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GB2032173A - Electric Incandescent Lamps - Google Patents

Electric Incandescent Lamps Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2032173A
GB2032173A GB7933570A GB7933570A GB2032173A GB 2032173 A GB2032173 A GB 2032173A GB 7933570 A GB7933570 A GB 7933570A GB 7933570 A GB7933570 A GB 7933570A GB 2032173 A GB2032173 A GB 2032173A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
filament
lamp
lamp according
coating material
refractory metal
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.)
Granted
Application number
GB7933570A
Other versions
GB2032173B (en
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.)
General Electric Company PLC
Original Assignee
General Electric Company PLC
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 General Electric Company PLC filed Critical General Electric Company PLC
Publication of GB2032173A publication Critical patent/GB2032173A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2032173B publication Critical patent/GB2032173B/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01KELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS
    • H01K1/00Details
    • H01K1/02Incandescent bodies
    • H01K1/04Incandescent bodies characterised by the material thereof
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01KELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS
    • H01K3/00Apparatus or processes adapted to the manufacture, installing, removal, or maintenance of incandescent lamps or parts thereof
    • H01K3/02Manufacture of incandescent bodies

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Resistance Heating (AREA)

Abstract

To prevent or reduce blackening of the envelope due to evaporation of metal or carbon from the filament of an incandescent lamp, the filament is coated with a refractory, ceramic or cermet material which is stable at all temperatures at least up to the temperature attained by the filament in operation of the lamp. Suitable coating materials include refractory metal oxides such as zirconia, hafnia and thoria, refractory metal carbides, nitrides, borides and silicides, for example tantalum carbide and boron nitride, and mixtures of these materials with refractory metals which will not evaporate at the operating temperature. The coating may be deposited from suspension in a liquid, or from a vapour phase reaction mixture, or may be formed, for example, by carburisation of the surface layers of a tungsten or tantalum filament.

