The working principle of neon, neon advertising signage production process

The working principle of neon

Neon is a low-pressure cold anode glow discharge light source. Gas discharge luminescence is a physical phenomenon in nature. Through the gas discharge so that the electrical energy is converted into colorful spectral lines, is the neon light work important basic process. Under normal circumstances, the gas is a good insulator, he can not conduct current. But in the strong electric field, light radiation, examples of bombardment and high temperature heating and other conditions, the gas molecules may be ionized, resulting in a free movement of electrically charged particles, and in the electric field under the action of the stroke of the current, so that the insulating gas becomes a good conductor. This current through the gas phenomenon is known as the gas discharge process.

The production process of neon advertising signs:

In the following, we will introduce one by one the complex production process of neon advertising signs from scratch.

Artwork drawings and quotations:

After continuous discussion and modification with the customer, computer drawings and quotations are produced, which include:

1. The material, style and size of the iron frame and the base plate;

2. The color and size of the metal letters;

3. The color and size of the fonts and patterns;

4. Whether neon lights are Single tube? Double tube? Triple tube? Or dense tube? The diameter of the neon tube is how many m/m?

5. Is there a bottom tube or does the lettering jump? If so, what is the density of the bottom tube?

6. What are the current and voltage requirements?

7. Price.

8. Other.

When the customer confirms all the details, the purchase of materials and construction will begin;

Ironwork design and construction:

Due to the different functions, strength and cost, the first to decide the form of the iron frame, such as hollow frame, single-sided frame, box-type iron frame, and so on. Such as large iron frame, due to highway transportation has a height and length limitations, and there is a mess of cable TV cable, so more detailed calculations of how to segment processing, how to form a whole, maintenance rack and maintenance ladder is a large neon sign must be. Iron frame base plate material has iron mesh, hole iron plate, flat baking paint plate, some zigzag baking paint plate, N-shaped beautiful baking paint plate, aluminum, white iron plate and plastic steel plate, etc., price, texture and wind leakage are different, due to a variety of realities should be considered differently. Determine the site installation and location.

The three-dimensional word:

In order to strengthen the neon advertising sign daytime visual effect and night neon light concentration effect, usually three-dimensional word is installed on top of the panel. The general three-dimensional word materials are:

Copper word: usually used for dark tube, high texture, but easy to rust, recently there is the so-called titanium word of the world, rust has been greatly

Improvement of copper word is usually used in the porch or indoor.

White iron word: often used in the dark pipe and open pipe. Mirror or baked enamel are both high value, but costly.

Lead metal word: the industry is currently the most used metal word, unit price is low, easy to construct, but easy to paint, especially white, (compared to

White iron baking varnish, generally maintain a three or four years no problem).

If the font is too small or low budget, you can also use gold or silver Arano, the surface of the word such as copper or white iron word, or plastic steel plate word, have three-dimensional effect, the disadvantage is that neon without iron box groove, so the light is not easy to focus from a distance there is a fuzzy not easy to discern the font's shortcomings.

The lowest cost is to Kaden Sid cut the word directly affixed to the lacquer plate, the disadvantage is the feeling of flat, no three-dimensional feeling, poor texture.

Hollow frame neon is the lowest cost neon sign with iron frame, neon directly to the glass tube fixed, due to the iron frame hollow, transformer placed in the location of the restrictions, high-voltage wires must be stretched, so it is easier to failure, and no daytime advertising effect.

Neon tube preparation and blowing:

Simple depiction of a neon light of the basic structure, the body of the light for the 9-20mm glass tube, the two ends of the electrode by the head of the seal.

The diameter of the glass tube:

Different sizes use different diameters of the glass tube, basically the larger the font, the larger the diameter of the glass tube used. However, due to the stroke characteristics of the Chinese characters, most of the glass tubes commonly used in the domestic industry in the diameter of 11-13mm, 14-20mm tube belongs to a more special purpose, and we do not recommend the use of 10mm tube, because the inner diameter is too small, the glass tube is easy to short-circuit and is very power-consuming.

