The incandescent lamp was the second form of electric light to be developed

for commercial use after the carbon arc lamp. It is the second most used lamp
in the world today behind fluorescent lamps. In this page we cover the
traditional incandescent lamp. Halogen lamps are also incandescent light
sources, but they have their own page here. The traditional incandescent bulb
is not just a light source but has become a symbol of innovation.

Advantages:
*Great for small area lighting
*Good color rendering: CRI of 100 which is the best possible
*Cheap to produce
*No quantity of toxic materials to dispose of (like mercury, toxic alloys, or semiconductors)
*Is easily used in strobe or dimming circuits

Disadvantages:
*Not energy efficient (90% of energy goes to heat, 10% makes visible light)
*Traditional incandescent light bulbs are not useful for lighting large areas. It takes many to light a large
area where as only one HID lamp can light a large open area. Halogen incandescent is useful for this
purpose but it is not covered on this page.

How do Incandescent Lamps Work?

When an object is made hot, the atoms inside the object become thermally excited. If the object
does not melt, the outer orbit electrons of the atoms jump to higher energy level due to the
supplied energy. The electrons on these higher energy levels are not stable, they again fall back
to lower energy levels. While falling from higher to lower energy levels, the electrons release
their extra energy in a form of photons. These photons are then emitted from the surface of the
object in the form of electromagnetic radiation.
This radiation will have different wavelengths. A portion of the
wavelengths is in the visible range of wavelengths, and a significant
portion of wavelengths are in infrared range. The electromagnetic wave
with wavelengths within the range of infrared is heat energy and the
electromagnetic wave with wavelengths within visible range is light
energy. Incandescent means producing visible light by heating an object.
An incandescent lamp works in the same principle. The simplest form
of the artificial source of light using electricity is an incandescent lamp.
Here we use electric current to flow through a thin and fine filament to
produce visible light. The current rises the temperature of the filament to
such extent that it becomes luminous.
History of Incandescent Lamp
It is normally considered that Thomas Edison was the inventor of the
incandescent lamp, but the actual history was not like that. There were
numbers of scientists who worked and designed prototype for the
incandescent lamp before Edison did. One of them was British physicist
Joseph Wilson Swan. From the record, it is found that he got the first
patent for the incandescent lamp. Later Edison and Swan merged to
produce incandescent lamps in commercial scale.

Construction of Incandescent Lamp

The filament is attached across two lead wires. One lead wire is
connected to the foot contact and other is terminated on the metallic base
of the bulb. Both of the lead wires pass through glass support mounted
at the lower middle of the bulb. Two support wires also attached to glass
support, are used to support filament at its middle portion. The foot
contact is isolated from metallic base by insulating materials. The entire
system is encapsulated by a colored or phasphare coated or transparent
glass bulb. The glass bulb may be filled with inert gases or it is kept
vacuum depending upon rating of the incandescent lamp.

The filament of incandescent lamps is air-tightly evacuated with a

glass bulb of suitable shape and size. This glass bulb is used to isolate

the filament from surrounding air to prevent oxidation of filament and

to minimize convention current surrounding the filament hence to keep

the temperature of the filament high. The glass bulb is either kept

vacuum or filled with inert gases like argon with a small percentage of

nitrogen at low pressure. Inert gases are used to minimize the

evaporation of filament during service of the lamps. But due to

convection flow of inert gas inside the bulb, there will be greater chances

of losing the heat of filament during operation. Again vacuum is a great

insulation of heat, but it accelerates the evaporation of filament during

operation. In the case of gas-filled incandescent lamps, 85% of argon

mixed with 15% of nitrogen is used. Occasionally krypton can be used to

reduce filament evaporation because the molecular weight of krypton

gas is quite higher. But it costs greater. At about 80% of atmospheric

pressure, the gasses are filled into the bulb. Gas is filled in the bulb with

the rating more than 40 W. But for less than 40 W bulb; there is no gas

used.

The various parts of an incandescent lamp are shown below.

What is Fluorescent Lamp?
A fluorescent lamp is a low weight mercury vapour lamp that uses
fluorescence to deliver visible light. An electric current in the gas
energizes mercury vapor which delivers ultraviolet radiation through
discharge process and the ultraviolet radiation causes the phosphor
coating of the lamp inner wall to radiate visible light.

