JP2005071720A - Fluorescent lamp and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent flicker, non-lighting, extinction, etc. at the first lighting of a fluorescent lamp using a mercury-containing alloy.
A mercury-containing alloy 15 extracted from a fluorescent lamp after a week or more has elapsed after the mercury-containing alloy is sealed in the bulb before the first lighting is disposed inside the vacuum chamber 12, and the vacuum chamber When the temperature inside 12 is kept at 40 ° C. and the pressure inside the vacuum chamber 12 is kept at 2.0 × 10 ^{−3 to} 2.2 × 10 ⁻³ Pa for 3 hours, the vacuum chamber 12 is released. A fluorescent lamp in which the total amount of mercury to be deposited and the amount of mercury adhering in the bulb tube is 0.013 mg / W to 0.1 mg / W per unit lamp power.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp using a mercury-containing alloy as a mercury sealing method and a manufacturing method thereof.

  In general, a fluorescent lamp exhibits characteristics as a light source by effectively converting ultraviolet rays emitted from vapor mercury excited by external electric energy into visible light with a phosphor. Therefore, in order to realize a highly efficient fluorescent lamp, it is necessary to enclose mercury in the bulb.

  As a method of sealing mercury in the bulb, there is a method in which liquid mercury is directly dropped from an exhaust pipe (hereinafter referred to as a dropper method). In this dropper method, since it is difficult to control the amount of mercury enclosed, a considerably excessive amount of mercury must be enclosed in order to improve product reliability. However, since mercury is an environmentally harmful substance, the amount of mercury used in fluorescent lamps is required to be reduced as much as possible from the viewpoint of environmental protection.

For this reason, in order to reduce the amount of mercury used in the past, as a method of replacing the dropper method, a mercury-containing alloy typified by a zinc-mercury alloy is enclosed in a valve and only the required amount of mercury is used. (For example, see Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3.) This method using a mercury-containing alloy can control the amount of mercury with higher accuracy than the dropper method, and is therefore very effective in reducing the amount of mercury used.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-102664 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-45282 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-92321

  However, in the method using mercury-containing alloys, the mercury evaporation characteristics from mercury-containing alloys are not necessarily equivalent to the mercury evaporation characteristics of liquid mercury. There may be a problem due to shortage.

  That is, when a mercury-containing alloy pellet having a total weight of 6 to 15 mg containing 30 to 70% by weight of zinc as a main component is widely used in the market, the pellet surface corresponding to several percent of the initial mercury content Although nearby mercury has the same evaporation characteristics as liquid mercury, it is known that the evaporation rate of most of the remaining mercury is greatly reduced because the diffusion rate in the mercury-containing alloy is slow. In order to maintain the lighting, mercury is consumed rapidly due to physical adsorption of mercury on the tube wall or chemical reaction with the phosphor film-forming substance and chemical reaction with the impure gas in the tube. It is necessary to supply vapor mercury exceeding their consumption. However, due to the lowering of the evaporation rate, at the time of the first lighting when the mercury consumption is rapid, there is not enough free mercury in the bulb to sufficiently supplement the consumption, and the fluorescent lamp flickers, does not light up, goes out. Such a problem may occur.

  In addition, as a method for enclosing the mercury-containing alloy pellet in the valve, a method for fixing the pellet in the tube of the valve and a method for putting it in the valve in a free state without being fixed in the tube are known. Here, in the case of the above fixing method, heat is applied at the time of fixing, so that some mercury may be deposited on the pellet surface or released into the bulb. However, in the case of a system in which pellets, which are the mainstream in the market, are charged into the valve in a free state, the heat energy given to the pellet is usually small during production, so that mercury deposits from the pellet and mercury into the valve. This reduces the amount of release and further increases the concern for the above problems.

  The present invention prevents inconveniences such as flickering, non-lighting, and extinction at the first lighting of a fluorescent lamp using a mercury-containing alloy as a mercury sealing method.

The present invention is a fluorescent lamp containing a mercury-containing alloy in a bulb,
Before the first lighting, the mercury-containing alloy extracted from the fluorescent lamp after one week or more after the mercury-containing alloy is sealed in the bulb is placed inside a vacuum chamber, and the vacuum chamber When evacuating for 3 hours while maintaining the internal temperature at 40 ° C. and maintaining the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber at 2.0 × 10 ^{−3 to} 2.2 × 10 ⁻³ Pa,
The total amount of mercury released from the vacuum chamber and mercury attached to the bulb tube is 0.013 mg / W or more and 0.1 mg / W or less per unit lamp power. Provide a fluorescent lamp.

