The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 30, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 20, 2001
Czeslaw Golkowski, Ithaca, NY (US);
David Hammer, Ithaca, NY (US);
Byungmoo Song, Ithaca, NY (US);
Yonglai Tian, Fairfax, VA (US);
Miodrag Cekic, Bethesda, MD (US);
Michael G. Ury, Barrington, MA (US);
Douglas A. Kirkpatrick, Great Falls, VA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A discharge lamp bulb includes a light transmissive envelope and at least one conductive fiber disposed on a wall of the envelope, where the fiber has a thickness of less than 100 microns. The lamp may be either electrodeless or may include internal electrodes. Suitable materials for the fiber(s) include but are not limited to carbon, silicon carbide, aluminum, tantalum, molybdenum, platinum, and tungsten. Silicon carbide whiskers and platinum coated silicon carbide fibers may also be used. The fiber(s) may be aligned with the electrical field, at least during starting. The lamp preferably further includes a protective material covering the fiber(s). For example the protective material may be a sol gel deposited silica coating. Noble gases inside the bulb at pressures in excess of 300 Torr can be reliably ignited at applied electric field strengths of less than 4×10 V/m. Over 2000 Torr xenon, krypton, and argon respectively achieve breakdown with an applied field of less than 3×10 V/m.