Patent Application
20100133972
This invention relates to lamps and particularly to lamps that operate at high temperatures. More particularly, it relates to a lamp including a base characterized by integral cooling.
High temperature lamps, i.e., lamps operating in ranges approaching 1000° C., require bases formed of a material that can withstand the operating temperatures. Such materials comprise ceramic materials as opposed to the plastic materials employed with lamps operating at lesser temperature. A favored ceramic material is steatite. While this material works well, by its very nature it has heat insulating properties that often deleteriously raises the temperature of the seal area of the lamp fitted therein, causing the seal to crack and fail. Also, often, the high temperature of the seal area can cause fuse failure or oxidation at the lead-wire welder points.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to obviate the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to enhance the cooling of high temperature lamps.
Yet another object of the invention is the improvement of bases for high temperature lamps.
These objects are accomplished, in one aspect of the invention, by the provision of a lamp including an integral cooling system comprising: a quartz envelope including a light-source operating at a temperature above 900° C.; a seal at one end of the quartz envelope including electrical lead-ins for electrical connection to the light-source; a ceramic base affixed to the seal on only two sides thereof, the base including a circumferential bottom including a pair of contacts connected to the lead-ins; and an air passage between the circumferential bottom and the seal. The air passage reduces the temperature in the seal area in the range of 50%, greatly increasing the life of the lamp.
For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects, advantages and capabilities thereof, reference is made to the following disclosure and appended claims taken in conjunction with the above-described drawings.
Referring now to the drawings with greater particularity, there is shown in
To obviate the problem the lamp illustrated in
The lamp 10 includes an area 40 above the seal 18 and above the ceramic base that is covered by a heat and light insulating paint 42 such, for example, a layer of zinc oxide.
As can be seen from the temperature ranges illustrated with the lamp of the invention (
The base 24 is more particularly illustrated in
While there have been shown and described what are at present considered to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
