Electric lamp and discharge devices – Electrode exterior to envelope
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-05
2003-02-25
Patel, Ashok (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
Electrode exterior to envelope
C313S493000, C313S634000, C313S635000, C313S607000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06525451
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns dielectric barrier discharge lamps that use dielectric barrier discharges to emit excimer light.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent years have seen the development and practical application of surface treatment technology in which metals, glass and other materials are irradiated with vacuum ultraviolet light at wavelengths of 200 nm or less, in which the action of the vacuum ultraviolet light irradiation heat treatment equipment and the ozone produced thereby affect the material being treated, including cleaning treatment technology that removes organic pollutants adhered to the surface of the material being treated, and oxide film formation technology that forms an oxide film on the surface of the material being treated.
The lamps used to conduct this sort of ultraviolet treatment have been dielectric barrier discharge lamps that have a discharge chamber made of a dielectric and filled with an appropriate gas for excimer light, in which a dielectric barrier discharge (also called an “ozonizer discharge” or “silent discharge”—see Denki Gakkai: “Discharge Handbook,”rev. ed. June 1989, p 263) in the discharge chamber produces excimers and causes the emission of excimer light.
An example of a method of producing such a dielectric barrier discharge lamp is described below.
FIG. 7
is an explanatory cross-section showing an example of the structure of the chamber material to form the discharge chamber in a conventional dielectric barrier discharge lamp. In this figure,
40
A is chamber material to form the discharge chamber of the dielectric barrier discharge lamp. It has a two-layer structure comprising a cylindrical outer tube
41
and an inner tube
42
made of quartz glass, which is a dielectric. The two ends of the outer tube
41
and the inner tube
42
are joined by end walls
43
,
44
, and the space between the outer tube
41
and the inner tube
42
forms a toroidal internal space R. Additionally, an exhaust tube
45
is attached to the end wall
43
so as to connect to the internal space R.
Before the internal space R is filled with a discharge gas, the interior of this chamber material
40
A is cleaned, perhaps by inserting a needle
46
A of a syringe
46
into the exhaust tube
45
, as shown in
FIG. 8
, and injecting a cleaning reagent, such as an aqueous solution of ammonium fluoride, for example, into the chamber material
40
A. Then, after the interior surface of the chamber material
40
A has been cleaned, the cleaning reagent is shaken out of the chamber material
40
A. After that, the chamber material
40
A is rinsed with water to wash out any remaining cleaning reagent; the rinse water is injected and removed in the same way as the cleaning reagent was.
After the chamber material
40
A with its clean inner surface is dried, the exhaust tube
45
is connected to exhaust equipment, the air in the internal space R is exhausted, and the internal space R is filled with the discharge gas. Then, as shown in
FIG. 9
, the exhaust tube
45
is burned off and the internal space R is sealed by means of a burner, for example, producing a lamp proper
50
that has discharge gas sealed into the discharge chamber
40
with an exhaust tube remnant
47
.
The dielectric barrier discharge lamp is produced by using appropriate means to attach an electrode to the outer surface of the outer tube
41
of the lamp proper
50
, and another electrode to the inner surface of the inner tube
42
.
Nevertheless, there are the following problems when dielectric barrier discharge lamps are manufactured by the method described above. It is difficult to perform, with high work efficiency, the operations of injecting and removing the cleaning fluids into and out of the chamber material
40
A through the exhaust tube
45
attached to the chamber material
40
A. As a result, the manufacture of dielectric barrier discharge lamps requires a long time.
Moreover, because it is difficult to perform the operations of injecting and removing the cleaning fluids into and out off the chamber material
40
A, there are times when the inner surface of the chamber material
40
A cannot be cleaned adequately, and dirt or foreign objects remain inside the chamber material
40
A. As a result, when a dielectric barrier discharge lamp is manufactured using that chamber material
40
A, good discharges in that dielectric barrier discharge lamp will be obstructed, the lighting intensity will drop, and a lighting flaw will occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is based on the situation described above, and has a primary object of providing a dielectric barrier discharge lamp of which the inner surface of the chamber material can be cleaned easily and reliably, which consequently has good lighting characteristics, and which is easy to manufacture.
This object is achieved by the invention by a dielectric barrier discharge lamp having a discharger chamber with a cylindrical, double-tube construction comprising an outer tube and an inner tube, in which the cylindrical discharge space formed between the outer tube and the inner tube is filled with a discharge gas in which excimer molecules are formed by a dielectric barrier discharge, and in the discharge chamber is formed with at least two fluid distribution tube remnants that connect to each discharge chamber.
It is preferable that the dielectric barrier discharge lamp described above have two or more fluid distribution tube remnants formed on opposite ends of the discharge chamber.
In the manufacture of the dielectric barrier discharge lamp constituted as described above, there are two or more fluid distribution tubes on the chamber material that makes up the discharge chamber, and so it will be possible, while using at least one fluid distribution tube as a route for injection or removal of cleaning fluids, to secure the other fluid distribution tube as a route for air in the chamber material to be discharged, and so the action of injecting cleaning fluids into the chamber material and the action of removing them can be performed easily and reliably. As a result, it is possible to clean and remove dirt and foreign objects from the inner surface of the chamber material. Thus, it is possible to prevent drops in lighting intensity and the occurrence of lighting flaws that originate from dirt or foreign objects on the inner surface of the chamber material, and so it is possible to obtain good lighting characteristics.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5581152 (1996-12-01), Matsuno et al.
patent: 5666026 (1997-09-01), Matsuno et al.
patent: 5763999 (1998-06-01), Matsuno et al.
patent: 5911613 (1999-06-01), Byrum et al.
patent: 6084360 (2000-07-01), Yokokawa et al.
Discharge Handbook, Denki Gakkai, Rev. Ed. Jun. 1989, pp. 263-273 no translation.
Hishinuma Nobuyuki
Kasagi Kunio
Kiyose Masahide
Nixon & Peabody LLP
Patel Ashok
Safran David S.
Ushiodenki Kabushiki Kaisha
Zimmerman Glenn D.
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