Heraeus Noblelight Gmbh

Alex Voronov

Franz-Josef Schilling

Klaus Spitzenberg

Karsten Ernesti

Burkard Jung

In a known method for operating an amalgam lamp having a nominal power P, it is provided that a lamp voltage Udesigned for a maximum UVC emission is applied between electrodes or a lamp current Idesigned for a maximum UVC emission flows between electrodes. The discharge space is accessible for an amalgam deposit, which is heatable by a heating element in which a heating current Iis conducted through the heating element. Starting from this background, in order to provide an operating mode that ensures a stable operation in the region of the optimum power, it is proposed that a target value of the lamp current Iis set that is less than Iand that the heating current Iis turned on or increased when the lamp current falls below a lower limit Iand is turned off or reduced when it exceeds an upper limit Ifor the lamp current.

Method for operating an amalgam lamp

Known mercury-vapor discharge lamps for planar irradiation are provided with a lamp bulb made of quartz glass, which encloses a closed discharge space having a non-linear gas-discharge channel. In order to provide a structurally simple lamp, which also guarantees a highest possible homogeneity of the UV irradiation, even for a small distance to the surface to be treated, the lamp bulb is formed as a quartz-glass chamber defined by straight walls and having bottom, top, and side walls and is divided into sub-chambers by several separating webs made of quartz glass and projecting from the bottom wall to the top wall. These sub-chambers include a front-most sub-chamber and a rear-most sub-chamber and form in series interconnection the non-linear gas-discharge channel. The separating webs extend alternately from one side wall up to close to the opposite side wall, while leaving open a gap connecting adjacent sub-chambers in a fluid-communicating manner. One electrode is allocated to the front-most sub-chamber and the other electrode is allocated to the rear-most sub-chamber.

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Hanau, Germany

Alex Voronov