4 Times As Efficient and Lasts Over 20 Times Longer
Sometimes called the electronic light bulb, the induction lamp offers high efficiency and a very long life because it operates without an electrode nor a filament. At the center of the lamp is the induction coil powered by an electronic unit at the base of the lamp. This coil produces a magnetic field in the lamp that ultimately produces light. This coil is sometimes referred to as an energy-coupling antenna. Since the induction lamp has no filament to burn out, so the lamp does not fail catastrophically as do incandescent bulbs. As the phosphors in the glass housing age, the induction lamp simply dims.
The glass assembly surrounding the induction coil contains a mercury electron-ion plasma material. This material is energized in a magnetic field producing UV light. The inner portion of the glass is lined with a phosphor coating very similar to that in fluorescent lamps. Finally, the base of the lamp is a standard Edison base or medium screw base just like those on most incandescent lamps. This makes it useable in a variety of applications offering improved efficiency.
In the most common form, a glass tube (B) protrudes bulb-wards from the bottom of the discharge vessel (A). This tube contains an antenna called a power coupler, which consists of a coil wound over a tubular ferrite core, and (C) is the electronic ballast.
The induction lamp is designed to light immediately with no warm-up period or flicker. When high frequency power is supplied to the induction coil, an electromagnetic field is generated within the lamp. This field excites the plasma material inside the glass housing causing the mercury atoms to emit ultraviolet light. When the UV light passes through the phosphor coating it’s converted into visible light in very much the same manner as fluorescent lamps.
Compared with the incandescent lamp, the induction bulb is about 4 times as efficient and lasts over 20 times longer. In fact, these lamps are rated between 10,000 and 20,000 hours. Quite an improvement over incandescents which burn only 750 to 1,000 hours.
With such a long rated life, these lamps seldom need replacing. Particularly useful in applications where lamp replacement is cumbersome and expensive, as in hard-to-reach areas. Practically maintenance-free, the induction lamp offers many features that make it an attractive light source. It also produces high quality light in a variety of colors. This gives lighting designers more options in their designs. As a compact source, the induction lamp can be used in a wide range of fixtures, adding further flexibility for the lighting designer.
The induction lamp is durable, ideal for outdoor applications where durability is certainly a high priority. Its light output is not significant influenced by ambient temperature. Relatively insensitive to line voltage fluctuations, its light output remains constant over wide range of input voltages.
This video will give you more insight into induction lighting, although I have no info on the company in the video and therefore no endorsement is inferred. Also, thanks to Lissof for the heads up on this technology!
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