The present invention also includes a step of introducing a mercury-containing alloy into the valve while the valve is heated to 250 ° C. or higher;
Sealing the valve after throwing the mercury-containing alloy into the valve;
A method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp is provided.

The present invention also includes a step of introducing a mercury-containing alloy into the valve;
Heating the mercury-containing alloy after charging the mercury-containing alloy into the valve;
A method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp is provided.

  The fluorescent lamp of the present invention has the above-described configuration, and can prevent flickering, non-lighting, turning off, etc. when the fluorescent lamp using the mercury-containing alloy is turned on for the first time.

  In addition, the method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp of the present invention can provide a fluorescent lamp using a mercury-containing alloy that has the above-described steps and prevents flickering, non-lighting, extinction, and the like during the first lighting.

An example of the fluorescent lamp of the present invention is a fluorescent lamp containing a mercury-containing alloy in a bulb, before the first lighting, and after the mercury-containing alloy is enclosed in the bulb, after one week or more has passed. The mercury-containing alloy extracted from the fluorescent lamp is placed inside the vacuum chamber, the temperature inside the vacuum chamber is kept at 40 ° C., and the pressure inside the vacuum chamber is set to 2.0 × 10 ⁻³ to 2 When evacuating for 3 hours while maintaining 2 × 10 ⁻³ Pa, the total amount of mercury released from the vacuum chamber and the amount of mercury adhering to the bulb tube is 0.003 per unit lamp power. It is 013 mg / W or more and 0.1 mg / W or less.

  As a result of diligent efforts to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors have preliminarily placed liquid mercury in the bulb of the fluorescent lamp in order to prevent flickering, non-lighting, extinction, etc. at the first lighting due to lack of vapor mercury. It has been found that it is effective to leave it in a certain amount released state or to deposit mercury in the mercury-containing alloy pellets on the pellet surface so that they can be evaporated quickly.

As a result of examining this point in more detail, in order to ensure the above-mentioned state of the fluorescent lamp, to easily supply the required amount of vapor mercury into the bulb at the first lighting, and to avoid various problems at the first lighting, Before the first lighting, the mercury-containing alloy extracted from the fluorescent lamp after one week or more after the mercury-containing alloy is sealed in the bulb is placed inside the vacuum chamber, and the temperature inside the vacuum chamber is set to 40. When it is evacuated for 3 hours while maintaining the temperature inside the vacuum chamber and maintaining the pressure inside the vacuum chamber at 2.0 × 10 ^{−3 to} 2.2 × 10 ⁻³ Pa, the amount of mercury released from the vacuum chamber and the inside of the bulb tube It has been found that the total amount of mercury adhering to the lamp needs to be 0.013 mg / W or more and 0.1 mg / W or less per unit of lamp power.

  Even if a fluorescent lamp contains a mercury-containing alloy in the bulb, if the fluorescent lamp satisfies the above conditions, the amount of mercury required for the first lighting is sufficiently secured, flickering, non-lighting, extinction, etc. Can be prevented.

Here, the first lighting is the first lighting performed by the consumer after purchasing the fluorescent lamp. Moreover, as temperature conditions, it was set to 40 degreeC which is the temperature of the coldest point part of the cyclic | annular fluorescent lamp currently spread widely in the market. Furthermore, the pressure inside the vacuum chamber is 2.0 × 10 ^{−3 to} 2.2 × 10 ⁻³ Pa, which is a degree of vacuum that can be easily achieved when a normal vacuum pump such as a turbo molecular pump is used. It was.

  The amount of mercury released from the vacuum chamber can be quantified using an electronic balance or the like, and can also be quantified from the weight loss of the mercury-containing alloy. Further, the amount of mercury adhering in the bulb of the fluorescent lamp can be quantified by chemically analyzing the mercury adhering to the tube wall by breaking the lamp.

