More on Lights

From: Carlstrom_Rick@amelnx.advmar.com
Date: Thu Mar 20 1997 - 04:05:03 PST


Date: Thu, 20 Mar 97 07:05:03 EST
From: Carlstrom_Rick@amelnx.advmar.com
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1008$foo@default>
Subject: More on Lights


     
        If you are looking for a comparison of florescent to incandescent
     on a light output per watt basis many home improvement stores have a
     table that explains this. I thought the rough conversions were 17
     lumens/watt incandescent and 60 lumens/watt florescent. These are off
     the top of my head and may be wrong.
     
        Another problem with the perception of brightness is the
     distribution of the light. The florescent's light is distributed
     evenly over a the tubes length. The incandescent is basically a point
     source. At that point it is brighter but the overall light output is
     less.
     
        To go to an extreme example I saw a demo in my office of a military
     microwave powered lighting system. It consisted of a magnetron, like
     in a microwave oven, that irradiated a capsule containing a gas
     mixture. The thing projected the light into a tube about a foot in
     diameter an several feet tall where it was diffused out the total
     surface of the tube. It put out the equivalent light of 500 100 watt
     incandescent bulbs. However, since the light was even distributed
     over the entire surface you could stare at the light an not hurt your
     eyes. It was also very efficient, low in UV and IR and put out a very
     "white" light.
     
     Rick



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