Types of glass tubes:

The glass tubes can be divided into clear tubes (transparent and colorless) and colored tubes (stained glass). Clear tube and sodium glass and lead glass. Sodium glass can be provided directly by the domestic Taiwan Glass Company, the price is cheaper and the quality is also full of stable, in the process of blowing pipe molding speed is faster, but if the processing temperature is not uniform, there is a risk of bursting. Lead glass is mainly imported from the United States or Japan, the price is high and slow bending speed, the relative cost is very high, but the conductivity and luminosity are better, suitable for colder climates. Color tube (stained glass) in the glass factory production that has been added to the yellow, red, blue, green and other pigments, are blown by hand, so the price is high and the pipe diameter error.

Neon is a long-discharge cold anode light-emitting discharge device, the use of short-wave ultraviolet excitation phosphor (such as tungstate, borate, silicate, phosphate and other phosphors). Its light-emitting principle by the low-pressure mercury discharge to produce 254 mm ultraviolet, and then by 254 mm ultraviolet excitation of all kinds of different phosphors, so as to obtain the neon light to pick up a number of colors.

After the glass tube is delivered to our factory, the inside and outside of the glass tube need to be thoroughly cleaned with cleaning solution and water to thoroughly clean the chemical impurities and dust, and the phosphor coating inside the glass tube can be carried out after the water is completely dried. Generally speaking, there are five basic colors of phosphor, such as flesh-colored Pink, Green, Blue, White, Purple, and if you want to show yellow neon, you can use yellow tubes coated with white phosphor and then use mercury to light the lamp. Fluorescent powder, mercury, inert gas (neon gas and argon gas) the role of the relationship between the three, followed by a detailed chart for reference.

Neon blowing:

Since most of the artwork for customer confirmation is A4 size, to blow neon, the A4 manuscript must be computerized or manually projected to reduce the fonts and patterns to actual size. Due to the complexity of Chinese characters and the singularity of individual patterns (compared to English), it is impossible to use any molds or methods to achieve mass production of neon lights in China, any neon light needs to be blown by the blowing masters standing in front of a hot gas torch, slowly blowing in order of bends and folds, and there is no other machinery that can speed up the blowing process, except for a mouth, a rubber hose, and a gas torch with only a pair of dexterous hands. There is no other machinery to speed up the blowing of neon signs. Because neon blowing must be very close to the gas blowtorch, it is very difficult to grasp the characteristics of the glass when it is softened, and the house may be filled with gas exhaust, so neon blowing is a very hard craft, the upbringing period is very long, so recently there have been fewer young apprentices willing to join the neon blowing industry.

The quality of neon tube and blowing tube masters have a close correlation between the high and low technology, blowing tube masters processing neon tube, can not be separated from the blowing, connecting, pulling, bending, twisting, and other basic skills, blowing tube technology, high, comfortable operation, do fast and good, poor technology, is to do a slow, even easy to burst the tube itself, resulting in neon life is also shorter.

Neon blowing technology to determine the good and bad:

How to judge the blowing good or bad? Just look at its U-bend tube type can be, a neon lamp overall bend at the tube wall thickness of thin and even, the life of the relatively longer, blowing if the glass is not softened enough or over-softening, the thickness of the tube wall at the bend may be too thin or too thick to have wrinkles, or one side of the thin side of the thicker, will affect the life of neon lamps.

Sealing electrode head, heating, vacuum, filling inert gas:

Sealing electrode head, heating, vacuum: when a neon tube case artwork blowing completed, must be connected to the electrode head at both ends, electrode head has a male and female, the female side of the complete sealing of the male side of a small extension of the bubble tube in order to be in the vacuum when connected to the vacuum pump. Vacuum heating is another important factor in determining the life of neon lamps, if the vacuum heating is incomplete, the residual grease and impurities in the neon tube and electrode head can not be sufficiently extracted, of course, the brightness and the life of the neon lamps will not be good. However, if the heating is too much, the active phosphor will be cured, which will also affect the brightness. And vacuum heating incomplete phenomenon in the neon lamp must add mercury more obvious, traditionally in the male electrode head of the small bubble tube in the middle of the blowing a full of mercury beads bubble chamber, mercury carefully into the beads in the bubble chamber, so that in the vacuum heating will not be heated to the mercury, so that the mercury evaporates and escapes in the atmosphere, and can improve the vacuum of neon lamps. However, in Taiwan industry, some masters to save time, and directly to the mercury in neon tube and direct heating, due to the mercury in contact with heat that is the beginning of vaporization, diffusion in the lamp body, so in the ultra-high voltage heating, and can not reach the relative high temperature, can not be impurities and grease completely discharged, so its life and brightness are not ideal.