  The reason why the fluorescent lamp is used after one week or more after the mercury-containing alloy is sealed in the bulb and the exhaust time is set to 3 hours is as follows. Mercury released into the bulb at the time of manufacture is re-adsorbed on the surface of the mercury-containing alloy pellet in about one week, and apparently becomes indistinguishable from the mercury deposited on the surface of the mercury-containing alloy pellet. This re-adsorbed mercury is not chemically bonded to the pellet, but is only physically adsorbed as a single mercury with a very weak force. Evaporates easily.

  Here, a verification experiment was conducted on the amount of mercury in each valve and the amount of mercury released by vacuum evacuation immediately after the production and one week after the production. In this verification experiment, first, the amount of mercury in the bulb of each fluorescent lamp was measured immediately after the production and after one week from the production using the fluorescent lamp produced in Examples described later. Specifically, mercury contained in the bulb was eluted into nitric acid and measured by inductively coupled high-frequency plasma spectroscopy (ICP spectroscopy). Further, mercury-containing alloy pellets were taken out from the fluorescent lamp, and the amount of mercury released by evacuation was measured in the same manner as in the examples described later. The mercury release was measured twice, 1 hour and 3 hours after the start of exhaust. The results are shown in Table 1.

表１から、作製直後にペレットよりバルブ内に放出された水銀は、１週間経過後には大部分がペレット表面に吸着するが、それらは３時間、真空排気を行うことにより再度ペレットより放出されることが分かる。これにより、３時間の真空排気でペレットから放出される水銀は、液体水銀と同等の蒸発特性を持っていると考えられる。

From Table 1, most of the mercury released from the pellet into the bulb immediately after production is adsorbed on the pellet surface after one week, but they are released again from the pellet by evacuating for 3 hours. I understand that. Thereby, it is considered that mercury released from the pellets by evacuation for 3 hours has the same evaporation characteristics as liquid mercury.

  As described above, the fluorescent lamp is used after one week or more after the mercury-containing alloy is sealed in the bulb, and the exhaust time is 3 hours.

  The total amount of mercury released from the vacuum chamber and the amount of mercury adhering to the bulb tube may be 0.013 mg / W to 0.1 mg / W per unit lamp power. is necessary.

  The amount of vapor mercury necessary to maintain lighting is about 0.0015 mg / W, the amount of mercury adsorbed on the bulb tube wall in the initial stage, and the mercury that reacts with a small amount of impure gas remaining in the bulb tube In consideration of the amount, in order to suppress flickering, non-lighting, etc., and to exhibit the lamp characteristics without problems at the first lighting, the amount of liquid mercury in the bulb and the state where it easily deposits and evaporates on the surface of mercury-containing alloy pellets The total amount of mercury required is 0.013 mg / W or more.

  Further, it is not appropriate that the amount of mercury is too large. This is because when energy is applied before the valve is sealed to promote the release of mercury, mercury is exhausted simultaneously with the exhaust of the impure gas in the valve, but the loss due to this exhaust becomes significant.

  Table 2 shows the relationship between the amount of mercury released from the mercury-containing alloy pellets and the amount of mercury in exhaust loss. Table 2 shows the results using the fluorescent lamps produced in the examples described later. In Table 2, the mercury release amount was controlled by adjusting the heating time of the bulb. As for the amount of mercury released, the lamp is broken immediately after completion of the lamp, the amount of mercury released into the bulb is measured by the ICP spectroscopic analysis, and the amount of mercury released is B. Further, the weight A of the zinc mercury pellet before the lamp was charged was measured. Immediately after completion of the lamp, the weight C of the zinc mercury pellet taken out by breaking the lamp was measured, and A− (B + C) was defined as the exhaust loss.

表２から明らかなように、水銀放出量が０．１ｍｇ／Ｗを超えると排気損失が大きくなることが分かる。

As is clear from Table 2, it can be seen that the exhaust loss increases when the mercury emission amount exceeds 0.1 mg / W.

  Furthermore, since the variation due to the exhaust loss becomes large, it is necessary to use a heavy mercury-containing alloy pellet, and a fluorescent lamp with a low mercury content, which is a major initial purpose of using the mercury-containing alloy pellet, is supplied. Another reason is that it goes against the purpose. Further, if energy is applied after the bulb is sealed to release too much mercury, the impurity gas remaining without being exhausted from the bulb and being adsorbed on the phosphor film on the inner surface of the bulb will be released into the tube. As a result, there is a concern that the lamp start, luminous flux, electrical characteristics, etc. may be adversely affected.

