JPS6329933B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a flat discharge lamp in which discharge electrodes are disposed facing each other on the surface of an insulating substrate at a small interval in a plane, and in particular, the present invention relates to a flat discharge lamp in which discharge electrodes are disposed facing each other on the surface of an insulating substrate at a small interval. A flat discharge lamp suitable for a removal light source or a back light source for a liquid crystal display is used.

The flat discharge lamp of the present invention can be used in various fields such as a light source for removing static charge from photoreceptors in electronic copying machines and facsimile machines, or as a back light source for liquid crystal displays. A case where the present invention is applied to a light source for removing static charge from a photoreceptor of a copying machine will be described.

Generally, in an electronic copying machine, as shown in Fig. 1, a corona charger A uniformly distributes charges on the surface of a drum-shaped photoconductive photoreceptor B, and then the surface is charged. A light image corresponding to the original to be copied is formed on the photoreceptor B in the exposure section C, and electric charge in the exposed portion is selectively dissipated to form a latent image corresponding to the light image. Next, in the developing section D, toner is attached to the latent image by electrostatic force and visualized to form a toner image E. Furthermore, in order to facilitate the transfer, the toner is attached to the latent image by a first static charge removing device F. After removing the charge from the toner image E, the toner image E is electrostatically transferred to a copy sheet H at a transfer section G, and fixed by applying heat, pressure, etc. at a fixing section I. On the other hand, the residual toner on the photoreceptor B is neutralized by the second static charge removing device J to weaken its adhesion, and is removed by a cleaning section K consisting of a brush or the like. Finally the third
The static charge removing device L removes the surface charge remaining on the photoconductive photoreceptor B, bringing the surface potential of the photoreceptor B close to zero potential, and the series of copying processes is completed.

The flat discharge lamp of the present invention can be adapted as a light source for the first, second, and third static charge removing devices F, J, and L described above. Conventionally, fluorescent lamps, tungsten filament lamps, neon pilot lamps, etc. have been used as the above light source, but fluorescent lamps require ballasts and starting devices, so they can be avoided from becoming larger and more expensive. In addition, it was difficult to start up instantly, and the amount of light changed with changes in ambient temperature. On the other hand, tungsten filament lamps are inexpensive, but the heat generated by emitting light increases the temperature of the photoreceptor, which can change the characteristics of the photoreceptor and cause the filament to break during use, causing it to not light up. There were also problems in terms of reliability. Furthermore, neon pilot lamps are inexpensive and do not cause problems such as not lighting up during use, but because the lamp itself is small, it is necessary to arrange a large number of lamps, which takes time and effort to assemble. Furthermore, since the light emitted from each lamp is spotty, it is difficult to achieve the uniformity of the present invention.

The present invention was devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has the following advantages: flat, fast response speed, little heat generated by light emission, uniform light emission, and high reliability. The object of the present invention is to provide a flat discharge lamp that has excellent performance, is easy to manufacture, and is inexpensive.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
2 and 3 are a plan view and a perspective view of the main parts of a flat discharge lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively. In the figures, 1 indicates the entire high-frequency discharge lamp, and 2
3 is a rear substrate, 3 is one discharge electrode, 3' is the other discharge electrode, 4 is a front substrate, and 5 is a vacuum vessel.

In the high-frequency discharge lamp 1 of this embodiment, a plurality of ribbon-shaped or linear discharge electrodes 3 are arranged in tandem on the surface of an elongated rear substrate 2 made of an electrical insulator such as glass or ceramic. established,
Corresponding to each of the discharge electrodes 3, a plurality of ribbon-shaped or linear discharge electrodes 3' are arranged in columns and arranged at small intervals in a plane. The discharge electrodes 3 and 3' are provided with lead wires 6 and 6', respectively, and in this case, the discharge electrodes 3 and 3' and the lead wires 6 and 6'
By depositing iron, nickel, chromium, or their alloys in a predetermined pattern using printing technology, vapor deposition technology, or plasma spraying technology using reducing gases mainly composed of rare gases, It can be easily formed. The terminals are finished by baking silver paste or gold paste to increase mechanical strength and reduce contact resistance. Furthermore, the surfaces of the discharge electrodes 3, 3' are coated with BaO, BaSrO ₂ ,
BaSrCaO ₃ , Cs ₂ O, Y ₂ O ₃ , BaAl ₂ O ₄ , BaS,
Electron emitting substances such as LaB ₆ or/and GdB ₆ 7, 7'
is deposited using techniques such as dissolving organic metals in organic solvents and applying plasma spraying techniques.
The aim is to lower the operating voltage, which tends to be higher than when the discharge electrode is placed in the discharge space. Further, on the front surface of the rear substrate 2, a minute space is separated by, for example, interposing a spacer 8 so as to cover the discharge electrodes 3, 3', the lead wires 6, 6', and the electron radioactive substances 7, 7'. Then, an elongated front substrate 4 made of a light-transmitting electrical insulator such as glass is arranged, and the peripheries of the rear substrate 2 and front substrate 4 are vacuum-sealed to form a vacuum container 5. A gas made of a rare gas such as neon and used for discharge light emission is sealed inside. FIGS. 4 and 5 are a plan view and a perspective view, respectively, of essential parts of a flat discharge lamp according to another embodiment of the present invention. The high-frequency discharge lamp 1 of this embodiment has a long and narrow back substrate 2 made of an electrical insulator such as glass or ceramic.
A plurality of ribbon-shaped or linear discharge electrodes 3 are arranged in a column, and a single ribbon-shaped or linear discharge electrode 3' is arranged in a planar manner so as to face this one discharge electrode 3. arranged at minute intervals,
Leading wires 6,
6' is derived. In this embodiment as well, the deposition of the electron emitting substances 7, 7' on the surfaces of the discharge electrodes 3, 3', the structure such as the material and arrangement of the front substrate 4, and the filling gas etc. are as shown in FIG. It is essentially exactly the same as the embodiment shown in FIG.

