Patent Publication Number: US-6700318-B2

Title: Spring for cathode ray tube

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a spring for supporting a support frame of a shadow mask in a color cathode ray tube and more particularly, to a spring for a color cathode ray tube that is capable of compensating for the displacement of a shadow mask according to a thermal expansion of the support frame for the shadow mask, thereby preventing mislanding of electron beams that may be caused from the displacement of the shadow mask. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     With the development of the technology for a cathode ray tube, recently, a large-sized color cathode ray tube becomes popular, which causes weight of a support frame for a shadow mask to be increased. However, this causes an amount of shock resistance, upon dropping, to be undesirably increased, such that an excessive shock may be applied to a spring that is adapted to connect a stud pin of a panel with the shadow mask and to the shadow mask. This results in the deviation of the support frame for the shadow mask and the deformation of the shadow mask. In addition, the shadow mask suffers a thermal expansion, which evokes the change in the landing of the electron beams. This results in the degradation of the color purity. 
     Therefore, there is a need for an effective buffering against the shock applied upon a dropping test and the thermal expansion of the shadow mask, for the purpose of reducing the amount of the shock resistance and preventing the degradation of the color purity. 
     FIG. 1 is a partly cut sectional view illustrating a general color cathode ray tube. 
     As shown, the general cathode ray tube includes: a panel  1  formed on the front surface of the cathode ray tube and provided with a luminous fluorescent material  2  of colors R, G and B on the inside thereof; a funnel  4  fused on the rear end of the panel  1 ; a shadow mask  6  on which beam transmitting holes of a dot or slot shape are formed for separating the colors; a support frame  8  for supporting the shadow mask  6 , such that the shadow mask  6  is separated by a predetermined interval from the panel  1 ; an earth magnetic shield  10  coupled to the support frame  8 ; a spring  12  coupled to the support frame  8 , for buffering the shock applied to the shadow mask  6  due to a thermal expansion of the shadow mask; a stud pin  14  formed on the side wall  1   a  of the panel  1 , for coupling the spring  12  to the panel  1 ; an electron gun  18  inserted into the neck of the funnel  4 , for emitting electron beams  16  to the luminous fluorescent material  2 ; a deviation yoke  20  for adjusting the advancing orbits of the electron beams  16 , such that the electron beams  16  are scanned to the luminous fluorescent material  2 ; and a reinforcing band  22  for preventing the width contraction caused from external shocks. 
     The spring  12 , as shown in FIGS. 4 a  to  4   c  is comprised of: a stud pin coupling part  12   a  on which a hole ‘h’ adapted to be inserted and fixed into a stud pin  14  on the side wall  1   a  of the panel  1  is formed; a frame welding part  12   b  for coupling on the support frame  8 ; and an inclined part  12   c  coupled to the stud pin coupling part  12   a  and the frame welding part  12   b , while being inclined at a predetermined angle and having folded faces  12   d  and  12   e  inclined at a predetermined angle (θ) on the coupled parts with the stud pin coupling part  12   a  and the frame welding part  12   b.    
     Under the above construction, the electron beams of the colors R, G and B emitted from the electron gun  8  inserted into the neck of the funnel  4  are adjusted in the orbits thereof by means of the deflection yoke  20  and then passed through the beam transmitting holes of the shadow mask  6 . Next, the electron beams are scanned horizontally and vertically in a sequential order to the luminous fluorescent material  2  of the colors R, G and B spread on the inside of the panel  1  to thereby emit the light from the luminous fluorescent material  2 . As a result, image is formed and displayed. 
     At this time, only about 30% of the electron beams  16  emitted from the electron gun  18  are passed through the beam transmitting holes of the shadow mask  6  and those of the remainder 70% are scanned to the part where no hole is formed on the shadow mask  6 . 
     A part of the electron beams  16  scanned on the shadow mask  6  is reflected. In this case, a part of the electron beams reflected is changed to shock energy and then absorbed on the shadow mask  6 . The absorbed energy enables the movement of the molecules in the interior of the shadow mask  6  to be activated, which induces the friction among the molecules. The friction generates heat from the shadow mask  6 . 
     As a consequence, the temperature of the shadow mask  6  rises and the volume thereof becomes expanded according to a thermal expansion coefficient of the material of the shadow mask  6 . The result is shown in FIG.  2 . As shown, the shadow mask  6  is expanded toward the luminous fluorescent material  2  relative to the direction of a tube shaft. 
     In the figure, a reference number ‘ 6 ’ represents a position where the shadow mask  6  before the thermal expansion is fixed and ‘ 6   a ’ represents a position where the shadow mask  6  after the thermal expansion is moved. 
     Under the above state, the heat generated from the shadow mask  6  is conducted to the support frame  8 , whereby the temperature of the support frame  8  rises. This enables the support frame  8  to be thermally expanded. Hence, the support frame  8  is expanded toward the side wall  1   a  of the panel  1  and the shadow mask  6  expanded is moved to the direction opposite to the luminous fluorescent material  2  relative to the direction of the tube shaft. 
     If the volume of the support frame  8  is larger than that of the shadow mask  6 , however, the shadow mask  6  is excessively moved to the direction opposite to the luminous fluorescent material  2  relative to the direction of the tube shaft, which results in the mislanding of the shadow mask  6 . In this case, an amount of variation in the landing of the shadow mask  6  is ΔLE, as shown in FIG.  3 . 
     In order to decrease the amount of variation in the landing ΔLE, the support frame  8  has to be made of a material having a low thermal expansion coefficient. However, this causes the cost of the product to be undesirably high. As an alternative, hence, the spring  12  is designed in many ways in the structure thereof, such that the position of the shadow mask  6  is corrected to decrease the amount of variation in the landing ΔLE. 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the part ‘a’ of FIG.  1 . As shown, the hole, which is formed on the end of the one side of the spring  12 , is inserted and coupled to the stud pin  14  formed on the center of the side wall  1   a  of the panel  1 , and the end of the other side of the spring  12  is welded and coupled to the rectangular type of support frame  8 . And, a skirt (which is not shown in the drawing) having an end portion folded along the periphery of the hole formation part (on which the beam transmitting holes of a dot or slot shape are formed, which is not shown in the drawing) of the shadow mask  6  is welded and fixed on the inner wall of the support frame  8 . 
     In FIG. 3, a reference numeral  16   a  represents the electron beams moved by a predetermined interval from the orbits of the electron beams  16  and  8   a  represents the support frame  8  moved by a predetermined interval from the position thereof before the thermal expansion. 
     On the other hand, the spring  12  having the inclined folded faces is varied according to the thermal expansion of the support frame  8 , such that the stage difference between the stud pin coupling part  12   a , the frame welding part  12   b  and the inclined part  12   c  is generated. 
     FIG. 4 a  shows the spring  12  having the inclined folded faces at the state where the stud pin coupling part  12   a , the frame welding part  12   b  and the inclined part  12   c  are disposed in parallel with each other in a length direction of the spring  12 , that is, at the state where the stage difference between the stud pin coupling part  12   a , the frame welding part  12   b  and the inclined part  12   c  in a width direction of the spring  12  is zero. Reference numerals  12   d  and  12   e  represent the folded parts where the folding is formed according to the change of the shape of spring  12 ,  12   f  represents the hole that is coupled to the stud pin  14 , and  12   g  represents welding points to which the spring  12  is welded and fixed on the support frame  8 . 
     FIG. 4 b  shows the spring  12  at the state where the frame welding part  12   b  and the inclined part  12   c  are folded perpendicularly (θ=90°) along the folded part  12   d  and the inclined part  12   c  and the stud pin coupling part  12   a  are folded perpendicularly (θ=90°) along the folded part  12   e  in the direction opposite to the folded part  12   d , thereby forming a maximum stage difference therebetween. 
     FIG. 4 c  shows the spring  12  having the inclined folded faces at the state where the stage difference value corresponding to the intermediate value between the values in FIGS. 4 a  and  4   b  is obtained. 
     According to the spring that has the inclination angle at which the stage difference is generated according to the thermal expansion, an amount of variation of the frame welding part  12   b  relative to the center of the hole  12   f  of the stud pin coupling part  12   a  is given by the following equation (1): 
     
       
         Δ Y =( L ×sin θ)/2  
       
     
     wherein, the ‘L’ denotes the length of the inclined part  12   c  and the ‘θ’ denotes the inclination angle of the inclined part  12   c.    
