A color picture tube

Abstract: A color-picture tube having a convergence electrode, to which the focusing voltage is applied, a final accelerating electrode, to which the anode voltage is applied, and at least one supplementary electrode placed between the convergence electrode and the final accelerating electrode, to which a voltage higher than the focusing voltage and lower than the anode voltage is applied, wherein each of said convergence electrode and said final accelerating electrode comprises a cylinder of an elliptical section closed with an end plate of the elliptical section having three holes for electron passage arranged in-line, and at least one of said end plates is set at a position backward from the opening of said cylinder of said supplementary electrode side, and said supplementary electrode comprises a cylinder of elliptical section arranged coaxially with said convergence electrode and final accelerating electrode, whereby high resolution of the picture is obtained, without enlarging the bulb neck. Alternatively, at least the one supplementary electrode may have a free electric potential.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to a color-picture tube, in particular, to the structure of the electrodes, having high resolution all over the phosphor screen. Description of the Prior Art The resolution of a color-picture tube depends much on the shape and size of the beam spot produced on the phosphor screen. To obtain high resolution, the electrodes of the tube must have such a structure as to produce beam spots which are really circular and of small diameter. However, as the beam current increases, the section of the electron beam which passes through the main-lens electric-field of the electron gun becomes larger and the beam spot becomes non-circular due to the spherical aberration of the main-lens electric field. Hence, to minimize the influence of the spherical aberration, the aperture has been made as large as possible. A color-picture tube of the prior art as disclosed in the patent gazettes of Japanese patent application Toku-Ko-Hei 2-18540 or Toku-Kai-Hei 4-133247, as shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, comprises the main lens part consisting of a convergence electrode 1 and an accelerating electrode 2. The convergence electrode 1 comprises a cylinder 3 with an elliptical section and an end plate 4 of the elliptical shape closing the cylinder 3 at the opening side 3a thereof. The end plate 4 is placed at a position a little backward from the opening 3a, and has three holes 4a, 4b, and 4c for electron passage arranged in-line. The accelerating electrode 2 comprises a cylinder 5 with an elliptical section and an end plate 6 of the elliptic shape closing the cylinder 5 at the opening side 5a thereof. The end plate 6 is placed at a position somewhat backward from the opening 5a, and has three holes 6a, 6b, and 6c for electron passage arranged in-line. With such a structure, three main-lens electric fields are formed between the three electron-beam-holes 4a, 4b, and 4c and the three electron-beam-holes 6a, 6b, and 6c, and the neibouring two of the three main-lens electric fields partially overlap, to form a main-lens electric field with large apertures. As a result, when the electron beam passing through the main-lens electric field has the diameter increased, the undesirable effect of the spherical aberration can be offset, and the lens magnification may be reduced to produce circular small beam-spots on the phosphor screen. The conventional structure of the electrodes, despite of its advantage to make the aperture of the main-lens electric-field large, naturally has a limitation. If the outer diameters of the convergence electrode and the final accelerating electrode are set to values near the inside diameter of the neck of the glass bulb, the wall electric-field of the neck part intrudes into the main-lens electric field. Also. if the diameter of the neck part becomes large, the deflection sensitivity is lowered. EP-A-0315269 discloses, according to the preamble of claim 1, a colour display tube having an in-line electron gun and a deflection system. The document is concerned with the idea that overconvergence of an electron beam caused by the astigmatic character of the deflection field of the deflection system may be compensated for by utilising an electron gun which generates an underconvergent electron beam, and thus may reduce the horizontal spot enlargement factor. In some embodiments of this document the display tube has an intermediate electrode, each electrode having three apertures for passage of three electron beams. It is an object of the present invention to provide a color-picture tube of high resolution which has the main-lens electric field of larger diameter without enlarging diameter of the glass bulb. The other objects and advantages of the present invention will be explained in the following detailed description. According to the present invention there is provided a color-picture tube comprising: a convergence electrode, to which a focusing voltage is applied. a final accelerating electrode. to which an anode voltage is applied, and at least one supplementary electrode placed between the convergence electrode and the final accelerating electrode and arranged coaxially with the convergence electrode. wherein each of said convergence electrode, said supplementary electrode and said final accelerating electrode