Description

SPECIF-iCATION Electric Incandescent Lamps This invention relates to electric incandescent lamps of the type comprising a filament formed of refractory metal or carbon enclosed within a glass envelope, and to methods of manufacturing such lamps.
It is well known that, in an incandescent lamp having a refractory metal or carbon filament, blackening of the lamp envelope tends to occur as a result of evaporation of material from the filament at the high temperature attained by the filament in operation of the lamp, and deposition of the vaporised material on the envelope wall.
Tungsten, which is the metal most usually employed for forming lamp filaments, is particularly liable to undergo some evaporation under the conditions of operation of an incandescent lamp. In order to suppress this evaporation, it is customary to provide a gas filling within the envelope; however, this has the disadvantage, as compared with an evacuated envelope, that thermal loss from the filament occurs as a result of heat conduction in the gas.
The proportion of heat lost from the filament in this way may be up to at least 12.5%: such heat loss will of course result in an appreciable reduction in the brightness of the light emitted by the lamp, for a given power input.
It is an object of the present invention to provide incandescent lamps incorporating improved filaments whereby the above-described disadvantages can be reduced or overcome.
According to the invention, in an electric incandescent lamp consisting essentially of a filament enclosed within a glass envelope, the filament is composed of refractory metal or carbon with a continuous, adherent surface coating consisting of a refractory ceramic or cermet material which is stable at all temperatures at least up to the temperature attained by the filament in operation of the lamp, or of a mixture of two or more such materials.
The filament may be of a standard form, consisting either Of a carbon fibre or of a single, double or triple coil of fine wire composed of tungsten or of any other suitable refractory metal, for example tantalum, or refractory metal alloy.
The coating may consist of any ceramic material, or mixed metal-ceramic material, which is stable, that is to say does not undergo any decomposition, fusion or evaporation, at temperatures up to at least 24000C. Suitable coating materials include refractory metal oxides such as zirconia, hafnia and thoria, refractory metal carbides, nitrides, borides and silicides, especially tantalum carbide or boron nitride, and mixtures of these materials with refractory metals which will not evaporate at the aforesaid temperatures.
In the manufacture of the lamp, the refractory coating material may be deposited on the preformed filament from the liquid or vapour phase, the filament then being heated to cause the deposited material to form a homogeneous, adherent film covering the whole of thesurface of the filament. If desired a plurality of layers of different compositions may be applied to the filament in this manner. Alternatively, a metal filament may be heated in a gaseous atmosphere which will react with the surface layers of the filament metal to form a layer of the coating material, for example the metal carbide or nitride; if desired, the composition of the coating may be varied through its thickness, by varying the composition of a gaseous mixture from which it is formed, so as to form a plurality of layers of graded composition.In another alternative method of manufacture, a carbon filament may be coated with a refractory metal and heated to cause the metal to combine with the underlying carbon to form a carbide.
The refractory ceramic or cermet coating on the filament is effective in suppressing evaporation of the filament material during operation of the lamp. Thus the presence of this coating ensures that no blackening of the lamp envelope, due to evaporation of filament material, will occur, and furthermore renders unnecessary the use of a gas filling for suppressing evaporation from the filament. The envelope may therefore be evacuated, thus preventing thermal loss from the filament in operation.
Some specific filaments for lamps in accordance with the invention, and methods of manufacturing the filaments, will now be described in the following examples.
Example 1 The filament of this example is composed of tungsten wire coated with zirconia. A tungsten filament of standard design, for example a coiled coil filament, is liquid coated by immersion in a solution of zirconium oxychloride in methanol, the methanol is then evaporated off by heating the filament at 1 000C in vacuum and finally the filament is heated to a temperature of 6000C to decompose the zirconium oxychloride to zirconia and to form a film of deposited zirconia, of substantially uniform thickness of approximately one micron or more, over the whole of the surface of the filament.
Example 2 In this case a tungsten filament, suitably of coiled coil form, is provided with a coating of boron nitride. The preformed filament is heated to a temperature of 7500C while exposed to a flowing vapour mixture of boron trichloride with an excess of ammonia at a total vapour pressure of 100 to 200 N/m2. The vapours react to form boron nitride, which is deposited on the filament, and the heating of the filament is continued to form a homogenous film of boron nitride of thickness exceeding one micron over the whole of the surface of the wire.
Example 3 The filament of this example consists of tungsten or tantalum wire with a coating of tantalum carbide. The coating is formed on a tantalum filament by carburising the surface layers of the wire: the preformed filament, which may be of standard coiled form, is heated to 25000C while exposed to a flowing mixture of hydrogen and benzene containing more than 50% by volume of hydrogen. In the case of a tungsten filament, a thin layer of tantalum is deposited over the surface of the filament by the Van Arkel process, that is to say by decomposing tantalum iodide or tantalum chloride vapour at a temperature of 1700--18000C, and this layer is then carburised as in the case of a tantalum filament.If desired, the carbide surface layers may be of graded composition, the innermost layer or layers adjacent to the metallic tantalum or tungsten being composed of Ta2C and the outer layer or layers or TaC, possibly with an intermediate layer or layers of intermediate composition: this grading is achieved by varying the composition of the hydrogen-benzene mixture, the proportion of benzene being progressively increased as the carburisation proceeds.
Example 4 In this example a carbon filament is provided with a coating of tantalum carbide by deposition of a layer of tantalum metal on the carbon filament by the vapour deposition process described in Example 3, and carburisation of the tantalum by combination with the carbon in the surface layers of the filament. Carburisation may occur during the deposition of the tantalum, or may be promoted by heating the tantalum-coated filament to 20000C in an inert atmosphere.
The manufacture of a lamp, incorporating a filament produced in accordance with any of the above examples, is completed by conventional procedures, the filament being supported by wires sealed into a pinched foot tube which is itself sealed into an aperture in the glass envelope, and the envelope being provided with a cap carrying contacts to which the filament support wires are connected.

Claims (14)

Claims
1. An electric incandescent lamp consisting essentially of a filament enclosed within a glass envelope, wherein the filament is composed of refractory metal or carbon with a continuous, adherent surface coating consisting of a refractory ceramic or cermet material which is stable at all temperatures at least up to the temperature attained by the filament in operation of the lamp, or of a mixture of two or more such materials.
2. A lamp according to Claim 1, wherein the said coating material consists of or includes one or more refractory metal oxides.
3. A lamp according to Claim 2, wherein the said coating material consists of or includes zirconium oxide, or hafnium oxide, or thorium oxide.
4. A lamp according to Claim 1, wherein the said coating material consists of or includes one or more of the refractory metal compounds consisting of carbides, nitrides, borides and silicides.
5. A lamp according to Claim 4, wherein the said coating material consists of or includes tantalum carbide or boron nitride.
6. A lamp according to Claim 1, wherein the said coating material consists of a mixture of one or more of the materials specified in Claim 2, 3, 4 or 5 with at least one refractory metal which will not evaporate at the said temperatures.
7. A lamp according to any preceding Claim, which lamp is evacuated.
8. A method of manufacturing a lamp according to any preceding Claim, wherein the said coating material is deposited on a preformed filament from the liquid or vapour phase, and the filament is then heated to cause the deposited material to form a homogeneous, adherent film covering the whole of the surface of the filament.
9. A method according to Claim 8, wherein a plurality of layers of different compositions are applied to the filament from the liquid or vapour phase.
10. A method of manufacturing a lamp according to any of the preceding Claims 1 to 7, which lamp has a metal filament, wherein the filament is heated in a gaseous atmosphere which will react with the surface layers of the filament metal to form a layer of said coating material.
1 A method according to Claim 10, wherein the composition of the said coating is varied through its thickness, by varying the composition of the gaseous atmosphere so as to form a plurality of layers of graded composition.
12. A method of manufacturing a lamp according to Claim 1, which lamp has a carbon filament, wherein the filament is coated with a refractory metal and is heated to cause the metal to combine with the underlying carbon to form a carbide.
13. A method of manufacturing a lamp according to Claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described in any one of the specific Examples 1,2,3 or 4.
14. An electric incandescent lamp manufactured by a method according to Claim 13.
GB7933570A 1978-10-10 1979-09-27 Electric incandescent lamps Expired GB2032173B (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB7840035 1978-10-10

