JPS5878348A - Manufacturing device for glass bulb for emission tube - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable glass bulbs with high quality and high dimensional accuracy to be manufactured in a short time, without any need of the skillfulness, irrespective of the diameter of the glass bulbs, by providing a means of stopping the radiating action of a laser-light radiating device in preference to control of a program controller when the outer diameter detected by an outer-diameter detector indicates a given value. CONSTITUTION:It is clear that the outer diameter and the shape of a spherical expanded part are determined for each combination of the diameter and the thickness of a worked glass tube (P), according to the radiation time of laser light, the periods of the forward movements and the backward movements of shucks 4a and 4b, and the increasing state of the internal pressure. Therefore, by sputtering a cam timer 23 and timers 25, 27 and 28 according to a manual prepared on the basis of the results of experiments, glass bulbs with a designated size can be manufactured in large numbers in a short time. In addition, since laser light is used as a heating source, high-quality glass bulbs which are not contaminated with any hydrogen or the like can be manufactured.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus W for producing glass spheres for luminescent blue, and more particularly to an apparatus capable of producing glass spheres with a diameter of several square meters in a short period of time and with high yield.

Recently, there has been an increase in energy saving in the field of household lighting sources, and various proposals have been made to meet this demand. For example, one proposal is to use high-pressure open-air lamps with high luminous efficiency as home lighting sources. High-pressure lamps, such as metal halide lamps, have a pair of electrodes placed inside a quartz container, i.e., a glass bulb, and are filled with starting gas and a metal compound. It's twice as good, and the light color is also extremely good. Therefore, if such a high-pressure discharge lamp is used as a home illumination light source, it is possible to satisfy the demand for energy saving.

By the way, the Akane pressure release'goto currently on the market is 100~
Most of them have a high output of 1000 (W) and are used outdoors or indoors with high ceilings. Therefore, in order to use it as a home lighting light source, it is necessary to increase the output to 20 to 40 (W) and to reduce the size of the arc tube accordingly. In this case, the question is whether to manufacture the entire glass bulb for the arc tube.

That is, glass bulbs for arc tubes of high-pressure discharge lamps currently on the market are generally manufactured on a glass lathe using an oxyhydrogen burner as a processing heat source.

However, in the case of an oxyhydrogen burner, the flame spread 9 is large and the heating range is wide, so even if small balls are attempted to be formed, they tend to become spindle-shaped. In particular, it is extremely difficult to form small spheres with a diameter of about 5 mm with high dimensional accuracy. In addition, when glass spheres are formed using a glass lathe using an oxyhydrogen burner, the hydrogen in the oxyhydrogen flame tends to melt into the quartz during formation, and for this reason, when forming metalno-hydrogen with such glass spheres, For example, it is known that hydrogen dissolved in the glass during the life of the runno diffuses into the discharge space and deteriorates the initial characteristics of the runno. In particular, 20
It is expected that the above-mentioned hydrogen shadow will appear more strongly in the small-sized metalno-lidra/no of ~40 (W). Furthermore, the conventional glass lathe using an oxyhydrogen coute requires skill to operate and has a problem of low productivity.

The present invention was made in view of such circumstances,
The aim is to manufacture glass spheres of high quality and high dimensional accuracy in a short time, regardless of the size of the sphere diameter, without requiring any level of skill. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing a glass sphere for a luminescent lamp, which is sufficient to realize the realization of a light source for household lighting.

That is, the manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes a glass lathe that holds a glass tube to be processed and selectively applies rotational force, compressive force, and tensile force to the tube; a laser beam irradiation device i that selectively irradiates the surface of the glass tube to be processed with a processing laser beam f to soften it; a gas supply device that selectively varies the pressure inside the glass tube to be processed; and a program control device that controls the glass lathe, the laser beam irradiation device, and the gas supply device in accordance with a programmed program to form a spherical bulge at the laser beam irradiation portion of the glass tube to be processed. The program control device can create any program by changing the settings, but for example, it is set to the following program. That is, when a start command is given, first, a laser beam is irradiated from a laser beam irradiation device to the glass to be processed, which is held in a glass lathe and continuously rotated. When the glass cube to be processed is softened by laser beam irradiation, a compressive force application command is given to the glass lathe, and the glass supply device K
Give gas supply command to. Therefore, the softened portion of the glass tube to be processed bulges out into a spherical shape. Then, when the bulge reaches a certain size, an irradiation stop command is given to the laser beam irradiation device, and then a stop command is given to the gas supply device. The outer diameter of the spherically bulging portion of the glass tube to be processed is uniquely determined by the laser beam irradiation period, internal pressure, compressive force, tensile force, wall thickness of the glass tube to be processed, etc. Therefore, as long as the program is set taking these into account, glass spheres having the same outer diameter can be automatically manufactured.

