Background Art An air purifier functions to kill bacteria, deodorize an offensive odor due to molds, collect dust, and remove smoke using anions generated from an anion generator. Up to now, the high-priced, large air purifier has been mostly used to ensure an anion effect in houses or offices. However, recently, some efforts have been made to secure the anion effect using a lighting lamp relatively cheaper and smaller than the conventional large air purifier, which are exemplified by Korean Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 95-34662, Japanese Pat. Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 6-178821, Korean Pat. Laid-Open Publication No. 97-8480, Korean Pat. Laid-Open Publication No. 97-6047, Korean Pat. Laid-Open Publication No.

2002-78792, and Korean Utility Model Registration Publication No. 265693.

Of the prior arts, Korean Pat. Laid-Open Publication No.

97-6047 recites a second generation lighting device, in which anions are emitted from an anion generator into a space formed

among lighting tubes. However, the second generation lighting device is disadvantageous in that the anions are generated in a small amount or activities of the anions are largely reduced because of electrons emitted from the lighting tubes, thus the anion effect is lowered. This is a primary factor of a failure in commercializing the second generation lighting device.

With reference to FIG. 6A, there is illustrated a conventional anion generator. In this regard, ends of a discharge pin (a) and a charged tube (b) constituting the conventional anion generator are kept clean while the discharge pin (a) is longitudinally located at the very center of a cross-section of the charged tube (b). Additionally, when an interval (c) between the ends of the discharge pin (a) and the charged tube (b) is maintained to a desired length, a specified current does not flow in the charged tube (b) during the generation of the anions, thus the anion generator desirably emits the anions.

If the ends of the discharge pin (a) and the charged tube (b) are deposited with the dust, thereby blackening the average interval (c) between the ends of the discharge pin and charged tube (a, b) is shortened because of a thickness of the deposited dust layer on the ends of the discharge pin and charged tube (a, b), thereby the interval (C) becomes longer than an interval (C') between the blackened ends of the discharge pin (a) and the charged tube (b) as shown in FIG. 6B.

The shortening of the interval (c) between the ends of the discharge pin (a) and the charged tube (b) leads to an abnormally great increase of an instantaneous voltage. In this respect, the dust deposited on the ends of the discharge pin (a) and the charged tube (b) is burnt due to the high voltage, thereby blackening the ends of the discharge pin (a) and the charged tube (b). This is what is called a"blackening phenomenon"of the anion generator. The blackening phenomenon negatively affects the lighting lamp with the anion generator, and serves to largely reduce a life span of the lighting lamp.

Another reason why the blackening phenomenon occurs in the lighting lamp is that the discharge pin constituting the lighting lamp is made of Cu or Al that easily releases its particles due to the movement of electrons during the electric discharge.

The second generation anion generator applied to the lighting lamp is very short in terms of life span because of the blackening phenomenon. Generally, the life span of the lighting lamp with the anion generator is theoretically considered as 8,000 hours. With respect to this, if it is assumed that an average use time per day is four hours, the life span of the lighting lamp is a sufficiently long 2000 days, that is, two years and two months. However, the life span of a third generation lighting lamp provided with the anion generator is at the longest 360 to 1440 hours, in other words, 3 to 12 months, which depends on the environment in use.

Accordingly, the third generation lighting lamp has the very short life span in comparison with the second generation lighting lamp.

Furthermore, Korean Utility Model Registration Publication No. 265693 discloses a lighting device belonging to a technically advanced third generation lighting device, which overcomes disadvantages of the second generation lighting device by changing a direction of emitted anions such that the anions are emitted toward a side wall of a case constituting the lighting device. However, the third generation lighting device has disadvantages in that an anion generator is immovably installed in the case of the lighting device, thus when the anion generator is out of order due to factors such as the blackening phenomenon, the entire lighting device must be wasted even though the case, a boosting circuit, and lighting plates and so on, constituting the lighting device, except for the anion generator are normal in terms of their functions, thereby generating no economic efficiency.

