Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – Repairing – converting or salvaging
Patent
1998-11-18
2000-06-06
Day, Michael H.
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
Repairing, converting or salvaging
445 61, H01J 950
Patent
active
060711620
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a process and an apparatus for removing caps from gas discharge lamps which include a hollow cylindrical glass tube body and a cap at each end of the tube body.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a known process and apparatus of that kind (described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,838) a hole is mechanically bored into the lamp socket or cap in order to vent the interior of the gas discharge lamp, the tube body is scratched mechanically adjacent to the caps and then the two scratch lines are heated by a pair of simple gas flame burners so as to crack the glass along each scratch line, by virtue of the heat shock. A procedure of that kind is effective but it is time-consuming.
It is also already known to burn an opening in the discharge casing or tube by means of a simple gas flame in order to vent the discharge tube (DE 34 10 989 A1; JP 52-94674 in: Patents Abstracts of Japan, sect. E 1977; Reimer, Buchard `Recylinganlage und Verfahren zur Vertwertung von quecksilberhaltigen Entladungslampen` (translation: Recycling installation and process for making use of mercury-containing discharge lamps) in: Licht 3-4/1994, pages 296-302). That procedure is time-consuming.
It is also known (DE 38 42 888 A1) for the lamp ends to be heated by an annular burner and then quenched with a cold body in order to remove the lamp ends. That is time-consuming.
Those known cap removal processes are therefore time-consuming to implement, so that the through-put of gas discharge lamps to be disposed of is correspondingly low.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is therefore to develop an apparatus for removing caps from gas discharge lamps, such that the through-put of gas discharge lamps which are to be disposed of and reprocessed can be considerably increased.
In accordance with the invention a lamp end separation device is provided for burning a hole in the glass tube body at a predetermined location by means of an electrically producible plasma flame. It is possible to vent and remove the caps from about 5000 gas discharge lamps per hour.
Desirably, desired-rupture locations (break-off lines) on the gas tube body for cap removal are made by a procedure whereby the glass tube body is heated in the proximity of the caps. For that purpose the heating device has a pair of heating wires which extend at a spacing from each other in parallel relationship and over which the gas discharge lamps roll with the help of the drive device. In that way each gas discharge lamp is heated and melted at its periphery at the locations of which the caps are to be removed. Instead of the heating wires it is possible to use heating wire loops into which the glass tube rolls or into which the glass tube is lifted or inserted by means of an automatic mechanism. Besides thermally producing the break-off lines on the glass tube body, it is also possible to envisage using a hard tool, for example a hard metal or carbide metal wheel, a scratching tool or chisel, or the like, in order to scratch the break-off lines in the glass tube body, in the proximity of the caps.
A relatively short time for burning venting holes into the glass tube body is achieved by using a plasma flame which can be ignited by high-frequency voltage. The high-frequency voltage is applied to the lamp end separation device which has a nozzle and a counterpart electrode. The counterpart electrode is advantageously of a cylindrical configuration. The high-frequency voltage which is applied between the counterpart electrode and the nozzle ignites an arc for forming a plasma flame. The counterpart electrode is at least partially arranged within and at a predetermined axial spacing with respect to the nozzle. Compressed air flows along the cylindrical counterpart electrode serving as a coolant and out of the nozzle forming part of the plasma-producing gas. In that way the plasma flame is blown out of the nozzle by means of compressed air. The discharge flow speed of the compressed air through the nozzle is so high that it pro
REFERENCES:
patent: 2304714 (1942-12-01), Stringer
patent: 4715838 (1987-12-01), Kulander
Day Michael H.
Hopper Todd Reed
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