JPH0443377B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a compact fluorescent lamp. Conventional configurations and their problems In the age of energy conservation, the low efficiency of conventionally widely used incandescent light bulbs has become a problem, and recently there has been a demand for the development of high-efficiency compact discharge lamps that can replace incandescent light bulbs. ing. The inventors have already proposed, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-37105 and other documents, a new compact fluorescent lamp that can replace incandescent light bulbs and meets the above requirements. As shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b, for example, the basic structure of this fluorescent lamp is as follows. The light-emitting container 1 is constructed by inserting and overlapping the container inner body 3 made of the same material. The openings 4 of the container outer body 2 and the container inner body 3 are hermetically sealed to each other, for example by a glass frit 5 or the like.
Further, in the inner body 3 of the container, a groove 6 for forming a discharge path is provided in a meandering manner so as to form one continuous discharge path, and two electrodes 7 and 8 are provided at both ends of the groove 6. are held by internal lead wires 9, 10, and external conductors 11, 12 are connected to the internal lead wires 9, 10, respectively. A fluorescent substance 13 is coated on a part or all of the inner surface of the container outer body 2 and the outer surface of the container inner body 3. Further, the inside of the luminous envelope 1 is evacuated to a vacuum through an exhaust pipe 14, and surplus mercury and rare gas are sealed inside. Next, regarding the above-mentioned basic structure, during the subsequent manufacturing process, a problem arose in which the container inner body 3 was damaged by atmospheric pressure, and the inventors filed a patent application in order to prevent this problem. 57-100871, etc., proposed an improved structure. An example is shown in Figure 2. In the figure, a lid 15 made of a metal material is sealed with a glass frit 5 along the periphery of the opening 4 of the container outer body 2. As shown in FIG. Then, in place of the exhaust pipe 14 sealed to a part of the opening 4 in FIG. 1, a similar exhaust pipe 14' is installed on the lid 15.
The center of the glass frit 5 is sealed with the same glass frit 5. Furthermore, unlike the structure shown in Figure 1,
The opening of the container inner body 3 is not hermetically sealed to the opening of the container outer body 2, but is merely fixed, so that there is no connection between the container outer body 2 and the container. A region surrounded by the container inner body 3 and a spatial region 16 surrounded by the container inner body 3 and the lid 15 are in communication. Then, the container outer body 2 is passed through the exhaust pipe 14'.
The entire area surrounded by the lid 15 is evacuated, and rare gas is sealed together with excess mercury. With this structure, atmospheric pressure is not applied to the container inner body 3, so damage can be completely prevented. The inventors first continued to study the commercialization of a compact fluorescent lamp based on the improved structure shown in FIG. In this process, in actual lamp design for mass production, the discharge between the two electrodes does not pass through the regular discharge groove 6, but instead passes through the so-called narrow gap region 16 that straddles the two electrodes, as shown in Figure 3. It has been found that crosstalk discharge is more likely to occur. Such a crosstalk discharge causes an inevitable failure of the lamp, so it is a problem that must be prevented. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable compact fluorescent lamp that prevents crosstalk discharge near electrodes. Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, the inventors first investigated the cause of the tendency for crosstalk discharge to occur in the improved structure shown in FIG. As a result, in a lamp design with improved reliability for actual mass production, the edge of the lid 15 is located between the envelope outer body 2 and the envelope inner body 3 at the opening 4 of the luminescent envelope 1. Said gap region 16 straddling both electrodes for insertion of the part.