Therefore, when the anion generator is exhausted or

degraded, economic loss caused by the blackening phenomenon and the like is reduced by replacing the exhausted or degraded anion generator with a new one or by re-installing the cleaned discharge pin and charged tube in the anion generator after the blackened discharge pin and charged tube are cleaned.

Based on the above description, the inventors of the present invention have conducted studies into the lighting lamp provided with the anion generator for a long term, leading to the yield of excellent results, thereby accomplishing the present invention.

Disclosure of Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a lighting lamp with an anion generator, which can be used for a prolonged period by replacing the exhausted or degraded anion generator with a new one or by re-installing a cleaned discharge pin and charged tube in the anion generator after the contaminated discharge pin and charged tube constituting the anion generator are cleaned.

It is another object of the present invention to maximize the generation of anions using a discharge pin and a charged tube for a lighting lamp.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lighting lamp with an anion generator, which can continuously generate anions using a case.

Additional objects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The above and/or other objects are achieved by providing a lighting lamp with a cartridge-type anion generator, in which openings communicating with a bore form a straight space with a shape of a tunnel in conjunction with the bore in a lower case,

and the cartridge-type anion generator is removably inserted into the bore of the lower case constituting the lighting lamp.

At this time, the assembly of the anion generator with the lighting lamp is easily accomplished by just inserting the anion generator into the bore of the lower case constituting the lighting lamp. Furthermore, the disassembly of the anion generator from the lighting lamp is readily accomplished by just drawing the anion generator from the bore of the lower case constituting the lighting lamp.

The above and/or other objects are achieved by providing a lighting lamp with a cartridge-type anion generator, which includes a discharge pin and a charged tube, of which are made of stainless steel that scarcely release its particles even though it is under the movement of electrons during an electrical discharge. In this regard, at least one of the discharge pin and the charged tube is plated with platinum and another is plated with palladium, which is much cheaper than platinum, while it is placed after platinum in views of an electric charge, causing platinum and palladium plated on the discharge pin and the charged tube to act as a reduction catalyst and a main substance for forming radicals, thereby increasing an electrical discharge efficiency.

The above and/or other objects are achieved by providing a lighting lamp with a cartridge-type anion generator, in which at least one of upper and lower cases is coated with tourmaline and a ceramic material on an exterior surface thereof, thereby continuously generating a great amount of anion by an ionization phenomenon.

Brief Description of Drawings These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which :

FIG. 1 illustrates an anion generator and a lighting lamp according to the present invention, which are separated from each other; FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the lighting lamp according to the present invention, in which lighting tubes are partly omitted; FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view of a lower case according to the present invention; FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the anion generator according to the present invention; FIG. 5 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the lower case according to the present invention, in which the anion generator is inserted; and FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a conventional anion generator, which is contaminated by a blackening phenomenon.

Best Mode for Carring Out the Invention Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

With reference to FIG. 1, a lighting lamp according to the present invention is provided with an upper case 1, a lower case 2, an anion generator 3, and a plurality of lighting tubes 4.

Referring to FIG. 2, a printed circuit board (PCB) 5 with a stabilizer is seated in the upper case 1. The PCB 5 is an element needed to produce a voltage suitable to generate anions and to boost the voltage, and has been applied to the third generation lighting lamp in conjunction with the lighting tubes 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, openings 21 are formed on a side wall of the lower case 2. The cartridge-type anion generator 3 according to the present invention is inserted in the lower

case 2 through the openings 21. An each of the openings 21 is provided with means for aiding to correctly assemble the cartridge-type anion generator 3 with the lower case 2 and to readily disassemble the anion generator 3 from the lower case 2. For example, when each opening 21 has a rectangular section, at least one of four corners of the opening 21 has a different shape from other corners. There is a need to enable the opening 21 to have the above structure so that when the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is assembled with the lower case 2, a charged tube and a discharge pin constituting the cartridge-type anion generator 3 come into contact at terminals thereof with an electrode terminal for generating anions and an electrode terminal for boosting a voltage, which are connected to the PCB 5 exposed from inner walls of a bore 22 of the lower case 2. Accordingly, the opening 21 contributes to preventing the cartridge-type anion generator 3 from being wrongly assembled with the lower case 2.