  For the above reasons, the total amount of mercury released from the vacuum chamber and the amount of mercury adhering to the bulb tube (the amount of mercury released into the bulb and the surface of the mercury-containing alloy pellets). The upper limit of the total amount of mercury that is likely to precipitate and evaporate is 0.1 mg / W.

  The mercury-containing alloy preferably contains mercury and zinc. This is because zinc mercury alloys are chemically stable, have excellent mercury release characteristics, and have high weight accuracy.

  The mercury-containing alloy may contain 30 wt% or more and 70 wt% or less of zinc in a total weight ratio, more preferably the weight ratio of zinc to mercury is 1: 1.

  Usually, the mercury-containing alloy contains a metal compound of zinc and mercury, simple mercury, and simple zinc.

  The mercury-containing alloy may contain bismuth, lead, indium, cadmium, tin, gallium, strontium, calcium, barium and the like in a total weight ratio of less than 15% by weight.

  Next, a method for manufacturing the fluorescent lamp of the present invention will be described. An example of the method for producing the fluorescent lamp of the present invention includes a step of introducing a mercury-containing alloy into the bulb in a state where the bulb is heated to 250 ° C. or more, more preferably 270 to 280 ° C., and the mercury-containing alloy is added to the bulb. And a step of sealing the valve after being put in.

  By introducing a mercury-containing alloy into the valve while the valve is heated to 250 ° C. or more, thermal energy is given to the mercury-containing alloy to form elemental mercury, and diffusion of the elemental mercury to the surface of the mercury-containing alloy and Release into the bulb is promoted, a sufficient amount of mercury required at the first lighting is secured, and flickering, non-lighting, extinction, etc. at the first lighting can be prevented.

  Further, another example of the method for producing a fluorescent lamp of the present invention includes a step of introducing a mercury-containing alloy into the bulb, and a step of heating the mercury-containing alloy after introducing the mercury-containing alloy into the bulb. It is characterized by including.

  After the mercury-containing alloy is put into the bulb, energy is temporarily applied to the mercury-containing alloy from the outside of the lamp again to form single mercury, and the diffusion of the single mercury to the surface of the mercury-containing alloy and into the bulb. Release is promoted, the amount of mercury necessary for the first lighting is sufficiently secured, and flickering, non-lighting, extinction, etc. at the first lighting can be prevented.

  The heating after putting the mercury-containing alloy into the bulb may be performed before the bulb is sealed or after the bulb is sealed.

  The heating can be performed by raising the temperature of the valve to 250 ° C. or higher. The heating can be performed by applying high frequency energy to the mercury-containing alloy. Furthermore, the heating can be performed by applying a laser to the bulb.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

  First, a method for manufacturing the fluorescent lamp of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a part of a manufacturing process of a 30 W annular fluorescent lamp which is an example of the fluorescent lamp of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a phosphor preparation liquid 22 made of a phosphor and a binder is poured into a bulb 21 made of soda glass and dried. Next, baking is performed for 90 seconds in a baking furnace having an atmospheric temperature of 600 ° C. Thereafter, the stems 23a and 23b made of soda glass are sealed. At this time, the exhaust thin tube 24 is connected to the stem 23a on one side.

  Subsequently, the process proceeds to a valve bending and exhaust process. Specifically, after the valve 21 is formed in a ring shape in a furnace adjusted to a temperature of 750 to 850 ° C. (temperature in the vertical direction of the furnace) sufficiently exceeding the softening point of the valve 21, the valve 21 is exhausted. Then, immediately before the exhaust of the bulb 21 is finished, mercury necessary for light emission is introduced from the exhaust thin tube 24. In this case, mercury is encapsulated by using a zinc-mercury pellet composed of two components of zinc and mercury as the mercury-containing alloy pellet, and putting the pellet in a free state without being fixed to the inner surface of the valve 21. It was. Here, the total weight of the pellets was 10 mg, and the weight ratio of zinc to mercury (zinc: mercury) was 1: 1. At this time, the most important operation is to heat the valve 21 in the furnace in advance and put the pellet into the valve 21 in a state where the valve temperature is 270 to 280 ° C. This promotes mercury release from the pellet into the bulb 21 and mercury diffusion to the pellet surface. After the mercury is sealed, argon gas is sealed as a luminescent medium, and finally the chip is turned off to complete the luminescent lamp of this embodiment.

