Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J9/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture, installation, removal, maintenance of electric discharge tubes, discharge lamps, or parts thereof; Recovery of material from discharge tubes or lamps
  • H01J9/24—Manufacture or joining of vessels, leading-in conductors or bases
  • H01J9/26—Sealing together parts of vessels
  • H01J9/265—Sealing together parts of vessels specially adapted for gas-discharge tubes or lamps
  • H01J9/266—Sealing together parts of vessels specially adapted for gas-discharge tubes or lamps specially adapted for gas-discharge lamps
  • H01J9/268—Sealing together parts of vessels specially adapted for gas-discharge tubes or lamps specially adapted for gas-discharge lamps the vessel being flat
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61F—RAIL VEHICLE SUSPENSIONS, e.g. UNDERFRAMES, BOGIES OR ARRANGEMENTS OF WHEEL AXLES; RAIL VEHICLES FOR USE ON TRACKS OF DIFFERENT WIDTH; PREVENTING DERAILING OF RAIL VEHICLES; WHEEL GUARDS, OBSTRUCTION REMOVERS OR THE LIKE FOR RAIL VEHICLES
  • B61F19/00—Wheel guards; Bumpers; Obstruction removers or the like
  • B61F19/04—Bumpers or like collision guards
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61F—RAIL VEHICLE SUSPENSIONS, e.g. UNDERFRAMES, BOGIES OR ARRANGEMENTS OF WHEEL AXLES; RAIL VEHICLES FOR USE ON TRACKS OF DIFFERENT WIDTH; PREVENTING DERAILING OF RAIL VEHICLES; WHEEL GUARDS, OBSTRUCTION REMOVERS OR THE LIKE FOR RAIL VEHICLES
  • B61F1/00—Underframes
  • B61F1/08—Details
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
  • H01J9/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture, installation, removal, maintenance of electric discharge tubes, discharge lamps, or parts thereof; Recovery of material from discharge tubes or lamps
  • H01J9/38—Exhausting, degassing, filling, or cleaning vessels
  • H01J9/385—Exhausting vessels

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp and the flat fluorescent lamp made by the method, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp and the flat fluorescent lamp made by the method, wherein processes of sealing and exhausting the flat fluorescent lamp are performed at relatively low temperature, brightness is improved due to reduced deterioration of a fluorescent material as compared with the prior art, the degree of vacuum is improved, entire processes are simplified, and the fluorescent lamp can be manufactured to have a relatively smaller thickness.
• a typical flat fluorescent lamp comprises a flat front glass substrate 1 with a fluorescent layer 2 provided at a bottom surface thereof; a rear glass substrate 3 with a fluorescent layer 4, a dielectric layer 5 and electrode portions 6 sequentially provided at a top surface thereof; a support 7 fixed through glass soldering to edges of the front and rear glass substrates 1 and 3 to achieve sealing of the fluorescent lamp; and a plurality of spacers (not shown) for supporting the front and rear glass substrates 1 and 3.
• a vacuum mounting technique by which the front and rear glass substrates 1 and 3 and the support 7 are attached to one another, and an inner space of the flat fluorescent lamp defined by the front and rear glass substrates 1 and 3 and the support 7 is exhausted using a vacuum and then hermetically sealed.
• a vacuum mounting technique is a technique for use in manufacture of a plasma display panel (PDP).
• PDP plasma display panel
• an exhaust tube 8 is embedded in a hole 3a of the rear glass substrate 3 and then connected to a vacuum apparatus to exhaust the lamp. Thereafter, a gas is injected into the lamp through the exhaust tube 8 that in turn is cut and sealed.
• the thickness of the lamp should be small in view of its properties. However, since there is a portion remaining after cutting the exhaust tube 8 in such a method, it is difficult to apply the method to the lamp. Further, in case of the use of the method, since the exhaust tube 8 should be sealed by melting it in a solid or liquid state, there may be a problem with the degree of vacuum due to a gas produced in such a process.
• Another example of such a vacuum mounting technique includes a technique of H Company in Japan.
