JP2002093371A - Fluorescent lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: A compact and highly efficient fluorescent lamp having excellent luminous flux rising characteristics applicable to general illumination. SOLUTION: A protective layer 12 and a phosphor layer 14 are formed on the inner surface of an arc tube 1 as coating materials. Insoluble aluminate fine particle layer 13 as protective layer 12 on the inner surface of arc tube 1
Are formed, and the phosphor layer 14 is sequentially formed thereon. The phosphor layer 14 is composed of a mixture of three kinds of rare earth phosphors 16 and a fine insoluble aluminate fine particle 1 as a binder.
5 is added to the phosphor suspension. The protective layer 12 is formed by applying a dispersion of the insoluble aluminate fine particle layer 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, light-bulb-type fluorescent lamps have been spreading rapidly in recent years because they have much higher efficiency than conventional incandescent lamps and are effective for energy saving.

As a conventional fluorescent lamp, a bulb-type fluorescent lamp is, for example, shown in FIG.
A 3U arc tube 39 is known in which 6, 37, 38 are connected and integrated by a so-called bridge junction to form a series of discharge paths.

As shown in FIG. 10, a protective layer 41 made of alumina fine particles 40 and a phosphor layer 43 to which phosphor particles 44 and alumina fine particles 42 are added as a binder are formed on the inner surface of the arc tube 39. ing. The protective layer 41 suppresses sodium diffusion from the glass of the arc tube 39 material,
The alumina fine particles 42 in the phosphor layer 43 maintain the binding force between the phosphor particles 44 by being filled in the gaps between the phosphor particles 44.

With respect to such a bulb-type fluorescent lamp,
Mercury is converted to amalgam (hereinafter referred to as main amalgam) in order to suppress a decrease in lamp efficiency due to an excessive increase in the mercury vapor pressure in the arc tube at a high temperature of the arc tube during steady operation of the lamp.
To control the mercury vapor pressure in the tube to an optimal range from the viewpoint of efficiency.

However, in such a bulb-type fluorescent lamp in which the main amalgam is sealed, the light emitting tube 39 is used when the lamp is turned off.
The mercury inside is adsorbed by the main amalgam, and the mercury vapor pressure in the tube after the lamp is turned off is lower than that of mercury alone, which causes a unique problem that the light flux rises immediately after the lamp is turned on again is extremely slow. I do. This is a problem to be solved by the bulb-type fluorescent lamp when compared with the instantaneous luminous flux rise of the conventional incandescent lamp.

Conventionally, in order to improve the luminous flux rising characteristic of a bulb-type fluorescent lamp, for example, as shown in FIG.
5, it is known to arrange so-called three auxiliary amalgams 48, 49, 50 together with two main amalgams 46, 47 in the vicinity of the electrode coil and in the discharge path.

With this configuration, the mercury adsorbed on the auxiliary amalgams 48, 49, and 50 when the lamp is turned off is rapidly evaporated / heated by heat radiation from a high-temperature electrode coil immediately after the lamp is turned on or lamp current heating in a discharge path. The lamp light is diffused so that the lamp light beam is started up more quickly.
Actually, various methods have been proposed and adopted for the configuration and arrangement of the main amalgam and the auxiliary amalgam in order to further enhance the rise of the light flux immediately after lighting.

For example, the size of the arc tube 39 shown in FIG. 8 is 10.8 mm outside the tube and the distance between the electrodes is 280 mm.
Regarding the W-type bulb-type fluorescent lamp (equivalent to 60 W of incandescent lamp), the luminous flux value after 3 seconds immediately after lighting of the lamp in which the main amalgams 46, 47 are arranged without providing the auxiliary amalgams 48, 49, 50 is steady. It was an extremely low level of 6% at the time of lighting. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, the main amalgams 46, 47 and the auxiliary amalgams 48, 49, 5
Similarly, in the fluorescent lamp in which 0 is arranged, the luminous flux value after a lapse of 3 seconds immediately after the lamp is turned on is improved to 23%, which is a level applicable for general illumination.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-31374 discloses that
In order to improve the luminous flux rising characteristics, instead of the auxiliary amalgam placed at a specific arc tube position, amalgam is mixed with the phosphor layer applied to the inner wall of the arc tube to capture mercury and emit light by discharge after starting the lamp. There has been proposed a method of evaporating and diffusing the mercury captured by the increase in the temperature of the tube wall.