The opening 21 communicates with the straight bore 22 of the lower case 2. Additionally, the opening 21 forms a straight tunnel in conjunction with the bore 22, and the resulting straight tunnel of the lower case 2 functions to receive the cartridge-type anion generator 3. In this regard, the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is inserted through the opening 21 into the bore 22 with a mechanical tolerance therebetween, so that the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is not easily separated from the lower case 2 in use while the assembling and disassembling of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 with and from the lower case 2 are easily conducted.

Furthermore, terminal holes 23,24 are formed at a side wall of the bore 22, and middle parts of first and second electrode terminals 25,26 are exposed through the terminal holes 23,24. The first electrode terminal 25 is connected to an anion generation circuit of the PCB 5 and comes into contact with the discharge pin 31 of the cartridge-type anion generator

3 to be electrically connected to the discharge pin 31 of the anion generator 3. On the other hand, the second electrode terminal 26 comes into contact with the charged tube 32 of the anion generator 3 to be electrically connected to the charged tube 32 of the anion generator 3. In addition, the first and second electrode terminals 25,26 are made of metal strips properly curved to form contact parts with a semicircular sectional shape, thereby functioning as a spring. The contact parts come into contact with the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 of the anion generator 3, respectively, and elastically press the terminal of the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 of the anion generator 3 inserted through the opening 21 in the bore 22 to dimensionally stabilize the assembly of the anion generator 3 with a receiving compartment of the lower case 2.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is easily inserted into and drawn from the bore 22 through the opening 21 of the lower case 2. In this regard, the cartridge-type anion generator 3 includes the discharge pin 31 longitudinally situated at the center of an insulating tube 33, and the charged tube 33 surrounding the discharge pin 31 at a rear end thereof. Further, a rear end 31a of the discharge pin 31 is bent toward a first through hole 33a of the insulating tube 33 such that the rear end 31a of the discharge pin 31 comes into contact with the first electrode terminal 25 when the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is inserted through the opening 21 into the bore 22. At this time, the bent rear end 31a of the discharge pin 31 has a shape of a crank shaft.

Furthermore, a second through hole 33b is formed on an upper surface of the insulating tube 33. A rear end of the charged tube 32 is exposed to and comes into contact with the electrode terminal 26 for a voltage boosting circuit through the second through hole 33b of the insulating tube 33. As well, the diffusion grill 34 is attached to a rear end of the insulating tube 33 to smoothly, outwardly emit the anions from

the anion generator 3 therethrough. In this regard, the diffusion grill 34 may be integrally formed with the insulating tube 33 through an injection molding process.

A total length of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 assembled with the diffusion grill 34 is designed to be the same as a total length of the openings 21 and the bore 22 so that a portion of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is not protruded from the lower case 2 when the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is assembled with the lower case 2, thereby the anion generator with a preferable appearance is ensured.

Meanwhile, the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 of the anion generator 3 are all made of stainless steel. Unlike Cu and Al used as a material for a discharge pin and a charged tube constituting a conventional anion generator, stainless steel does not easily release its particles even though electrons collide with the stainless steel when the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 made of stainless steel are under an electric discharge state. Therefore, the blackening phenomenon does not occur in case that the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 are made of stainless steel.

At least one of the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 is plated with platinum, and the other is plated with palladium. For instance, the discharge pin 31 is plated with platinum and the charged tube 32 is plated with palladium, or the discharge pin 31 is plated with palladium in case that the charged tube 32 is plated with platinum. In some cases, the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 may be all plated with platinum, but this is not competitive in terms of plating costs. Platinum is the metal with the best electric charge, but palladium is much cheaper than platinum while it is placed after platinum in view of the electric charge. Therefore, the use of palladium largely contributes to reducing the costs of plating.