Another embodiment of the invention shown in FIG.
A plurality of ribbon-shaped or linear discharge electrodes 3 are arranged in a column on the top, and the other ribbon-shaped or linear discharge electrodes are arranged facing each other in a plane with a small distance therebetween. It has a structure in which a plurality of sets of electrodes 3' are arranged, and a wide light emitting area can be obtained. In the case of this embodiment as well, the materials and structures of the lead wires 6, 6', the electron emitting materials 7, 7', the sealed gas, the front substrate 4, etc. are the same as those of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. They are essentially the same.

FIG. 7 shows a rear substrate 2 of still another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. In this embodiment, the discharge electrodes 3 and 3' on the rear substrate 2 are constructed of L-shaped wire-like electrodes. One discharge electrode 3 is a plurality of wire-like electrodes arranged in a column, and the other discharge electrode 3 is arranged in a column. It has a configuration in which a single wire-like electrode is disposed as the discharge electrode 3'. In this case, the tip of the L-shaped wire-like electrode is used as a lead wire, and is led out to the back surface of the back substrate 2 through through holes 9, 9' formed in the back substrate 2. In the case of this embodiment as well, the electron emitting substances 7, 7',
The gas fill, front substrate 4, etc. are essentially the same as in the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3.

On the other hand, the drive circuit for the flat discharge lamp of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and the drive circuit in FIG.
The drive circuit in FIG. 9 is applied to drive the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the drive circuit shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, 6, and 7. be. The lead wires 6, 6' of the flat discharge lamp 1 are connected to an AC power source 11 via a current limiting resistor 10, and the lamp is driven in an AC discharge state to obtain a glow discharge. Therefore, the drive circuit described above does not require a ballast or a starting device, and therefore has a simple configuration, and the negative glow radiation formed on the front surface of the electrode in the glow discharge state is smaller than the radiation from the positive electrode. Excellent brightness. Although an AC power source is illustrated as the power source 11 in this figure, it is also possible to use a high frequency power source or a DC power source via a converter or the like.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an assembly for incorporating the flat discharge lamp of the present invention into an electronic copying machine, in which a connector 12 is attached to the main body of the flat discharge lamp 1.

As mentioned above, the flat discharge lamp of the present invention has
A plurality of discharge electrodes are disposed in a column on the back substrate, and the other discharge electrode is disposed opposite to the discharge electrode at a small distance from the electrode in a plane. The structure is such that the front substrate is separated by a space, the periphery is sealed, and a rare gas is filled in for discharge light emission, resulting in a flat and simple structure, and a simple drive circuit that increases response speed. It has excellent features such as being able to emit light quickly, with high brightness, uniformly, and without heat generation, and is highly reliable.Furthermore, it is practical due to its ease of mass production and low price. It is rich in

Furthermore, when applied as a back light source for a liquid crystal display, since the flat discharge lamp of the present invention is extremely thin, the flat discharge lamp of the present invention, together with the thin feature of liquid crystals, can be used as a thin display device as a whole. Furthermore, even when a large display area is required, it can be easily achieved by using a flat discharge lamp with a plurality of discharge electrodes, as in the embodiment shown in Figure 6. It is possible to realize a large area display.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic copying machine, FIGS. 2 and 3 are a plan view and a perspective view of essential parts of a flat discharge lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. FIG. 6 is a plan view and perspective view of the main parts of a flat discharge lamp according to another embodiment of the invention, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the main parts of a flat discharge lamp according to another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. A perspective view of a main part of a flat discharge lamp according to another embodiment, FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are a drive circuit for a flat discharge lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a main part of a flat discharge lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an assembled flat discharge lamp. 1... flat discharge lamp, 2... rear substrate, 3,
3'...discharge electrode, 4...front substrate, 5...vacuum container.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of ribbon-shaped or linear discharge electrodes are arranged in a column on a rear substrate made of an electrical insulator, and the ribbon-shaped discharge electrodes are arranged opposite to the one discharge electrode. Alternatively, the other linear discharge electrode is arranged in a planar manner at a minute interval, and is separated from the back substrate by a minute space so as to cover the discharge electrode.
A light-transmitting front substrate made of an electrical insulator is arranged, the peripheries of both substrates are vacuum-sealed to form a vacuum container, and a rare gas used for discharge light emission is sealed inside the container. flat discharge lamp. 2. Claim 1, wherein the other discharge electrode is a plurality of discharge electrodes arranged in a column in correspondence with each of the one discharge electrode.
Flat discharge lamp as described in section. 3. The flat discharge lamp according to claim 1, wherein the other discharge electrode is a single discharge electrode corresponding to all of the one discharge electrode. 4. A flat discharge lamp according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that an electron emitting material is deposited on the surfaces of one and the other discharge electrodes.