comprises an electrode tube having an elliptical cross-section. and wherein said convergence electrode and said final accelerating electrode each have an elliptical end-plate having three holes arranged in line for electron passage within said electrode tubes. said elliptical end-plate on at least one of said electrode tubes being positioned away from the opening of said electrode tube closer to said supplementary electrode characterised in that the supplementary electrode has no end plate. With the above described structure comprising a convergence electrode, to which the focusing voltage is applied, a final accelerating electrode, to which the anode voltage is applied, and supplementary electrode of cylindrical form arranged coaxially between them, the domain of the main-lens electric field which is formed between the end plates of said two electrodes are expanded. Further, if the supplementary electrode is supplied with a voltage higher than focusing voltage and lower than the anode voltage, the electric potential distribution along the axis in the mains-lens electric field domain becomes a gentle slope, and the spherical aberration of the main-lens electric field may be reduced further. Further, undesirable invasion of the wall electric-field of the neck of the glass bulb into the main-lens electric field can be prevented by the shield action of the supplementary electrode. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of the main-lens part of a color-picture tube embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a front view of the main-lens part of a color-picture tube embodying the present invention. Fig. 3 is a side sectional view of the main part of a color-picture tube embodying the present invention. Fig.4 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the main-lens aperture and the axial length of the supplementary electrode. Fig. 5 is a characteristic diagram illustrating the electric potential distribution along the axis of the main-lens part. Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an energizing means to the supplementary electrode. Fig. 7 is a side sectional view of the main-lens part of a color-picture tube of the prior art. Fig. 8 is a front view of the main-lens part of a color-picture tube of the prior art. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Now, referring to the drawings an embodyment of the present invention is explained below. Referring to Fig. 1, the main lens part of the color-picture tube according to the present invention comprises a convergence electrode 7, a final accelerating electrode 8, and a supplemantary electrode 9 in between, the convergence electrode 7 being given the focusing voltage Vf, the final accelerating electrode 8 being supplied with anode voltage Va. The supplementary electrode 9 is arranged coaxially with the convergence electrode 7 and the final accelerating electrode 8 and is given voltage Vm which is higher than the focusing voltage Vf and is lower than the anode voltage Va. The convergence electrode 7 comprises a cylinder 11 of an elliptic section closed with an end plate 10 of the elliptic shape, which is placed at a position a little backward from the opening 11a of the cylinder 11 and has three holes 10a, 10b, and 10c for electron beam passage arranged in-line as shown in Fig. 2(a). The final accelerating electrode 8, likewise as the con vergence electrode 7, comprises a cylinder 13 of an elliptic section closed with an end plate 12 of the elliptic shape, which is placed at a position a little backward from the opening 13a of the cylinder 11 and has three holes 12a, 12b, and 12c for electron beam passage arranged in-line. The supplementary electrode 9 comprises a cylinder 14 of an elliptic shape but has no end plate as show in Fig. 2(b). The main lens part comprising the convergence electrode 7, final accelerating electrode 8 and the supplementary electrode 9, together with three cathodes 15, three control electrodes 16, and an accelerating electrode 17 all arranged in-line, forms the electron gun, and the gun is enclosed within the neck 18a of a glass bulb 18 which is the envelope of the color-picture tube. The color-picture tube 18 has a funnel 18b, and is provided at the outside of the funnel 18b near the neck 18a with a deflection yoke 19 to generate deflection magnetic field, by which the three electron beams 20 emitted from the electron guns are deflected to fall on the fluorescent screen (not shown in the figure). In the color-picture tube according to the present invention, the distance between the convergence electrode 7 and the final accelerating electrode 8 is larger compared to that of the conventional structure of electrode and the supplementary electrode 9 between them is provided with an arbitrary voltage higher than the focus voltage Vf but lower than the anode voltage Va, so that the electric potential gradient along the z-axis between the convergence electrode 7 and the final accelerating electrode 8 is more gentle than that of the conventional electrode. Consequently, the effective opening of the main-lens electric field becomes larger, and both the spherical aberration and the lens magnification are allowed to be lowered. Also, since the wall electric-field and the main-lens electric field are shielded by the supplementary electrode 9, the unfavorable effect of the wall electric-field on the way of the electron beam etc. can be prevented. In Fig.4 shown is the variation of the effective main-lens opening against the variation of the axial length L of the supplementary electrode, for the axial length L thereof 0.6mm, 2mm, and 4mm, while the inner diameter of the glass bulb neck 18a being set 17.5mm, the distance G1 between the convergence electrode 7 and the supplementary electrode 9, 0.8mm, the distance G2 between the supplementary electrode 9 and the final accelerating electrode 8, 0.8mm, and Va, Vm, and Vf being set 25kV, 16kV, and 7kV respectively. Any of them shows larger value than the effective main-lens aperture (5.5mm) of the prior art electrodes. In Fig. 5, the potential distributions along z-axis are shown, wherein curves a, b, and c refer to the supplementary electrode length L=0.8mm, 2mm, and 4mm respectively. Compared with that of the conventional electrode structure, the potential gradient becomes gentle as L becomes larger, resulting in the enlarging of the effective main-lens-opening. In the picture tube of the present invention, the supplementary electrode 9 is a cylinder 14 which has no end plate, resulting in the enlargement of the lens-electric-field-forming domain common to the three main-lens electric fields. Hence, the potential distribution along the axis is of more gentle gradient than that of the conventional one and the effective main-lens opening can be enlarged. Also, the invasion of the wall electric-field on the neck 18a of the glass bulb 18 into the main-lens electric field domain is prevented by the. shielding by the supplementary electrode 9. Referring to Fig.6, the supplementary electrode 9 is provided with a resistor 21 which is a means to apply to the supplementary electrode a voltage Vm higher than the focus voltageVf and lower than the anode voltage Va. One end of the resistor 21 is connected with the power source of the anode voltage Va, and the other end with the ground E, and the voltage Vm is obtained from its middle tap. The resistor 21 may be formed as a film on a glass rod which supports the electron gun electrodes or as a film on the inside wall of the neck 18a of the bulb 18; the resistor 21 may not be linear form, but may be meandering or spiral. The supplementary electrode 9 may not be connected with the power source, but kept free. In this case, the supplementary electrode 9, which is placed between the convergence electrode 7 with focusing voltage Vf and the accelerating electrode 8 with anode voltage Va, is given a free voltage induced by both the electrodes 7 and 8. Further, the supplementary electrode 9 may be constructed from several cylinders. Also, whereas, in the above embodiment, the end plate 10 of the convergence electrode 7 and the end plate 12 of the final accelerating electrode 8 were both placed at the positions both backward from the openings 11a and 13a of the cylinder 11 and 13, only one of the end plates may be placed at a backward position. The three holes for electron passage arranged in-line in the end plates 10 and 12 are not confined to be circular as shown in the figures, but may be all elliptic or of the similar shape, or the outside two holes may be circular or like. Thus, according to the present invention, three main-lens electric fields are formed so as to have overlapping part between the adjacent ones and the supplementary electrode placed between the convergence electrode and the final accelerating electrode causes the electric potential distribution along the axis of the main-lens to have a moderate slope. As a result, the effective opening of the main-lens is enlarged and the spherical aberration and the lens magnification are both reduced, so that, the radius of the beam spot can be made smaller, realizing high preciseness over the phosphor screen.

Claims: A color-picture tube comprising: a convergence electrode (7), to which a focusing voltage is applied, a final accelerating electrode (8), to which an anode voltage is applied, and at least one supplementary electrode (9) placed between the convergence electrode (7) and the final accelerating electrode (8) and arranged coaxially with the convergence electrode (7), and the final accelerating electrode (8), wherein, each of said convergence electrode (7), said supplementary electrode (9) and said final accelerating electrode (8) comprises an electrode tube (11,13,14) having an elliptical cross-section, and wherein said convergence electrode (7) and said final accelerating electrode (8) each have an elliptical end-plate (10,12) having three holes (10a,10b,10c;12a,12b,12c) arranged in line for electron passage within said electrode tubes, said elliptical end-plate (10,12) on at least one of said electrode tubes (7,8) being positioned away from the opening (11a,13a) of said electrode tube closer to said supplementary electrode (9) characterised in that the supplementary electrode has no end plate. A color-picture tube according to claim 1, also arranged to provide a voltage to the supplementary electrode (9) higher than the focusing voltage and lower than the anode voltage is applied. A color-picture tube according to claim 1 or 2, also arranged to provide an electric potential to the supplementary electrode (9) which is responsive to the convergence electrode (7) and the final accelerating electrode (8).

Inventors: UEDA YASUYUKI, UEDA, YASUYUKI
Applicants: MATSUSHITA ELECTRONICS CORP, MATSUSHITA ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
Application year: 1995
Main classification: H01J29
IPC codes: H01J29