As described above, platinum and palladium plated on the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 act as a reduction

catalyst, and are used as a main substance for forming radicals, thereby realizing the maximization of the anion generation according to an increase of the electric charge.

The diffusion of the great amount of the anions means that air purification, deodorization, and sterilization functions of the anion generator 3 are maximized.

The cartridge-type anion generator 3 is inserted through the opening 21 into the bore 22 to form the resulting structure as shown in FIG. 4. Furthermore, the rear end 31a of the discharge pin 31 comes into contact with the first electrode terminal 25, and an external surface of the charged tube 32 comes into contact with the second electrode terminal 26, thereby the discharge pin 31 and the charged tube 32 are electrically connected to the first and second electrode terminals 25,26, respectively. At this time, the diffusion grill 34 is located out the opening 21 of the lower case 2.

In case that two openings 21 are provided at both ends of the bore 22, when a first end of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 inserted in the bore 22 through an opening 21 is pushed, a second end of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is protruded from. the other opening 21 located opposite to the first end of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 by a length corresponding to a distance by which the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is pushed. The separation of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 from the bore 22 is easily accomplished by drawing a portion of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 slightly protruded from the opening 21 with user's fingers.

Accordingly, when an amount of anions emitted from the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is reduced during use of the lighting lamp, the cleaned discharge pin 31 and charged tube 32 are re-installed in the anion generator 3 after the contaminated discharge pin 31 and charged tube 32 are cleaned, or the exhausted or degraded anion generator 3 is replaced with a new one, thereby the lighting lamp is used for a prolonged period through a simple operation as described above.

Furthermore, at least one of an external surface of the upper case 1 and an external surface of the lower case 2 may be coated with a tourmaline and a ceramic material, thereby increasing the amount of oxygen, the emission of far-infrared light, and the generation of the anions. Particularly, the tourmaline reacts with water molecules in the air rather than charged electrons due to the movement of a small amount of radioactive elements to be excited to a state that a kinetic energy of a tourmaline electric field is high (internal energies of gas molecules are increased because the gas molecules absorb energy in a form of kinetic energy when energy applied into a gas is higher than an intrinsic value of the gas). Thus, electrons which are to be returned to a ground state to emit energy deviate from their orbital to become free electrons, thereby a great amount of anion is continuously generated by an ionization phenomenon, and an excellent anion effect is ensured.

Hereinbefore, a description regarding the lighting lamp in which the openings 21 are provided at both ends of the bore 22 is given, but the lighting lamp may have only one opening at any one end of the bore 27. At this time, the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is inserted in the bore 22 in such a way that a portion of the diffusion grill 34 of the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is slightly protruded from the bore 27, thus the cartridge-type anion generator 3 is easily separated from the lower case by drawing the protruded portion of the diffusion grill 34 out of the bore. This modification of the lighting lamp does not deviate from the spirit of the present invention.

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a lighting lamp with a cartridge-type anion generator, which is used for a prolonged period by replacing the exhausted or degraded cartridge-type anion generator with a new one, or by re-installing the cleaned cartridge-type anion generator in the lighting lamp after the contaminated anion generator is cleaned. Therefore, the lighting lamp according

to the present invention has excellent economic efficiency in comparison with a conventional lighting lamp having a disadvantage that the entire lighting lamp must be wasted when the anion generator as one of plural elements constituting the lighting lamp is out of order or degraded.

Furthermore, the present invention is advantageous in that platinum or palladium plated on a discharge pin and a charged tube constituting the cartridge-type anion generator desirably acts as a reduction catalyst, thus an electric charge is maximized due to the formation of radicals to increase an amount of anions generated from the cartridge-type anion generator, thereby largely improving an anion effect of the lighting lamp.

Although few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.