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB2032173A true GB2032173A (en) 1980-04-30
GB2032173B GB2032173B (en) 1982-11-24

Family

ID=10500236

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB7933570A Expired GB2032173B (en) 1978-10-10 1979-09-27 Electric incandescent lamps

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2032173B (en)

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3226012A1 (en) * 1982-07-12 1984-01-12 Naučno-issledovatel'skij i eksperimental'nyj institut avtomobil'nogo elektrooborudovanija i avtopriborov, Moskva Process for producing incandescent lamps
WO2004021451A3 (en) * 2002-08-30 2004-08-12 Fraunhofer Ges Forschung High-temperature stable metal emitter and method for the production thereof
WO2004079773A3 (en) * 2003-03-06 2005-01-13 Fiat Ricerche High efficiency emitter for incandescent light sources
DE102004040711A1 (en) * 2004-08-23 2006-03-02 Schneider, Frank Illumination element consists of a metal conductor which can be connected to a current source and which lights up on switching on the current and is completely covered by a ceramic coating providing thermal luminescence
DE102005006190A1 (en) * 2005-02-10 2006-08-24 Siemens Ag Optical radiation device with radiation source providing radiation in visible wavelength region and non-visible heat radiation, used in illumination industry has metal oxide reflector giving radiation closer to black body radiation
US8278823B2 (en) 2007-03-30 2012-10-02 General Electric Company Thermo-optically functional compositions, systems and methods of making
JP2014063666A (en) * 2012-09-21 2014-04-10 Stanley Electric Co Ltd Incandescent lamp, process of manufacturing the same, and filament
US9252006B2 (en) 2011-10-27 2016-02-02 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Incandescent bulb, filament, and method for manufacturing filament

Cited By (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3226012A1 (en) * 1982-07-12 1984-01-12 Naučno-issledovatel'skij i eksperimental'nyj institut avtomobil'nogo elektrooborudovanija i avtopriborov, Moskva Process for producing incandescent lamps
WO2004021451A3 (en) * 2002-08-30 2004-08-12 Fraunhofer Ges Forschung High-temperature stable metal emitter and method for the production thereof
WO2004079773A3 (en) * 2003-03-06 2005-01-13 Fiat Ricerche High efficiency emitter for incandescent light sources
US7800290B2 (en) 2003-03-06 2010-09-21 C.R.F. Società Consortile Per Azioni High efficiency emitter for incandescent light sources
DE102004040711A1 (en) * 2004-08-23 2006-03-02 Schneider, Frank Illumination element consists of a metal conductor which can be connected to a current source and which lights up on switching on the current and is completely covered by a ceramic coating providing thermal luminescence
DE102005006190A1 (en) * 2005-02-10 2006-08-24 Siemens Ag Optical radiation device with radiation source providing radiation in visible wavelength region and non-visible heat radiation, used in illumination industry has metal oxide reflector giving radiation closer to black body radiation
US8278823B2 (en) 2007-03-30 2012-10-02 General Electric Company Thermo-optically functional compositions, systems and methods of making
US9252006B2 (en) 2011-10-27 2016-02-02 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Incandescent bulb, filament, and method for manufacturing filament
JP2014063666A (en) * 2012-09-21 2014-04-10 Stanley Electric Co Ltd Incandescent lamp, process of manufacturing the same, and filament
EP2711970A3 (en) * 2012-09-21 2014-08-06 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Light source device, method for manufacturing the same and filament
US9252007B2 (en) 2012-09-21 2016-02-02 Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Light source device, method for manufacturing the same and filament

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2032173B (en) 1982-11-24

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
732 Registration of transactions, instruments or events in the register (sect. 32/1977)
PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee