JPH047541B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp used as a display element in a large color display device or the like.

[Background Art] A fluorescent lamp with an integrated discharge space and a structure as shown in FIG. 7 has been proposed as a light source for color displays. This fluorescent lamp has a plurality of discharge paths 22R, 22G, 2 formed by a partition plate 21 in a discharge space inside an L-shaped light source tube 20 made of glass.
2B, the discharge is performed by sequentially switching between the common cathode 23 and each anode electrode 24R, 24G, 24B. This provides variable color light emission.

Although this lamp is small, has high brightness, and has excellent performance as a display element, it has the following problems in manufacturing.

In other words, when manufacturing a lamp container by assembling a large number of glass plates by glass frit sealing, poor sealing tends to occur due to variations in the dimensions of the glass material and variations in the amount of glass frit applied, and the firing temperature of the phosphor may also vary depending on the temperature of the glass frit. Because the sealing temperature is higher than the sealing temperature of .

Furthermore, anode electrodes 24R, 24G,
24B, there is a problem in that when the display is turned on, a large difference in brightness occurs on the display surface due to the influence of the so-called anode dark area.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a fluorescent lamp for display elements that is easy to manufacture and can provide uniform high brightness. There is something to do.

[Disclosure of the Invention] The present invention includes a box-shaped light source tube with one side open;
The light source tube consists of a glass plate sealed to the opening surface of the light source tube, and a box-shaped electrode chamber body whose opening surface side is sealed on the bottom outer surface of the light source tube opposite to the glass plate. Inside the body, a plurality of independent spaces are formed by a plurality of partition walls erected from the bottom of the light source tube to the glass plate, each independent space serving as a discharge path, and each discharge path excluding the glass plate. A pair of discharge holes communicating with the electrode chamber main body are provided at the bottom so as to be spaced apart from each other, and a vertical discharge hole is provided in the electrode chamber main body so as to extend from the bottom of the electrode chamber main body to the bottom outer surface of the light source tube body. A plurality of independent spaces are partitioned by a partition wall provided in the discharge path, and a plurality of independent spaces are formed in which the discharge holes on one side of each discharge path communicate with each other, and another independent space in which all the discharge holes on the other side communicate with each other, and a common electrode is connected to the separate independent space. and a separate electrode is arranged in each of the remaining independent spaces to form an electrode chamber in each independent space, and an air space consisting of each of the discharge paths and each of the electrode chambers that communicate with each of the electrode chambers. This is characterized by a discharge gas being filled in the inside. The present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of this embodiment, and the light source tube 1 is made of a non-transparent material with a high reflectance of visible light, such as ceramic, and is formed into a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape. One side is open, and the inside is formed with an integrally formed partition wall 1' to form, for example, three parallel discharge paths 2R, 2.
G, 2B are formed. Each discharge path 2R, 2G,
2B has phosphors 3R, 3G, and phosphors of different luminescent colors on the entire inner surface of each of the five surfaces, that is, both side surfaces, both end surfaces, and the bottom surface.
3B is applied. For example, the discharge path 2R contains a red phosphor 3R (Y ₂ O ₃ ; Eu), the discharge path 2G contains a green phosphor 3G (CeMgAl ₁₁ O ₁₉ ; Tb), and the discharge path 2
B is blue phosphor 3B (BaMg ₂ Al ₁₆ O ₂₇ ; Eu)
is applied.

At both ends of each discharge path 2R, 2G, 2B, there is a common cathode 7 in an electrode chamber 9, which will be described later, and an anode electrode 8R, 8.
Discharge holes 4R, 4G, 4B and 5R, 5G, 5B communicating with G, 8B are provided.

A translucent glass plate 6 is sealed to the open surface, which is the display surface, of the light source tube 1. A rectangular parallelepiped electrode chamber body 12 is sealed to the outer bottom surface of the light source tube 1. The electrode chamber body 12 has an electrode chamber 9 formed therein, and the inner bottom of the electrode chamber 9 includes a single common cathode 7 attached to a glass stem 11, an anode electrode 8R, and anode electrodes 8R, each separated by a partition wall 9'. 8G,
8B is arranged. Then, the common cathode 7 and each anode electrode 8 are connected to each other through the open ceiling surface of the electrode chamber 9.
R, 8G, 8B are discharge holes 4R, 4G, 4B and 5
The electrode chamber body 12 is sealed to the outer bottom surface of the light source tube body 1 in a manner corresponding to R, 5G, and 5B. Here, the electrode chamber main body 12 is molded from the same material as the light source tube body 1. 10 is an exhaust pipe.

A discharge gas consisting of an inert gas such as argon and mercury is sealed in an airtight space defined by the glass plate 6, the light source tube 1, and the electrode chamber 9. The above-mentioned parts are hermetically sealed using glass frit.

Here, in order to make effective use of positive column light emission and to achieve miniaturization, the dimension of the fluorescent lamp of this embodiment is such that the diameter of the circle inscribed in the discharge path 1 is d, the anode electrodes 8R, 8G, 8B and the common cathode 7. It is designed to satisfy 2d≦l≦4d, where 1 is the distance between the electrodes, that is, the distance between the electrodes.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a circuit for lighting the fluorescent lamp of this embodiment. These anode electrodes 8R, 8
G and 8B are connected to a selection switch SW (specifically, a transistor switch that varies the duty) from each DC power source DC via a resistor R as a current limiting element. ST is a starter for starting.

Discharge occurs between anode electrodes 8R, 8G, 8B and common cathode 7
By increasing the switching cycle of the selection switch SW and arbitrarily changing each duty ratio, the emission ratio of each discharge path 2R, 2G, and 2B changes continuously, allowing a flexible emission color. is obtained.

