) show various shapes of the getter material 3 attached to the tip 2aK of the electrode 2, and Figure 5-)
Figure 3) shows a square and cylindrical getter material, (0) shows a cylindrical getter material, (d) shows a triangular and cylindrical getter material, and (.) shows an elliptical and cylindrical getter material 3. In Figure 5 (
b) (0) shows an embodiment in which the getter material 5 is formed using a plate-shaped material; however, it is also possible to form the getter material 5 in the shape shown in (b) (b) using a plate-shaped material.

FIG. 4 shows a specific electric circuit for discharging and emitting light from the discharge lamp P shown in FIG. This is for supplying a low voltage DC power of several volts, for example, about 3 to 12 volts, to the transistor 9 through the transistor 9. The control signal generator 7 generates a signal of several mHz, for example, 5
This is for supplying a control signal, such as a pulse signal, having a frequency of 00 Hz to 20 KHz, which serves as a drive signal for the discharge lamp P. The external pressure transformer δ is used to apply the control signal to the external voltage required to discharge and emit light from the discharge lamp P, and the secondary winding receives a pulse signal with a peak value of, for example, about 500 to 1200 mA. cause

FIG. 5 shows a drive signal, that is, a control signal, for continuously variable control of the length of the discharge path, which is the light emitting area of the discharge lamp P, by sequentially increasing or decreasing the voltage level of the drive signal supplied to the discharge lamp P. A specific electrical circuit diagram of a control signal generating device 7 suitable for generating the signal is shown. Fifth
In the figure, the bus signal generator 10 is for generating a pulse signal of several hundred Hz to several KHz as shown in FIG.
As shown in Figure 3), this is for generating a sawtooth wave signal of several minutes of IHz to several Hz. The AND gate circuit 12 receives both the output signals of the pulse signal generator 10 and the sawtooth wave generator 11 as input signals, and generates an output signal as shown in FIG. 6(Q). In FIG. 5, input terminals 15 and 14 are power input terminals, which are connected to the power supply device 6 in FIG. ing.

In FIG. 7, a getter material 3 as described above is attached to the tip of the electrode 2 so as to protrude from the electrode IE 2 in the longitudinal direction of the tube, and a transparent conductive thin film 4 on the surface of the discharge tube 10 is attached to the lawn as shown in the figure. This figure shows the discharge light emitting state of the discharge lamp P when the discharge lamp P is formed with a part of the end surface portion removed, and the discharge light emitting area is shown with diagonal lines. The transparent conductive thin film 4 is preferably formed over almost the entire surface of the tube except for a portion of the surface of the tube from the end of the anode electrode to a point 1 that is a predetermined distance d from the getter material 3, as shown. In addition,
According to experiments, the distance d differs depending on the pipe length and is 2.
Approximately 111 to 10 pieces of cod is suitable.

Figure 8 shows the luminance distribution of the light emitting area of the discharge lamp P during discharge light emission, where the horizontal axis represents the distance of the light emission W along the longitudinal direction of the tube, and the vertical axis represents the distance DC. In Figure 0, the solid line shows the luminance distribution of the electric lamp P according to the prior art, and the broken line shows the luminance distribution of the discharge lamp P according to the present invention.

The illuminated lights according to this dormitory example have the above configuration.
Next, its effect will be explained.

First, a case where both the anode and cathode electrodes 2.4 of the discharge lamp P shown in FIG. 1 are connected to the positive winding of the external pressure transformer 802 as shown in FIG. 4 will be described.

Now, in the fourth part, when a control signal as shown in FIG. 6(0) generated by the control signal generator 7 is supplied to the primary winding of the external pressure transformer 8 via the transistor 9, the discharge lamp P
A bus signal whose peak level increases sequentially is applied between the electrodes 2.4 during the period 71. As shown in Figure tJg1, the discharge lamp P has a structure in which a gas filled with neon, etc. and a glass material such as Il are interposed between the electrodes 2 and 4, so that the level of the applied voltage increases, that is, the intensity of the electric field increases. Accordingly, the light emitting area of the discharge lamp P increases continuously. That is, the length of the discharge path of the discharge lamp P is sequentially extended in the direction of the arrow from the right end to the left end of the paper in FIG. .

