US3651365A - Xenon slash lamp with sodium starting band and method of making same - Google Patents

Xenon slash lamp with sodium starting band and method of making same Download PDF

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Publication number
US3651365A
US3651365A US766162A US3651365DA US3651365A US 3651365 A US3651365 A US 3651365A US 766162 A US766162 A US 766162A US 3651365D A US3651365D A US 3651365DA US 3651365 A US3651365 A US 3651365A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
lamp
envelope
sodium
band
wire
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US766162A
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English (en)
Inventor
John F Waymouth
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
GTE Sylvania Inc
Original Assignee
Sylvania Electric Products Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Sylvania Electric Products Inc filed Critical Sylvania Electric Products Inc
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3651365A publication Critical patent/US3651365A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J61/00—Gas-discharge or vapour-discharge lamps
    • H01J61/02—Details
    • H01J61/54—Igniting arrangements, e.g. promoting ionisation for starting
    • H01J61/547—Igniting arrangements, e.g. promoting ionisation for starting using an auxiliary electrode outside the vessel

Definitions

  • a band of sodium metal is electrolyzed onto the inner surface 1 e erences I e of a xenon flash lamp glass envelope.
  • the sodium band UNITED STATES PATENTS reduces the ignition voltage required to flash the lamp throughout its useful life. 1,925,648 9/1933 Spanner et a1.
  • Xenon flash lamps generally comprise two spaced apart electrodes within a sealed glass envelope having a fill including xenon. Such lamps are connected across a large capacitor charged to a substantial potential, which is, however, insufficient to ionize the xenon fill gas. Upon the application of an additional pulse of sufficient voltage, the xenon is ionized, and an electric arc is formed between the two electrodes, discharging the large capacitor through the lamp, which emits a burst of intense light, usually of short duration. In some cases, the pulse voltage is applied between an external trigger wire wrapped around the envelope and the electrodes. However, in other cases an external trigger wire is not feasible since it may result in undesirable arcing between the trigger wire and a proximate lamp reflector or else the high potential applied to the external trigger wire might be hazardous to operating personnel.
  • the lamp may be internally triggered by applying the pulse voltage directly across the lamp electrodes.
  • the voltage required is about 30 to 50 percent higher than that required to trigger the same lamp with an external trigger wire. This poses no particular problem in itself, since the circuit can be designed to supply sufficient pulse voltage to the lamp.
  • the internal triggering voltage of the lamp is lower and more uniform than that of the same lamp without the band.
  • the band extends to points on the envelope that are near the electrodes at each end of the lamp.
  • the preferred method of forming the sodium band is electrolyzing the sodium normally present in the glass to the inner surface of the glass envelope.
  • the outer surface of the envelope is subjected to a DC potential, positive with respect to the inner surface, while the lamp is lighted at a low current and while the lamp is heated. Under these conditions, a small DC current is drawn through the glass wall of the envelope. This conduction current is principally due to the motion of sodium ions through the glass to the inner surface of the envelope. At the inner surface they capture electrons from the arc plasma to become neutral sodium, existing as a fine deposit on the inner surface.
  • this deposit say, as a fine spiral band, a suitable wire is spirally wrapped around the outside of the envelope and the aforementioned positive DC potential is applied to this wire.
  • the transportation of sodium through the glass takes place along the wire spiral, resulting in a similar spiral of sodium on the inner surface of the envelope.
  • the width of the sodium band is about double the wall thickness of the glass envelope and is faintly discernible as a grayish-brown deposit.
  • the sodium band aids lamp ignition by providing a low resistivity path from one end of the lamp to the other and thereby concentrating the pulse voltage across a fraction of the total gaseous path and promoting more vigorous ionization thereat.
  • the band is not of such low resistivity as to effectively short out the main body of the envelope, which would prevent the buildup of high electric fields therein and the subsequent propagation of ionization down the envelope.
  • the sodium band may also furnish electrons by secondary processes, such as photoelectricemission and ion bombardment emission, to aid in the propagation of the ionization, once initiated, down the envelope to the other end. It may, in addition, serve as a getter, absorbing contaminant gases evolved during the life of the lamp.
  • the single drawing is an illustration of electrolyzing apparatus and shows a method of depositing a spiral band of sodium on the inner surface of a xenon flash lamp envelope.
  • the xenon flash lamp shown in the drawing comprised a hard glass tubular envelope 1 having tungsten electrodes 2 at the ends thereof. The ends were hermetically sealed and capped with terminals 3 which were electrically connected to electrodes 2.
  • Envelope 1 was 1 1 inches long by one quarter inch diameter and the arc length, that is, the distance between electrodes 2, was 9 inches.
  • a length of 10 mil copper wire 4 was tightly s irally wrapped around the outside of envelope 1 at a spacing of two turns per inch and extended about the same distance as the arc length. The ends of the spiral were securely fastened to the glass with adhesive tape.
  • the secondary winding of a neon sign transformer 5 was connected to terminals 3 and a DC power supply 6 was connected to wire 4 and to the midpoint of the transformer secondary, the polarity at wire 4 being positive.
  • the flash lamp was heated in an oven to 200 C. A discharge was then struck between electrodes 2 by the neon sign transformer, and while a discharge current of a few milliamperes was maintained, a DC voltage of 750 volts was applied to wire 4 about 8 minutes.
  • the lamp Before electrolyzing, the lamp had an ignition voltage of 900 volts. After electrolyzing, in which it was calculated that 30 micrograms of sodium was transported to the inner surface of envelope 1, the ignition had been reduced to 480 volts.
  • a xenon flash lamp having an elongated sodium-containing glass envelope
  • the step which comprises electrolyzing a band of said sodium to the inner surface of said envelope, said band extending about the same distance as the arc length of said lamp.

