All Topics  
High-intensity discharge lamp

 
High Intensity Discharge Lamp

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

High-intensity discharge lamp



 
 
A High-intensity discharge (HID) lamp is a type of electrical lamp
Electric light

Most of the industrialized world is lit by electric lights, which are used both at night and to provide additional light during the daytime. These lights are normally powered by the electric grid, but some run on local electrical generators, and emergency generators serve as backups in hospitals and other locations where a loss of power could...
 which produces light by means of an electric arc between tungsten
Tungsten

Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element that has the symbol W and atomic number 74.A steel-gray metal, tungsten is found in several ores, including wolframite and scheelite....
 electrode
Electrode

An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a Electronic circuit . The word was coined by the scientist Michael Faraday from the Greek language words elektron and hodos, a way....
s housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz
Fused quartz

Fused quartz and fused silica are types of glass containing primarily silica in amorphous solid form. They are manufactured using several different processes....
 or fused alumina arc tube. This tube is filled with both gas
Gas

In physics, a gas is a state of matter, consisting of a collection of particles without a definite shape or volume that are in more or less random motion....
 and metal
Metal

In chemistry, a metal is a chemical element whose atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions , and form metallic bonds between other metal atoms and ionic bonds between nonmetal atoms....
 salts.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'High-intensity discharge lamp'
Start a new discussion about 'High-intensity discharge lamp'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Xenon Short Arc 1
A High-intensity discharge (HID) lamp is a type of electrical lamp
Electric light

Most of the industrialized world is lit by electric lights, which are used both at night and to provide additional light during the daytime. These lights are normally powered by the electric grid, but some run on local electrical generators, and emergency generators serve as backups in hospitals and other locations where a loss of power could...
 which produces light by means of an electric arc between tungsten
Tungsten

Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element that has the symbol W and atomic number 74.A steel-gray metal, tungsten is found in several ores, including wolframite and scheelite....
 electrode
Electrode

An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a Electronic circuit . The word was coined by the scientist Michael Faraday from the Greek language words elektron and hodos, a way....
s housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz
Fused quartz

Fused quartz and fused silica are types of glass containing primarily silica in amorphous solid form. They are manufactured using several different processes....
 or fused alumina arc tube. This tube is filled with both gas
Gas

In physics, a gas is a state of matter, consisting of a collection of particles without a definite shape or volume that are in more or less random motion....
 and metal
Metal

In chemistry, a metal is a chemical element whose atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions , and form metallic bonds between other metal atoms and ionic bonds between nonmetal atoms....
 salts. The gas facilitates the arc's initial strike. Once the arc is started, it heats and evaporates the metal salts forming a plasma
Plasma (physics)

In physics and chemistry, plasma is a partially ionized gas, in which a certain proportion of electrons are free rather than being bound to an atom or molecule....
, which greatly increases the intensity of light produced by the arc and reduces its power consumption. High-intensity discharge lamps are a type of arc lamp
Arc lamp

An arc lamp or arc light is the general term for a class of lamps that produce light by an electric arc . The lamp consists of two electrodes typically made of tungsten which are separated by a gas....
.

Compared with fluorescent
Fluorescent lamp

A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to Excited state mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluorescence, producing Light....
 and incandescent
Incandescent light bulb

The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric light that works by incandescence, ....
 lamps, HID lamps have higher luminous efficacy
Luminous efficacy

Luminous efficacy is a figure of merit for light sources. It is the ratio of luminous flux to power . As most commonly used, it is the ratio of luminous flux emitted from a light source to the electric power consumed by the source, and thus describes how well the source does at providing visible light from a given amount of electricity....
 since a greater proportion of their radiation is in visible light as opposed to heat. Their overall luminous efficacy
Luminous efficacy

Luminous efficacy is a figure of merit for light sources. It is the ratio of luminous flux to power . As most commonly used, it is the ratio of luminous flux emitted from a light source to the electric power consumed by the source, and thus describes how well the source does at providing visible light from a given amount of electricity....
 is also much higher: they give a greater amount of light output per watt of electricity input.

Construction