History of neon. Who invented the neon lamp? Domestic neon lamps

Specifications

The light of the lamp has a low inertia and allows brightness modulation with a frequency of up to 20 kHz. Lamps are connected to a power source through a current-limiting resistor so that the current through the lamp is no more than 1 milliamp (typical value for miniature lamps), however, lowering the current to 0.1 ... 0.2 mA significantly extends the life of the lamp. In some lamps, the resistor is built into the base. Using a lamp without a resistor extremely dangerous, since it can lead to the development of the discharge into an arc, accompanied by an increase in the current through it to a value limited only by the internal resistance of the power source and supply wires, and, as a result, a short circuit and (or) rupture of the lamp bulb.

The ignition voltage of the lamp is usually not more than 100 volts, the extinguishing voltage is about 40-65 volts. Service life - 80,000 hours or more (limited by the absorption of gas by the glass of the flask and the darkening of the flask from sprayed electrodes; there is simply nothing to "burn out" in the lamp).

Decorative neon lamp

Decorative neon lamp, electrodes covered with phosphor.

Domestic neon lamps

Domestic neon lamps are represented by a wide range of devices, including special applications, having different dimensions, characteristics, and shape of electrodes: VMN-1, VMN-2, IN-3, IN-3A, IN-25, IN-28, IN-29 , INS-1, IF-1, MN-3, MN-4, MN-6, MN-7, MN-11, MN-15, 95SG-9, TN-0.2-2, TN-0.3 , TN-0.3-3, TN-0.5, TN-0.9, TN-1, TN-20, TN-30, TN-30-1, TN-30-2M, TNI-1.5D , TMN-2, TNU-2, as well as a large family of fluorescent lamps of the TL series.

Among the lamps for special applications, it should be noted:

• VMN-1, VMN-2 - wave-meter neon lamps.
• IN-6 - controlled three-electrode neon lamp. It is not a thyratron, it has a slightly different principle of operation. The discharge in it is constantly lit, but, depending on the control voltage, it jumps either to the indicator or to the auxiliary cathode. Such a lamp is controlled by a negative voltage of several V applied to the indicator cathode. The electrodes of the lamp are located in such a way that when the discharge burns on the indicator cathode, it is clearly visible to the operator, when it is not on the auxiliary one.
• IN-21 - a lamp that can withstand high temperatures without negative consequences for itself, and therefore is used in electric stoves, in particular, the Elektra-1001 model. It has electrodes made in the form of semicircles and is highly aesthetic.
• IN-25 - a neon lamp with a reduced ratio of the diameter of the balloon to the diameter of the luminous spot, for matrix displays with improved ergonomics.
• IN-28 - three-electrode neon lamps with flexible leads, having a service life of at least 5000 hours, despite a significant discharge current (up to 15.6 mA). They are used in the subway as single elements of the over-tunnel scoreboards of the ESIC system.
• IF-1 is an indicator of ultraviolet radiation, in particular, for flame sensors. The principle of operation is unknown, apparently, a voltage is applied to the lamp just below the ignition voltage, and in the presence of radiation it ignites.
• MN-3 - a lamp with a reduced burning voltage (about 40 V). The electrodes are made of pure iron, molybdenum, nickel. The cathodes are coated with a thin film of barium, calcium or cesium to reduce the burning voltage.

The designations of domestic phosphor neon lamps consist of the letters TL, a letter indicating the color of the glow (O - orange, G - blue, Z - green), a number characterizing the rated discharge current in mA, and a number characterizing the ignition voltage in hundreds of volts. For example, TLO-1-1 is an orange glow lamp for a current of 1 mA with an ignition voltage of 100 V.

Foreign neon lamps

NE-2 different colors

In the past, indicator and decorative neon lamps of various designs and dimensions were produced abroad. Currently, only a limited range of decorative curly neon lamps is produced, and of the indicator models, in fact, only one remains in mass production - the subminiature NE-2, the design of which has not changed much in more than 50 years. However, this lamp is now available in several sizes. In addition to conventional lamps of this type, phosphor lamps are also produced: green (NE-2G), blue (NE-2B), white (NE-2W) and others. Moreover, of the phosphor varieties of this lamp, only green is widespread, and models of other colors are in short supply.

