Low Pressure Mercury Lamp Operation

Right around 1900 the mercury arc rectifier was developed this luminous device was very important for power conversion.

Low pressure mercury lamp operation.

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. Nyc subways were still using original mercury arc rectifiers to convert ac to dc power up until the end of the 20th century. 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. A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a low pressure mercury vapor gas discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light.

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. Two varieties of such lamps exist. In addition to the mercury the tube is filled with argon gas at low pressure. 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 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. The average life of tube lights is about 5000 hours and also they are very cheap hence they are very popular. They are available in lengths from the very small at 150 mm to up to 2400 mm. 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.

The mercury in the tube is a liquid at normal temperatures. Low pressure mercury fluorescent lamps are commonly called tube lights. 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.

Low pressure mercury lamps are very similar to a fluorescent lamp with a wavelength of 253 7 nm 1182 5 thz. It needs to be vaporized and ionized before the lamp can produce its full light output. This coating covers more than 70 of the diameter of the lighted length of the lamp. These early low pressure lamps used a lot of mercury today s lamps use a tiny amount of mercury.

Low pressure lamps have working pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Fluorescent lamps a heated cathode lamp the most common lamp in office lighting and many other applications produces up to 100 lumens. The power ratings are from 4 watt to 125 watts. A sodium vapor lamp is a gas discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm.