PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING A NEON TUBE, AND RELATED LOW TEMPERATURE LIGHTING SYSTEM

摘要

Specially constructed neon tubes (10) are provided which emit sufficient white light to adequately light a refrigeration unit (18). The manufacturing process includes attaching electrodes (74) to open ends of a glass tube (10) having an interior (22) phosphate coating. Current is applied until the glass tube (10) is raised to a predetermined temperature, and the contents of the tube (10) are evacuated. Cleaning gas is injected and the glass tube (10) is again evacuated. The glass tube (10) is then filled with mercury and a neon and argon gas mixture and sealed. The resulting neon tubes (10), which have a diameter of six to eight millimeters, are positioned within an elongated cavity of a frame (34) of a lighting system (12, 14, 16), and tubes (10) are positioned substantially parallel to one another such that each has a different angle of orientation relative to a longitudinal axis of the frame (34).