Luxim Plasma Bulb Claims 140 Lumens/Watt

PhotonWrangler

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New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

Panasonic has announced that they're going to be using a new electrodeless HID technology in a series of projection TV sets. This new lamp is being called "LiFi" (Light Fidelity).

It looks interesting. It uses a microwave source to energize the gas mixture in the light capsule.

So my question is this: How much microwave energy are these things going to radiate? I'm sure the pump wavelength has been optimized for maximum energy transfer to the particular mixture of gas, but still - that's gotta take a lot of microwave energy to produce enough light for an RPTV.

Every microwave oven I've ever been around had some measurable amount of leakage. Am I to believe that these TV sets won't?

Will my TV set be able to pop my popcorn as I watch? :tinfoil:
 

yuandrew

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

That article is from January of this year. The lamp is being developed by Luxim

http://www.luxim.com/

The entire light engine (including the driver electronics and magnetron tube) consumes 250 watts. I looked up the ratings and found it to produce 4400 ANSI lumens in typical projector applications.

Anyway, go buy yourself any of the following model Panasonic Rear Projection TVs that were just released yesterday; they are using these light engine.

PT-50LCZ70 50" 1080p LiFi HDTV
PT-56LCZ70 56" 1080p LiFi HDTV
PT-61LCZ70 61" 1080p LiFi HDTV
 

chesterqw

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

250 watts for 4400lumens...
17.6lumens/watt

oh well... not for flashaholics but for "long life"
 

Tritium

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

Obviously they expect that the public cannot understand that this is NOT A HID! It is a RF excited plasma. Not the same thing. Lamps similar to these have been used in the semiconductor industry for photoresist ashing for over 15 years.

Thurmond
 

James S

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

so what is the "fill material" then? Is this like those microwave sulphur ball lights that we were so jazzed about years ago but which never quite made mainstream?

I want to see emissions on these as I can't have one if it's going to mess up my WiFi ;) I'm betting that it runs on 2.5Ghz but I suppose we could be getting it all wrong and it might be like those new RF bulbs that run around 300mhz?

There isn't much information on their websites as of yet.
 

yuandrew

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

I saw two Panasonic LCD rear projection LiFi sets (a 50" and a 65" model) at my Fry's electronics. I decided to look in the back of the TV where the light engine would usually be located. There is a "Bay Window" style vent on the lower right side of the TV with a fan behind it blowing out the warm air from the light engine and you could see the heat-sink on the bottom of the LiFi unit past the fan.
panasonic_lifi.jpg


As usual, a bit of light from the source leaks out around where it shines into the color filters and LCD elements so the area under the heat sink was lit up with a bluish-white glow. Just to test how it warms up, I turned off the TV which caused the picture to go out and the "Power" LED to flash red but when I looked in the back of the TV right after, the light engine was still lit so turning the TV back on would cause the picture to come back instantly. I turned it off again and watched the back of the TV; the light engine remained on for about a minute before it completely turned off but the fan continued to run for another two minutes before it stopped and the flashing red LED on the front went steady. I waited another three minutes to let the light engine cool further before I turned it back on and watched the back of the TV. First the fan started followed by two relays clicking and a faint buzzing sound. Then the lamp started with a dim greenish white color which got brighter over the next 8 seconds and was followed by a half second flash of blue (think blue LED) which gave way to bluish white that continued on to pure white at full brightness.

I didn't really compare the colors too much to the conventional Toshiba DLP set sitting next to it but it did appear richer in many darker scenes.
 

PhotonWrangler

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

Wow. Thanks for the report, Yuandrew! So these have actually made it to retail shelves. Now what would it take to convert that light engine to a flashlight? (Besides some major RF shielding!) :huh:
 

yuandrew

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

Wow. Thanks for the report, Yuandrew! So these have actually made it to retail shelves. Now what would it take to convert that light engine to a flashlight? (Besides some major RF shielding!)

The entire light engine unit already seems to be RF shielded. I think all you need to do is find out what voltage and control logic is needed for operation so you can construct a power supply then enclose the both the unit and your power supply in a case which could be easily carried.
 

Szemhazai

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

Bringing back from the dead.. :devil:
They announce new version of their system 144 lum/w - somebody knows some more details ?
 

WadeF

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Re: New Plasma LED

Pretty wild. They said 140 lumens per watt, and they were running it at 250w, so was it putting out around 35,000 lumens?
 

2xTrinity

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Re: New "LiFi" electrodeless HID lamp

250 watts for 4400lumens...
17.6lumens/watt

oh well... not for flashaholics but for "long life"
ANSI lumens is a meausre of light output from the projector, not from the bulb. So that's after losses in the reflector, optics, and color filters. If that's true, that's EXTREMELY efficient for a projector. Most waste over 90% of the light input, even when the screen is displaying 100% white pixels. I doubt this lamp is putting out 200lm/w, so they must be using particularly efficient optics in the projector.
 

a4d

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Re: New Plasma LED

Now just wait for "RA" to put one in a light.:crackup::naughty:
 
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