[0011]

At present, in addition to the 13W bulb-type fluorescent lamp, a 22W high wattage type is being developed as a substitute for a 100W incandescent bulb in addition to the 13W bulb-type fluorescent lamp.

In the development of the high wattage type, two goals are specifically addressed, namely, miniaturization as a substitute for an incandescent lamp and improvement of the lamp efficiency. However, in order to achieve both goals, it is inevitable that the distance between the electrodes of the arc tube is prolonged and the structure of the arc tube is complicated. For example, it is impossible to realize a compact, high-efficiency, high-wattage type with a conventional 3U-type arc tube as shown in FIG. 9, and a 4U tube light emission having a longer distance between electrodes and a complicated structure instead of this. Means such as tubes are provided. In such a 4U arc tube, two auxiliary amalgams, two in the vicinity of the electrode coil and two in the discharge path, are arranged. However, even with such a configuration, the diffusion of the evaporated mercury causes the 3U emission. This was slower than that using a tube, and was insufficient for improving the luminous flux rising characteristics immediately after lighting. In addition, according to the study of the present inventors, the method of mixing amalgam with the phosphor layer according to the prior art also shows that the bond between mercury and a metal such as indium that forms amalgam is too strong, and the captured mercury emits light due to discharge. When the temperature of the tube wall was increased, it was not quickly evaporated, and the effect was found to be insufficient.

As described above, the problem of the light beam rising characteristic is as follows.
None of the prior art measures provided a sufficient improvement and still remained unresolved. It can be said that solving this problem is an issue in the development of a high watt type bulb-type fluorescent lamp.

The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp in which main amalgam is disposed, which can further improve the luminous flux rising characteristic immediately after the lamp is turned on, and has a small size and high efficiency having excellent luminous flux rising characteristic applicable to general lighting. It is an object to provide a fluorescent lamp.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fluorescent lamp in which a mercury amalgam is disposed in a tube of an arc tube, wherein the mercury amalgam is disposed on an inner surface of the arc tube. It has a configuration containing an insoluble aluminate.

This prevents mercury vapor present in the arc tube immediately before lighting from being caught on the inner surface of the lamp immediately after lighting, making it possible for mercury to exist in the arc tube in a vapor state capable of emitting ultraviolet light. It is possible to realize a compact and highly efficient compact fluorescent lamp having extremely high luminous flux rising characteristics.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of an arc tube 1 of a 22 W bulb-type fluorescent lamp for replacing an incandescent lamp 100 W according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The arc tube 1 has four U-shaped glass tubes 2, 3,
4, 5 are connected by a bridge junction to form a series of discharge paths inside. A pair of electrode tungsten coils 6, 7 are provided at the tube end of the arc tube 1, and these electrode tungsten coils 6, 7 are connected to lead wires 8, 9, 10, and
11 respectively, and lead wires 8, 9, 10, 11
Is hermetically sealed at the end of the arc tube 1.

A protective layer is formed on the inner surface of the arc tube 1 as a coating material.
12 and a phosphor layer 14 are formed. As shown in FIG.
In addition, insoluble aluminum is used as a protective layer 12 on the inner surface of the arc tube 1.
A phosphoric acid fine particle layer 13 is formed, and a phosphor layer 14 is formed thereon.
They are formed sequentially. Inside the arc tube 1 for starting assistance
300 Pa of argon is sealed. Phosphor layer 14
Is red for Y_TwoO_Three: Eu, green color is LaPO_Four: Ce, T
b, blue is BaMg_TwoAl ₁₆O₂₇: 3 types of Eu and Mn
Mixed with the rare earth phosphor 16 of
The phosphor suspension to which the soluble aluminate fine particles 15 are added is
It is formed by coating. The protective layer 12 is made of insoluble aluminate
It is formed by applying a dispersion of the salt particle layer 13.

