JPS62154598A - Fluorescent lamp device - 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 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to compact fluorescent lamps.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Fluorescent lamps, which are widely used as the mainstay of illumination light sources, are typically operated with alternating current at commercial frequencies. In this case, the ballast used is either an inductive type, such as a Chizik coil, or a capacitive type, in which a coil and a capacitor are connected in series.

In such a fluorescent lamp device, ballast losses are low, so
It has the advantage of increasing the overall efficiency of the entire device, but
If a coil is used as a ballast, the weight increases, and since it is still AC lighting, there are problems in that the output light fluctuates and the light flickers, especially at the end of the tube. In particular, the increased weight of the ballast in the former case can be said to be one of the major problems with bulb base type fluorescent lamps with built-in ballasts that have been put into practical use in recent years.

In response, the applicant has already proposed lighting such a fluorescent lamp with direct current. With such a DC lighting system, the above-mentioned flickering can be completely prevented, and if a resistor is used in the ballast, its weight can be significantly reduced. Moreover,
If the lamp voltage is set to a higher level than that of an AC lighting system, and the voltage drop across the ballast is lowered to reduce power loss, the overall efficiency of the entire device will not decrease much compared to an AC lighting system. .

However, in the direct current lighting method of fluorescent lamps, starting the lamp becomes a problem. That is, in the AC lighting system, the induced kick voltage of the coil used in the ballast can be used to start the lamp, but in the DC lighting system, such a kick voltage is not generated, so some kind of starting means must be taken.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As a starting means for DC lighting, there is a method that generates a high voltage for starting using an electronic starter or the like and applies this to the lamp. After studying such an electronic starter system, the inventor discovered that in lamps using arc tubes with small tube diameters, such as bulb-base fluorescent lamps, it is necessary to apply a pulse voltage of about 2600 V or more as a starting voltage. As a result, it has been found that the electronic starter is relatively expensive, and the application of the above-mentioned high voltage is undesirable from the viewpoint of reliability of the electronic starter parts.

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors have studied in detail the starting means in the direct current lighting method of the bulb base type fluorescent lamp.

As a result, a conductive material is provided on the outer surface of the arc tube of the lamp,
Moreover, it was effective to apply an anodic potential to the conductive material and to apply a boosted voltage of twice or more the power supply voltage between both electrodes of the arc tube.

That is, the present invention provides an amalgam-forming substance at one end of a glass arc tube, which is provided with electrodes at both ends, mercury and rare gas are sealed inside, and a phosphor film is formed on the inner surface. an electrode closer to the amalgam-forming material acts as an anode, and a conductive material is provided on the outer surface of the arc tube, the potential of the anode is applied to the conductive material, and between the electrodes of the arc tube. The fluorescent lamp device is characterized in that a starting voltage from a starting circuit comprising a voltage doubler circuit is applied to the starting voltage.

Function: Even in ordinary fluorescent lamps for AC lighting, there are some in which a conductive substance is provided in the arc tube, but in this case, the polarity of the potential applied to the conductive substance is not specified. In the DC lighting type fluorescent lamp according to the present invention, by designating the potential applied to the conductive material attached to the outer surface of the arc tube as the anode potential, when the starting voltage from the voltage doubler circuit is applied to the arc tube, First, an intermittent discharge occurs between the tip of the conductive material to which an anode potential is applied and the cathode via the wall of the arc tube, and then this intermittent discharge flows along the conductive material from near the cathode toward the anode. The floor gradually lowers, and the final arc discharge occurs between the cathode and anode. A starter using a voltage doubler circuit can suppress the peak value of the starting voltage lower than a pulse type starter.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows an example of a fluorescent lamp of a fluorescent lamp device according to the present invention.

The arc tube 1 is a so-called double U-shaped elongated glass tube bent twice.

The dimensions of the arc tube 1 are an outer diameter of 15.6 mm and a distance between electrodes of 350 m. Electrodes 2.3 are provided at both ends of the arc tube 1.
is held by lead wires 4, 5 and stem 6.7, a phosphor film 8 is formed on its inner surface, and mercury and argon of about 3.5 Torr are sealed inside. has been done. Further, inside the glass capillary tube 9 of one of the stems, for example, the stem 6, there is In which forms an amalgam with mercury.

Bi I! An amalgam-forming material 10 such as 1 or B1Pb5n is provided. This amalgam-forming substance 1
o has two functions. One is to control the internal mercury vapor pressure to the optimum level in terms of lamp efficiency by lowering the internal mercury vapor pressure compared to when mercury alone is sealed, even if the temperature of the arc tube rises excessively during lighting in such bulb-base type fluorescent lamps. It is.

Another function is that when the fluorescent lamp shown in FIG. The goal is to prevent the occurrence of cataphoresis. A striped conductive material 11 is provided on the outer surface of the arc tube 1 . As the conductive material 11, a suspension solution mixed with copper powder is applied in stripes and allowed to dry, or a striped aluminum foil is bonded. The fluorescent lamp is constructed by holding an arc tube 1 inside a globe 12.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a lighting circuit for the fluorescent lamp.

In FIG. 2, 13 is a rectifier bridge, 14 is a smoothing capacitor, and 15 is a ballast consisting of a light bulb filament. Further, 16 is a starting circuit based on a voltage doubler method,
A DC voltage approximately three times the power supply voltage is applied to the electrode 2 of the fluorescent lamp 1,
It is designed to be applied between 3 and 3 hours. 11.18 is a capacitor with a capacitance value of 0.1 to o and 33 μF, and 19.20 is a diode.