In this case, by selecting the above-mentioned setting elements, products with the designed dimensions can be manufactured in a short period of time, and since laser light is used as the heat source, high-quality products can be produced that do not contain hydrogen or other substances. Glass spheres can be manufactured entirely.

In addition to the above-mentioned constituent elements, the manufacturing equipment according to the present invention is also provided with an outer diameter detection device that optically detects the outer diameter of the spherical bulge, and the outer diameter detected by the outer diameter detection device is Means is provided for stopping the irradiation operation of the laser beam irradiation device, giving priority to the control of the norogram control device when the value is determined.

Therefore, not only can the same effects as described above be obtained, but also the outer diameter of the spherical bulge is detected and the above-mentioned operation is performed, which makes it possible to manufacture products with even higher dimensional accuracy. be able to.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the present invention.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and this apparatus is constructed as follows.

That is, J in the figure is a glass lathe, and this glass lathe machine can be roughly divided into a base 2 and a machine that is movable in the left and right direction in the figure and placed facing each other on the same line on the top surface of this base 2. a pair of movable members 9m, 3b, and a pair of holding mechanisms coaxially opposed to each other and rotatably supported on opposing surfaces of these movable members Jm, 9b to hold the glass cheese P to be processed; In other words, chucks 4m and 4b,
The rotational force of the motor 5 fixed to the movable member 3a is applied to the chuck 4m via a mechanism (not shown).

4b, and synchronously rotates the chucks 4m and 4b in the same direction at a constant speed; a motor 7 fixed on the base 2; and one end connected to the rotating shaft of the motor 7. The other end includes a second drive mechanism 9 consisting of a feed screw 8 screwed into a screw hole (not shown) provided in the movable members 3a and Jb. Note that the portion Q1 of the feed screw 8 that is screwed into the screw hole of the movable member 3 is formed with a left-hand thread, and the portion Q2 that is screwed into the threaded portion of the moving member 3b is formed with a right-hand thread. There is.

However, above the glass lathe is a laser beam irradiation device L.
One person is placed there. The laser beam irradiation device 10 is located between the chucks 4a and 4b, for example, through a carbon dioxide laser oscillation tube I and a laser beam 12 emitted from the laser oscillation tube 1 through a vertically movable lens 13 in the figure. Covered 9
- Reflector 1 that illuminates the surface of processed glass cube P
4, and a shutter 15 located between the reflecting mirror 14 and the laser oscillation tube I and selectively blocking the irradiation of the laser beam 12.

On the other hand, the glass to be processed P held by the chucks 4a and 4b has its open end located on the chuck 4a side closed with a suitable stopper, and its open end located on the chuck 4b side closed by a rotary sealing mechanism (not shown). Gas supply equipment via 16. connected to. The gas supply device L1 includes an air gompe 17 whose internal pressure is maintained at several atmospheres, and this air? Empe 1
7 and the glass cheese P to be processed.
It is composed of a magnetic valve 18.

The motor 7 of the glass 1, the shutter 15 of the laser beam irradiation device H173o, and the electromagnetic valve 18 of the gas supply device are controlled by a program control device 21, which will be described below. This nologram control device 21 mainly includes a cam timer 23 driven by a motor 22. The first output of the cam timer 23 is applied to a shirt tachometer 10 and a controller 24 to control the shutter 15 in the relationship described below. Also, the second output of the cam timer 23 is introduced to the motor controller 26 via the timer 25, and the normal rotation of the motor 7 is controlled in the relationship described later.
The third output of the cam timer 23 is introduced into the motor controller 26 via the timer 27 to control the reverse rotation of the motor 7 in the relationship described below, and the fourth output of the cam timer 23 is introduced into the timer 28 to control the solenoid valve 18. The relationship is controlled to be described later.

Next, the operation of manufacturing a glass sphere using the apparatus configured as described above will be explained.