Filling inert gas: After the vacuum exhaust is completed, we must fill the neon tube with the appropriate amount of inert gas, generally speaking in the country is to join the argon or neon, neon tube filled with argon is neon presented in cold colors (blue, white and other series) neon tube filled with neon is neon presented in warm colors (red, pink, etc.). The following chart shows the color changes produced by different phosphors, inert gas, and mercury added or not:

Glass tube Clear tube Clear tube Clear tube Clear tube Yellow tube Yellow tube Yellow tube Green tube Green tube Red tube Blue tube

Type

Phosphor Flesh powder Green powder Blue powder White powder Violet powder White green Flesh powder White powder White powder Green Flesh powder White powder

Argon Flesh color Green blue White Violet Lemon green Fluorescent green Deep green Red Blue

Neon Red Orange Pink Pink

Neon red red orange pink pink pink purple red red red red deep orange red deep red pink

Neon tubes in the glass tube phosphor coating, blowing, sealing the electrode head, connected to the vacuum discharge system, high-voltage discharge heating, vacuum, filled with inert gas, neon light project is completed in the early stages of the work, the next for the installation project. The neon light installation project is related to the overall neon light project is an important part of the neon light, if the neon light tube production quality is excellent, but ignored the quality of the installation project, will lead to neon light reliability deterioration, the failure rate increases, or even accidents, can not be ignored.

Lamp foot:

Lamp foot is the neon lamp elevation fixed with the sign panel isolation of the important tools, its installation method is to install the lamp foot along the neon lamp outline line, basically try to form a large triangle, in order to tie the neon lamp more stable, and the lamp foot can not be too dense, if the sign panel is uneven, and tie the light is not careful to adjust the height of the lamp foot, then it is possible that the neon lamp taut break. The neon light will be broken.

Wiring:

Neon lamps are high-voltage cold anode discharge lamps, which must be matched with a high-voltage leakage transformer in order to make the lamps light up. Installation of neon lamps in series, and then use the high-voltage wire and transformer terminals connected, neon tube is fixed in front of the sign, while the transformer is hanging in the back of the sign, so it must be dug in the sign panel high-voltage wire holes to pass the high-voltage wires, the metal plate and high-voltage wires need to insulate with a glass tube or ceramic insulator to be insulated.

Neon how not bright:

Neon signs due to most of the exposure in the outdoors, the deterioration of air quality, but also through the years, wind and rain, so the neon lights do not light up the external and internal factors are very much.

1. Of course, the neon lamp is bad, in addition to blowing bad, but also may be insufficient annealing, vacuum is insufficient, the lamp itself is interrupted by a foreign body, or just neon lamp life has come to an end.

2. Lamps and lamps between the serial line or high-voltage line due to wind and sunshine and broken off.

3. High-voltage wire melted due to overloading, and melted the insulating glass tube, and short-circuited with the metal plate. And the high-voltage line short-circuit days too long without maintenance, may further transformer dragged destroyed.

4. The transformer has reached the end of its useful life. Let the transformer has a normal load, do not let the transformer super high load or super low load, is to extend the use of neon with the transformer's serviceable life of no way. Of course this is related to the overall production cost.

5. A single power leakage may keep multiple neon lights or the whole sign loaded by a single transformer from lighting up. For example, when the 921 earthquake, there are many signs of the transformer is not fully fixed, due to excessive shaking, excessive friction caused by the primary power supply broken skin and caused by leakage.

6. Extreme voltage instability can cause all transformers to be damaged in a short period of time.

7. The wires used in the primary power supply are irregular and too thin, causing the wires to catch fire and cause a fire.

Conscientious advice:

If a neon businessman tells you that his neon lights will not break, please do not believe it, because neon lights from the glass tube to the light, the entire production process is done manually, it is difficult to guarantee that there is any detail will not be a problem. Don't decide on your neon sign maker based on price alone, take some professional questions to test the industry, visit their tube blowing factories if you have time, and go to their installation sites, all of which may improve the life span of your neon signs