• the technique employs a method by which a hole 7a and an exhaust portion 9 are formed at a side of the support 7 for supporting the front and rear glass substrates 1 and 3, the lamp is exhausted using the exhaust portion 9, and a gas is then injected through the exhaust portion 9 that in turn is sealed, as shown in Fig. 4.
• This method also has disadvantages in that manufacturing processes are complicated and gas loss increases.
• Osram GmbH employs a method by which exhaust and gas injection are performed between the front glass substrate 1 and the support 7 of the rear glass substrate 3 without using a hole and sealing is then performed. Since there is no hole, the method has an advantage in that the sealing can be performed cleanly.
• this method results in complicated processes and increased gas loss and requires accurate alignment of the front and rear glass substrates, expensive equipment is needed.
• the temperature of a material for use in sealing the front and rear glass substrates is required to be 400 °C or higher, there is a problem in that a fluorescent material is deteriorated.
• An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp and the flat fluorescent lamp made by the method, wherein brightness is improved due to reduced deterioration of a fluorescent material as compared with the prior art, the degree of vacuum is improved, processes are simplified, and the fluorescent lamp can be manufactured to have a relatively smaller thickness.
• an apparatus for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp comprising an upper chamber in which a fluorescent lamp is placed and which has an external heater attached to a top surface thereof and a connection port formed at a lower surface thereof; an exhaust duct connected to the connection port of the upper chamber and having vacuum pumps and a gas-injecting portion installed thereon; a lifting device disposed below the connection port of the upper chamber; an internal heater installed on the top surface of the lifting device; and a temperature sensor installed at a side of the internal heater.
• a method for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp having a rear glass substrate with one or more exhaust ports formed therein comprising a first step of screen- or injection-printing a silicone-based bonding material on a substrate for covering the exhaust ports or their surroundings; a second step of removing impurities from the upper chamber by heating it at 50 to 150 ° C ; a third step of performing exhaust using a vacuum at 250 to 300 ° C in a state where the substrate is placed on the side of the exhaust ports; a fourth step of filling an inert gas into the fluorescent lamp; and a fifth step of urging the substrate against the exhaust ports and performing firing and curing at 150 to 250 ° C .
• Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional flat fluorescent lamp.
• Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the example of the conventional flat fluorescent lamp.
• Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of a method for sealing and exhausting a conventional flat fluorescent lamp.
• Fig. 4 is a schematic view showing another example of the method for sealing and exhausting the conventional flat fluorescent lamp.
• Figs. 5 and 6 are schematic views showing an embodiment of an apparatus for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention.
• Fig. 7 is a side view showing an example of a flat fluorescent lamp made using the apparatus for sealing and exhausting the flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention.
• Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional flat fluorescent lamp.
• Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the example of the conventional flat fluorescent lamp.
• Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of a method for sealing and exhausting a conventional flat fluorescent lamp.
• FIG 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention.
• Figs. 9 and 10 are schematic views showing embodiments of a substrate of the flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention.
• Fig. 11 is a sectional view showing a flat fluorescent lamp made by the method of the present invention.
• Figs. 5 and 6 are schematic views showing an embodiment of an apparatus for sealing and exhausting a flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention
• Fig. 7 is a side view showing an example of a flat fluorescent lamp made using the apparatus for sealing and exhausting the flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention.
• the apparatus for sealing and exhausting the flat fluorescent lamp comprises an upper chamber 20 in which a fluorescent lamp 10 with exhaust ports 12a therein is placed and which has an external heater 21 attached to a top surface thereof and a connection port 22 formed at a lower surface thereof; an exhaust duct 30 which is connected to the connection port 22 of the upper chamber 20 and on which vacuum pumps 31 and 32 and a gas-injecting portion 33 are installed; a lifting device 40 which is disposed below the connection port 22 of the upper chamber 20 and has a substrate 14 placed on a top surface thereof to cover the exhaust ports 12a; an internal heater 50 installed on the top surface of the lifting device 40; and a temperature sensor 51 installed at a side of the internal heater 50. As shown in Fig.
• Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method using the apparatus for sealing and exhausting the flat fluorescent lamp according to the present invention. The method using the apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to this figure together with Fig. 5.
• the method is directed to a method by which the flat fluorescent lamp 10 with one or more exhaust ports 12a that have been formed or will be formed during processes in a rear glass substrate 12 is placed within the sealing and exhausting apparatus, and sealing and exhausting processes are then performed.
• a first step S10 is performed by screen- or injection-printing a silicone-based bonding material 15 on a substrate 14 for covering the exhaust ports 12a or their surroundings.
• a second step S20 is performed by removing impurities from the substrate 14 at 50 to 150 ° C using an external heat source and subsequently placing the substrate on the internal heater 50 installed on the top surface of the lifting device 40, or by placing the substrate 14 on the internal heater 50 installed on the top surface of the lifting device 40 and subsequently removing impurities from the substrate at 50 to 150 ° C using the internal heater 50.
• a third step S30 is performed by removing impurities from the interior of the lamp by means of exhaust using a vacuum at 250 to 300 "C achieved through application of heat from the external heater 21. At this time, the vacuum pumps 31 and 32 for low and high vacuums are simultaneously operated.
• a fourth step S40 is performed by filling an inert gas into the fluorescent lamp 10 through the gas-injecting portion 33.
• a fifth step S50 is performed by lifting the substrate 14 using the lifting device 40, urging the substrate against the exhaust ports 12a, and firing and curing the substrate at 150 to 250 ° C achieved through the operation of the internal heater 50.
• one to four exhaust ports 12a be formed in the rear glass substrate 12 and each exhaust port be sized to have a diameter of 1 to 5mm.
• the substrate 14 for covering the exhaust ports 12a be made of glass or soda lime glass and have a diameter of 10 to 30mm. Further, the substrate 14 may take any one of various shapes such as a circle and a square, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.
• the present invention is to provided a technique for sealing the front and rear glass substrates 11 and 12 and a support 13 at low temperature using silicone resin, and an apparatus and method in which the lamp is exhausted through the exhaust ports 12a by means of vacuum at high temperature, a gas is injected into the lamp, and the substrate 14 is bonded to the exhaust ports 12a using the same material.
• the flat fluorescent lamp 10 of the present invention is constructed in such a manner that a fluorescent layer 16 is disposed on the front glass substrate 11, a white reflecting plate 17 is applied to the rear glass substrate 12, needle- shaped electrodes 19 are disposed on a plane of the reflecting plate 17, a dielectric layer 18 is applied to the reflecting plate to achieve insulation between the electrodes, and a rear fluorescent layer 16 is disposed on the dielectric layer 18.
• the front and rear glass substrates 11 and 12 are boned to each other with the support 13 interposed therebetween.
• the exhaust ports 12a are provide in the support 13, so that a discharge space defined by the support 13 and the front and rear glass substrates 11 and 12 is filled with an inert gas through the exhaust ports which in turn are heated and sealed.
• a flat fluorescent lamp which has prolonged life and improved brightness uniformity by placing the fluorescent layers 16 on two sides of the front and rear glass substrates 11 and 12 even while placing the electrodes 19 on the plane, and also has a reduced lighting voltage and reduced power consumption by using the needle-shaped electrodes 19.
• a liquid or solid silicone material Si-O-C
• Si-O-C liquid or solid silicone material
• the silicone material may be discharged to the front and rear glass substrates 11 and 12, instead discharging the silicone material directly to the support 13 to achieve the bonding of them.
• the support 13 and the front and rear glass substrates 11 and 12, which are prepared in advance, are accurately aligned with one another in view of their positions and pressure is applied thereto for predetermined bonding strength.
• the silicone material is then cured at 150 to 250 ° C, preferably 200 to 220 ° C .
• an important curing condition is a curing temperature at which impurities can be completely removed.
• sealing can be performed at a temperature that is lower, e.g.
