Integral compact fluorescent lamp

Description:

Introducing a new product involves more than just crafting an advertising campaign aimed at consumers. A company must also convince potential distributors (both wholesale and retail) to stock the product. That task is made easier if one can visually show the differences between the old product and the new.

This lamp is a Philips "SL Electronic" demonstration piece made about 1985. Philips' original "SL" compact fluorescent lamp came equipped with a magnetic, coil-core ballast when introduced in 1981. The newer version replaced that magnetic ballast with an electronic ballast, raising energy efficiency in the lamp. This demonstration lamp has a clear base-skirt allowing whoever demonstrates the lamp to show the electronic circuitry.

All fluorescent lamps require a ballast due to a quirk engineers call negative-resistance characteristic. The electrical resistance inside a fluorescent lamp is very high when the lamp is off—that's why fluorescent lamps need starters. But once the current is flowing through the lamp the resistance drops, causing the lamp to draw more current, which drops the resistance further, causing still more current to be drawn. Without a control device in the circuit, this cycle would quickly destroy the lamp. A ballast, whether magnetic or elecronic, regulates the amount of current flowing through the lamp and prevents the cycle from occurring.

Lamp characteristics: Brass, medium-screw base with clear plastic skirt that houses an electronic ballast and a starter. Fluorescent tube includes two electrodes, mercury, and a phosphor coating. A corrugated plastic cover protects the tube. Eight slots in the cover allow excess heat to escape. Rating: 18 watts.

Date Made: ca 1985Date Made: ca. 1985

Maker: Philips Lighting Company

See more items in: Work and Industry: Electricity, Energy & Power

Exhibition: Lighting a Revolution

Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

Related Web Publication: http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/

Related Publication: Lighting A Revolution

Credit Line: from Philips Lighting Co.

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1997.0389.28Catalog Number: 1997.0389.28Accession Number: 1997.0389

Object Name: fluorescent lampdischarge lamp

Physical Description: plastic (overall material)glass (overall material)mercury (overall material)metal (overall material)Measurements: overall: 5 3/4 in x 3 in; 14.605 cm x 7.62 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-6d4f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_751322

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