A fluorescent lamp has changed over electrical energy into useful

light energy to a great deal more proficiently than incandescent lamps.
The normal luminous viability of fluorescent lighting frameworks is 50
to100 lumens per watt, which is a few times the adequacy of
incandescent lamps with equivalent light yield.
How does a Fluorescent Lamp work?
Before going through the working principle of a fluorescent lamp, we
will first show the circuit of a fluorescent lamp in other words circuit of
tube light.

-Energy efficient, so far the best light for interior lighting

Advantages -Low production cost (of tubes, not of the ballasts)
-Long life of tubes
-Good selection of desired color temperature (cool whites to warm whites)
-Diffused Light (good for general, even lighting, reducing harsh shadows)
-Flicker of the high frequency can be irritating to humans (eye strain, headaches,
migraines)
-Flicker of common fluorescent light looks poor on video, and creates an ugly greenish
or yellow hue on camera
-Diffused Light (not good when you need a focused beam such as in a headlight or
Disadvantagesflashlight)
-Poorly/cheaply designed ballasts can create radio interference that disturbs other
electronics
-Poorly/cheaply designed ballasts can create fires when they overheat
-There is a small amount of mercury in the tubes
-Irritating flicker at the end of the life cycle

Physics of behind Fluorescent Lamp

When a sufficiently high voltage is applied across the electrodes, a strong electric field is set up.
A small amount of current through the electrodes filaments heats up the filament coil. As the
filament is oxide coated, a sufficient amount of electrons is produced, and they rush from the
negative electrode or cathode to the positive electrode or anode due to this strong electric field.
During the movement of free electrons, the discharge process gets established.
The basic discharge process always follows three steps:
1. Free electrons are derived from the electrodes, and they get accelerated by the electric
field applied.
2. Kinetic energy of the free electrons is converted into the excitation energy of the gas
atoms.
3. The excitation energy of the gas atoms gets converted into the radiation.
In the discharge process, a single ultra violates spectral line of 253.7 nm is produced at a low
pressure of mercury vapor. To generate 253.7 nm ultra violate ray the bulb temperature is kept
between 105 to 115oF.
The length to diameter ratio of the tube should be such that fixed wattage loss happens at both
ends. Where this wattage loss or glow of electrodes takes place is called cathode and anode fall
region. This watt loss is very small.
Again the cathodes should be oxide coated. Hot cathode provides an abundance of free electrons.
Hot cathodes, mean those electrodes which are heated by circulating current and this circulating
current is provided by choke or control gear. Few lamps have cold cathode also. Cold cathodes
have a larger effective area and higher voltage such as 11 kv is applied across them to get ions.
Gas starts to be discharged due to this high voltage application. But at 100 to 200 V the cathode
glow get separated from the cathode, it is called cathode fall. This provides a large supply of ions
which are accelerated to the anode to produce secondary electrons on impact which in term
produce more ions. But cathode-fall in hot cathode discharge is only at 10 V.

What are CFL bulbs?

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL bulbs) are a twist on
traditional fluorescent technology, literally. Created as a
more energy-efficient option for conventional incandescent
applications, CFLs screw into a medium base socket and
utilize a spiral design – as opposed to a long tube – making
it "compact." Many CFLs also have an integrated ballast,
unlike traditional fluorescent tubes.

How do compact fluorescent bulbs

work?
Because compact fluorescents are in the same lamp family as
linear fluorescents, we are talking about the same technology
as we described in our previous post. Everything that is
going on inside the linear tube is still happening inside the
compact fluorescent tube.

Though linear
fluorescents were first invented in the early 1900s, the CFL
advancement didn't come until around 1960.
Why did it take so long to figure this out? All you had to do
was take the fluorescent tube and twist it into a spiral spring,
right?
Making the actual fluorescent tube smaller was no problem.
Creating a smaller and more compact ballast was the real
challenge, especially when it came to integrating it with the
lamp itself.

Where do you use CFL bulbs?

The most common reason people use compact fluorescent
bulbs is to save energy.
Unless you are an extreme pragmatist, you won’t want to use
a CFL bulb in the vintage chandelier hanging above your
dining room table. However, there are some other
applications for these lamps that you see quite often.