Literature

• Genis A. A., Gorshtein I. L., Pugach A. B. Glow discharge devices. Kyiv, Tekhnika, 1970.
• Zgursky V. S., Lisitsyn B. L. Display elements. Moscow: Energy, 1980. - 304 p., ill.
• Gurlev D.S. Handbook of electronic devices. Kyiv, 1974.

see also

Notes

We meet neon lamps most often in the form of signal lamps (in home appliances). Typically, they are used to indicate power on. This can be seen on irons, toasters and other appliances. The indicator lights are orange-red.

Principle of operation

The light emitted by them is not particularly bright. It is created by a flow of electrons that occurs between two electrodes in a glass bulb filled with gas - neon.

Design

The neon lamp has the same design as all other gas-discharge light sources. It is a glass container or tube with two electrodes soldered into it. The glass flask can be given almost any shape. Neon gas is pumped into this tube at low pressure. Under the name "neon lamp" there may be similar light sources filled with other helium, argon, krypton. Metal vapors, phosphors can be added there, all this creates a wide range of colors and shades. But this whole variety is called by the name of its ancestor - a neon lamp.

Starting voltage

In order for it to start glowing, you need to apply a starting voltage to its electrodes. For normal brightness, it will be from 45 to 65V, and for increased - from 70 to 95V AC.

Resistance

Resistance as an element of an electrical circuit is simply necessary for the operation of such a light source. It is included in its design and limits the electric current. When the neon lamp is already working, the electric current for it becomes large, and without built-in resistance, it can simply destroy it. It can operate at 110V, 220V (depending on the built-in resistance).

transformers

Such lighting is very demanding on the parameters of electric current. In addition to the built-in resistance, a transformer for neon lamps is also included in the electrical circuit. Without it, they cannot be connected to a regular 220V network. For them, they are produced which produce but with a frequency of 50 Hz.

A neon lamp emits electromagnetic waves in the visible and infrared ranges. The visible part of its radiation lies in the range from 580 to 750 nm. This corresponds to orange-red light. The luminous flux of such a light source is from 0.03 to 0.07 lumens.

Operating time

Its operating time depends on the magnitude and type of current. With a current of 1mA, the service life is from 25,000 to 50,000 hours. reduces its service life by 40%.

fluorescent lamp

This is the green light option. It is also used as a signal light source. Green light is obtained as follows. The inside of a glass bulb is coated with a special fluorescent substance that absorbs red light and turns it green.

Usage

Lamps have found their application in decorative lighting of interiors, in the advertising industry, as various devices. This is due to a number of their parameters. They are economical, durable and safe. Neon lamps for cars are used as illumination of the bottom, interior, trunk. If desired, they can be installed anywhere. Can be sold in a set of four. Two are attached to the front and back of the case. And two on the sides. The transformers included in the kit can be either built-in or external. The price of the tuning kit is $300.

Neon is a gas. Until the end of the 19th century, he calmly performed the honorable duty of being part of the earth's atmosphere. But then it was discovered by the English chemist William Ramsay. And the peaceful life came to an end. Resourceful engineers invented neon lamps, and in the 20s of the 20th century, neon advertising conquered the whole world.

true neon color

When we think of neon, we imagine the names of shops and restaurants glowing in different colors. In fact, neon glows with a bright, red-orange light. A rich range of colors is achieved by introducing mercury and sodium vapor into the gas lamps. In Las Vegas, the streets are brightly lit by curved gas pipes, calling tourists to play casino games or listen to Wayne Newton sing.

How is neon mined?

Neon is contained in the atmosphere, so maybe at this very moment, you breathe in a little bit of neon. Don't worry, there is so little neon in one liter of air that it won't be enough to fill a popcorn seed. To separate neon from air, the air has to be liquefied. Just as water changes from vapor to liquid when cooled, air changes to liquid when the temperature drops. Only with water this happens at 100 degrees Celsius, and with neon at minus 246 degrees Celsius - this is exactly the boiling point of neon. Liquid neon is separated from the other components of the air. When liquefied, neon is obtained in a mixture with nitrogen and helium.

Related materials:

Why aren't ozone holes filled "by hand"?

By raising the temperature and pressure of the mixture, chemists remove nitrogen from it. The helium is removed through a process called adsorption. In this case, gas molecules are deposited on solids. Neon molecules adhere better to the surface of activated carbon than helium molecules. This property is used to separate the mixture. To get one kilogram of neon, you need to process 88,000 kilograms of air.