The fluorescent lamps of this embodiment thus constructed can be arranged as one pixel in a constant array as shown in FIG. 4 to form a medium to large sized color display device. In this case, the fluorescent lamp of the embodiment can have any size from a minimum of 20 mm square to a maximum of 500 mm square, and therefore can be widely applied as a display element for display devices of various sizes and uses. In addition, the light source tube 1 of each fluorescent lamp
Since the partition walls 1' and 1' are made of a non-transparent material with high visible light reflectance, no special reflective film is required to obtain brightness, and a transparent glass plate 6 is provided on the display surface. Since it uses a so-called aperture configuration, it can obtain three times the brightness of conventional devices with the same power consumption, making it ideal for large color display devices.

Embodiment 2 In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b, the outer shape of the electrode chamber main body 12 constituting the light source tube 1 and the electrode chamber 9 is cylindrical. This facilitates molding of ceramic, which is the material of the electrode chamber body 12 constituting the tube body 1 and the electrode chamber 9.

The other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment are the same, and the explanation thereof will be omitted. Note that the discharge paths 2R, 2G, and 2B of the light source tube body 1 are formed by fan-shaped spaces separated by partition walls 1' that are formed radially from the center, and the discharge holes 4R, 4G, and 4B are bored at positions that correspond to just the important parts. ing.

In the above embodiments 1 and 2, the number of discharge paths is 2R, 2G,
Although three cases of 2B are shown, the number of discharge paths can be arbitrarily selected to 2 or 4 or more depending on the display specifications of the display device to be formed.

Furthermore, in each of Examples 1 and 2, the light source tube 1 including the partition wall 1' and the electrode chamber body 12 constituting the electrode chamber 9 can be obtained by molding, so that the number of parts can be minimized. As a result, the number of sealing points is far fewer than in the conventional example, and the number of sealing defects can be greatly reduced.Furthermore, since the light source tube body 1 and the partition wall 1' are integrally molded in advance, the phosphor 3
Application of R, 3G, and 3B becomes extremely easy, and since the common electrode is provided in the electrode chamber, there is an effect that there is no effect of lowering the brightness of the light emitting surface due to scattering of the electrode material.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention includes a box-shaped light source tube with one side open, a glass plate sealed to the opening surface of the light source tube, and a glass plate facing the glass plate of the light source tube. The light source tube consists of a box-shaped electrode chamber body whose opening side is sealed on the outer surface of the bottom. Independent spaces are formed and each independent space is used as a discharge path, and a pair of discharge holes communicating with the electrode chamber main body are provided at the bottom of each discharge path excluding the glass plate so as to be spaced apart from each other, and the electrode Inside the chamber body, there are a plurality of independent spaces partitioned by partition walls standing upright from the bottom of the electrode chamber body to the bottom outer surface of the light source tube, and one discharge hole of each of the discharge paths communicating with each other, and the other. forming another independent space in which all of the discharge holes communicate with each other,
A common electrode is arranged in the separate independent space, and different electrodes are arranged in each of the remaining independent spaces to form an electrode chamber in each independent space, and each of the discharge paths and the above are connected to each of the electrode chambers. Since the discharge gas is sealed in the airtight space consisting of each electrode chamber, the reduction in brightness near the anode electrode is reduced, and as shown by curve A in Figure 6, the effect of the reduction in brightness on the display surface is the same. This has the effect of reducing the amount of light compared to the conventional example shown in the curve in Figure B. Furthermore, since the common electrode, which is a cathode coated with an electrode material, is housed in the electrode chamber, there is no effect of lowering the brightness of the light emitting surface due to scattering of the electrode material. There is an effect of not having one.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, Fig. 2a
is a front view of the same as above, FIG. 2b is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG.
The figure is a front view of a display device using Example 1, FIG. 5a is a front view of Example 2 of the present invention, and FIG.
Fig. b is a sectional view taken along line B-B in Fig. 6, Fig. 6 is an explanatory view of the effects of the present invention, and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional example. 1 is the light source tube, 1' is the partition wall, 2R, 2G, 2B
is a discharge path, 3R, 3G, 3B are phosphors, 4R, 4
G, 4B and 5R, 5G, 5B are discharge holes, 6 is a glass plate, 7 is a common cathode, 8R, 8G, 8B
9 is an anode electrode, 9 is an electrode chamber, 9' is a partition wall, and 12 is an electrode chamber body.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A box-shaped light source tube with one side open, a glass plate sealed to the opening surface of the light source tube, and an opening at the bottom outer surface of the light source tube opposite to the glass plate. It consists of a box-shaped electrode chamber body whose surface side is sealed, and a plurality of independent spaces are formed within the light source tube by a plurality of partition walls that are erected from the bottom of the light source tube to the glass plate. Each independent space is used as a discharge path, and the bottom of each discharge path, excluding the glass plate, is provided with 1 that communicates with the electrode chamber main body.
Pairs of discharge holes are provided so as to be spaced apart from each other, and the electrode chamber main body is partitioned by a partition wall that extends from the bottom of the electrode chamber main body to the bottom outer surface of the light source tube, and one side of each discharge path is partitioned. A plurality of independent spaces are formed in which each of the discharge holes communicates with each other, and another independent space is formed in which all the discharge holes of the other side communicate with each other, and a common electrode is disposed in the separate independent space, and the remaining independent spaces are separated from each other. electrodes are arranged to form electrode chambers in each independent space, and a discharge gas is sealed in an airtight space consisting of each of the discharge paths and each of the electrode chambers that communicate with each of the electrode chambers. Fluorescent lamp. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that the light source tube, the partition wall of the light source tube, and the electrode chamber body and the partition wall of the electrode chamber body are integrally molded from a non-transparent material with high visible light reflectance. Fluorescent lamp as described.