On the other hand, as a configuration for preheating the electrode 3 which becomes the cathode, the ballast 15 is connected to one lead terminal 21 of the electrode 3, and the other lead terminal 22 is connected to the rectifier bridge 13 via a thyristor (PnPn diode) 24. It is connected to the positive side output terminal 24 of.

Note that a diode 25 is connected between the output terminal 24 and the smoothing capacitor 14, thereby preventing the DC voltage of the smoothing capacitor 14 from being applied to the thyristor 23.

In such a preheating circuit, a preheating current 26 as shown in FIG. 3 flows during each half cycle during lamp startup, so that the electrode 3
Heating takes place quickly.

In such a combination of a preheating circuit and a starting circuit, the starting circuit 16 operates in a phase region where the thyristor 23 of the preheating circuit is not conducting, that is, a region where the preheating current is cut off, and the anode potential is first applied. An intermittent discharge occurs between the tip of the conductive material 11 and the electrode 3 serving as a cathode, and then this intermittent discharge sequentially spreads along the conductive material 11 from the electrode 3 to the electrode 2, and finally reaches the electrode 2. , 3, and the lamp starts.

Note that after the lamp is started, the conductive substance 11 is electrically disconnected by the bimetal switch 27.

Now, when we investigated the starting performance of the fluorescent lamp shown in Figure 1 when it was lit using the lighting circuit shown in Figure 2, we found the following.

(1) When the conductive substance 11 is left in a floating state without applying a potential, a DC voltage of approximately 800 μ is required to start the lamp, and therefore the triple voltage circuit shown in Figure 2 (at the maximum value (approximately 400V) the lamp will not start.

(2) When the cathode potential of the electrode 3 is applied to the conductive material 11, the starting characteristics are almost the same as in the case of the first term.

(3) When the anodic potential of the electrode 2 is applied to the conductive material 11, the lamp is reliably started in the triple pressure circuit shown in FIG. 2 over a wide range of ambient temperatures from -20 to 60°C.

Note that when applying the potential of the anode 2, the same effect on the starting characteristics as described above was obtained even if the electrode 2 and the conductive substance 11 were connected through a high resistance (about 1.5 MΩ). Also, instead of the triple voltage circuit, a double voltage circuit (approximately 250V at maximum
), it was possible to start the lamp except in the low ambient temperature range of 10'C or less.

As described above, in the fluorescent lamp device according to the present invention, since the lamp can be started with a relatively low starting voltage using the voltage doubler circuit, accidents such as damage to semiconductor circuit elements during the life of the lamp can be avoided compared to the conventional pulse method. This was significantly reduced compared to the electronic starter circuit, and as a result, high reliability as a product was achieved. Furthermore, the voltage doubler circuit has a simpler configuration than the pulse type, and is more economical.

The specifications and characteristics of the fluorescent lamp device according to the embodiment of the present invention are summarized in the table below. The device integrates a fluorescent lamp and a lighting circuit, and is equipped with a light bulb base.

As can be seen from the above table, since the fluorescent lamp device according to the embodiment of the present invention uses a resistance ballast, the weight of the entire device is approximately 2.
The oOg has been reduced to approximately 9% of that of the conventional device, and the overall efficiency has been achieved at a value of approximately 421 m/W, which is the same level as the conventional device. Furthermore, the reliability was higher than that of the two inventions.

Note that in the above device, the light emitting part and the lighting circuit part do not necessarily need to be integrated, and even a device in which the two are separated and held in a lighting fixture, for example, can still achieve the features of the fluorescent lamp device that is the object of the present invention. It can be said that this is one example of an application in which this technology is put to good use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described in detail, the present invention provides a direct current lighting method for a fluorescent lamp equipped with an amalgam-forming material, comprising: forming a conductive material on the outer surface of the arc tube; applying an anodic potential to the conductive material; By combining the present invention with a voltage doubler type starting circuit, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of cataphoresis, and to provide a lightweight, inexpensive, and highly reliable fluorescent lamp device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a fluorescent lamp device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a lighting circuit for the same fluorescent lamp, and FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram of a cathode preheating current. 1... Arc tube, 2, 3... Electrode, 4,
5...Lead wire, 6,7...Stem,
8... fluorescent membrane, 9... tubule, 10.
...Amalgam-forming substance, 11°...Conductive material, 12...Glove, 13...
Rectifier bridge, 14... Smoothing capacitor, 15
...Ballast, 16...Start circuit, 17
．． j8... Capacitor, 19,20...
・Diode, 21, 22...Cathode lead terminal, 23...Thyristor, 24...Output terminal of rectifier bridge, 25...Diode,
26...Cathode preheating current. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person/-
-- Arc tube 2.3 -- Electron dance 8 -- Fluorescent film 9 -- Tube 10 -- Amalgam-forming substance Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] An amalgam-forming substance is provided at one end of a glass arc tube, which has electrodes at both ends, mercury and rare gas sealed inside, and a phosphor film formed on the inner surface, and an amalgam-forming substance is provided at one end of the tube. one electrode is operated as an anode, a conductive material is provided on the outer surface of the arc tube, the potential of the anode is applied to the conductive material, and a voltage doubler circuit is applied between the two electrodes of the arc tube. A fluorescent lamp device characterized in that it is formed by applying a starting voltage of a starting circuit.