If you pour cold liquid neon into a glass, you can see that it is transparent and colorless - in any case, there is not even a hint of a bright red color. Why, then, in advertising, neon glows brightly in different colors? Neon pumped into tubes is made up of billions and billions of atoms. Each neon atom has ten electrons in orbit around the nucleus. Both ends of the neon tube are connected to an electrical circuit.

When the current is turned on, it flows along the tube: the electrons jump from atom to atom, as they should when the current passes. Neon atoms get excited when they collide with electrons, just like a person who is roughly pushed in a crowd. The electrons in the neon atom are not prone to wandering, so after being excited, the atom calms down and the electron returns to its place. As a result, the atom emits a photon of light. The energy of these photons lies in the red part of the visible light spectrum.

Do you know that neon lamp invented as a result of experiments aimed at supplying liquefied oxygen to hospitals? We bring to your attention a short story about the invention of a neon lamp and the principle of its operation.

Jean Claude - Inventor of the neon lamp

In fact, scientists approached the invention of the neon lamp several times before the 20th century. An astronomer from France, Jean Picard, in 1675 discovered a mysterious faint light in the tube of a mercury barometer, the cause of which he could not explain. Many years later, in 1855, the German physicist Heinrich Geisler invented a prototype gas discharge tube. Neon itself was discovered in 1898 by English scientists William Ramsey and Morris Traver.

These discoveries became like separate details that were to be combined into one invention. The inventor of the neon lamp was the Frenchman Jean Claude, an engineer with the talent of an entrepreneur. He hoped to supply liquefied oxygen to hospitals, and make good money on this.

There was only one problem - inert gases interfered with obtaining high-quality oxygen. By removing impurities from oxygen, the practical Claude tried to find a use for them. One day he heard about "luminous tubes". He pumped gases into tubes and passed an electric charge through them. The tubes began to glow, red from neon and blue from argon. The engineer immediately realized that this discovery would bring him commercial success.

In 1910, Jean-Claude presents his neon lighting at the Exhibition of Achievement in Paris, and soon patents it. In 1915, he opens the Claude Neon Lights Company, and licenses his technology to anyone who wants to put up a neon sign. This made Claude wealthy very quickly - by the end of the 20s, the annual income of his company reached almost 10 million dollars.

Characteristics and principle of operation of neon lamps

Let's talk a little about the principle of operation of neon lamps. Their design consists of glass tubes (colored or transparent) that are filled with an inert gas. Most often it is neon in its pure form or in the form of a mixture with argon. The tube is connected to a power source, and when an electric charge passes through it, the gases inside the tube begin to glow.

As for the characteristics of neon lamps, here one can note a very high brightness, durability and a huge selection of glow shades. Disadvantages - neon lamps are fragile, expensive and flammable. These disadvantages have become the reason that, once incredibly popular, neon has lost its position. Increasingly, neon lighting on the streets began to be replaced by LED. LED backlighting is more economical, consumes less electricity, is fireproof, resistant to atmospheric and mechanical influences.

Neon lamps are widely used in many areas of lighting. They are distinguished by a bright and multi-colored luminous flux, as well as reliability and durability. Most often, with the help of such lamps, signs, advertising inscriptions, decor and architecture items are highlighted. Detailed information about such lamps is presented in our article.

Design and principle of operation

Discharge lamps are very similar to neon lamps. If neon is included in the composition of a gas-discharge light source, then it can be considered neon, but in fact it is not. Neon lamps have some distinctive features.

Neon lamps consist of a glass tube that is filled with a small volume of gas. The gas has a low pressure. Each of the neon atoms is covered with an electron shell, so that they do not come into contact with other atoms. To detach even one electron, the impact of powerful energy (at least 15,000 V) is necessary.

Electrodes are located at each end of the glass tube. Neon lamps can operate from various current sources, both variable and constant. However, when using the latter option, the glow will be formed only in the region of the electrodes.

The principle of operation of this lamp is as follows:

• Under the influence of an electric current, neon atoms lose their electrons and gain a charge with a plus sign.
• Then these atoms are concentrated near the negatively charged electrode.
• Free electrons, in turn, are sent to the electrode, which has a positive charge.

The result of this process is the formation of bright light. The neon lamp is thus used to illuminate not only buildings outside, but also in an apartment and house, while being a worthy competitor to LED lighting. Do-it-yourself neon lighting is installed without any difficulty.