Inside the arc tube 1, two main amalgams 17, 18 made of In-Pb-Sn are respectively disposed in the tube end narrow tubes of the U-shaped glass tubes 2, 5, and an In-plated stainless mesh is used. Are formed in the vicinity of the electrode tungsten coils 6, 7 and in the discharge paths of the tube ends of the U-shaped arc tubes 3, 4, respectively.

The arc tube 1 has a tube outer diameter of 10.8 mm, a distance between electrodes of 490 mm, an arc tube height of 77 mm, and an arc tube width of 41 m.
m. The completed 22W bulb-type fluorescent lamp 27 is assembled with the arc tube 1 and an electronic lighting circuit 23 for lighting the arc tube 1 as shown in FIG. It is placed inside and the base 26 is attached to complete it.

The completed bulb-type fluorescent lamp 27 has a maximum outer diameter of 65 mm for the outer bulb glass bulb 24 and a total lamp length of 140.
mm, the lamp luminous flux is 1520 lm, and the efficiency is 6
High efficiency characteristics of 9 lm / W were obtained.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The difference from the first embodiment is that the protective layer 12 between the inner surface of the arc tube 1 and the phosphor layer 14 is replaced with an insoluble aluminate fine particle layer 13 as shown in FIG. This is that the aluminate continuous film layer 28 is formed, and the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment.

The insoluble aluminate continuous film layer 28 is formed by applying an organic metal aqueous solution containing aluminum, magnesium and the like to the inner surface of the arc tube 1, drying and firing the same at 600 ° C.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The present embodiment shown in FIG.
Is coated with a coating 29 of an insoluble aluminate. The insoluble aluminate film 29 is formed by sintering the phosphor 16 coated with an organic metal aqueous solution containing aluminum and magnesium at 600 ° C. At this time, the protective layer 12 may be the insoluble aluminate fine particle layer 13 or the insoluble aluminate continuous film layer 28.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the surface of metal oxide fine particles 30 such as alumina is coated with an insoluble aluminate coating 3.
1 and used as the protective layer 12 and the binder 15 in the same manner as described above, which were formed into a particle layer or a continuous film layer. The coating 31 of the insoluble aluminate is made of a metal oxide fine particle 30 coated with an aqueous solution of an organic metal containing aluminum and magnesium.
Is fired at 600 ° C. to form a film. Other configurations are the same as those of the above embodiments.

Next, the luminous flux rising characteristics of the lamp are shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. As the measurement sample, a fluorescent lamp which had been aged for 15 hours and extinguished for 6 hours at room temperature was used. In the lamp in which the above-mentioned four auxiliary amalgams are arranged in the prior art, the luminous flux value for 3 seconds immediately after lighting is extremely low, 15% of that at the time of steady lighting, which proves to be insufficient as a lamp replacement lamp.

The reason why the rise of the luminous flux immediately after lighting is low may be that mercury vapor in the arc tube is insufficient immediately after lighting. Originally, if the mercury gas present in the arc tube is ionized and emits ultraviolet rays, the luminous flux should rise quickly. Regarding this point, as a result of an investigation by the inventor, in the conventional fluorescent lamp, the mercury vapor that has been turned on and ionized at the same time is caught by the alumina fine particles contained in the protective layer and the phosphor layer,
It has been found that the rise of the luminous flux is reduced because no ultraviolet light is emitted. During steady lighting, the glass tube wall temperature of the arc tube is sufficiently high, so that mercury is not captured by the alumina fine particles. The luminous flux value 3 seconds after the lighting of the fluorescent lamp (indicated by symbol C in FIG. 7) containing no alumina fine particles showed an extremely high value of 31% at the time of steady lighting.

Actually, the fine alumina particles as the protective layer and the fine alumina particles as the binder in the phosphor layer are indispensable for preventing sodium diffusion and maintaining the binding force.

Therefore, as a result of various studies, it was found that a very high luminous flux rising characteristic can be obtained in a fluorescent lamp using fine particles made of insoluble aluminate as a protective film and a binder as described later. This is presumably because the insoluble aluminate fine particles have a considerably lower mercury-capturing power than the conventionally used alumina fine particles. That is, a fluorescent lamp according to the present invention using fine particles of such an insoluble aluminate having a low mercury-capturing power, for example, magnesium aluminate fine particles as the insoluble aluminate fine particles instead of alumina fine particles (symbol in FIG. 7) When the luminous flux value was measured 3 seconds immediately after the lighting (indicated by A), it was found to be as high as 30% at the time of steady lighting and extremely high, almost the same as when no alumina fine particles were contained. Also, when the binding force, lamp efficiency and life characteristics were measured, they were equivalent to those of a conventional fluorescent lamp using alumina fine particles.

