I worked for the company that did the first large scale installation of this sort of lighting.. That was several years ago.
Short version of the story: there were major problems with the system and after a year of installation the whole (very large) system was torn out at our companies expense? Why? Because we were losing money daily fixing the things when they broke.. This from a system that was supposed to save BIG $$$$$$ on maintenance. The company that makes these things was in bancruptcy last time I heard.
Slightly longer version:
- the lights are VERY expensive - they work by radiating a glass globe with a bit of sulfur in it with microwaves. The sulfur turns to plasma and puts out a lot of light (and heat). To keep the plasma from burning through the glass that encloses it the globe is constantly turned and blown on by a fan (the globe is actually stuck in the center of the fan wheel). - the lights break.. a lot. The 1st generation units had a 50% failure rate on their power supplies. Even the later units had many fan failures.. When the fan stops turning, so does the bulb. Bulb goes *POOF*. - the units run very hot, this causes breakdown of plastics used in close proximity to the lights. Since one of the major applications of these units in our installation (and touted for use elsewhere) was light pipes (made the whole 100' long pipe look like a huge glowing flourescent bulb) and it made the light pipes break down, this is BAD.
Conclusion: was a great idea, and in 10 years someone else might try it and overcome the problems because it IS an energy efficient way to make a whole lot of light. Just a small reality check though: we aren't talking about 100 watt light bulb replacements. These things replace the big honking metal halide lights you see at sports stadiums on a 2 for one ratio (that is you can replace 2 big monster metal halides for ONE of these). The only place I can think of where they would be put out in public would be stadiums.. If the light pipes worked they would be perfect for large cubicle farms. But these things are VERY VERY expensive and put out a WHOLE lotta light.
ok, this is exactly like a microwave oven (a magnetron is pretty much a magnetron from what I have seen), and at the same wattage, not lower.
as to why not use LEDs: this isn't meant to replace your typical flourescent or incandescent lights in your home..
Think stadium lighting, or large aircraft hangars, or large parking lots... whatever it is, think BIG! these units are very expensive. you were supposed to pay so much because the maintenance was supposed to be MUCH MUCH lower, and the energy costs lower... oh, well... so much for that.
Yeah, those were the promises. I really wish it would have worked out better. a few details of the problems:
#1 - the BULBS might last 11.4 years, but the magnetron that shoots the microwaves into the bulb, and the motor that turns both the fan (that cools) and the bulb (to prevent the plasma from burning through the glass of the bulb) burn out VERY fast. 1st generation units had 50% of the magnetrons burn out within 6 months. We were told this was due to the power supplies. 2nd gen units seemed much more solid in the power department.
#2 - the fan motor / bulb turner would break/no longer rotate. It didn't appear to us that they had a high enough quality motor on these... a large percentage of them would break within 3-6 months. If the motor stops turning that bulb it goes POOF when the plasma burns through.
#3 - the light is NOT white. it is kinda green.. pretty noticibly green actually. People do not seem to like greenish light. Most of us are used to either a yellowish or blueish tint. We had several people complain of feeling sick.. Dunno why green light would do it, but it didn't make our customer happy.
#4 - the high temps that these units achieve lead to a break down in both the reflectors and in plastics used to feed the light into useful places. We replaced many lights with one of these units (like a 5 to 1 ratio maybe) and then used a plastic tube as a 'light pipe' to deliver the light where it was needed. The material in the reflector would either a) degrade, or b) get deposited on the plastic tube due to the high temps. Also the plastic joins on the tubes would degrade seriously in a short (months) time frame. Maintenance costs were incredibly high.
In short: great idea, bad implementation. I have no doubt that if the engineering of these untis was higher (with the subsequently higher cost) that these would work. But then these already pricey (very) units would not be able to compete with existing technologies (like metal halide).
The company I used to work for did the very first large scale (non-test) installation of their lighting products in the US. It sounded like an awesome product. It would provide MORE light for LESS power with LESS maintenance.
We installed a HUGE area with this stuff (took many months to do the install). A year later we ended up yanking every bit of it out. Why? Well, there were SEVERAL technical problems with these things that they hadn't worked out. The short version of how they work is that they irradiate a glove with some sulfur in it with microwaves and turn it into a glowing plasma. Well, that stuff is a bit hot, so you have to continuously rotate the 'bulb' This rotational part breaks, so the light breaks.. the reflectors can't stand the heat, etc.
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I worked for the company that did the first large scale installation of this sort of lighting.. That was several years ago.