Advantages and disadvantages

Neon light sources have a lot of advantages. These include:

• a variety of dimensions and shapes of lamps;
• ease of connection and installation. Installation of neon lighting fixtures is carried out with a minimum amount of fittings and in a short time, due to which, often, a neon lamp is installed with your own hands;

• the ability to control brightness and consumption;
• the possibility of obtaining different colors;
• long period of operation (up to twenty years);
• fire safety. This advantage is due to the fact that neon light sources, due to their design, exclude the possibility of heating;
• silent operation.

Despite numerous advantages, neon lamps have some disadvantages:

• the composition of these lamps includes some harmful substances;
• light sources function only at high voltage in the network. Therefore, when using them, a powerful transformer is required;
• fragility (does not apply to neon ribbons). This is because all neon lamps are made of glass.

It can be concluded that such lighting fixtures have much more positive points than negative ones. But still, before purchasing a neon device, you should carefully analyze the above features.

Backlight Options

Neon bulbs are distinguished by their spectacular bright glow, which is created due to certain processes inside the device. The continuous movement of atoms leads to their collision, as a result of which they share energy with each other with a certain amount of heat.

In other words, the excitation of atoms is carried out, due to which the energy level increases. In the process of heat release, the electrode can be lowered to a lower level. At the last stage, the excess energy in the lamp is released in the form of a photon. This is how neon lighting is created.

Comparing these lamps with other types of lamps, it can be noted that the former are more durable. This circumstance is due to the absence of incandescent filaments in neon lamps, which cause electron emission. Instead, in these devices, emission is created using electrodes that do not heat up during their entire operation. Therefore, neon lighting devices have a second name - "cold cathode".

If neon is used as gas in the lamp, then the luminous flux will have an orange color with a reddish tint. In order to get a different color, use the following methods:

• use of another gas

For example, helium gives the light a pink tint, argon makes it blue, and krypton makes the light stream green. To obtain intermediate colors resort to mixing gases in various proportions. However, regardless of what inert gas is included in the composition of the lamp, all these devices are called "neon".

• application of phosphors

This method involves applying a variety of chemicals to the lamp.

Neon ribbon is a fairly popular variety of such lighting fixtures. It is also called flexible neon. This device is represented by an LED garland installed in a PVC tube.

The range of neon ribbons consists of multi-colored and plain products. The following advantages of flexible neon can be distinguished:

• protection against mechanical damage. So, for example, glass lamps have a risk of being broken, but tapes exclude such a possibility, so they can be used with full confidence in children's rooms;
• moisture resistance;

• the possibility of using RGB technologies;
• flexibility. Due to this property, the device becomes mobile and versatile, therefore, the neon strip is installed in various places both inside and outside the house;
• price.

If we compare flexible neon with LED strips, then the neon device is the most optimal.

Currently, neon strips are gaining popularity, thereby gradually replacing other lighting fixtures.

Scope of use

Neon light sources are in demand in various fields. They are indispensable in the organization of road and street lighting at night, outdoor advertising, for highlighting cars, as well as for highlighting various buildings and structures.

In the field of production, neon lamps have found their application in lighting warehouse, retail and office space. In addition, such a lighting device is used to illuminate the runway at airports. Neon lamps are widely used in electronic computers as an indication element.

When decorating the interior in a room, a neon lamp serves as a decorating element, as well as for arranging hidden lighting.

Installation and connection

Installation of neon lighting fixtures is extremely simple. It consists in installing lamp holders on the selected surface, where the bulbs themselves are then fixed.

Such devices are connected to the network through a resistor that performs the function of current limiting. Also, this device does not allow the conversion of a glow discharge into an arc. As a rule, such a resistor is already built into the base, and the lamp is connected immediately to the network. It is due to the simple installation and connection that the glow discharge lamp is very popular.

When installing neon light sources, certain requirements must be observed. First of all, it is forbidden to install the converter on metal surfaces. In this case, it is necessary to use a special gasket with a thickness of at least 1 cm, which is placed between the device body and the surface. The distance from the lamps to the surface should not be less than 4 cm.

When laying the cable, use remote holders that provide a distance of at least 3 cm from the metal surface. If the neon lamp is installed outdoors, you should take care of additional cable protection through the use of plastic corrugated hoses.

Neon lamps can create both romantic and festive atmosphere in your home. And if you want to equip the space near the house, you should pay attention to neon ribbons. They will not only provide bright and spectacular lighting, but will serve you for many years without requiring special maintenance.