By the way, in the discharge lamp P according to the present invention, the getter material 3
is attached so as to protrude in the longitudinal direction of the tube with respect to the electrode ff12 where <m1ii as shown in FIG. Ions emitted from the electrode 2 toward the transparent conductive thin film 4, which serves as the cathode, are regulated by the inner cylinder of the getter material 3. Therefore, the light emission III level of the discharge lamp P is regulated as shown in the shaded area in FIG. In particular, according to the discharge lamp of the present invention, the local heat generation effect of the electrode itself is reduced during discharge light emission, so the well-known blackening phenomenon that occurs on the tube wall is largely prevented and the discharge lamp itself has a long lifespan. This is extremely convenient for development.

Further, according to the discharge lamp of the present invention, the ion emission within the cylinder of the getter material 3 is significantly promoted by the multiplication effect, and the radiation direction is restricted due to the structure of the getter material 3, and the transparent conductive thin film is provided around the tube. 4 is formed excluding the end surface portion as shown in FIG. 7, so that not only the discharge path, that is, the light-emitting area greatly increases under the energizing energy of the electrode, but also the unevenness of brightness is significantly reduced. I'll check it out. In addition, these actions and effects are the third cause of getter material 5 -) ~ (・) IC
External shape as shown, tube radius and tube longitudinal direction protrusion dimension of getter material 5, tube longitudinal direction electric aii2 shown by d in Figure 1g7
．． It can be changed arbitrarily depending on the interval of 4 fathoms.

As described above, in the discharge lamp according to the present invention, by attaching a getter material to the tip of the electrode serving as the anode, it is possible to prevent the blackening phenomenon, to prevent the occurrence of uneven luminance in the discharge path, and to significantly increase the discharge path itself. This is extremely effective in practice.

In addition, in the present invention, a case has been described in which a voltage that increases or decreases sequentially is energized to both the anode and cathode of the discharge lamp, but since the two electrodes are coupled in terms of electric capacity, Even if the frequency of the supplied drive signal is increased or decreased, the discharge lamp operates in the same manner as described above.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a discharge lamp to which the present invention is applied. Figure vg2 shows the main parts of Figure 1 in an external view. FIGS. 3-) to 3(e) are external views showing various shapes of getter materials applicable to the present invention. FIGS. 4 and 5 show specific electrical circuit diagrams for causing the discharge lamp to emit light by discharge in this embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an output waveform diagram showing details of the control signal which is the drive signal. FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory diagrams showing the operating status of the discharge lamp applied to the present invention. Discharge tube...1 Electrode...2.4 Tip part-2 & Getter material...3 Applicant Shoulder or Yoshiyo Attorney Patent attorney Oka 1) Hidehiko No. 1 @ Figure 2 Figure 3 (b) ) (d) No. 41!1 f$7 Figure 22〉D

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) One of the two electrodes, which will serve as the anode, is formed locally near the end inside the discharge lamp tube, while the other electrode, which will serve as the cathode, is attached to the outside surface of the discharge lamp tube. In a discharge lamp formed with a conductive thin film and configured to variably control the light emitting area of the discharge lamp, the periphery of the tip of the electrode serving as the anode is covered with a getter material; The discharge lamp is characterized in that it is attached so as to protrude from the tip. (i) A transparent conductive conductor in which one of the two electrodes, which will serve as the anode, is formed locally near the end of the discharge lamp tube, while the other electrode, which will serve as the cathode, is attached to the surface outside the discharge lamp tube. The discharge lamp is formed with a magnetic thin film and is configured to variably control the light emitting range of the discharge lamp by sequentially increasing or decreasing the voltage level or frequency of the drive signal supplied between the two electrodes. The discharge lamp characterized in that a transparent conductive thin film serving as a cathode is adhered to at least a portion of the tube surface excluding a portion of the tube surface at a predetermined distance from the electrode serving as the anode in the longitudinal direction of the tube.