Landscapes

  • Discharge Lamp (AREA)
  • Vessels And Coating Films For Discharge Lamps (AREA)
  • Formation Of Various Coating Films On Cathode Ray Tubes And Lamps (AREA)
  • Discharge Lamps And Accessories Thereof (AREA)
US766162A 1968-10-09 1968-10-09 Xenon slash lamp with sodium starting band and method of making same Expired - Lifetime US3651365A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US76616268A 1968-10-09 1968-10-09

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3651365A true US3651365A (en) 1972-03-21

Family

ID=25075591

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US766162A Expired - Lifetime US3651365A (en) 1968-10-09 1968-10-09 Xenon slash lamp with sodium starting band and method of making same

Country Status (3)

Country Link
US (1) US3651365A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS4811638B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1210049A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4009408A (en) * 1974-12-16 1977-02-22 Itt Industries, Inc. High-pressure sodium-vapor discharge lamp
EP0033653A1 (en) * 1980-02-04 1981-08-12 Xerox Corporation Trigger device for electric-discharge lamp
US4310773A (en) * 1979-05-16 1982-01-12 General Electric Company Glass flash tube

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS52151553U (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) * 1976-05-12 1977-11-17
JPS5639564U (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) * 1979-09-05 1981-04-13
JPH03101772U (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) * 1990-02-03 1991-10-23

Citations (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1925648A (en) * 1928-09-21 1933-09-05 Hans J Spanner Lighting device
US1961618A (en) * 1931-01-07 1934-06-05 Rainbow Light Inc Low voltage electric discharge tube
US2491854A (en) * 1946-04-06 1949-12-20 Gen Electric Starting strip for electric discharge devices
US2829295A (en) * 1949-07-02 1958-04-01 Philips Corp Internally conductively coated lamp and method of manufacture
US2897126A (en) * 1955-03-05 1959-07-28 Quartz & Silice S A Vitreous silica and its manufacture
GB836551A (en) * 1955-08-09 1960-06-01 Gen Electric Co Ltd Improvements in or relating to electric discharge lamps
US3174919A (en) * 1962-10-31 1965-03-23 Corning Glass Works Methods for electrolyzing glass
US3349274A (en) * 1964-03-06 1967-10-24 Philips Corp Low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp
US3449615A (en) * 1965-03-25 1969-06-10 Us Navy Xenon flash lamp for laser pumping in liquid nitrogen

Patent Citations (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1925648A (en) * 1928-09-21 1933-09-05 Hans J Spanner Lighting device
US1961618A (en) * 1931-01-07 1934-06-05 Rainbow Light Inc Low voltage electric discharge tube
US2491854A (en) * 1946-04-06 1949-12-20 Gen Electric Starting strip for electric discharge devices
US2829295A (en) * 1949-07-02 1958-04-01 Philips Corp Internally conductively coated lamp and method of manufacture
US2897126A (en) * 1955-03-05 1959-07-28 Quartz & Silice S A Vitreous silica and its manufacture
GB836551A (en) * 1955-08-09 1960-06-01 Gen Electric Co Ltd Improvements in or relating to electric discharge lamps
US3174919A (en) * 1962-10-31 1965-03-23 Corning Glass Works Methods for electrolyzing glass
US3349274A (en) * 1964-03-06 1967-10-24 Philips Corp Low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp
US3449615A (en) * 1965-03-25 1969-06-10 Us Navy Xenon flash lamp for laser pumping in liquid nitrogen

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4009408A (en) * 1974-12-16 1977-02-22 Itt Industries, Inc. High-pressure sodium-vapor discharge lamp
US4310773A (en) * 1979-05-16 1982-01-12 General Electric Company Glass flash tube
EP0033653A1 (en) * 1980-02-04 1981-08-12 Xerox Corporation Trigger device for electric-discharge lamp
US4342940A (en) * 1980-02-04 1982-08-03 Xerox Corporation Triggering device for a flash lamp

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS4811638B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1973-04-14
GB1210049A (en) 1970-10-28

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