  Next, the total amount of mercury released into the bulb and the amount of mercury deposited on the pellet surface and easily evaporated using the fluorescent lamp will be described. Mercury released into the bulb re-adsorbs on the zinc mercury pellet after being left for about a week as described above. However, this mercury is only physically adsorbed on the surface of the pellet by a weak force and is in a state of being easily evaporated. As a result, after being left for about a week, the mercury initially released into the bulb and the mercury that is deposited on the pellet surface and easily evaporates are substantially indistinguishable. . Therefore, the total amount of mercury released into the bulb at the time of manufacture and the mercury deposited on the pellet surface is the same as when the vacuum exhaust device shown in FIG. Can be quantified by weight loss.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the vacuum exhaust apparatus used in the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, the evacuation apparatus 11 includes a vacuum chamber 12 and a turbo molecular pump 13, and a vacuum gauge 14 is provided at the upper center of the vacuum chamber 12. A zinc mercury pellet 15 is disposed in the center of the vacuum chamber 12.

  Then, the fluorescent lamp of the comparative example manufactured similarly to the said Example except not having heated when throwing a pellet in a bulb | bulb was prepared.

Next, the fluorescent lamp of the example and the fluorescent lamp of the comparative example were allowed to stand for one week from the production. Then, the zinc mercury pellet was extracted from each valve. Before these first lighting, the zinc mercury pellet extracted from the fluorescent lamp more than one week after the zinc mercury pellet was sealed in the bulb was placed inside the vacuum chamber 12, and the vacuum chamber 12 While maintaining the internal temperature at 40 ° C. and maintaining the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 12 at 2.0 × 10 ^{−3 to} 2.2 × 10 ⁻³ Pa, the air is exhausted at an exhaust rate of 140 dm ³ / sec for 3 hours. The total amount of mercury discharged from the vacuum chamber 12 and the amount of mercury adhering in the bulb tube was measured. Specifically, the amount of mercury discharged from the vacuum chamber 12 was determined from the difference between the weight of the zinc mercury pellet immediately after being extracted from the fluorescent lamp and the weight of the zinc mercury pellet after the exhaust treatment. The amount of mercury adhering to the bulb tube was determined by atomic absorption method.

  Table 3 and FIG. 3 show the weight reduction amount of the pellets during the evacuation. The measurement was performed using four fluorescent lamps in both Examples and Comparative Examples.

表３及び図３から明らかなように、実施例のグループでは、３時間排気後の重量減少量は、０．７０〜１．１０ｍｇ（０．０２３〜０．０３７ｍｇ／Ｗ）であるが、比較例のグループでは、０．０７〜０．３７ｍｇ（０．００２３〜０．０１２ｍｇ／Ｗ）の重量が減少したに過ぎなかった。

As is clear from Table 3 and FIG. 3, in the group of examples, the weight loss after 3 hours exhaustion is 0.70 to 1.10 mg (0.023 to 0.037 mg / W). In the example group, only 0.07 to 0.37 mg (0.0023 to 0.012 mg / W) weight was reduced.

  In addition, the amount of mercury adhering to the inside of the bulb tube was 0.01 mg (0.00033 mg / W) or less in both the examples and the comparative examples.

  Furthermore, the light emission characteristics of the fluorescent lamps of Examples and Comparative Examples were investigated. Specifically, the number of flickering, non-lighting, and extinction failures at the first lighting of each fluorescent lamp was investigated. The results are shown in Table 4. The investigation was conducted using 10 fluorescent lamps in both the examples and the comparative examples.

表４から明らかなように、比較例の蛍光ランプでは、１０本中５本の蛍光ランプに初回点灯時の不具合が発生しているのに対して、実施例の蛍光ランプでは、１０本中にそのような不具合が発生した蛍光ランプはなかった。

As can be seen from Table 4, in the fluorescent lamp of the comparative example, 5 of the 10 fluorescent lamps had a problem at the time of initial lighting, whereas in the fluorescent lamp of the embodiment, in 10 out of 10 lamps. None of the fluorescent lamps had such problems.

