Electric lighting has a 150-year history full of challenges and achievements.
At the end of the 19th century, the arc lamp was created, the principle of which was a filament that is heated by electric current, causing the filament to glow. This is the principle that made it possible to develop the first incandescent light bulbs, with an energy efficiency of about 15%. In other words, of the electricity that reaches the filament, 85% becomes heat, 15% becomes light.
To prevent the filament from lasting so little time, incandescent bulbs were developed with halogen gas inside the bulb, but there was still too much energy loss in the form of heat.Taking up the idea of gas, researchers proposed filling neon tubes and coating them with phosphor and thus linear fluorescent tubes began.
For fluorescent lighting to reach homes, the tubes had to be reduced to the size of incandescent bulbs. To achieve this, the linear tube had to be screwed together to create Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs.
In the middle of the last century, the first Light Emitting Diode (LED) was invented. At first the light it emitted was very low and was used for calculator screens, for example. Over time, it was refined and made cheaper until it became what we know today.
Compared with incandescent bulbs, LED bulbs have an efficiency of 85%, where only 15% or less turns to heat. In addition, the lifetime is 25 times the incandescent bulb.
Lighting technology has made great strides throughout its history and continues to do so. At Luminosa ™ we are constantly studying and evaluating lighting technology and its relationship with modern lamping. Unless otherwise specified all our luminaires work with LED technology.
Talk to us about your specific requirements for your lighting project.