JPS60154451A - Low pressure mercury-vapor electric discharge lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time necessary for rising of optical output during reignition by installing an amalgam in an amalgam container having a small hole with an area of 0.1mm.<2> or less and installing the amalgam container in an exhaust tube. CONSTITUTION:An amalgam container 20 is formed by a bottomed cylindrical glass tube having a smaller inner diameter than an exhaust tube 18. After an amalgam formation metallic body 19 is installed in the glass tube, its opening is fused and a minute hole 23 markedly smaller than the opening 22 of the exhaust tube 18 is formed in the fused area. The thus formed amalgam container 20 is installed in the exhaust tube 18 in such a manner as to locate the minute hole 23 at the bottom of the container 20. Owing to the above constitution, mercury can be retained within an emission tube over a long time after the lamp is suppressed, thereby widely reducing the time necessary for rising of optical output.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp that is housed in, for example, a bulb-shaped envelope and used for lighting.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp, typically a fluorescent lamp, the tube wall temperature is around 40°C and the mercury vapor pressure is approximately 6
It is designed so that the efficiency of converting the supplied electric power into ultraviolet light is highest when the temperature is 10-'a+Hg, and the ambient temperature of the lamp at this time is approximately 20 to 25°C. Therefore, when the ambient temperature significantly exceeds this value, the conversion efficiency of ultraviolet rays deteriorates rapidly, causing problems such as a decrease in light output.

Incidentally, in recent years, lighting devices have been known in which a curved tube-shaped fluorescent lamp is housed together with a ballast in a bulb-shaped envelope so that it can be used in place of an existing incandescent bulb. When the device is turned on, the inside of the envelope becomes high due to the heat effect from the fluorescent lamp and ballast, so there are many occasions when the ambient temperature of the fluorescent lamp exceeds the above value, resulting in a decrease in light output and ultraviolet conversion efficiency. is a problem.

When a fluorescent lamp is operated under such severe temperature conditions, a method is adopted in which the mercury vapor pressure within the fluorescent lamp is controlled within an appropriate range by creating an amalgam. However, this method uses the property that the vapor pressure of amalgam is lower than that of pure mercury to control the mercury vapor pressure. If the ambient temperature of the light lamp is low, the temperature of the amalgam will be slow to reach the most desirable temperature for its operation, resulting in a slow release of mercury. Therefore, the rise of the optical output is slow and there is a problem that it takes time to stabilize the optical output to a steady state.

For this reason, in addition to the main amalgam that controls the mercury vapor pressure during steady lighting, a small amount of auxiliary amalgam that controls only the mercury vapor pressure in the early stages of lighting, including during startup, is installed in the high temperature area near the electrodes. However, there are known devices that improve the rise of light output at the initial stage of lighting.

However, in fluorescent lamps that use two types of amalgam to control mercury vapor pressure, the auxiliary amalgam is located in a high-temperature area near the electrodes, so the auxiliary amalgam may scatter or melt, causing problems in the lamp. The problem with this is that it is very difficult to maintain and exhibit the required function of the auxiliary amalgam over a long period of life.The zero-crystal method was developed based on these circumstances, and it is possible to relight without using auxiliary amalgam. An object of the present invention is to provide a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp that can shorten the rise time of light output by 9 hours.

[Overview of the invention]

That is, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an amalgam for controlling the mercury vapor pressure inside the tube during steady lighting.
By housing the amalgam in a 1-mum container that communicates with the arc tube and has a small hole with an opening area of Q, la + 2 or less, and placing this amalgam container in the exhaust pipe, mercury vapor can be released when the light is turned off. By slowing down the rate at which the amalgam is adsorbed, the amount of mercury equivalent to the mercury vapor pressure of about 6 x 10-3 + nHg during lighting is retained in the tube for a long time after the lights are turned off. It is characterized by producing sufficient mercury vapor.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cover made of synthetic resin, which is formed into a substantially bowl shape with a circumferential surface shaped like a paraboloid of revolution.

A cap 2 is attached to the top of one end of the cover 1, and a substantially spherical socket 0-f3 is attached to the opening of the other end of the cover 1.
is crowned. The globe 3 is made of glass or a translucent synthetic resin material, and the cover 1 and the globe 3 form an envelope 4 that approximates a goal-shaped incandescent light bulb.
is configured.

A curved fluorescent lamp 5, a lighting tube 6 as a starting element of the fluorescent lamp 5, and a choke coil type ballast 7 as a discharge stabilizing element are integrally housed in the envelope 4. ing. The luminous tube 8 of the fluorescent lamp 5 is made by bending a straight glass bulb into a substantially U-shape at the center between the two ends 9, 9, and between the bent part 10 and the two ends 9I9. is bent into a substantially U-shape in a direction substantially orthogonal to a plane including the U-shape, and both end portions 9, 9 and a curved portion XO are located adjacent to each other in the same direction. A phosphor coating 12 is applied to the inner surface of the arc tube 8, and flare portions 14 of a mount I3 are sealed to both ends 9.9, as shown in FIG. The stem tube 15 connected to the flare part 14 has an internal lead, 117 e, and Z 6.
are sealed, and a filament 17 as an electrode is connected between these lead wires 16 and 16. Further, an exhaust pipe 18 led out from the stem pipe I5 is opened at the tip of the stem pipe 16 near the filament 17), and a predetermined amount of inert gas and an ionizable medium containing mercury are passed through the exhaust pipe 18. is enclosed in the arc tube 8.The fluorescent run 5 is housed in the envelope 4 with both ends 9.9 and the curved part 1o facing the base 2. The cap 2 is connected to the lighting tube 6 and the ballast 7.
is connected to.

Incidentally, in the exhaust pipe 18 of one of the mounts 13, as shown in FIG. 3, an amalgam container 20 containing a metal body 19 for forming amalgam is housed. It goes without saying that instead of this metal body 19, amalgam itself may be housed from the beginning. The amalgam container 20 is a bottomed cylindrical glass tube with a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the exhaust pipe 18, and the metal body 19 is made of, for example, indium (In).

Bismuth (Bi), tin (Sn) #lead (Pb) and mercury (
Hg) and an alloy in which these various gold stripes are mixed appropriately, and then the opening at the tip of the glass tube is sealed by melting, and the opening 22 of the exhaust pipe 18 is also much larger than the opening 22 of the exhaust pipe 18 in this sealing part 2I. It is constructed by opening a small hole 23 in the hole.

The amalgam container 2o of this embodiment has its small holes 23
on the opposite side of the exhaust pipe 18 from the opening 22,
The exhaust pipe 18 is housed and held in a position facing the sealed end 24 side of the lever. The metal body 19 is constructed so that the temperature inside the envelope 4 after the lamp is lit is assumed in advance, and the amalgam forming action is performed at maximum efficiency when the ambient temperature of the fluorescent rung 5 reaches this temperature. has been done.

According to such a configuration, when the base 2 is inserted into the socket on the power supply side and the power supply voltage is applied to the arc tube 8 to start it, the filaments ky and zv are heated by the preheating current, and the arc tube is heated. filament 17 by mercury in 8
．． A local discharge occurs during the 11th period. At this time, the metal body 19 housed in the amalgam container 20 in the exhaust pipe 18 combines with the mercury vapor in the arc tube 8 to form an amalgam, so that the heated filament 77, Z7 and the local discharge Due to the heat effect...□Yo・□1.8□81□
□. 1. Then, the light output is controlled to a vapor pressure determined by the mercury vapor pressure in the descending tube which has shifted to a steady state and the temperature of the part where the metal body 19 is installed. Since the area around the fluorescent rung 5 is covered with the envelope 4, it is not easily affected by outside temperature, and the metal body 19 itself controls the temperature inside the envelope 4 after the rung is lit. Since the temperature is designed to be the most desirable for the action of the amalgam, the mercury vapor pressure inside the tube can be efficiently controlled and high light output can be obtained.

On the other hand, when the fluorescent lamp 5 in such an operating state is turned off, the temperature inside the arc tube 8 and the part where the metal body 19 is installed decreases, so the mercury vapor pressure inside the arc tube 8 also decreases significantly. It begins to be attracted to the metal body 19.

However, according to the above configuration, the mercury vapor moves at a very slow speed due to collision with the inert gas sealed in the arc tube 8, and the metal body 19 itself moves inside the amalgam container 20 in the exhaust pipe 18. The amalgam container 20 is accommodated in
It becomes difficult to flow into the body. As a result, the mercury vapor within the arc tube 8 remains attached to the inner wall of the arc tube 8 whose temperature has decreased.

This remaining mercury is gradually absorbed into the metal body 19, but at a very slow rate. In particular, in this example,
Since the small hole 23 is located on the opposite side of the exhaust pipe 18 from the opening 22, a large resistance is generated to the flow of mercury vapor toward the inside of the amalgam container 20, and the opening area of the small hole 23 is Combined with the narrow space, the rate of adsorption of mercury vapor becomes extremely slow.

Therefore, it will take several tens of hours for the metal body 19 in the amalgam container 20 to adsorb all the mercury vapor adhering to the inner wall of the arc tube 8. As a result, the amount of mercury remaining in the arc tube 8 is 6X, which has the highest efficiency of converting into ultraviolet light.
It is maintained for a long time at a value substantially close to the amount corresponding to the mercury vapor pressure of about 10 aHg. Therefore, the mercury vapor pressure in the arc tube 8 of the fluorescent lamp 5 decreases to 6 in a short time.
X 10-'smHg, compared to the case where amalgam is simply placed, the rise time of the luminous flux is improved, and the light output is reduced when used every day for general lighting. The start-up is instantaneous. According to experiments conducted by the inventors, when the opening area of the small hole 23 is 0.11#12 and the lamp is turned off and turned on again 12 hours later, the light output rises to 80 cm when the lamp is stably lit. It has been confirmed that it is fast, taking about several tens of seconds. This rising multispeed is in no way inferior to the luminous flux rising multispeed of an ordinary fluorescent lamp that does not use amalgam.

It should be noted that the small holes 23 of the upper i-pier malgam container 20 did not have the effect of adsorbing mercury vapor.
It was found that there is no problem in practical use if the opening area of No. 3 is 0.11 m1112 or less. As a result of the pinch experiment, when the opening area exceeds 0.1WI2, the flow resistance decreases, so
The mercury vapor in the arc tube 8 begins to be rapidly adsorbed by the metal body 19, and the result is no different from the case where all the diseased bodies 19 are housed in the exhaust pipe 18 as they are, and the residual water in the tube disappears in the wave number hours when the lights are turned off. 6 x 10 in terms of vapor pressure in the lit □
According to the above configuration, the metal body 19 is housed in the amalgam container 20, and this amalgam container 20 is also housed in the exhaust pipe 18. Shi, it shines even more/No5
Since the metal body I9 is housed in the envelope 4, the temperature of the metal body 19 hardly changes due to changes in the outside air temperature when the metal body I9 is turned on. Therefore, even if the rate at which the metal body 19 absorbs mercury vapor is slow, the mercury vapor pressure can always exhibit a stable value around 6 x 10%, ug due to the action of the amalgam.

There is also a concern that the fact that the metal body I9 is difficult to absorb mercury vapor means that it will be difficult to release the absorbed mercury, but since the release rate is several tens of times higher than the absorption rate, it is difficult for the metal body I9 to absorb mercury vapor. There is no problem.

Further, according to the above configuration, mercury vapor at the initial stage of lighting, Et-f
li! I I#o,. A, 2 A4. □, ka, 6, 1
Amalgam requires only 1fti@, which has the advantage of reducing the number of parts and reducing costs.

Note that the radial lamp according to the present invention is not limited to the curved tube shape, but may be a 1α tube shape, and the shape of the envelope is not limited to the 11 spherical shape, for example, it may be a cylindrical shape. Also good.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention described in detail above, mercury can remain in the arc tube for a long time even after the lights are turned off, and the amount of mercury can be calculated in terms of mercury vapor pressure during steady lighting when the conversion efficiency of ultraviolet rays is at its highest. Since the value is substantially close to the value of , even when the light is turned on again, the light output rises instantaneously, and the time required for rise 9 can be significantly shortened. Moreover, since there is no need for a special auxiliary amalgam to control the mercury vapor pressure inside the tube at the initial stage of lighting, only one type of amalgam is required, which means that the number of parts can be reduced and costs can be reduced. There is also.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 111 shows an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a sectional view taken along the line l-n in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the electrode portion, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the amalgam container. 4... Envelope, 8... Arc tube, 17... Electrode (fishi.men, )), J8... Exhaust pipe, 19... Metal body for amalgam formation, 20... Amalgam container, 22
...opening, 23...small hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (12) An arc tube with electrodes sealed at both ends is filled with a predetermined wrinkle of an ionizing medium containing an inert gas and mercury, and the arc tube is separated from the outside. In a low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp that is housed in an envelope and lit, an amalgam for controlling the mercury vapor pressure inside the tube during steady lighting is communicated with the arc tube, and the opening area thereof is 0.11IIK2 or less. A low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp characterized in that the amalgam container is housed in an amalgam container having a small hole, and the amalgam container is housed in the exhaust pipe. (2) The amalgam container has the small hole on the sealed end side of the exhaust pipe. The low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp according to claim 1, wherein the lamp is housed in the exhaust pipe in a posture facing toward the direction of the exhaust pipe.