  From the above, in the case of the 30 W annular fluorescent lamp, the total amount of mercury released into the bulb and the amount of mercury deposited on the pellet surface and easily evaporated is 0.39 mg (0.013 mg / W). ) As described above, it can be seen that problems such as flickering and non-lighting during initial lighting can be reliably suppressed.

  Moreover, the fluorescent lamp of the present embodiment is also preferable in terms of lamp characteristics during long-term lighting for several thousand hours or more. The reason is described below. In general, a fluorescent lamp gradually consumes mercury due to a reaction with a phosphor or the like during lighting. In the case where zinc mercury pellets are used, in order to illuminate stably for several thousand hours or more, it is necessary that a quantity of liquid mercury sufficiently exceeding the consumption is always present in the bulb. For this purpose, mercury must be smoothly supplied from the pellets even during long-term lighting. It is considered that zinc mercury pellets that give energy such as heat and promote mercury release into the bulb and mercury deposition on the pellet surface tend to evaporate the remaining mercury inside the pellet. For this reason, the fluorescent lamp of the present embodiment can realize a stable supply of vapor mercury even during the lighting for several thousand hours in addition to the lighting for the first time.

  In order to confirm the above, a long-time lighting lamp test was conducted using the fluorescent lamp of the above example and the fluorescent lamp of the above comparative example. When 20 of each of the fluorescent lamps were turned on, in the fluorescent lamps of the examples, all the lamps were lit up to 7000 hours without any problem, whereas in the comparative example, the fluorescent lamps were turned on after 2000 hours and 3600 hours. After the lapse of time, the lamps disappeared one by one.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a fluorescent lamp capable of preventing flickering, non-lighting, extinction, etc. at the time of initial lighting of a fluorescent lamp using a mercury-containing alloy and exhibiting excellent lamp characteristics even during long-term lighting. Yes, its industrial value is great.

It is the schematic of the vacuum exhaust apparatus used in the Example. It is a perspective view which shows a part of manufacturing process of the 30W annular fluorescent lamp which is an example of the fluorescent lamp of this invention. It is a figure which shows the weight reduction amount of the pellet in the case of vacuum exhaustion.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Vacuum exhaust apparatus 12 Vacuum chamber 13 Turbo molecular pump 14 Vacuum gauge 15 Zinc mercury pellet 21 Valve 22 Phosphor compound liquid 23a, 23b Stem 24 Exhaust thin tube

Claims (10)

A fluorescent lamp containing a mercury-containing alloy in a bulb,
Before the first lighting, the mercury-containing alloy extracted from the fluorescent lamp after one week or more after the mercury-containing alloy is sealed in the bulb is placed inside a vacuum chamber, and the vacuum chamber When evacuating for 3 hours while maintaining the internal temperature at 40 ° C. and maintaining the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber at 2.0 × 10 ^{−3 to} 2.2 × 10 ⁻³ Pa,
The total amount of mercury released from the vacuum chamber and mercury attached to the bulb tube is 0.013 mg / W or more and 0.1 mg / W or less per unit lamp power. Fluorescent lamp.   The fluorescent lamp according to claim 1, wherein the mercury-containing alloy contains mercury and zinc.   3. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 2, wherein the mercury-containing alloy contains 30 wt% or more and 70 wt% or less of zinc in a total weight ratio.   The fluorescent lamp according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the mercury-containing alloy includes a metal compound of zinc and mercury, a single mercury, and a single zinc.   The mercury-containing alloy contains at least one element selected from bismuth, lead, indium, cadmium, tin, gallium, strontium, calcium, and barium, and the total weight of the elements is 15% by weight as a whole. The fluorescent lamp according to claim 2, wherein the fluorescent lamp is less than 5. Introducing a mercury-containing alloy into the bulb while the bulb is heated to 250 ° C. or higher;
Sealing the valve after throwing the mercury-containing alloy into the valve;
A method for producing a fluorescent lamp, comprising: Introducing a mercury-containing alloy into the valve;
Heating the mercury-containing alloy after charging the mercury-containing alloy into the valve;
A method for producing a fluorescent lamp, comprising:   The method of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp according to claim 7, wherein the heating is performed by raising the temperature of the bulb to 250 ° C. or higher.   The method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp according to claim 7, wherein the heating is performed by applying high-frequency energy to the mercury-containing alloy.   The method for manufacturing a fluorescent lamp according to claim 7, wherein the heating is performed by applying a laser to the bulb.

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