It was found that as the gap length a between the container outer body 2 and the container inner body 3 becomes larger, crosstalk discharge becomes more likely to occur. Next, in order to prevent such crosstalk discharge, we investigated reducing the gap length a of the gap region 16, and it was confirmed that the thickness of the edge portion of the lid 15 should be 0.6 mm or less. Thereby, it is possible to prevent crosstalk discharge from occurring in the vicinity of both electrodes and provide a highly reliable fluorescent lamp. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 4a and 4b are a longitudinal cross-sectional view and a cross-sectional view taken along the line X--X of a main part of a fluorescent lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the inventors' study results, in the design of mass-produced lamps, the material of the lid 15 must be changed in order to ensure the reliability of the sealing between the envelope outer body 2 and the lid 15 at the opening 4 of the luminous envelope 1. It has been confirmed that when a metal material such as 50% Fe-50% Ni is used, it is necessary to insert the edge portion 14 of the lid 15 between the container outer body 2 and the container inner body 3. In other words, as a result of this, a long sealing distance can be obtained, and since the glass frit flows airtightly into the sealed portion by capillary action, a complete hermetic sealing can be obtained. In addition, Fig. 4b
As shown in FIG. 2, in this fluorescent lamp, the electrode parts are integrated by a glass piece 18, and are inserted into recesses 19 with holes provided at two places around the periphery of the lid 15 and sealed. There is. However, in a lamp with such a structure, the gap length a between the container outer body 2 and the container inner body 3 becomes large in the narrow gap region 16 that straddles both electrodes, and crosstalk discharge occurs between both electrodes. It has been found that the occurrence is more likely to occur when straddling one another. In order to prevent such crosstalk discharge, the inventors conducted various studies to shorten the gap length a. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, an attempt was made to increase the diameter of the opening of the container outer body 2 by the thickness of the edge portion 17 of the lid 15. However, it has been found that with this method, there is a limit to the dimensional accuracy of glass molding, so a gap is always formed in the gate portion 20 as shown in FIG. 5, and crosstalk discharge still occurs through that portion. As a result of considering various methods, the inventors found that
Finally, the gap region 1 that straddles at least both poles
It has been confirmed that it is optimal to reduce the wall thickness t of the edge portion 17 of the lid 15 corresponding to 6. In the standard design of compact fluorescent lamps, the length of the narrow gap region between the electrodes is 10 to 12 mm.
In order to prevent crosstalk discharge in this range, the gap length near the electrode should be set to 0.7.
Therefore, it was experimentally confirmed that the wall thickness t of the edge portion 17 of the lid 15 corresponding to the gap region 16 spanning both electrodes needs to be 0.6 mm or less. Ta. This makes it possible to realize a compact fluorescent lamp that has high sealing reliability and can prevent crosstalk discharge. Note that the wall thickness t of the edge portion 17
It is preferable to make it small from the viewpoint of preventing crosstalk discharge, but if it is made too small, there is a risk that the mechanical strength of the lid 15 after the lamp is completed will be weakened and it will be damaged. According to the study results when 50% Fe-50% Ni is used, it can be said that the lower limit of t is 0.1 mm. Next, the specifications and test results of typical fluorescent lamps conducted based on the present invention are summarized in the table below.

[Table] As you can see from the table above, this fluorescent lamp
A luminous flux of approximately 920m is obtained with an input of 18W,
It can be said to be an energy-saving lamp that can replace light bulbs.
Furthermore, in this fluorescent lamp, since the wall thickness of the edge portion 17 of the lid 15 is set to 0.25 mm based on the present invention,
Crosstalk discharge near the electrodes was completely prevented, and high reliability was achieved in sealing the container outer body 2 and the lid 15. Effects of the Invention As explained above, the present invention provides a compact fluorescent lamp in which a lid is sealed at the opening of a light-emitting envelope, by regulating the thickness of the edge of the lid to 0.6 mm or less. By inserting and sealing the edge portion between the outer body of the enclosure and the inner body of the enclosure, the reliability of the sealing is high and the occurrence of crosstalk discharge near the electrodes can be prevented. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a compact fluorescent lamp that can be used.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1a and 1b are a partially cutaway longitudinal cross-sectional view of a conventional compact fluorescent lamp, and the same X-X
2 is a partially cutaway vertical sectional view of a compact fluorescent lamp with an improved structure; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which crosstalk discharge occurs in a compact fluorescent lamp with an improved structure; Figure 4 a, b
5 is a vertical cross-sectional view and a cross-sectional view taken along the line X-X of a fluorescent lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively, and FIG. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Luminous enclosure, 2... Enclosure outer body, 3... Enclosure inner body, 4... Opening part, 5... Glass frit, 6...
groove, 7... electrode, 9... internal lead wire, 11... external conductor, 13... phosphor, 14'... exhaust pipe, 15... lid,
16... Gap region, 17... Edge portion, 18... Glass piece, 19... Recessed portion, 20... Gate portion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A light-emitting container is provided with a curved container outer body and a container inner body overlapping each other, and at least a meandering groove for forming a discharge path is provided in the container inner body, and the Electrodes are provided at both ends of the groove, and a phosphor is coated on a part or all of the inner surface of the enclosure outer body or the outer surface of the enclosure inner body, and rare gas and mercury are provided inside the groove. In the fluorescent lamp, the edge portion of the lid is inserted between the outer body of the container and the inner body of the container, and the wall thickness of the edge portion of the lid located at least in the gap region between both electrodes. 0.6mm
A fluorescent lamp characterized in that the lid is joined to the opening of the light emitting envelope.