Patent Application
20060071590
This invention relates to electrodeless fluorescent lamps and more particularly to such lamps having a reflector intimately associated with the lamp envelope.
Fluorescent lamps emit light in all directions; however, in most applications that is not desirable and more than 50% of the light can be wasted. In order to increase the coefficient of light utilization, fixtures employing reflectors are used.
The reflectors are used to recover light that would otherwise be lost (backward lighting), as well as to direct the light where needed (light control).
The reflector design depends upon the application and on lamp geometry and size. The smaller the light source the smaller the reflector and therefore, the smaller the fixture. High output electrodeless lamps (HOEL) are fluorescent lamps that have no electrodes. The discharge in the lamp is generated through a magnetic field coupled through magnetic toroids. The glass vessel of the envelope forms a closed loop and has an overall rectangular shape having two parallel cylindrical glass structures. Such lamps are known and are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,834,905 and 6,175,197, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The size and shape of these lamps requires relatively large reflectors for two main reason; first, due to the HOEL size and geometry, the reflector must be placed farther away from the lamp to avoid the situation where the reflected light is absorbed by the lamp itself (the farther away from the lamp the larger the reflector needs to be to cover the same solid angle); second is light control. For good light control a light source needs to be a point source. With a point source the direction of the incident light rays is known and the angle of the reflector at each point can be calculated to redirect the light in the proper direction. With a large light source, such as an HOEL, for any given point on the reflector, the incident rays are coming from different directions; therefore, the angle of the reflector at that point can only be a compromise and most of the incident rays will not be redirected in the proper direction. To increase the efficiency and achieve better light control the reflector has to be placed farther away from the lamp; however, this results in a larger fixture.
For economic reasons, as well as aesthetic reasons, a smaller fixture provides many advantages. In many applications, street lighting, for example, the size of the fixture has important cost considerations. As the size of the fixtures increase, so do the weight and the wind resistance, requiring larger mounting posts and larger anchoring with their concomitant cost and labor increases.
The HOEL is an efficient light source; however, due to its size and geometry, large optical systems are required and, therefore, large fixtures. It would be an advance in the art if HOELs could be employed without the disadvantages associated with larger fixtures.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to obviate the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to enhance the usability of HOELs.
These objects are accomplished, in one aspect of the invention, by the provision of an electrodeless lamp comprising; a closed-loop, tubular lamp envelope containing an arc generating and sustaining medium; means for energizing said medium; and a reflector coating associated with said envelope and affixed thereto. Incorporating the reflector directly with the lamp reduces the size and cost of the associated fixture.
For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects, advantages and capabilities thereof, reference is made to the following disclosure and appended claims taken in conjunction with the above-described drawings.
Referring now to the drawings with greater particularity, there is shown in
This problem has been solved by providing an electrodeless lamp 10a, as shown in
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the reflector coating 22 is on the internal surface 24 of the envelope and comprises a layer of a reflective material, such as alumina. A preferred material is MgO-free Al2O3 from Baikowski. Alternatively, the reflective coating can be applied to the external surface of the envelope.
The reflective coating 22 preferably covers an angle from 160° to 300° and is positioned such that the reflector coating starts at an angle of between −15° and 90° with respect to a plane parallel to both cylindrical glass tubes 14a and 16a, as shown in
The integrated reflector 22 should reflect all light that would otherwise go to the fixture and redirect it toward the desired illumination field. Further, the integrated reflector 22 will prevent light that would be reflected by the fixture's reflector from being absorbed by the lamp itself, thus greatly simplifying light control and increasing the coefficient of light utilization by 50% or more.
Thus, there is provided an electrodeless lamp light source that eliminates the disadvantages of fixture design by providing efficient light utilization without the need for a large optical system in a fixture.
The light reabsorbed by the lamp is substantially decreased and the total light output is increased by a factor of 50% or more. Useable lumens per watt is also increased, thus increasing the efficiency of the lamp.
While there have been shown and described what are present considered to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
This application claims priority based on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/616,371 filed Oct. 6, 2004, entitled Electrodeless Fluorescent Lamp With Incorporated Reflector For General Lighting Applications.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60616371 | Oct 2004 | US |