     In FIG. 4 c , the ‘ΔY’ represents an amount of displacement of the frame welding part  12   b  relative to the center of the hole  12   f  of the stud pin coupling part  12   a  at the time when the stage difference corresponding to the intermediate value is generated. 
     FIG. 5 is an exemplary view illustrating the variation in the landing of the electron beams relative to the displacement of the conventional shadow mask. A symbol ‘B1’ denotes an initial position of the shadow mask at an initial state, ‘B2’ denotes the position of the shadow mask after the thermal expansion, ‘B3’ denotes the position of the shadow mask after the correction action of the spring. Reference numerals  16   a ,  16   b  and  16   c  represent the electron beams, symbols LP1, LP2 and LP3 represent the landing points of the electron beams, and symbols S1, S2 and S3 represent the positions where the electron beams are passed through the beam transmitting holes of the shadow mask. 
     Before the shadow mask  6  is thermally expanded, it is disposed on the position B1 and the electron beams  16   a  are passed through the position S1 to scan the luminous fluorescent material  2 . At this time, the landing point of the electron beams  16   a  is the LP1. 
     Under the above state, when the support frame  8  for the shadow mask  6  is expanded, the shadow mask  6  is moved to the direction opposite to the luminous fluorescent material  2  relative to the tube shaft and thus disposed on the position B2. And, the electron beams  16   b  are passed through the position S2 to scan the luminous fluorescent material  2 . At this time, the landing point of the electron beams  16   b  is the LP2. 
     At this state, if the position of the support frame  8  for the shadow mask is corrected by the elastic operation of the spring  12  having the inclined folded faces, the shadow mask  6  is moved toward the luminous fluorescent material  2  and thus placed on the position B3. Thus, the electron beams  16   c  are passed through the position S3 to scan the luminous fluorescent material  2 . At this time, the landing point of the electron beams  16   c  is the LP3. 
     The position of the shadow mask  6  is corrected by an amount of correction of the position ΔC, with a consequence that the mislanding corresponding to the difference of the landing points (LP1−LP2) is corrected by the difference of the landing points (LP3−LP2). 
     The amount of correction of the position ΔC is determined upon parameters such as the folded angle of the spring  12  having the inclined folded faces, the number of folded faces, the thermal expansion coefficient of the support frame  8 , the material of the shadow mask  6 . Thus, the value of the amount of correction of the position is not constant. 
     Therefore, the dimension of the spring in the conventional cathode ray tube is determined in consideration of the above parameters, but it is difficult to obtain the spring having an optimum dimension due to the strength of the spring and the work process thereof, which causes the mislanding of the electron beams due to the thermal expansion of the support frame for the shadow mask. 
     Hence, the spring in the conventional cathode ray tube forms inclined faces folded at a predetermined angle at the coupling parts thereof, such that it can absorb a part of the shock according to the increment of the weight of the shadow mask, thereby achieving a good buffering effect against an external shock. However, the degradation of the color purity caused due to the variation of the landing of the electron beams according to the thermal expansion of the support frame for the shadow mask can&#39;t be corrected. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a color cathode ray tube having a spring structure capable of compensating for the displacement of a shadow mask frame, thereby suppressing the degradation of the color purity according to the mislanding of electron beams. 
     To accomplish this and other objects of the present invention, there is provided a color cathode ray tube that comprises a spring formed by bonding a plurality of metal members having different thermal expansion coefficients in a length direction relative to a tube shaft. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partly cut sectional view illustrating a general color cathode ray tube; 
     FIG. 2 is an exemplary view illustrating a thermally expanded state of the shadow mask of the general color cathode ray tube; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a part ‘a’ in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 a  is a plan view illustrating the state before a conventional spring having inclined folded faces is changed due to a thermal expansion; 
     FIG. 4 b  is a plan view illustrating the state before a conventional spring having inclined folded faces is changed to a maximum extent due to a thermal expansion; 
     FIG. 4 c  is a perspective view illustrating the state before a conventional spring having inclined folded faces is partially changed due to a thermal expansion; 
     FIG. 5 is an exemplary view illustrating the variation in the landing of the electron beams relative to the displacement of the conventional shadow mask; 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a structure of a spring according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating the operation of the spring in FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 8 is an exemplary view illustrating the variation in the landing of the electron beams relative to the displacement of the shadow mask according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating an operation of a spring according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view illustrating a structure of a spring according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating a structure of a spring according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be in detail discussed with reference to FIGS. 6 to  11 . 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a structure of a spring according to a first embodiment of the present invention. A reference numeral  101   a  represents a welding point welded and fixed on the support frame  8 . 
     A spring according to the present invention is comprised of a stud pin coupling part  100 , an inclined part  102  as an elastic support body and a frame welding part  101 . Further, the spring includes folded parts  104  and  106  on the boundary parts between the stud pin coupling part  100  and the inclined part  102  and between the frame welding part  101  and the inclined part  102 . Specifically, the spring is bonded with a pair of metal members A and B having different thermal expansion coefficients up and down in a width direction thereof, thereby forming a boundary line  108  between the pair of metal members. 
     The stud pin coupling part  100  of the first metal member A is provided with a hole  100   a  that is inserted and fixed into the stud pin  14 . 
     The first metal member A forms a low thermal expansion part having a low thermal expansion coefficient and the second metal member B forms a high thermal expansion part having a relatively high thermal expansion coefficient. 
     Preferably, the low thermal expansion part of the first metal member A has a thermal expansion coefficient of 2-4×10e −6 /° C. and the high thermal expansion part of the second metal member B has a thermal expansion coefficient of 10-18×10e −6 /° C. The ratio of the thermal expansion coefficients between the high thermal expansion part and the low thermal expansion part is in a range of 2.5 to 9. If the thermal expansion coefficient ratio is less than 2.5, an amount of movement for doming compensation for an external temperature is small, such that an improvement on the characteristic should be required. To the contrary, if the thermal expansion coefficient ratio is more that 9, a problem on the characteristic upon a last normal doming arises due to an excessive compensation. 
     Also, the thickness of the first and second metal members A and B is in a range of 0.3 mm to 0.6 mm. If the thickness is too thin, a problem during a work process arises and contrarily, if the thickness is too thick, bonding strength becomes strong, which causes some problems in an attaching and detaching machine of a frame. 
     In more detail, the first metal member A is made of Invar, a steel and nickel alloy, of 0.5 t as a low thermal expansion material and the second metal member B is made of aluminum-killed steel (AK) Sus603 of 0.5 t. In this case, the thermal expansion coefficient of the Sus603 as the high thermal expansion material is 11.5±5×10e −6 /° C. and the thermal expansion coefficient of the Invar (steel-nickel alloy) as the low thermal expansion is 2.5±5×10e −6 /° C. And, the thermal expansion coefficient ratio is about 4.6. Of course, the above design can be easily obtained and the first and second metal members are appropriately selected in consideration of strength and molding characteristics. 
     Further, the design of the first and second metal members is made to prevent an excessive compensation in consideration of the variation of the external temperature and to minimize a reverse compensation according to a thermal change upon a normal doming. 
     The materials of the first and second metal members are welded with the same dimension ratio of 1:1 in consideration of the easiness of the working process and the bonding strength, which acts as an important factor in determining displacement capability. 
     The first metal member A is made of Invar as an alloy of steel and nickel, thereby forming a low thermal expansion part having a low thermal expansion coefficient, and the second metal member B is made of aluminum-killed steel AK, thereby forming a high thermal expansion part having a relatively high thermal expansion coefficient. 
     Now, an explanation of the operation effect of the spring of the present invention will be discussed. 
     When the support frame  8  of the shadow mask is heated by the stroke of the electron beams and thus expanded, the first metal member A is expanded by L1 in a length direction of the both sides of the spring, as shown in FIG.  6 . And, the second metal member B having a higher thermal expansion coefficient than the first metal member A is expanded by L2 in a length direction of the both sides of the spring. It can be appreciated that the length difference value 2×(L2−L1) between the two metal members is generated. 
