Defining Terms Use in Specialty Fluorescent Lights

There are many terms used to specifically describe the various aspects of fluorescent lighting and the technology behind the engineering and manufacturing of them.  One such term used to help define color in fluorescent light is CIE (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairageis), the international standards organization that sets the standards for color and color measurement. 

Fluorescent lamps may be described as cold cathode.  This type of lamp has a cylindrical metal shell (electrode) covered on the inside with an emission coating.  Cold cathode lamps are not heated to induce thermionic emission of electrons such as in hot cathode lamps, but rather, their interior surface produces secondary electrons upon electron and ion impact.  To accelerate ions to a sufficient velocity in order to create free electrons, cold cathode lamps require higher voltages than hot cathode lamps. 

Hot cathode lamps usually have a higher power density than cold cathode lamps and emit more electrons from the same surface area, which results in a higher output and the ability to operate at a higher lamp current.  Generally the lamps have a tungsten filament covered with an emissive layer made of material with lower work function that emits electrons better than bare tungsten metal.  The filament is either directly heated, where the filament itself is the source of electrons, or indirectly heated, where the filament is electrically insulated from the cathode.

Another important term in fluorescent lighting is CRI (Color Rendering Index), which quantitatively measures a light source’s ability to render color on a scale of 0 to 100 percent and is independent of color temperature.  If the light has a CRI of 85 to 90 percent, it is considered good at color rendering.  A rating of 90 percent or above, offers the most accurate color discrimination.   If you need more information and clarification on our lamps, please see our website.    

LightSources and our affiliated companies represent the leading high-tech designers and manufacturers in the lamp industry today.  Our products are used world-wide in a multitude of applications and industries such as our avionic display backlighting that is part of the National Defense and US Space Program.  Please contact us to learn more about our extensive selection of lamps.

Process Used to Create Ceramic Bases

Cerlux, a part of the LightSources group, is a specialty manufacturer of custom ceramic components that gives us the ability to offer customers proprietary and patented lamp bases.  While the materials will vary according to your needs as well as the application’s environment, we will help you to determine the best solution for your needs. 

The process for choosing the materials is based on Al2O3 content, wear and heat resistance, insulation capacity and color.  The primary characteristics of alumina ceramic include a high melting point, mechanical strength, hardness, wear and heat resistance, heat conduction capacity, and electrical insulation capacity as well as acid and alkali resistance. 

At Cerlux, we expertly incorporate the best state-of-the-art manufacturing processes to ensure quality and to keep prices competitive for our ceramic bases and parts.  By using press injection molding, we are able to produce products with complex shapes and thin walls.  For extremely small ceramic parts like electric insulators, wear resistant grinding cylinders, tips and more, we use a hydraulic pressing machine.

Once a product is created, it is fired in kilns under extremely high temperatures.  As a way to reduce our environmental impact, we recycle the heat from our kilns to supply hot water and heat for our entire building. 

Glazing is another step in the process and is used to increase the strength of the product as well as to provide a bright, visual surface.  While a mat or shiny glaze is the most common choice of our customers, we also can do any color in the RAL or pantone palette.  A special color can be used as a way to set your product apart or to match corporate colors.  Also decals can be applied to the product after it is glazed and offer a way to have your system components stand out. 

LightSources and its affiliated companies – LCD Lighting, Voltarc, LightTech, and Cerlux represent the leading high-tech designers and manufacturers in the lamp industry today. Our standard lamps and components as well as customized products offer high-quality solutions to meet our partner’s unique needs.  We invite you to contact us to learn more about our wide selection of lamps.

Which is Better for Your Application - Quartz Glass or Soft Glass?

At LightSources and LightTech, we offer our customers a choice of quality germicidal UVC lamps in either quartz glass or soft glass.  One of the biggest differences between the two is that quartz germicidal glass is made from silica phosphate, which gives it a much harder tensile strength.  Germicidal soft glass is made from a highly refined and pure type of soda lime glass that is similar to visible light fluorescent lamps. 

So how do you know which glass is better for your application?  To start with, if your application requires the highest UVC output possible and a long operational life, then you will probably want to go with high-quality quartz glass UVC germicidal lamps.  However as the glass does have a very high Celsius melting point that makes it more difficult to work and requires skilled human operators to manufacture, it is more expensive to produce.  Nonetheless despite the higher cost, the advantages include an approximately 9% higher transmission of UVC than soft glass as well as a higher initial UVC output. 

Additionally quartz germicidal UVC lamps can produce 254nm wavelength (killing wave) and 185nm wavelength (Ozone) while still maintaining 85% of their output at 16,000 hours.  The quartz glass is also perfect for high powered lamp designs such as amalgam lamps. 

Soft glass has a relatively lower Fahrenheit melting point that makes it much easier to work.  This means that it lends itself to manufacturing automation and can be produced at a lower cost.  The disadvantages of soft glass UVC germicidal lamps is that the transmission of UVC is around 9 percent lower than quartz lamps and has a lower initial UVC output.  Also soft glass does not allow the transmission of UVC wavelengths below 200nm, which means that it cannot be used to produce ozone at 185nm.

         

LightSources and our affiliated companies represent the leading high-tech designers and manufacturers in the lamp industry today.  Our products are used world-wide in a multitude of applications and industries such as our UV germicidal lamps that offer patent-protected, OEM-oriented solutions.  Please contact us to learn more about our large selection of specialty custom and standard lamps.

Early Neon Signs

Many of us are old enough to still remember when classic neon signs were a common sight throughout our city’s landscapes.  Although used worldwide, neon signs were very popular in the U.S. starting from the early 1920s to around 1960.  In fact New York City’s Time Square was the site of some of the world's most famous neon signs of which many were designed by Douglas Leigh, a pioneer in outdoor signage.  As a testament to the widespread use of the signs in the U.S., by 1940 there were almost 2,000 shops producing neon signs.

Neon signs consist of electric lights made from long, luminous gas-discharge tubes filled with rarefied neon or other gases.  Wikipedia explains that, “Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light.”  The sealed glass tube has metal electrodes on each end and is filled with several different types of gases at low pressure.  When electric volts are sent to the electrodes, the gas in the tube ionizes and emits colored light.  In order to produce various colors of light, a mix of different gases and chemicals are used such as: hydrogen (red), helium (yellow), carbon dioxide (white), and mercury (blue).

Probably one of the reasons why neon signage went out of style was due to the nature of its labor intensive, customized production process.  Since the signs are almost an art form to produce, were it not for the fact that the neon signs had such a long lifespan; it would not have been economically feasible even back then to produce the signs.  With the decline of the industry, many cities are now making efforts to preserve and restore the antique signs. 

Today, Voltarc Technologies Inc., which is a part of the LightSources group, is one of the most recognized leaders in the signage industry and architectural lighting.  Our highly customized and standard products include fluorescent sign lamps, neon tubing, long lamps, U-lamps, and our unique cup-cathode construction that provides unsurpassed electrical life to the TriLight Max Series of fluorescent lamps.

LightSources and its affiliated companies – LCD Lighting, Voltarc, LightTech, and Cerlux represent the leading high-tech designers and manufacturers in the lamp industry today.  Our products are used world-wide in a multitude of applications and industries such as our avionic display backlighting that is part of the National Defense and US Space Program.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_sign

Image by:  Rolf Süssbrich