In the conventional fluorescent lamp using the auxiliary amalgam described in the prior art, the auxiliary amalgam is disposed at the end of the arc tube. Therefore, immediately after the lamp is turned on, the adsorbed mercury evaporates before the arc tube evaporates. It takes a certain time to spread to the whole area. On the other hand, in the case of the fluorescent lamp according to the present invention in which the insoluble aluminate is used as the binder 15 in the protective layer 12 and the phosphor layer 14, the mercury vapor existing in the arc tube 1 immediately before the lighting turns on immediately after the lighting. No longer becomes trapped by the alumina fine particles used in the protective layer and binder, allowing mercury to be present in the tube in the form of a vapor capable of emitting ultraviolet light, thus achieving an extremely high luminous flux rise can do.

In this embodiment, an example in which magnesium aluminate is used as an insoluble aluminate is shown. However, calcium aluminate, barium aluminate, cobalt aluminate, strontium aluminate, aluminum boron oxide, beryllium aluminum oxide It was confirmed that the same effect was obtained by using aluminum zinc oxide, aluminum iron oxide and the like.

As described above, with respect to the fluorescent lamp in which the main amalgam is arranged, the mercury vapor existing in the arc tube immediately before the lighting can be made to exist in the state of the vapor contributing to the emission of the ultraviolet light immediately after the lighting. It is possible to realize a compact, high-efficiency light bulb-shaped fluorescent lamp having improved rising characteristics and excellent luminous flux rising characteristics.

[0038]

According to the present invention, mercury vapor existing in the arc tube immediately before lighting is not caught by the coating material on the inner surface of the lamp immediately after lighting, and mercury is present in the tube in a vapor state capable of emitting ultraviolet light. Therefore, it is possible to realize a compact, high-efficiency bulb-type fluorescent lamp having extremely high luminous flux rising characteristics.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front view of an arc tube of a fluorescent lamp according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing the inner surface of the arc tube.

FIG. 3 is a sectional front view of the same fluorescent lamp.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing an inner surface of an arc tube of a fluorescent lamp according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a phosphor particle of a fluorescent lamp according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing particles as a protective layer or a binder of a fluorescent lamp according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a luminous flux rising characteristic of the fluorescent lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional front view of a conventional fluorescent lamp.

FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway front view of the arc tube of the conventional fluorescent lamp.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of an arc tube of a conventional fluorescent lamp.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 arc tube 12 protective layer 14 phosphor layer 17, 18 main amalgam

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuo Maeda 1-1, Yukicho, Takatsuki-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electronics Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kenji Fujiwara 1-1, Yukicho, Takatsuki-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electronics Incorporated F term (reference) 5C015 UU04 5C043 AA20 CC09 CD01 CD10 DD03 DD27 DD28 DD29 EA11 EB01 EB11

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A fluorescent lamp in which mercury amalgam is disposed in a tube of an arc tube, wherein the coating applied to the inner surface of the arc tube contains an insoluble aluminate. 2. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is insoluble aluminate fine particles mixed in a phosphor layer. 3. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is an insoluble aluminate fine particle layer formed between the inner surface of the arc tube and the phosphor layer. 4. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is a continuous insoluble aluminate film layer formed on the inner surface of the arc tube. 5. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is made of a phosphor coated with an insoluble aluminate film. 6. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is metal oxide fine particles having a surface coated with an insoluble aluminate film. 7. The insoluble aluminate is magnesium aluminate, calcium aluminate, barium aluminate, cobalt aluminate, strontium aluminate, aluminum boron oxide, beryllium aluminum oxide, aluminum zinc oxide, and aluminum iron oxide. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein: 8. A fluorescent lamp comprising: the fluorescent lamp according to claim 1; and a lighting circuit for lighting the fluorescent lamp.