Fluorescent lamps

Currently fluorescent lamps have become the lighting means most widely used in shops, offices, public places, homes, etc. However, not all people know how they work, how hardly emit light without generating heat, or how they can develop more lumens per watt (lm / W) with lower power consumption compared to incandescent lamps under the same lighting conditions .

The oldest known technology in fluorescent lamps is the ignition for preheating. In this type of lamp remain million operating worldwide despite the technological advances that have experienced in recent years and new variants have been developed. However, its operating principle has not changed much since 1938 when it introduced the first in the market.

Let's look at what the main parties that make up the most basic fluorescent lamps are:

Discharge pipe

Caps with strands

Primer, lighter or starter (starter)

Ballasted (ballast)

Discharge tube. The body or discharge tube fluorescent lamps are made of glass, with different lengths and diameters. The length depends mainly on the power in watts (W) to develop the lamp. The diameter, in turn, has been standardized to 25.4 mm (equivalent to one inch) in most of the tubes. The most common and most widely used are straight, but can also be found with circular shape.

The inner tube wall is coated with a layer of phosphorescent or fluorescent substance, whose mission is to convert ultraviolet light rays (generated within and not visible to the human eye), in visible light radiations. For that to happen, its interior is filled with an inert gas, usually argon (Ar) and a small amount of mercury (Hg) liquid. Argon gas is responsible for facilitating the emergence of the electric arc which facilitates the ignition of the lamp and also control the intensity of electron flow through the tube.

Caps. Most straight fluorescent tubes have in each of its ends a cap with two external pin or pins of electrical contacts connected to the filaments inside the heating or preheating. These filaments are made of metal tungsten, also known by the chemical name of tungsten (W), coated calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) and its main function in the tubes of the fluorescent lamp is preheat the argon gas They contain within them so that they can turn.

A. Contact pins. B. electrodes. C. tungsten filament. D. Mercury (Hg) liquid. <
Atoms E. argon gas (Ar). F. fluorescent coating layer or phosphorus (P). G. discharge tube. glass.



The coating of calcium and magnesium that have the appearance of filaments facilitates electron flow required for the ignition of the lamp is made. Amid this process the filaments are turned off and become two electrodes through which the current or flow of electrons is established.