     The length difference between the two metal members enables the spring to be bent toward the first metal member A having a low thermal expansion coefficient, as shown by the dotted line in FIG.  7 . The hole  100   a  of the stud pin coupling part  100  is fixed by means of the stud pin, such that the frame welding part  101  exhibits a relatively large displacement. At this time, an amount of the displacement is ΔC1 in a width direction of the spring. 
     FIG. 8 is an exemplary view illustrating the variation in the landing of the electron beams relative to the displacement of the shadow mask according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Same references are applied to the same parts as in FIG.  5 . In the figure, a symbol ‘B1’ denotes an initial position of the shadow mask at an initial state, ‘B2’ denotes the position of the shadow mask after the thermal expansion, ‘B3’ denotes the position of the shadow mask after the correction action of the spring. Reference numerals  16   a ,  16   b  and  16   c  represent the electron beams, symbols LP1, LP2 and LP3 represent the landing points of the electron beams, and symbols S1, S2 and S3 represent the positions where the electron beams are passed through the beam transmitting holes of the shadow mask. 
     As noted above, if the frame coupling part  101  is bent by the difference of the thermal expansion coefficients of the spring, as shown in FIG. 8, an amount of position compensation having a predetermined value according to the difference of the thermal expansion coefficients of the spring is added to the amount of position compensation ΔC according to the folding of the spring, whereby a total amount of position compensation is nΔC. At this time, the landing point of the electron beams is moved from LP2 to LP4. This results in the compensation for the mislanding corresponding to the value LP2-LP4, which enables the electron beams to be optimally landed. 
     On the other hand, an operation of a spring according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be followed. 
     When the support frame  8  of the shadow mask is heated by the stroke of the electron beams and thus expanded, the shadow mask is passed through the optimal position B1 and then moved toward the luminous fluorescent material  2 , if the position compensation of the shadow mask exceeds by the action of the spring. In this case, since the landing point of the electron beams is deviated to the right direction of the LP1, the position of the shadow mask should be compensated in a direction opposite to the luminous fluorescent material  2  relative to the tube shaft. 
     To solve such a problem, the spring according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the first metal member A made of aluminum-killed steel AK, thereby forming a high thermal expansion part having a relatively high thermal expansion coefficient and the second metal member B made of Invar as an alloy of steel and nickel, thereby forming a low thermal expansion part having a low thermal expansion coefficient. 
     According to the spring constructed as the above, as shown in FIG. 9, the difference of the thermal expansion coefficients between the two metal members causes the high thermal expansion part to be bent toward the low thermal expansion part in the opposite direction to the luminous fluorescent material relative to the tube shaft. At this time, an amount of the displacement of the shadow mask is −ΔC1 in a width direction of the spring. 
     Therefore, the landing point that is deviated to the direction of the LP1 is compensated in the direction of the LP2. 
     With the spring having the inclination angle θ and the folded faces  104  and  106 , it can be understood that the two metal members having different thermal expansion coefficients are employed such that an amount of the displacement of the shadow mask relative to the tube shaft is adjusted. 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view illustrating a structure of a spring according to a third embodiment of the present invention, wherein three metal members A′, B′ and C′ having different thermal expansion coefficients are bonded to each other in a length direction of the spring. 
     FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating a structure of a spring according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, wherein two metal members A″ and B″ having different thermal expansion coefficients are bonded in a length direction of the spring. In this case, the metal member B″ is relatively shorter than the metal member A″. The amount of displacement of the spring can be adjusted in a width direction thereof according to the dimension of the metal member B″ on the lower side thereof. 
     As described above, a color cathode ray tube according to preferred embodiments of the present invention is provided with a spring that is constructed by bonding at least two or more metal members having different thermal expansion coefficients in a length direction of the spring, thereby forming at least one or more inclined folded faces, such that the elastic force of the spring is varied by the difference of the thermal expansion coefficients between the metal members bonded. 
     Thereby, the deviation of the position of the support frame of the shadow mask caused by the thermal expansion can be corrected, such that the degradation of the color purity caused during an optimal landing state of the electron beams is maintained can be prevented. 
     In addition, the spring according to the present invention exhibits an excellent shock resistance characteristic, such that the deformation of the shadow mask caused due to an external shock such as a dropping shock can be prevented.