Specialty and Architectural Lighting

While sellers of LED lighting often promote the savings benefits of reduced maintenance because of the long life of LED light sources, this can obscure the fact that maintenance remains a key function for the successful operation of LED systems. Maintenance of all types of commercial lighting systems includes re-lamping, power supply management, controls optimization and fixture cleaning. LED systems are no different, even if the specific tasks are not the same. Whether maintenance is...

Dating back to the late 1960's and early 1970's, ultraviolet light was used to cure wood fillers and coatings on furniture. Since then, with the development of a wide range of UV curable materials and specialized equipment, UV curing has grown exponentially - widely adopted in manufacturing, graphic arts, and printing. Technically, UV curing is the polymerization of a coating, adhesive, or ink when it interacts with ultraviolet radiation. This process makes possible rapid drying...

While projector lamp modules may fit only one or a limited number of projectors, the bulb inside of the cage may fit dozens or hundreds of projectors from a wide range of manufacturers. This makes bare projector bulbs a popular and versatile product. While it's far easier to replace the entire projector lamp module, bare bulbs are often significantly less expensive. The challenge with buying projector lamps - in housing or bare bulbs - is how...

A 2018 study by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensallear Polytechnic provides detailed guidelines for comparing LED and HID light sources for use in commercial greenhouse and other horticulture facilities. The report is also a cautionary advisory on transitioning to LED based only on the criteria of improved energy efficiency and longer lamp life compared to HID. Scope of LRC Study Commercial environmentally-controlled greenhouses in the U.S. account for nearly 900 million square feet...

You may have noticed that the specifications for fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent bulbs, and ultraviolet lamps provide watts, but almost never volts. Why not? Ballasts, invisible inside the fixture, are required for all fluorescent bulbs to operate. Ballasts modify the line voltage they are connected to (120V, 277V, etc.) so the proper current is supplied to the bulb. Because ballasts are hidden, it is easy to assume the bulbs are simply operated directly off line voltage from the...

Blacklights are not merely for special effects and lighting up cool posters. They also have an important clinical use by veterinarians. These bulbs are very common for diagnosing ringworm in cats, dogs, and other animals. The most common tool veterinarians use to diagnose ringworm on pets is a Wood's Lamp, which is another name for the common blacklight bulb with a blue filter. According to Wikipedia, Wood's lamps have been used since 1925 to detect...

Reading fluorescent ballast and HID ballast specification sheets can make your head hurt. Case in point: ballast factor vs ballast power factor. Ballast Factor Affects Light Output Ballast factor is a number normally between 0.70 and 1.2. This number is a multiplier applied to the rated initial lumens of a fluorscent or HID light bulb. The result tells you how many lumens are actually delivered from the bulb-ballast system. In some cases, the result will be...

The performance of fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and low pressure mercury ultraviolet bulbs deteriorates in ambient temperatures that rise above certain design parameters. At high fixture and room temperatures, light output and color characteristics deteriorate. CFLs are particularly affected by this, as anyone who has had a CFL bulb in a porch light or the garage fail on a hot summer day has learned. But this effect on ultraviolet germicidal bulbs can be...

Reasonable care should be taken in both the handling of broken light bulbs and the disposal of burned out bulbs that contain mercury. For decades, fluorescent and CFL bulbs have been used widely in commercial and residential general lighting settings, but there has been a vast increase in homeowners, businesses, and institutions utilizing ultraviolet bulbs to purify air and sanitize surfaces due to the COVID-19 situation. Fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent, UVC germicidal, UVA blacklight, metal...