Halogen lamps

INTRODUCTION

Halogen lamps

Three types of halogen lamps transparent capsule: with pin or pins, screw and linear tube with pressure terminals.



Since its invention in 1878, the common incandescent lamp has been virtually the source of most heavily used artificial light, but since 1939 also competes with tubes, more efficient and economical fluorescent lamps.

However, in the decade of the 50s of last century the need to provide supersonic aircraft a source of intense light for night navigation, which could be located on the wingtips, led the American engineers to develop an incandescent type lamp, but conceptually and structurally different from those known until then.

The first attempt for more light intensity with less consumption of electric power was trying to increase the temperature of the tungsten filament, this metal also known as tungsten (W), which ended in a resounding failure. Due to the evaporation process that usually suffers the tungsten within any type of incandescent bulb while it is on, the deterioration accelerated further as the temperature increased, the safety glass blackened much faster than normal and eventually Lamp finished melting.

Suffered failure led engineers to test different materials that could build the lamp, but always kept the main tungsten filament lighting element due to the magnificent physical and chemical properties having for that purpose.
Among attempts and failures replaced argon gas used in common incandescent lamps, a halogen element such as iodine (I), allowing increasing the filament temperature.

In addition, engineers instead of using the common glass used standard incandescent lamps as a protective cover, unable to bear the high temperature at which it was necessary to submit the new lamp filament, quartz crystal used.

Thus in 1959, nine years after the first experiments begin a new incandescent lamp was completely different from the known so far, which gave it the name "tungsten halogen lamp" or "quartz lamp". It was a smaller lamp and efficient compared with standard incandescent predecessors of equal power, but with the added advantage of providing a much brighter lighting and a time longer life.