Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and
I'll admit to spending rather more time than I exepcted in the
'Chinese Halls'. Small booths with very, very interesting lighting
technology. Being a lamp/ballast engineer by training, I have a keen
interest in new lamp or gear technologies. Saw the Luxim lamp >close
up< for the first time. Lovely small 'arctube' but embedded in
massive block of ceramic/ali heatsink/microwave generator. I think I
prefer working with the old Sulphur lamp despite it's problems.
I did however come across one of my 'holy grails': Ultra miniature
ceramic metal halides. These are sub-10W arc tubes which are
manufactured by Yasuhiro Electrical in China (but I believe the
company's director/CTO is Japanese?). These lamps are a thing of
beauty. Unfortunately technical data is very thin on the ground but I
did see working samples. I'd love to know what the lamp life and
spectral properties are though. This was being kept very much under
wraps.
Another lamp technology which seems to have been progressed further
by the Chniese is induction lamps. I've used the Philips QL and Osram
Endura in luminaire designs since their first launch years ago now.
I'd always wanted more power/lumens for our specific applications
(HID replacement in difficult maintenance areas), but the best we
could get was ~15000Lm. Three Chinese manufacturers were offering
400W (~35kLm) lamp/ballast packages and even a 200/250W 'QL' type
source (with their own US Patent already granted too!!). I've got
some samples coming over next month so we'll see how they shape up in
the integrating sphere/spectrometer. I suppose the real test will be
how well they meet the "100,000hrs" lamplife claims. I'll probably be
dead and buried before I get those life tests done.
On the whole, I'd say the Far Eastern manufacturers have made a very
big leap forward in techmnology in the last 3-4yrs and the gap
between them and the Euro/US manufacturers is closing very, very
rapidly indeed. Ineteresting times........

JB
--

JB wrote:
Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and
I'll admit to spending rather more time than I exepcted in the
'Chinese Halls'. Small booths with very, very interesting lighting
technology. Being a lamp/ballast engineer by training, I have a keen
interest in new lamp or gear technologies. Saw the Luxim lamp >close
up< for the first time. Lovely small 'arctube' but embedded in
massive block of ceramic/ali heatsink/microwave generator. I think I
prefer working with the old Sulphur lamp despite it's problems.
I did however come across one of my 'holy grails': Ultra miniature
ceramic metal halides. These are sub-10W arc tubes which are
manufactured by Yasuhiro Electrical in China (but I believe the
company's director/CTO is Japanese?). These lamps are a thing of
beauty. Unfortunately technical data is very thin on the ground but I
did see working samples. I'd love to know what the lamp life and
spectral properties are though. This was being kept very much under
wraps.
Another lamp technology which seems to have been progressed further
by the Chniese is induction lamps. I've used the Philips QL and Osram
Endura in luminaire designs since their first launch years ago now.
I'd always wanted more power/lumens for our specific applications
(HID replacement in difficult maintenance areas), but the best we
could get was ~15000Lm. Three Chinese manufacturers were offering
400W (~35kLm) lamp/ballast packages and even a 200/250W 'QL' type
source (with their own US Patent already granted too!!). I've got
some samples coming over next month so we'll see how they shape up in
the integrating sphere/spectrometer. I suppose the real test will be
how well they meet the "100,000hrs" lamplife claims. I'll probably be
dead and buried before I get those life tests done.
On the whole, I'd say the Far Eastern manufacturers have made a very
big leap forward in techmnology in the last 3-4yrs and the gap
between them and the Euro/US manufacturers is closing very, very
rapidly indeed. Ineteresting times........

Thanks for the info JB. If I were you, I'd always carry with me a small
portable
spectroscope.

Wait. I do, regardless ;o)

According to many of my colleagues, they think I might need to "get out

Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and I'll
admit to spending rather more time than I exepcted in the 'Chinese Halls'.
Small booths with very, very interesting lighting technology. Being a
lamp/ballast engineer by training, I have a keen interest in new lamp or
gear technologies. Saw the Luxim lamp >close up< for the first time. Lovely
small 'arctube' but embedded in massive block of ceramic/ali
heatsink/microwave generator. I think I prefer working with the old Sulphur
lamp despite it's problems.
I did however come across one of my 'holy grails': Ultra miniature ceramic
metal halides. These are sub-10W arc tubes which are manufactured by
Yasuhiro Electrical in China (but I believe the company's director/CTO is
Japanese?). These lamps are a thing of beauty. Unfortunately technical data
is very thin on the ground but I did see working samples. I'd love to know
what the lamp life and spectral properties are though. This was being kept
very much under wraps.
Another lamp technology which seems to have been progressed further by the
Chniese is induction lamps. I've used the Philips QL and Osram Endura in
luminaire designs since their first launch years ago now. I'd always wanted
more power/lumens for our specific applications (HID replacement in
difficult maintenance areas), but the best we could get was ~15000Lm. Three
Chinese manufacturers were offering 400W (~35kLm) lamp/ballast packages and
even a 200/250W 'QL' type source (with their own US Patent already granted
too!!). I've got some samples coming over next month so we'll see how they
shape up in the integrating sphere/spectrometer. I suppose the real test
will be how well they meet the "100,000hrs" lamplife claims. I'll probably
be dead and buried before I get those life tests done.
On the whole, I'd say the Far Eastern manufacturers have made a very big
leap forward in techmnology in the last 3-4yrs and the gap between them and
the Euro/US manufacturers is closing very, very rapidly indeed. Ineteresting
times........

JB

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:22 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:

Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and I'll
snip

Thanks for the info. Sounds very interesting. Do you have a
patent number for the QL-type lamp? I find it a bit
remarkable that there is anything left to patent in these
lamps, other than small tweaks that have little value but
might be used to get a patent.

I assume the lamps operated at 2.54 MHz. Can you confirm?
Do they claim to meet CISPR and FCC regs? (I've seen other
Chinese induction lamps that have no EMI control at all and
would fail dramatically under FCC Part 18.

Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
To reply via e-mail:
replace xxx with vdr in the Reply to: address
or use e-mail address listed at the Web site.

This information is provided for educational purposes only.
It may not be used in any publication or posted on any Web
site without written permission.

"Victor Roberts" <xxx@lighting-research.com> wrote in message
news:ij32049pns7hkkvennkun89auh528na4hv@4ax.com...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:22 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:

Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and I'll
snip

Thanks for the info. Sounds very interesting. Do you have a
patent number for the QL-type lamp? I find it a bit
remarkable that there is anything left to patent in these
lamps, other than small tweaks that have little value but
might be used to get a patent.

I assume the lamps operated at 2.54 MHz. Can you confirm?
Do they claim to meet CISPR and FCC regs? (I've seen other
Chinese induction lamps that have no EMI control at all and
would fail dramatically under FCC Part 18.


The datasheets are in the lab at work so I can't give you the links etc
until i'm back there in a weeks time. The 'Endura' style induction lamps are
all 250kHz (just like the Osram types) but the QL types are in the GHz
bracket (again as per the Philips lamps). I simply can't remember the exact
operating freqs off the top of my head. There is however an image on their
website showing the patent front sheet in good enough detail to read the
number. I'll dig it out on my return.
As far as I can remember, all their control gear was UL/CSA listed but not
much by way of Euro approvals (CE/VDE/EN... etc)

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:28:23 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:


"Victor Roberts" <xxx@lighting-research.com> wrote in message
news:ij32049pns7hkkvennkun89auh528na4hv@4ax.com...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:22 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:

Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and
I'll
snip

Thanks for the info. Sounds very interesting. Do you have a
patent number for the QL-type lamp? I find it a bit
remarkable that there is anything left to patent in these
lamps, other than small tweaks that have little value but
might be used to get a patent.

I assume the lamps operated at 2.54 MHz. Can you confirm?
Do they claim to meet CISPR and FCC regs? (I've seen other
Chinese induction lamps that have no EMI control at all and
would fail dramatically under FCC Part 18.


The datasheets are in the lab at work so I can't give you the links etc
until i'm back there in a weeks time. The 'Endura' style induction lamps
are
all 250kHz (just like the Osram types) but the QL types are in the GHz
bracket (again as per the Philips lamps). I simply can't remember the
exact
operating freqs off the top of my head. There is however an image on their
website showing the patent front sheet in good enough detail to read the
number. I'll dig it out on my return.
As far as I can remember, all their control gear was UL/CSA listed but not
much by way of Euro approvals (CE/VDE/EN... etc)

Philips QL and GE Genura operate in the band that was
established for lighting: 2.51 MHz to 3.0 MHz in the US per
FCC part 18.307. I believe CISPR is the same, but don't
have the regs handy.

My mistake. As you correctly stated, it's MHz, not GHz.

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:22 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:

Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and I'll
admit to spending rather more time than I exepcted in the 'Chinese Halls'.
Small booths with very, very interesting lighting technology. Being a
lamp/ballast engineer by training, I have a keen interest in new lamp or
gear technologies. Saw the Luxim lamp >close up< for the first time.
Lovely
small 'arctube' but embedded in massive block of ceramic/ali
heatsink/microwave generator. I think I prefer working with the old
Sulphur
lamp despite it's problems.
I did however come across one of my 'holy grails': Ultra miniature ceramic
metal halides. These are sub-10W arc tubes which are manufactured by
Yasuhiro Electrical in China (but I believe the company's director/CTO is
Japanese?). These lamps are a thing of beauty. Unfortunately technical
data
is very thin on the ground but I did see working samples. I'd love to know
what the lamp life and spectral properties are though. This was being kept
very much under wraps.
Another lamp technology which seems to have been progressed further by the
Chniese is induction lamps. I've used the Philips QL and Osram Endura in
luminaire designs since their first launch years ago now. I'd always
wanted
more power/lumens for our specific applications (HID replacement in
difficult maintenance areas), but the best we could get was ~15000Lm.
Three
Chinese manufacturers were offering 400W (~35kLm) lamp/ballast packages
and
even a 200/250W 'QL' type source (with their own US Patent already granted
too!!). I've got some samples coming over next month so we'll see how they
shape up in the integrating sphere/spectrometer. I suppose the real test
will be how well they meet the "100,000hrs" lamplife claims. I'll probably
be dead and buried before I get those life tests done.
On the whole, I'd say the Far Eastern manufacturers have made a very big
leap forward in techmnology in the last 3-4yrs and the gap between them
and
the Euro/US manufacturers is closing very, very rapidly indeed.
Ineteresting
times........