Recessed cans
Recessed cans are used in both hospitality and residential
setting. It's common to see 2700K CFLs used quite a bit in
these cans. Why? Because the “funny” looking lamp itself
isn’t exposed for the world to see but you’re still saving
energy and creating a warm atmosphere.

Concealed fixtures
People typically don’t like the way CFLs look, so to mitigate
this obstacle, many property managers use CFLs in fixtures
that completely conceal the light bulb from our eyes. A lot of
older apartment complexes will have CFLs in the whole
apartment. Whether it’s the cloud looking bowl in the
kitchen or the rectangular-shaped fixture above the bathroom
mirror, if you take a peek into the fixture you may be
surprised – it’s probably a CFL.

Compact fluorescent pros and cons

As with all lighting technologies, compact fluorescents come
with their share of pros and cons. Based on the information
we've covered thus far in this post, you may be able to
accurately guess what they are. Let's dive in.

CFL pros
Energy efficiency
Just from retrofitting from incandescent to compact
fluorescent you are going to see a 40 percent savings on your
energy bill.

Variety of color temperatures

If you need a space with really cool light, such as a

hospital hallway or an airport terminal, fluorescents offer
up to 6500K Kelvin temperatures. CFL cons
Color shifting

Just like linear fluorescents, CFLs will color shift over time.
Harsh light
Fluorescent technology doesn't produce light that's
particularly easy on the eyes. If you find your eyes are often
bloodshot or dry, you may want to evaluate the light source
you are under for most of the day.

Warm up period

In order for the CFLs to reach their maximum brightness,

you typically have to wait anywhere between 10-30 seconds
for warm-up.

Recycling cost

Although the recycling cost is outweighed by the energy

savings CFLs create, if you would rather not fool with the
mercury and recycling at all, LED may be a better option for
you.

LEDs
Currently the LED lamp is popular due to it's efficiency and many believe it is a 'new'
technology. The LED as we know it has been around for over 50 years. The recent
development of white LEDs is what has brought it into the public eye as a replacement
for other white light sources.

Common uses: indication lights on devices, small and large lamps, traffic
lights, large video screens, signs, street lighting(although this is still not
widespread)

Advantages:
-Energy efficient source of light for short distances and small areas. The typical LED requires only 30-60
milliwatts to operate
-Durable and shockproof unlike glass bulb lamp types
-Directional nature is useful for some applications like reducing stray light pollution on streetlights

Disadvantages:
-May be unreliable in outside applications with great variations in summer/winter temperatures, more work
is being done now to solve this problem
-Semiconductors are sensitive to being damaged by heat, so large heat sinks must be employed to keep
powerful arrays cool, sometimes a fan is required. This adds to cost and a fan greatly reduces the energy
efficient advantage of LEDs, it is also prone to failure which leads to unit failure
-Circuit board solder and thin copper connections crack when flexed and cause sections of arrays to go
out
-Rare earth metals used in LEDs are subject to price control monopolies by certain nations
-Reduced lumen output over time

LEDs create light by electroluminescence in a semiconductor material.

Electroluminescence is the phenomenon of a material emitting light when electric
current or an electric field is passed through it - this happens when electrons are sent
through the material and fill electron holes. An electron hole exists where an atom
lacks electrons (negatively charged) and therefore has a positive charge.
Semiconductor materials like germanium or silicon can be "doped" to create and control
the number of electron holes. Doping is the adding of other elements to the
semiconductor material to change its properties. By doping a semiconductor you can
make two separate types of semiconductors in the same crystal. The boundary between
the two types is called a p-n junction. The junction only allows current to pass through it
one way, this is why they are used as diodes. LEDs are made using p-n junctions. As
electrons pass through one crystal to the other they fill electron holes. They emit
photons (light). This is also how the semiconductor laser works.

Colors:
Red and Infrared LEDs are made with gallium arsenide
Bright Blue is made with GaN -gallium nitride
White LEDs are made with yttrium aluminum garnet

There are also orange, green, blue, violet, purple, ultraviolet LEDs.

How are LEDs Used in Lighting

LEDs are incorporated into bulbs and fixtures for general lighting applications. Small in size, LEDs provide
unique design opportunities. Some LED bulb solutions may physically resemble familiar light bulbs and better
match the appearance of traditional light bulbs. Some LED light fixtures may have LEDs built in as a permanent
light source. There are also hybrid approaches where a non-traditional “bulb” or replaceable light source format
is used and specially designed for a unique fixture. LEDs offer a tremendous opportunity for innovation in
lighting form factors and fit a wider breadth of applications than traditional lighting technologies.

