TYPES OF LAMPS
Incandescent lamps
Light is emitted from a tungsten filament operating at
a very high temperature inside a glass bulb
Efficacy :10-20 Lumens/Watt
(Typically 13 lm/W for a 100W
GLS - General Lighting Service lamp)
Lamp Life: 1000 hours.
(This increases dramatically on reduced voltage)
Colour rendering: Excellent (1A)
Colour Temperature: 2700 K (Warm)
Control: Fully dimmable (though a shift to red occurs).
Advantages: Simple, compact, good colour rendering,
cheap to
install, instant light, no control gear.
Disadvantage: High running cost, short life, high heat
output.
Applications: Domestic and short duration use in
commercial and industrial installation. (e.g. cleaner’s
store).
Tungsten-Halogen Lamp
• These lamps have a tungsten filament and
operate on the incandescent principle.
■ produce light by
means of an electric
arc between tungsten
electrodes housed
inside a translucent or
transparent fused
quartz or fused
alumina (ceramic) arc
tube filled with special
gases.
■ Arc tube can be filled by various types of gases and metal salts.
■ HID lamps are used in industrial high bay applications, gymnasiums,
outdoor lighting, parking decks, street lights.
■ Efficient (up to 150 lumens/watt).
■ Long Life (up to 25,000 hours).
■ Drawback – take up to 15 minutes to come up to full light after power
outage.
Types of High Pressure Discharge
Lamps
• Sodium Vapor
• Metal Halide
• Arc tube contains argon, mercury, and
metal halides.
• Gives better color temperature and CRI.
High Pressure Mercury (MB) Lamps
These lamps have been in use since the 1930’s. The older characteristically blue
appearances of the MB lamp has given way to a whiter appearance with the
introduction of the MBF (deluxe) lamp which has a phosphor coating. They are
nonetheless reducing in popularity due to the higher performance of SON and
metal halide lamps (MBI).