JB

Thanks for the info. Sounds very interesting. Do you have a
patent number for the QL-type lamp? I find it a bit
remarkable that there is anything left to patent in these
lamps, other than small tweaks that have little value but
might be used to get a patent.

I assume the lamps operated at 2.54 MHz. Can you confirm?
Do they claim to meet CISPR and FCC regs? (I've seen other
Chinese induction lamps that have no EMI control at all and
would fail dramatically under FCC Part 18.

Back in the lab now so here are the links:

"Victor Roberts" <xxx@lighting-research.com> wrote in message
news:ij32049pns7hkkvennkun89auh528na4hv@4ax.com...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:22 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:

Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and I'll
admit to spending rather more time than I exepcted in the 'Chinese Halls'.
Small booths with very, very interesting lighting technology. Being a
lamp/ballast engineer by training, I have a keen interest in new lamp or
gear technologies. Saw the Luxim lamp >close up< for the first time.
Lovely
small 'arctube' but embedded in massive block of ceramic/ali
heatsink/microwave generator. I think I prefer working with the old
Sulphur
lamp despite it's problems.
I did however come across one of my 'holy grails': Ultra miniature ceramic
metal halides. These are sub-10W arc tubes which are manufactured by
Yasuhiro Electrical in China (but I believe the company's director/CTO is
Japanese?). These lamps are a thing of beauty. Unfortunately technical
data
is very thin on the ground but I did see working samples. I'd love to know
what the lamp life and spectral properties are though. This was being kept
very much under wraps.
Another lamp technology which seems to have been progressed further by the
Chniese is induction lamps. I've used the Philips QL and Osram Endura in
luminaire designs since their first launch years ago now. I'd always
wanted
more power/lumens for our specific applications (HID replacement in
difficult maintenance areas), but the best we could get was ~15000Lm.
Three
Chinese manufacturers were offering 400W (~35kLm) lamp/ballast packages
and
even a 200/250W 'QL' type source (with their own US Patent already granted
too!!). I've got some samples coming over next month so we'll see how they
shape up in the integrating sphere/spectrometer. I suppose the real test
will be how well they meet the "100,000hrs" lamplife claims. I'll probably
be dead and buried before I get those life tests done.
On the whole, I'd say the Far Eastern manufacturers have made a very big
leap forward in techmnology in the last 3-4yrs and the gap between them
and
the Euro/US manufacturers is closing very, very rapidly indeed.
Ineteresting
times........

JB

Thanks for the info. Sounds very interesting. Do you have a
patent number for the QL-type lamp? I find it a bit
remarkable that there is anything left to patent in these
lamps, other than small tweaks that have little value but
might be used to get a patent.

I assume the lamps operated at 2.54 MHz. Can you confirm?
Do they claim to meet CISPR and FCC regs? (I've seen other
Chinese induction lamps that have no EMI control at all and
would fail dramatically under FCC Part 18.

Back in the lab now so here are the links:

Induction lamps:
www.amko.co.tw (QL and Endura type induction lamps)
www.fjjk.com (Endura and QL types. 'QL' type US patent no. US6,940.232B1)

CMH:
www.yasuhiro-elec.com (miniature ceramic metal halides. Dr. Koichi Hayashi.)

JB


Thanks. The first link does not work.

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:37:31 +0100, "JB" <nil@spam.net
wrote:


"Victor Roberts" <xxx@lighting-research.com> wrote in message
news:ij32049pns7hkkvennkun89auh528na4hv@4ax.com...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:22 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:

Wandering round the Light & Building show at Frankfurt this week and
I'll
Snip

Back in the lab now so here are the links:

Induction lamps:
www.amko.co.tw (QL and Endura type induction lamps)
www.fjjk.com (Endura and QL types. 'QL' type US patent no. US6,940.232B1)

CMH:
www.yasuhiro-elec.com (miniature ceramic metal halides. Dr. Koichi
Hayashi.)

JB


Thanks. The first link does not work.

The QL type lamps for the second company are claimed to
operate at 250 KHz instead of 2.7 MHz. This can be made to
work, but only for the large lamps that they make. The
patent seems to cover only a thermally conducting element
placed in the reentrant cavity to cool the coil. I'm not
sure that this is even novel as I believe I have seen such
devices in older patents.

I'll check the first link when I'm back in the office tomorrow. For the

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:37:31 +0100, "JB" <nil@spam.net
wrote:


"Victor Roberts" <xxx@lighting-research.com> wrote in message
news:ij32049pns7hkkvennkun89auh528na4hv@4ax.com...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:27:22 +0100, "JB" <JB@Nospam.co.uk
wrote:


Thanks. The first link does not work.