The Basics of LED Lighting

What are LEDs and how do they work?
LED stands for light emitting diode. LED lighting products produce light approximately 90% more efficiently
than incandescent light bulbs. How do they work? An electrical current passes through a microchip, which
illuminates the tiny light sources we call LEDs and the result is visible light. To prevent performance issues, the
heat LEDs produce is absorbed into a heat sink.

Key Takeaways: Neon Lights

 A neon light contains a tiny amount of neon gas under low pressure.
 Electricity provides energy to strip electrons away from neon atoms,
ionizing them. Ions are attracted to terminals of the lamp, completing
the electric circuit.
 Light is produced when neon atoms gain enough energy to become
excited. When an atom returns to a lower energy state, it releases a
photon (light).
How a Neon Light Works
You can make a fake neon sign yourself, but real neon lights consist of a glass
tube filled with a small amount (low pressure) of neon gas. Neon is used
because it is one of the noble gases. One characteristic of these elements is
that each atom has a filled electron shell, so the atoms don't react with other
atoms and it takes a lot of energy to remove an electron.
There is an electrode at either end of the tube. A neon light actually works
using either AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current), but if DC current
is used, the glow is only seen around one electrode. AC current is used for
most neon lights you see.

When an electric voltage is applied to the terminals (about 15,000 volts),

enough energy is supplied to remove an outer electron from the neon atoms. If
there is not enough voltage, there will not be enough kinetic energy for the
electrons to escape their atoms and nothing will happen. The positively
charged neon atoms (cations) are attracted to the negative terminal, while the
free electrons are attracted to the positive terminal. These charged particles,
called plasma, complete the electric circuit of the lamp.

So where does the light come from? Atoms in the tube are moving around,
hitting each other. They transfer energy to each other, plus a lot of heat is
produced. While some electrons escape their atoms, others gain enough
energy to become "excited". This means they have a higher energy state. Being
excited is like climbing a ladder, where an electron can be on a particular rung
of the ladder, not just anywhere on its length. The electron can return to its
original energy (ground state) by releasing that energy as a photon (light). The
color of the light that is produced depends on how far apart the excited energy
is from the original energy. Like the distance between rungs of a ladder, this is
a set interval. So, each excited electron of an atom releases a characteristic
wavelength of photon. In other words, each excited noble gas releases a
characteristic color of light. For neon, this is a reddish-orange light.

How Other Colors of Light Are Produced

You see lots of different colors of signs, so you might wonder how this
works.There are two main ways of producing other colors of light besides the
orange-red of neon. One way is to use another gas or a mixture of gases to
produce colors. As mentioned earlier, each noble gas releases a characteristic
color of light. For example, helium glows pink, krypton is green, and argon is
blue. If the gases are mixed, intermediate colors can be produced.

The other way to produce colors is to coat the glass with a phosphor or other
chemical that will glow a certain color when it is energized. Because of the
range of coatings available, most modern lights no longer use neon, but are
fluorescent lamps that rely on a mercury/argon discharge and a phosphor
coating. If you see a clear light glowing in a color, it's a noble gas light.
 Another way to change the color of the light, although it's not used in light
fixtures, is to control the energy supplied to the light. While you usually see
one color per element in a light, there are actually different energy levels
available to excited electrons, which correspond to a spectrum of light that
element can produce.

The Benefits of Neon Signs

Neon is a low pressure gas inside a glass tube with an electrode at each end of that tube. When
high voltage is connected to the electrodes, it charges the gas to a point that it gives off light
that can be seen. Neon signs has a long history, having been used for nearly a century. As an
established technology, it’s reliable. Many believe that neon light is more aesthetically pleasing.
It gives off a much “warmer” light than LED lights do.
Neon Pros
 Wide operating ranges
 Sometimes they don’t need a special power supply
 Can run on AC or DC
 Can be made into custom shapes
 “Old school” look and feel cannot be duplicated
Neon Cons
 They output very little light for amount of power required
 Limited colors available based on gas and glass color configurations
 The glass tubes can be fragile
 Generally only one color can be used at a time
 Very high maintenance costs
 One small crack and the entire piece is broken