Short version of the story: there were major problems with the system and after a year of installation the whole (very large) system was torn out at our companies expense? Why? Because we were losing money daily fixing the things when they broke.. This from a system that was supposed to save BIG $$$$$$ on maintenance. The company that makes these things was in bancruptcy last time I heard.
Slightly longer version:
- the lights are VERY expensive
- they work by radiating a glass globe with a bit of sulfur in it with microwaves. The sulfur turns to plasma and puts out a lot of light (and heat). To keep the plasma from burning through the glass that encloses it the globe is constantly turned and blown on by a fan (the globe is actually stuck in the center of the fan wheel).
- the lights break.. a lot. The 1st generation units had a 50% failure rate on their power supplies. Even the later units had many fan failures.. When the fan stops turning, so does the bulb. Bulb goes *POOF*.
- the units run very hot, this causes breakdown of plastics used in close proximity to the lights. Since one of the major applications of these units in our installation (and touted for use elsewhere) was light pipes (made the whole 100' long pipe look like a huge glowing flourescent bulb) and it made the light pipes break down, this is BAD.
Conclusion: was a great idea, and in 10 years someone else might try it and overcome the problems because it IS an energy efficient way to make a whole lot of light. Just a small reality check though: we aren't talking about 100 watt light bulb replacements. These things replace the big honking metal halide lights you see at sports stadiums on a 2 for one ratio (that is you can replace 2 big monster metal halides for ONE of these). The only place I can think of where they would be put out in public would be stadiums.. If the light pipes worked they would be perfect for large cubicle farms. But these things are VERY VERY expensive and put out a WHOLE lotta light.
Short term I wouldn't worry about it.
-] Crow
ok, this is exactly like a microwave oven (a magnetron is pretty much a magnetron from what I have seen), and at the same wattage, not lower.
as to why not use LEDs: this isn't meant to replace your typical flourescent or incandescent lights in your home..
Think stadium lighting, or large aircraft hangars, or large parking lots... whatever it is, think BIG! these units are very expensive. you were supposed to pay so much because the maintenance was supposed to be MUCH MUCH lower, and the energy costs lower... oh, well... so much for that.
Yeah, those were the promises. I really wish it would have worked out better. a few details of the problems:
#1 - the BULBS might last 11.4 years, but the magnetron that shoots the microwaves into the bulb, and the motor that turns both the fan (that cools) and the bulb (to prevent the plasma from burning through the glass of the bulb) burn out VERY fast. 1st generation units had 50% of the magnetrons burn out within 6 months. We were told this was due to the power supplies. 2nd gen units seemed much more solid in the power department.
#2 - the fan motor / bulb turner would break/no longer rotate. It didn't appear to us that they had a high enough quality motor on these... a large percentage of them would break within 3-6 months. If the motor stops turning that bulb it goes POOF when the plasma burns through.
#3 - the light is NOT white. it is kinda green.. pretty noticibly green actually. People do not seem to like greenish light. Most of us are used to either a yellowish or blueish tint. We had several people complain of feeling sick.. Dunno why green light would do it, but it didn't make our customer happy.
#4 - the high temps that these units achieve lead to a break down in both the reflectors and in plastics used to feed the light into useful places. We replaced many lights with one of these units (like a 5 to 1 ratio maybe) and then used a plastic tube as a 'light pipe' to deliver the light where it was needed. The material in the reflector would either a) degrade, or b) get deposited on the plastic tube due to the high temps. Also the plastic joins on the tubes would degrade seriously in a short (months) time frame. Maintenance costs were incredibly high.
In short: great idea, bad implementation. I have no doubt that if the engineering of these untis was higher (with the subsequently higher cost) that these would work. But then these already pricey (very) units would not be able to compete with existing technologies (like metal halide).
Crow
OK, not a GLOVE, but a GLOBE of sulfur.. hard to heat up a glove into plasma :)
Crow
The company I used to work for did the very first large scale (non-test) installation of their lighting products in the US. It sounded like an awesome product. It would provide MORE light for LESS power with LESS maintenance.
:)
We installed a HUGE area with this stuff (took many months to do the install). A year later we ended up yanking every bit of it out. Why? Well, there were SEVERAL technical problems with these things that they hadn't worked out. The short version of how they work is that they irradiate a glove with some sulfur in it with microwaves and turn it into a glowing plasma. Well, that stuff is a bit hot, so you have to continuously rotate the 'bulb' This rotational part breaks, so the light breaks.. the reflectors can't stand the heat, etc.
so don't worry.. they are in bankruptcy...