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Induction Lighting, Public
Lighting, park lamps, parking lot lamps, public lighting, Miller Induction, Lighting, parkinglotlamps.com, parking structure
Induction Lighting, Public
Lighting, park lamps, parking lot lamps, public lighting, Miller Induction, Lighting, parkinglotlamps.com, parking structure
Induction Technology: A New Generation of Light
Excerpt
Source: ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING Magazine
Publication date: February 15, 2002
By David Houghton, Contributing Editor
The main attraction of induction lighting is incredibly long lifetime. In a fluorescent lamp, the electrodes at either end are the weakest link, and the lamp usually fails when the cathode coating on one of the electrodes is depleted after 15,000–20,000 hours. Induction lamps have no such electrodes, so their rated lifetimes are as long as 100,000 (that's over 11 years, running 24/7!). They also have good vibration resistance and low starting temperatures, making them a good choice for rugged operating environments.
Induction lamps are discharge lamps, where the idea is to get mercury or other atoms to elevate their energy level, then discharge a photon as they fall back to normal. Induction lamps differ from fluorescents-their closest relative in the lighting family-in the way they energize the mercury atoms. Instead of striking an arc between electrodes in a tube, an electromagnetic field is generated by a carefully shaped coil. The field created by the coil induces a current flow in the gas/mercury blend within the lamp. This current excites the mercury atoms and starts the flow of photons. Mercury atoms emit UV photons; phosphors lining the lamp wall absorb the UV photons and in turn emit visible photons.
Like high-quality fluorescents, induction lamps offer instant strike, instant restrike, color stability, 80+ CRI, high power factor and low THD. A ballast-in this case called a field generator-is required to provide the power electronics that drive the induced current in the lamp. Finally, induction lamps have a coupling device that wraps the induction coils around some part of the lamp itself. Induction technology is not dimmable at this time, but it could be in the future.
THE LAMPS
The first lighting product to use induction technology was the Philips QL lamp, originally introduced in Europe in 1990 and in the U.S. in 1992. The QL is a globe-shaped lamp available in three sizes at 55W, 85W and 165W, and two color temperatures at 3000K and 4000K. With the coupling device at its base, it looks a bit like an overgrown A-lamp. The separate 2.65MHz field generator is rated for operation at or below 75 degree Celsius; its lifetime is cut in half for each 10-degree Celsius rise above that temperature. Lumen maintenance is 70 percent at 60,000 hours and 55 percent at 100,000 hours. Philips product specialist, Austin Cahill, says that the QL is primarily an OEM product and that the market is growing, particularly for outdoor installations such as tunnel and freeway sign illumination.
GE Lighting's Genura lamp was the next on the scene, although its emergence in the U.S. market was fitful. This 23W lamp is a self-contained induction lamp with a standard Edison screw base. With its relatively low light output (1100 lumens) and 15,000-hour lifetime, the Genura is really more akin to a screw-in compact fluorescent. The Genura is available in color temperatures of 2700K and 3000K and is not dimmable. Gary Crawford of GE Lighting says that although the lamp is available in some retail stores, it is mostly a commercial product sold through distributors. Applications include downlights in hotel lobbies and hallways and retail fixtures where they can sometimes replace halogen PAR lamps. Crawford says that the Genura actually handles hot environments better than compact fluorescent alternatives.
THE FIXTURES
Jacques LeFevre, president of Indy Lighting, remembers the introduction of induction sources in the early '90s. 'The first applications were outdoors and the lamps were quite expensive, so we didn't get too excited,' said LeFevre. (Indy specializes in specification-grade fixtures for retail and commercial environments.) 'But a couple of years ago, our customer base started to show an interest in induction lighting because of the long life, so we began working on fixtures for places like escalator wells and ceilings over open mall areas.' Their first product was an induction downlight using the Icetron lamp that was installed above escalators and outside entrances to several Dillard's department stores.
'Induction lighting is a premium system, but the maintenance benefits are worth it,' said Bob Fiermuga. 'The public sector in particular is always looking for ways to trim their maintenance budgets.' He also thinks that induction lighting makes sense for parking garage illumination. Although maintenance access is not difficult for these fixtures, they usually burn 24 hours a day, making the long lifetime an attractive feature.
Another good place for induction lighting is in bollards. 'We've been amazed at the interest in induction-lit bollards,' said Kathleen Romfoe, product manager for Phoenix Products Co., . 'Owners like the fact that you can put them out there and forget about them. We're selling them to municipal governments.'
Some of the key applications for induction lighting are roadway environments, particularly in tunnels and underpasses where maintenance is a real challenge. Robert Small, an engineering specialist with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), says that to change some lamps over roadways requires a small battalion of workers, including bucket trucks equipped with crash cushions, flashing arrow vehicles, cone placement and retrieval, and even police cars. TxDOT is now installing three different types of induction fixtures on a testing basis in the Spring Valley Tunnel in Dallas. 'If we get the expected lifetime out of these lamps, we won't be going out there to touch them for 20 years,' said Small, noting that test installations are also underway or planned in El Paso, Austin and Ft. Worth.
The Texas installations demonstrate an additional benefit of induction technology: luminaire positioning. Typically, sodium fixtures are mounted to the side of the roadway for maintenance access, so they must throw light across the road. The induction fixtures can be mounted right over the road where they can more effectively and evenly illuminate the road surface.
