Experiment No.

2 Lighting Circuits Using Fluorescent Lamp and Mercury Vapour Lamp

2a) Fluorescent Lamp

Aim: to study about fluorescent tube lamp.

Objectives:

To study the working and connections of fluorescent lamp.

Theory:

A fluorescent lamp or a fluorescent tube is a low pressure mercury-Vapour gas-discharge lamp that uses
fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the excites mercury vapour which produces
short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb to glow. A
fluorescent lamp converts electrical energy into useful light much more efficiently than incandescent
lamps. The luminous efficacy of a fluorescent light bulb can exceed 100 lumens per watt, several times
the efficacy of incandescent bulb with comparable light output.

Construction A fluorescent lamp basically consists of a long glass gas discharge tube. Its inner surface is
coated with phosphorous and is filled with an inert gas, generally argon, with a trace of mercury. The
tube is then finally sealed at low pressure with two filament electrodes each at its both ends. These
electrode filaments are used to preheat the tube and initiate a rapid conduction of electrons between
the two end electrodes. The process initially requires a relatively high amount of power. The energy also
converts some of the mercury from a liquid to a gas. Electrons then collide with the gaseous mercury
atoms, increasing the amount of energy. As electrons return to their original energy level, they begin to
release| light. However, the light they emit is ultraviolet, and not visible to the naked eye, so another
step needs to take place before we can see the light. So the tube is coated with phosphorous. Phosphors
will give off light when exposed to light. When exposed to the ultraviolet light, the particles emit a white
light| which we can see. Once the conduction of electrons between the electrodes is complete, no more
heating of the filaments is required and whole system works at a much lower current.

Principle of Operation The fundamental means for conversion of electrical energy into radiant energy in
a fluorescent lamp relies on inelastic scattering of electrons when an incident electron collides with an
atom in the gas. If the (incident) free electron has enough kinetic energy, it transfers energy to the
atom's outer electron, causing that electron to temporarily jump up to a higher energy level. The
collision is 'inelastic' because a loss of kinetic energy occurs. This higher energy state is unstable, and the
atom will emit an ultraviolet photon as the atom's electron reverts to a lower, more stable, energy level.
Most of the photons that are released from the mercury atoms have wavelengths in the ultraviolet (UV)
region not visible to the human eye, so they must be converted into visible light. This is done by making
use of fluorescence. Ultraviolet photons are absorbed by electrons in the atoms of the lamp's interior
fluorescent coating, causing a similar energy jump, then drop, with emission of a further photon.
Circuit diagram:

Results:

Picture
 Name /location  Fluorescent lamp

 Kolej Tok Gajah

Efficiency  10%

Special Characteristic Uses fluorescent to produce visible light

Color of light White

Power usage 32Watt

Life time 7000-15000hours

Cost of the bulk RM13

Eco / Friendiness YES

Dimmimng capability YES

Lumens 89 lumens per Watt

Voltage 100 to 176 volts

Heat generator Waste 30% of their energy in heat.

DISCUSSION

Comparison between Incandescent lamps and Fluorescent lamps

The two most common types of lighting fixtures today are incandescent bulbs and fluorescent
lamps. Incandescent bulbs are rather old and outdated while fluorescent lamps are relatively new and is
replacing incandescent bulbs in a lot of applications. The biggest difference between the two is how they
produce light. Incandescent bulbs produce light by a heating a metallic filament until it starts to radiate
light. On the other hand, fluorescent lamps produce light by exciting a gas and causing it to glow.
Fluorescent lamps have better characteristic compared to incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulb
consumes from 4 to 8 times as much power than fluorescent lamps. Although fluorescent lamps are
cheaper in the long run as they last longer and consume a lot less power, the initial cost of using it is
much higher compared to incandescent bulbs. There are compact fluorescent bulbs in the market today,
and they are very similar to incandescent bulbs , but they already contain all the needed elements in it,
thus the much higher price.

CONCLUSION

Based on the experiment, the natural light is the crucial component in determining the sustainable
building and the quality of an indoor environment. Besides, there are many significant factors that
determine the quality and quantity of daylight such as site orientation, form of building and type, size,
location of the glazing space. The artificial light is another initiative for the light source to human in need
as the natural light is not always there. The artificial light also can be found in various type and can be
categorized according human needs. For example, the road light will only bright on certain time yet the
uses of those light will be danger if consume too much energy from the electric. As the result, both type
are important to human in their daily life as both type has its own advantage and disadvantages.

