Abstract

During a normal operation, alternating drive voltage to be applied between a pair of electrodes provided to face an outer surface of a bottom part of a gas discharge light emitting tube is switched to a voltage value V2 lower than a voltage value V1 at the time of starting lighting. Further, the alternating drive voltage to be applied during the normal discharge operation is intermittently applied in a predetermined cycle and duty ratio to enable adjustment of light emission intensity.

IPC Classes  ?

• H01J 61/64 - Cathode glow lamps
• H01J 1/62 - Luminescent screensSelection of materials for luminescent coatings on vessels
• H05B 37/02 - Controlling
• H05B 41/19 - Circuit arrangements in which the lamp is fed by DC or by low-frequency AC, e.g. by 50 cycles/sec AC having a starting switch for lamps having an auxiliary starting electrode
• H01J 65/04 - Lamps in which a gas filling is excited to luminesce by an external electromagnetic field or by external corpuscular radiation, e.g. for indicating
• H01J 65/00 - Lamps without any electrode inside the vesselLamps with at least one main electrode outside the vessel
• H05B 41/24 - Circuit arrangements in which the lamp is fed by high-frequency AC
• G21K 5/02 - Irradiation devices having no beam-forming means

Abstract

A gas discharge device includes a thin glass tube filled with a discharge gas; a pair of first and second long electrodes extending toward either side along a longitudinal direction with a discharge gap interposed therebetween are provided outside of a back side flat surface of a thin glass tube; and a ultraviolet phosphor layer formed on an inner surface at the back side flat surface, the thin glass tube filled with a discharge gas having a front side flat surface and the back side flat surface facing each other on a transverse section, wherein, starting with trigger discharge that is initially generated in the discharge gap as a result of a voltage increase when a voltage with a sine waveform or an inclined waveform is applied between both electrodes, the discharge gradually extends so as to move in the longitudinal direction of the electrodes. Ultraviolet light having high luminous efficiency and emission intensity is obtained from a front side surface of the thin glass tube by driving the device with a sine-wave AC voltage.

IPC Classes  ?

• H01J 1/62 - Luminescent screensSelection of materials for luminescent coatings on vessels
• H01J 65/00 - Lamps without any electrode inside the vesselLamps with at least one main electrode outside the vessel
• H01J 11/18 - AC-PDPs with at least one main electrode being out of contact with the plasma containing a plurality of independent closed structures for containing the gas, e.g. plasma tube array [PTA] display panels
• H01J 63/08 - Lamps with gas plasma excited by the ray or stream
• H01J 61/06 - Main electrodes
• H01J 61/30 - VesselsContainers
• H01J 61/42 - Devices for influencing the colour or wavelength of the light by transforming the wavelength of the light by luminescence
• H05B 41/24 - Circuit arrangements in which the lamp is fed by high-frequency AC

Abstract

A surface light-source device configured with a plurality of external-electrode-type gas-discharge light-emitting tubes arranged in the form of an array is continuously driven under optimal conditions in accordance with differences or changes over time in the characteristics of the device. A first characteristic of the present invention is that an alternating drive voltage that is applied between pairs of electrodes provided facing the bottom outer surface of the gas discharge tubes is driven by switching between a voltage value V1 during illumination startup, and a voltage value V2 that is lower than the voltage value V1 during normal operation, and a second characteristic of the present invention is that the alternating drive voltage that is applied to normal discharge operation is applied intermittently in a duty ratio in a prescribed cycle, and the emitted-light intensity can be adjusted.

IPC Classes  ?

• H05B 41/24 - Circuit arrangements in which the lamp is fed by high-frequency AC
• H01J 65/00 - Lamps without any electrode inside the vesselLamps with at least one main electrode outside the vessel

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a gas discharge light-emitting device for a light source, in particular, for an ultraviolet light source, that has a simple configuration, is inexpensive, and has favorable light emission efficiency. Provided is a gas discharge light-emitting device provided with a glass tube (1) which has an upper part and a bottom part facing each other in a cross-section and in the interior of which a discharge gas is enclosed, the device being characterized by having at least one pair of electrodes (30, 40) that are separated in the longitudinal direction of the glass tube (1) and provided on a tube outer wall surface of the tube with an insulation layer (2) therebetween. By providing an ultraviolet light-emitting phosphor layer (6) to a bottom part inner surface of the glass tube (1), a highly-efficient ultraviolet light-emitting tube can be achieved; by arranging a plurality of such ultraviolet light-emitting tubes in parallel, an ultraviolet light-emitting planar light source can be achieved.

IPC Classes  ?

• H01J 65/00 - Lamps without any electrode inside the vesselLamps with at least one main electrode outside the vessel
• H01J 61/35 - VesselsContainers provided with coatings on the walls thereofSelection of materials for the coatings

Abstract

The present invention provides a gas discharge device that has a simple structure, is low-cost, and has good luminous efficiency, for an ultraviolet- or visible-light source. In the gas discharge device according to the present invention, first and second long electrodes (2, 3) extending towards either side along a longitudinal direction with a discharge gap interposed therebetween are provided on the outer side of a rear-side flat surface of a narrow glass tube (1) that has front-side and rear-side flat surfaces facing each other on a transverse section thereof and that contains a discharge gas sealed therein. Starting with a trigger discharge that is initially generated in the discharge gap as a result of a voltage increase when a sine-waveform or ramp-waveform voltage is applied between the two electrodes (2, 3), the discharge gradually extends so as to move in the longitudinal directions of the long electrodes (2, 3). Ultraviolet light having high luminous efficiency and light output power is obtained from the front-side flat surface by forming an ultraviolet phosphor layer in the narrow glass tube (1) and driving it with a sine-wave voltage.

IPC Classes  ?

• H01J 65/00 - Lamps without any electrode inside the vesselLamps with at least one main electrode outside the vessel
• H01J 11/18 - AC-PDPs with at least one main electrode being out of contact with the plasma containing a plurality of independent closed structures for containing the gas, e.g. plasma tube array [PTA] display panels
• H01J 63/08 - Lamps with gas plasma excited by the ray or stream