January/February 2002 Architectural Lighting Magazine
Back to Resources Index
Excerpt
Source: ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING Magazine
Publication date: February 15, 2002
By David Houghton, Contributing Editor
The main attraction of induction lighting is incredibly long lifetime. In a fluorescent lamp, the electrodes at either end are the weakest link, and the lamp usually fails when the cathode coating on one of the electrodes is depleted after 15,000–20,000 hours. Induction lamps have no such electrodes, so their rated lifetimes are as long as 100,000 (that's over 11 years, running 24/7!). They also have good vibration resistance and low starting temperatures, making them a good choice for rugged operating environments.
Induction lamps are discharge lamps, where the idea is to get mercury or other atoms to elevate their energy level, then discharge a photon as they fall back to normal. Induction lamps differ from fluorescents-their closest relative in the lighting family-in the way they energize the mercury atoms. Instead of striking an arc between electrodes in a tube, an electromagnetic field is generated by a carefully shaped coil. The field created by the coil induces a current flow in the gas/mercury blend within the lamp. This current excites the mercury atoms and starts the flow of photons. Mercury atoms emit UV photons; phosphors lining the lamp wall absorb the UV photons and in turn emit visible photons.
Like high-quality fluorescents, induction lamps offer instant strike, instant restrike, color stability, 80+ CRI, high power factor and low THD. A ballast-in this case called a field generator-is required to provide the power electronics that drive the induced current in the lamp. Finally, induction lamps have a coupling device that wraps the induction coils around some part of the lamp itself. Induction technology is not dimmable at this time, but it could be in the future.
THE LAMPS
The first lighting product to use induction technology was the Philips QL lamp, originally introduced in Europe in 1990 and in the U.S. in 1992. The QL is a globe-shaped lamp available in three sizes at 55W, 85W and 165W, and two color temperatures at 3000K and 4000K. With the coupling device at its base, it looks a bit like an overgrown A-lamp. The separate 2.65MHz field generator is rated for operation at or below 75 degree Celsius; its lifetime is cut in half for each 10-degree Celsius rise above that temperature. Lumen maintenance is 70 percent at 60,000 hours and 55 percent at 100,000 hours. Philips product specialist, Austin Cahill, says that the QL is primarily an OEM product and that the market is growing, particularly for outdoor installations such as tunnel and freeway sign illumination.
GE Lighting's Genura lamp was the next on the scene, although its emergence in the U.S. market was fitful. This 23W lamp is a self-contained induction lamp with a standard Edison screw base. With its relatively low light output (1100 lumens) and 15,000-hour lifetime, the Genura is really more akin to a screw-in compact fluorescent. The Genura is available in color temperatures of 2700K and 3000K and is not dimmable. Gary Crawford of GE Lighting says that although the lamp is available in some retail stores, it is mostly a commercial product sold through distributors. Applications include downlights in hotel lobbies and hallways and retail fixtures where they can sometimes replace halogen PAR lamps. Crawford says that the Genura actually handles hot environments better than compact fluorescent alternatives.
THE FIXTURES
Jacques LeFevre, president of Indy Lighting, remembers the introduction of induction sources in the early '90s. 'The first applications were outdoors and the lamps were quite expensive, so we didn't get too excited,' said LeFevre. (Indy specializes in specification-grade fixtures for retail and commercial environments.) 'But a couple of years ago, our customer base started to show an interest in induction lighting because of the long life, so we began working on fixtures for places like escalator wells and ceilings over open mall areas.' Their first product was an induction downlight using the Icetron lamp that was installed above escalators and outside entrances to several Dillard's department stores.
'Induction lighting is a premium system, but the maintenance benefits are worth it,' said Bob Fiermuga. 'The public sector in particular is always looking for ways to trim their maintenance budgets.' He also thinks that induction lighting makes sense for parking garage illumination. Although maintenance access is not difficult for these fixtures, they usually burn 24 hours a day, making the long lifetime an attractive feature.
Another good place for induction lighting is in bollards. 'We've been amazed at the interest in induction-lit bollards,' said Kathleen Romfoe, product manager for Phoenix Products Co., . 'Owners like the fact that you can put them out there and forget about them. We're selling them to municipal governments.'
Some of the key applications for induction lighting are roadway environments, particularly in tunnels and underpasses where maintenance is a real challenge. Robert Small, an engineering specialist with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), says that to change some lamps over roadways requires a small battalion of workers, including bucket trucks equipped with crash cushions, flashing arrow vehicles, cone placement and retrieval, and even police cars. TxDOT is now installing three different types of induction fixtures on a testing basis in the Spring Valley Tunnel in Dallas. 'If we get the expected lifetime out of these lamps, we won't be going out there to touch them for 20 years,' said Small, noting that test installations are also underway or planned in El Paso, Austin and Ft. Worth.
The Texas installations demonstrate an additional benefit of induction technology: luminaire positioning. Typically, sodium fixtures are mounted to the side of the roadway for maintenance access, so they must throw light across the road. The induction fixtures can be mounted right over the road where they can more effectively and evenly illuminate the road surface.
January/February 2002 Architectural Lighting Magazine
Back to Resources Index