First, the glass tube P to be applied is held by the chucks 4a and 4b. In this case, the open end on the chuck 4a side is sealed with a plug, and the open end on the trench chuck 4b side is connected to the gas supply device LL via a rotary seal mechanism. .

Next, the order and period in which the valley outputs of the cam timer 23 are sent out are set according to the manual. Next, the motor 6 is manually started to rotate.

When the motor 6 starts rotating, the glass line P to be processed moves at a constant speed, for example, 40 rpm, at the arrow 29 in the figure.
Start rotating in the direction shown.

In this state, the laser oscillation tube 1 is brought into operation.

At this time, it is assumed that the shutter 5 is closed as shown by the broken line in the figure. Next, as shown in FIG.
The motor 22 starts rotating at o. When the motor 22 rotates, the cam timer 23 starts operating, and the cam timer 23 first sends out a first output. As a result, the shutter 15 is opened as shown in FIG. 2, and the laser beam 1
2 is irradiated onto the surface of the glass tube P to be processed. Therefore, the irradiated area of the glass tube P to be added gradually softens. In this way, when time t2 is reached, cam timer 2
The transmission of the third to fourth outputs is started, and the timer 28 starts operating. That is, the timer 28 intermittently energizes the solenoid valve 18, for example, at 0.2 second intervals for 0.5 seconds, as shown in Figure 2. Therefore, the pressure inside the glass tube P to be applied gradually increases. Since the part of the glass tube P to be applied to which the laser beam R is irradiated has already softened by a degree S, as described above, when the internal pressure increases, the part starts to expand outward. Then, at time t3, the cam timer 23 starts sending out the second output. As a result, the timer 25 sends an output for 1.25 seconds at 1.25 second intervals, and based on this output, the motor controller 26 controls the motor 7.
rotates forward intermittently. Due to this forward rotation, the chuck 4a
.

4b approach each other in the axial direction, and compressive force is applied to the glass chip P to be processed. The glass tube P to be heated is softened as described above, and the internal pressure is also gradually increasing, so that it further expands in the direction of increasing its outer diameter. Then, at time t4, the transmission of the fourth output from the cam timer 23 is temporarily stopped. Therefore, the solenoid valve J8 remains closed. When time t6 arrives in this state, cam timer 2
3, the transmission of the second output is stopped. Therefore, the normal rotation operation of the motor 7 is stopped. Then, at time t6, the fourth output is sent out again from the cam timer 13-23, and as a result, the solenoid valve 18 is intermittently energized again, and the applied glass tube P
The pressure inside gradually increases again.

Then, at time t7, the cam timer 23 starts sending out the third output, and as a result, the timer 22 operates, and the motor controller 26 controls the motor 7 based on the output.
For example, it is reversed by 1.25 seconds at 1.25 second intervals. Due to this reversal, the shafts 4m and 4b retreat from each other in the axial direction, and this retreat causes the applied glass tube P
The shape of the bulging part is formed into a spherical shape. and time t8
At this point, the transmission of the third output of the cam timer 23 is stopped, and the rotation of the motor 7 is stopped. At this point, the solenoid valve is still intermittently energized, so the internal pressure is constantly increasing. Then, at time t9, the transmission of the first output from the cam timer 23 is stopped, and as a result, the shutter 15 is closed and the irradiation of the laser beam to the glass tape P to be processed is stopped. Therefore, the temperature 14- of the bulging portion of the glass tube P to be applied gradually decreases. Then, at time tto, the output from the cam timer 23 is stopped, and then at time tll, the rotational operation of the motor 22 is stopped, and a series of! Terminate control of the p rubrum. Therefore, at this point, if the operation of the laser oscillation tube 1 is stopped, the motor 6 is stopped, and the heated glass tube P'l is removed from the chucks 4a and 4b, the heated glass tube P'l is removed as shown in FIG. A glass sphere for an arc tube can be obtained by cutting the thus formed part shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure.

In this case, the outer shape and shape of the spherical bulge X are as follows:
It is clear that the diameter and wall thickness of the glass tube P to be applied are primarily determined by the laser beam irradiation time, the forward and backward periods of the chucks 4m and 4b, and the degree of increase in internal pressure. Cam timer 23 and timer 2 according to the manual created based on experimental results.
5, 27, and 28, it is possible to manufacture a large amount of products with specified dimensions in a short period of time. Furthermore, since a laser beam is used as a heating source, it is clear that a glass sphere of good quality without hydrogen or the like being dissolved therein can be produced, and as a result, the above-mentioned effects can be obtained.

