Electroluminescent lamp with registration index feature and method of making the same
AssigneeAstronics Corporation
InventorsRobert M. Burbank, Jason T. Throne
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electroluminescent lamp having an indexing indicium, e.g., a registration mark, located within the lit surface area of the lamp, with the registration mark preferably being transparent to the illumination generated by the lamp when the lamp is lit in use, but being readily detected when selectively activated for providing an alignment point or region on the lamp, such as by activation with ultraviolet light of specific frequency/wavelength characteristics, when the registration mark is formed by deposition on the lamp lit surface of a dot or blob of a composition containing an ultraviolet radiation-fluorescent printing ink.
Claims18
An electroluminescent lamp including an electroluminescent material defining a lit area of the lamp when an excitatory electrical field is applied to the electroluminescent material, and having an indexing indicium located on or within the lit area of the lamp, wherein the indexing indicium (I) is not visible when light is emitted from the lit area of the lamp in the operation thereof involving application of said excitatory electrical field to the electroluminescent material, but (II) is detectable when the indexing indicium is exposed to a detection condition therefor.
An electroluminescent lamp including an electroluminescent material defining a lit area of the lamp when an excitatory electrical field is applied to the electroluminescent material, and having at least one registration mark located in the lit area of the lamp, wherein the indexing indicium is non-apparent in visible light, but is detectable when exposed to a detection condition selected from the group consisting of (I) impingement on the indexing indicium of a flux of radiation other than visible light radiation, and (II) application of a magnetic field to the indexing indicuium.
An electroluminescent lamp assembly comprising an electrode overlying a phosphor layer connectible to an electrical field supply for exciting the phosphor layer and generating visible light illumination, with an opening in the electrode exposing the phosphor layer so that the phosphor layer fluoresces when it is exposed to ultraviolet light, and wherein the opening is constructed and arranged so that the electrode has sufficient edge effect to charge the exposed phosphor so that it can be energized and resultingly emit light.
A light source article including an illumination element defining a lit area of the light source article, and having an indexing indicium located on or within the lit area of the light source article, wherein the indexing indicium (I) is not visible when light is emitted from the lit area of the light source article in the operation thereof, but (II) is detectable when the indexing indicium is exposed to a detection condition therefor.
In a method of making an electroluminescent lamp which is registerable for packaging in an outer casing, including the steps of:
- (a) providing a thin film metal substrate;
- (b) coating the thin film metal substrate with an insulating layer of high dielectric constant material,
- (c) forming on the insulating layer of high dielectric constant material a coating of a resin containing electroluminescent phosphor defining a lit area of the electroluminescent lamp;
- (d) forming a transparent electrode layer on the coating of electroluminescent phosphor-containing resin;
- (e) depositing on the transparent electrode layer a bus bar for tranferring current to the transparent electrode layer;
- (f) applying a desiccant layer over the transparent electrode layer and busbar, to yield a coated laminate assembly;
- and
- (g) disposing the lamp in said outer casing to form a packaged assembly and cutting the packaged assembly to a predetermined shape in relation to said lit area defined by said coating of a resin containing electroluminescent phosphor,
- the improvement comprising providing an indexing indicium on or within the lit area of the electroluminescent lamp for registration in said step (g).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.