• the flat fluorescent lamp manufactured by the low-temperature sealing method can be sealed at 250 ° C or lower at which the blue fluorescent material is not deteriorated, there is almost no deterioration due to such sealing.
• the blue fluorescent material it can also be understood that green and red fluorescent materials can be prevented from being deteriorated in the same manner.
• the reduced deterioration of the blue fluorescent material enables reduction of blue having a small quantity of light, and more addition of green and red in expressing white by mixing green, red and blue in the flat fluorescent lamp. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an advantage of increased brightness.
• the flat fluorescent lamp 10 thus manufactured is put into the sealing and exhausting apparatus of the present invention, exhausted by means of a vacuum, filled with a gas injected thereinto, and finally sealed.
• the sealing after the vacuum exhausting is characterized in that the sealing is performed using the same silicone resin (Si-O-C) material as described above.
• Si-O-C silicone resin
• the exhaust ports 12a are covered with the substrate 14, which has the silicone resin applied thereto and does not take the shape of a tube, by means of application of heat thereto.
• the process of sufficiently removing impurities in advance is needed. If impurities are not sufficiently removed, impurities are exuded from the silicone resin 15 due to heat upon operation of a flat panel or the like, resulting in reduction in brightness and life.
• the silicone resin 15 from which impurities are removed in such a manner is applied to the substrate 14 that in turn is placed on the internal heater 50. Then, the exhausting process is performed at high temperature. During the exhausting process, by decreasing the temperature of the internal heater
• the silicone resin 15 on the substrate 14 which has had a high viscosity due to a previous increase in the temperature is controlled to have a low viscosity.
• a gas is injected into the lamp at a predetermined pressure and the substrate 14 is lifted to cover the exhaust ports 12a. Since the lamp manufactured by such a method has no residue produced upon cutting of a tube as compared with conventional lamps manufactured using tubes, the lamp can be manufactured to be slim. Further, the lamp of the present invention can solve problems of a long period of time under a vacuum and lowering of the degree of vacuum, which are produced due to high conductance in case of the use of a long tube.
• an in-line type exhausting method having an advantage of the reduced total thickness of a lamp has no a glass substrate for covering ports as compared with the present invention, the method enables manufacture of a slimmer lamp.
• the method has a disadvantage in that gas loss increases.
• the method has disadvantages in that since processes should be performed while maintaining an entire lamp under a vacuum, the size of equipment increases and it takes much time to regulate the vacuum.
• the present invention has an advantage in that it can implement slimness of a lamp while supplementing such disadvantages. Therefore, in the flat fluorescent lamp 10 thus manufactured, it is possible to implement thicknesses applicable to lighting apparatus or backlights for LCDs that require small thicknesses.
• sealing is achieved by silicone resin (Si-O-C) through firing and curing at about 250 ° C .
• the sealing temperature is lower by about 200 ° C or higher than that in conventional sealing methods.
• a sealing apparatus can be simply manufactured since only control at low temperature is needed.
• the same silicone resin material is used in the exhausting process and thus there is no residue produced upon cutting of a tube as compared with conventional lamps manufactured using tubes, the lamp can be manufactured to be slim.
• the lamp of the present invention can solve problems of a long period of time under a vacuum and lowering of the degree of vacuum, which are produced due to high conductance in case of the use of a long tube.
• the present invention has an advantage in that it can implement slimness of a lamp while supplementing such disadvantages.
• the embodiments are merely examples for specifically describing the technical spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is not limited to the drawings or embodiments.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Manufacture Of Electron Tubes, Discharge Lamp Vessels, Lead-In Wires, And The Like (AREA)
• Vessels And Coating Films For Discharge Lamps (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=34918721

Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (1)

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Citations (3)

• 2004
  • 2004-03-08 KR KR1020040015609A patent/KR100625854B1/ko active IP Right Grant
• 2005
  • 2005-03-08 CN CN2005800147221A patent/CN1950920B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2005-03-08 WO PCT/KR2005/000637 patent/WO2005086198A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2005-03-08 JP JP2007502706A patent/JP4431611B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (3)

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