Principle of Illumination
Principle of Illumination
Principle of Illumination
➢ Over a period of time, the filament evaporates, and to prevent this evaporating 40 and high-
wattage lamps are gas-filled. A filling of inert gas, such as argon and nitrogen, retards
evaporation of the filament, thus allowing higher filament temperature and, hence higher
efficiencies with less sacrifice of life. Bulbs under 40 watts are generally evacuated.
2. "PS" or pear-shaped;
3. "R“ or reflector
Efficacy
➢twice that of incandescent.
➢Efficacies ranging from
➢50-70 lumens per watt are common
Fluorescent lamps
Ballast
1. To provide sufficient voltage to start up the lamp
2. To provide power factor correction
3. To provide radio interference suppression..
Characteristics
➢life of a CFL is above 7500 hours
➢ color characteristics provide a warm and cozy environment
➢ideally suit a small luminaire
High intensity discharge lamps (HID)
➢designate three distinct types of lamps, mercury vapour, metal halide, and High-pressure
sodium.
➢produce light by establishing an arc between electrodes, enclosed in opposite ends of
sealed translucent or transparent arc tubes.
➢Arc tube enclosed in outer bulb that is filled
• nitrogen and inert gas in MV lamps
• vacuum or nitrogen in metal halide
• Vacuum or xenon in high-pressure sodium
High intensity discharge lamps (HID)
Ballasts
1. Limits the current
2. Provides a voltage kick to start the arc discharge.
3. Provides power factor correction
4. Prevents any voltage or current surge
Note:
• All HID lamps require several minutes to come to full light output. Also
• If power is switched off, the arc tube must cool before it can be re-struck again and light
produced.
Mercury vapour lamps
➢ The outer tube is filled with nitrogen and encloses the inner arc
tube which contains high-purity mercury and argon gas.
➢ 40-1000 watts
➢ Bluish light
Efficacy
24- 60 lumen s/wa tt
Operation:
As the circuit is energized the starting voltage is provided across
the starting electrodes and the adjacent main electrode to create
an argon arc. This increases the heat and vaporized mercury. The
ionized mercury atoms decrease the resistance across the main
electrodes and cause the main arc to strike.
Metal Halide
➢similar to MV lamps in operating, principle.
➢metallic additives in addition to argon and mercury in
the arc tube
• Sodium iodide and scandium iodide
• Sodium iodide, thallium iodide, and indium iodide.
➢ideally suitable for high ceiling areas where a lot of light
with good color is required.
Efficacy
➢66-100 lumen/watt
High pressure sodium vapour lamp (HPS)
➢ The arc tube is made of ceramic translucent aluminum oxide, which can
withstand temperatures as high as 1300 °C.
➢ golden white color.
➢ 35-1000 watt size
➢ 24000 hours
Efficacy
60-127 lumens per watt.
Operation:
The starting is done with the help of special circuitry in the ballast; a high voltage
with a high-frequency pulse is used to ionize the xenon starting gas. As the lamp
warms up, it goes through different color radiation stages. At first when xenon and
mercury are ionized bluish-white glow takes place, next comes the monochromatic
yellow of the sodium at low pressure.