Low Pressure Mercury Lamp Operation

The most common form of germicidal lamp looks similar to an ordinary fluorescent lamp but the tube contains no fluorescent phosphor in addition rather than being made of ordinary borosilicate glass the tube is made of fused quartz or vycor 7913 glass.

Low pressure mercury lamp operation.

Low pressure discharge lamps. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor which produces short wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor coating on the inside of the lamp to glow a fluorescent lamp converts electrical energy into useful light much more efficiently. A fluorescent lamp is a low weight mercury vapour lamp that uses fluorescence to deliver visible light. Fluorescent lamps a heated cathode lamp the most common lamp in office lighting and many other applications produces up to 100 lumens.

Low pressure and high pressure low pressure sodium lamps are highly efficient electrical light sources but their yellow light restricts applications to outdoor lighting such as street lamps where they are widely used. An electric current in the gas energizes mercury vapor which delivers ultraviolet radiation through discharge process and the ultraviolet radiation causes the phosphor coating of the lamp inner wall to radiate visible light. This coating covers more than 70 of the diameter of the lighted length of the lamp. Nyc subways were still using original mercury arc rectifiers to convert ac to dc power up until the end of the 20th century.

Low pressure mercury lamps are very similar to a fluorescent lamp with a wavelength of 253 7 nm 1182 5 thz. In addition to the mercury the tube is filled with argon gas at low pressure. Two varieties of such lamps exist. The average life of tube lights is about 5000 hours and also they are very cheap hence they are very popular.

The power ratings are from 4 watt to 125 watts. Right around 1900 the mercury arc rectifier was developed this luminous device was very important for power conversion. It needs to be vaporized and ionized before the lamp can produce its full light output. The aperture phosphor coated lamps that jelight company produces employ the same basic design as the double bore low pressure mercury vapor lamps with the exception of a special phosphor coating.

They are available in lengths from the very small at 150 mm to up to 2400 mm. For example common fluorescent lamps operate at a pressure of about 0 3 of atmospheric pressure. A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a low pressure mercury vapor gas discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. These early low pressure lamps used a lot of mercury today s lamps use a tiny amount of mercury.

To facilitate starting of the lamp a third electrode is mounted near one of the main electrodes and connected through a resistor to the other main electrode. Amalgam lamps use a mercury amalgam mix to control mercury vapor pressure. Rather than a cold spot the lamp s amalgam spot on pellet regulates mercury vapor pressure during operation and yields up to three times the uvc output of a standard low pressure mercury lamp of the same length. Low pressure lamps have working pressure much less than atmospheric pressure.