FIG. 4 schematically shows a manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, and the same parts as in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. Therefore, the explanation of the overlapping parts will be omitted.

This embodiment differs from the previous embodiments in that an outer diameter detection device 41 is provided to detect the outer diameter of the spherical bulge X, and when the outer diameter obtained by this outer diameter detection device 41 is a predetermined value, program control is performed. The reason is that the irradiation operation of the laser beam irradiation device LA is stopped in priority to the control of the device 21.

Specifically, as shown in FIG.
Laser light 43 sent out from a laser oscillation tube 42 such as an e-Ne laser oscillation tube is focused to a predetermined point R on the glass tube P by a convex lens 44, and the laser light 43 is received via a convex lens 4sq. The device 46 is configured to receive the light. When the output of the light receiver 46 falls, a circuit (not shown) built into the shutter controller 24 forcibly operates the shutter controller 24 to close the shutter 15. Note that the laser oscillation tube 42 is operated by the fifth output of the cam timer 23.

With such a configuration, when the radius of the spherical bulge X expands to point R, the laser beam 43 is blocked and the output of the light receiver 46 falls, at which point the shutter 15 closes. Therefore, by adjusting the position of point R to the target radius value in advance, it is possible to manufacture a large quantity of glass spheres with no error in the outer diameter dimension.

In addition, in the embodiment described above, a mechanism may be provided that can finely adjust the position of point R by moving the laser oscillator 42, convex lenses 44, 45, and light receiver 46 together. Also,
In order to detect the outer diameter with higher precision, the outer diameter detection device may be formed by combining a reflecting mirror, a filter, etc.

As described above in detail, the present invention can provide a glass sphere manufacturing apparatus for arc tubes that can efficiently manufacture glass spheres of high quality and high dimensional accuracy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a manufacturing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the device, and FIG. 3 is a side view of a glass sphere manufactured by the device. , 4th
The figure is a schematic block diagram of a manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of main parts of the same apparatus. P...To be cut ■Eglas Steve, X...Spherical bulge, L...Glass lathe, 4a, 4b...Chuck, 6
...first drive mechanism, 9...second drive mechanism, ■.
...Laser light irradiation device, 16...Gas supply device +d, z
29...Program control device, L-yu...Outer diameter detection device. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue 18-

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A first drive mechanism that has a pair of holding mechanisms that hold the glass cheese to be processed and rotates the pair of holding mechanisms synchronously in the same direction at a constant speed, and the pair of holding mechanisms that are selectively set in opposition to each other. a glass lathe consisting of a second drive mechanism that moves forward and backward at opposite speeds in a direction of a laser beam irradiation device that softens the glass tube to be processed by irradiating light; a gas supply device that selectively increases the pressure inside the glass tube to 61%; and a gas supply device that softens the glass tube according to a predetermined program. The first part of the lathe. The second drive
A light emitting device comprising an ih mechanism, a laser beam irradiation device, and a zologram control device that controls the gas supply device to form a spherical bulge at the laser beam irradiation site of the glass tube to be added. Glass sphere manufacturing equipment for tubes. (2) A first drive mechanism that has a pair of holding mechanisms that hold the glass tube to be applied and rotates the pair of holding mechanisms synchronously in the same direction at a constant speed, and a first drive mechanism that selectively rotates the pair of holding mechanisms. a glass lathe comprising a second driving mechanism that advances and retreats at a constant speed in opposite directions; and a glass lathe for selectively processing the surface of the glass tube located between the pair of holding mechanisms of the glass lathe. A laser beam irradiation device that softens the glass tube to be processed by irradiating it with LED light, a gas supply device that selectively varies the pressure inside the glass tube to be processed, and a predetermined program. According to the first embodiment of the glass lathe. a program control device that controls a second drive mechanism, a laser beam irradiation device, and a gas supply device to form a spherical bulge at the laser beam irradiation site of the glass tube; an outer diameter detection device that optically detects an outer diameter; and when the outer diameter detected by the device is a predetermined value, the laser light irradiation of the laser light irradiation device is stopped with priority over the control of the program control device. What is claimed is: 1. A glass sphere manufacturing apparatus for an arc tube, comprising means for producing a glass sphere for an arc tube.