ntroduction:
The halogen lamp is also known as a quartz halogen and tungsten halogen
lamp. It is an advanced form of incandescent lamp. The filament is composed
of ductile tungsten and located in a gas filled bulb just like a standard tungsten
bulb, however the gas in a halogen bulb is at a higher pressure (7-8 ATM).
The glass bulb is made of fused quartz, high-silica glass or aluminosilicate.
This bulb is stronger than standard glass in order to contain the high pressure.
This lamp has been an industry standard for work lights and film/television
lighting due to compact size and high lumen output. The halogen lamp is
being replaced slowly by the white LED array lamp, miniature HID and
fluorescent lamps. Increased efficiency halogens with 30+ lumens per watt
may change sale decline in the future. Advantages/Disadvantages:
Advantages:
-Halogen Lamps are small, lightweight
-Low cost to produce
-Does not use mercury like CFLs(fluorescent) or mercury vapor lights
-Better color temperature than standard tungsten (2800-3400 Kelvin), it is closer to sunlight than the more
"orangy" standard tungsten.
-Longer life than a conventional incandescent
-Instant on to full brightness, no warm up time, and it is dimmable

Disadvantages:
-Extremely hot (easily capable of causing severe burns if the lamp is touched).
-The lamp is sensitive to oils left by the human skin, if you touch the bulb with your bare hands the oil left
behind will heat up once the bulb is activated, this oil may cause an imbalance and result in a rupture of
the bulb.
-Explosion, the bulb is capable of blowing and sending hot glass shards outward. A screen or layer of
glass on the outside of the lamp can protect users.
-Not as efficient as HID lamps (Metal Halide and HPS lamps)

How it Works
The halogen lamp has a tungsten filament similar to the standard
incandescent lamp, however the lamp is much smaller for the same wattage,
and contains a halogen gas in the bulb. The halogen is important in that is
stops the blackening and slows the thinning of the tungsten filament. This
lengthens the life of the bulb and allows the tungsten to safely reach higher
temperatures (therefore makes more light). The bulb must be able to stand
higher temperatures so fused quartz is often used instead of normal silica
glass.

A halogen is a monovalent element which readily forms negative ions. There are 5
halogens: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine. Only Iodine and Bromine
are used in halogen tungsten lamps.
2. Variations and UsesThe halogen bulb comes in two basic
configurations: single and double ended. The most common halogen lamps
are double ended, these generally are the larger wattage lamps and are used
for work lights, yard lights and film production lamps. The halogen lamp has
an instant 'on' ability unlike mercury vapor or high pressure sodium, therefore
they work well for security lamps that are activated by motion sensors. The life
of a halogen lamp is shortened by frequent on and off cycles.

Filaments in a doubled ended halogen may be straight or double coiled. All

filaments are coiled to increase brightness, this was a development by Irving
Langmuir in the standard incandescent bulb.

What is a LED PAR Bulb?

An LED PAR Bulb is a highly intensified type of LED light that produces up to
4X the amount of concentrated light than traditional incandescent
bulbs. LED PAR bulbs are energy efficient, cost effective, and require very
little maintenance.

LED Par Light bulbs are so versatile that they are the bulb of choice for
most LED Downlight, Recessed, and Track Lighting applications. The most
common sizes of PAR bulbs vary in size from PAR16, PAR20, PAR30, PAR36,
and PAR38.

LED PAR bulbs provide a dimmable, bright light that requires less energy to
operate. Find the best prices on all your energy efficient LED PAR bulb for
every situation here.

What are the Base Types for LED PAR Bulbs?

 The base type (light bulb socket) of LED PAR Bulbs will vary based on the
size of bulb. It is important to know that the base type is not the same
thing as the base size. Base type refers to the style and how the bulb fits
into a socket. The base sizes refers to the actual size measurement.

Most LED PAR bulbs come with a standard medium E26 base, while larger
bulbs generally feature a bi-pin socket. LED PAR16 Bulbs are the smallest in
diameter of all the PAR Bulbs, and the largest LED PAR bulb is a PAR64
lamp. The bulb’s base types are more limited in application and are typically
used for very specific applications, such as display lighting.

Most Common Base Types

 Edison Series
 GU Series

In a rare case that your LED PAR Bulb requires a specialty base, make sure to
check the manufacturer’s specification sheets for compatibility.