Bulb Types

[Phaetos]

What is the newest and greatest type of Incan bulbs? I know of the old halogen, and krypton, and the latest I saw was Xenon, which I still don't like too much, but what is the newest thing?

 

[bfg9000]

Osram Halostar IRC. The only incan that can exceed 50L/w.

 

[lctorana]

What is the newest and greatest type of Incan bulb?

I would say Xenon.

The gasfill sequence has gone (in date order):
Vacuum - Nitrogen - Argon - Krypton - Halogen - Xenon
Haven't heard of a Radon bulb yet.

And filaments:
Carbon - Tungsten

Vacuum bulbs are (typically) the most economical on power consumption, and the cheapest to buy,
Xenon bulbs are the most efficient in lumens/watt
Krypton and Halogen bulbs are the most tolerant of being overdriven.

Swings and roundabouts. We may be at the limit of incan development, or something big may still be coming.

 

[Phaetos]

Radon? Isn't that the radiation your microwave puts out?

 

[KeyGrip]

Radon is a noble gas, like xenon and krypton.

 

[yellow]

there has not been much advance in this field,
the last real jump here was when car bulbs switched from normal to Halogen some 30 (?) years ago.

Xenon, Krypton, Halogen, ..., in a flashlight bulb does not make too much of a difference.
That typed, I like Krypton ones best, seems to me they make the whites light

(btw: most every 12 V halogen makes a brownish output a led guy hates, the ICRs also.
Just in case: I have an IRC put into that light at the house. It sits there with the other, much older, 5 pieces of "normal" 12V/20 W reflectored bulbs and I doubt anyone can say where it is, even I hav probs to notice it sometimes)


PS: but there actually happens to be some kind of jump: adding regulation to incans, that is really something!!

 

[sysadmn]

PS: but there actually happens to be some kind of jump: adding regulation to incans, that is really something!!

Or HID, the other recent automobile headlight technology.

 

[lctorana]

Or HID, the other recent automobile headlight technology.

<blows whistle>

Offside! (or No Ball or Fault)

HID is not Incandescent. There is no glowing wire. It's a discharge lamp.

Earlier technology in THAT lineage include:

Carbon Arc - High Pressure Sodium - Low Pressure Sodium - Mercury Vapour.

 

[Phaetos]

Sodium as a light source? Now that's an advancement. I was wondering what the Chinese did with all that MSG they took out of their food

 

[mdocod]

IRC type technologies, combined with higher pressure heavier fill gases, and more robust filament materials (I think synthetically manufactured nano-chains will probably change the filament as we know it some day, making it capable of withstanding higher temperature before melting point.).... will all someday lead to incans that are very *reasonably* efficient (100lm/w + is probably very possible within 20 years or so)... I'm crossing my fingers we'll see more advancements sooner.

 

[sysadmn]

HID is not Incandescent. There is no glowing wire. It's a discharge lamp.

Earlier technology in THAT lineage include:

Carbon Arc - High Pressure Sodium - Low Pressure Sodium - Mercury Vapour.

Yes, I know that. I should have been more clear. I was responding to the "there has not been much advance in this field,
the last real jump here was when car bulbs switched from normal to Halogen some 30 (?) years ago." I took "This field" to mean general illumination, not "incandescents", since his example was car bulbs.

PS - Here's one companies' take on the evolution of lighting - pdf, GE Products. Their first HID was 1934.