2b) Mercury Vapour Lamp

Aim: Study of Mercury Vapour Lamp.

Objective

To study the working and connection of High Pressure Mercury Vapour (HPMV) Lamp and measure its
efficacy.

Theory:

Mercury Vapor Lamp A lamp that consists of vaporized mercury to generate light by using an electric arc
is known as a mercury vapor lamp. Basically, this lamp discharges gas when heated or cooled. The
mercury which is present inside the tube is in liquid form (at room temperature) which is ionized before
generating light. Its wavelength at low pressure ranges between 184 nm and 253 nm. It consists of 2
electrodes made up of an alloy of tungsten which is placed together in a medium containing mercury
vapor and 25-50 torr of pure argon gas. These electrodes are enclosed in an elliptically shaped glass tube
made up of silica.

The mercury vapor and neon gas (pink in color) present in the bulb requires high voltage at the starting
to illuminate light. When high voltage is applied, we can observe that the neon gas which was originally
in pink color will change into orange color by heating. It is similar to a 100-watt glowing bulb and it takes
5 to 7 minutes to turn on completely. The igniter which is present internally consists of a bimetallic strip
and capacitor, which provides high starting voltage. When the bimetallic strip expands on heating, it will
short-circuit then the lamp will be turned ON. When this bimetallic strip cools, it disconnects the
connection and turns off the lamp. Hence by connecting the ballast and ignitron to this lamp, the
mercury vapor and neon gas get heated up and expands the bulb inside to illuminate the light.

Circuit diagram:

Formulae:

Ftot
n=
P
Results:

Time Voltage current Power

Distance D E(Lm/m^2) I=ED^2(Lm/Str) Iavarage(Lm/Str Ftotal Eficacy(Lm/W)

(m) )
D1: 0.1
D2: 0.2

Calculation:

Discussions:

Precise wavelength measurements for natural Hg have previously been reported by Burns et al.7
Comparison of our results with the earlier values shows significant deviations. All lines from the pencil
lamps are shifted to the red by an average of 0.00068(32) nm with respect to the Fairy-Perot
measurements by Burns et al.7 It is not clear whether this shift represents a real difference between the
pencil lamps and the positive column source used in Ref. 7 or whether it is a result of measurement of
weakly exposed, partially resolved line profiles by Burns et al.7We have also compared the pencil-lamp
results with our measurements of the Hg lines in the natural-Hg electro dele sides charge lamp. For this
comparison the high-resolution spectrum of the electrode less lamp was degraded to a resolution of 1.0
cm-1 by convolution with a Gaussian as was done for the pencil lamps. Again the pencil-lamp
wavelengths were found to be consistently shifted to the red, in this case by an average of 0.00054(25)
nm. On the basis of the pressure shifts measured by Kaufman,4 a shift of this size is too large to be
explained by the AR pressure in the pencil lamps. The shift may be attributable to a higher pressure of
Hg in the pencil lamps, which operate at a significantly higher temperature than the electrode less lamp.
In any event, our present results represent the Hg wavelengths as emitted by the pencil lamps and
should not be applied to other types of low pressure Hg lamps if an accuracy higher than 0.001 nm is
required. We note that wavelengths emitted by the pencil lamps at different discharge currents or with
ac excitation may differs lightly from those obtained in this work. We thus recommend that, if these
lamps are used in applications for which accuracies of better than 0.0005 nm are required, our
experimental conditions should be carefully reproduced.
Conclusion:

The experimental setup consists of a high-pressure mercury lamp supplied with a certain current. Based
on the experiment, there are many significant factors that determine the quality and quantity of daylight
such as site orientation, form of building and type, size, location of the glazing space. By comparison
with other common discharge lamps, mercury Vapour sources have the lowest luminous efficacy.
Lumens per watt are only one aspect of lamp performance though, and mercury lamps do have other
advantages to offer - principally their colour rendering properties are considerably better than most
sodium products. The luminous efficacy of the mercury discharge is directly related to the Vapour
pressure at which it operates. As pressure increases, so does the luminous efficacy and it reaches a
maximum at 43.4 lm/W can be attained. The reason for the increase is that self-absorption of the
mercury resonance lines in the ultra-violet part of the spectrum begins to become significant, with the
effect that the relative intensity of other lines in the visible part of the spectrum increases, hence
luminous efficacy rises.