What Is A CFL Bulb?

1. Brief Introduction

CFL is the abbreviation of Compact Fluorescent Lamp, which is commonly known as energy-saving light.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps have become a household name for national dignitaries and ordinary people, especially the integrated products with electronic ballast and E27 screw head, these products are referred to as energy-saving lamps, and it is recognized as the only suitable light source to replace incandescent lamps.

In recent years, compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) have been replaced by the trend of LED lights.

CFL and the traditional sense of incandescent lamp (incandescent lamp) compared to the CFL has a longer rated life and consume less energy.

Common FLs are tubular compact fluorescent lamps (Compact FL) and spiral compact fluorescent lamps (spiral-type FL).

Compared with ordinary fluorescent lamps with inductive rectifiers, CFLs use high-frequency electronic ballasts, so the size can be made small and the efficiency is higher.

2. Product Overview

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) have become a household name for national dignitaries and ordinary people, especially with electronic ballasts and the choice of E27 screw head integrated products, these products are referred to as energy-saving lamps, and it is recognized as the only suitable light source to replace incandescent lamps.

Many countries, including China, have introduced subsidies for the sale of high quality compact fluorescent lamps.

9W-15W energy-saving lamps have been fully suitable for home lighting, 18W compact fluorescent lamps can directly replace more than 100W incandescent lamps, there are now 85 W and 150 W high-power compact fluorescent lamp products, can partially replace the use of HID light source.

These lamps with electronic ballasts have been developed from separate components to the use of SMD, and even integrated circuits, power factor of 0.98, total harmonic distortion content (THD) less than 10%, lamp life increased to 10000h, there are also dimming type products.

The world’s total production of compact fluorescent lamps in 2008 has exceeded 4 billion units, of which more than 80% are produced in China.

The main technical parameters of a typical compact fluorescent lamp are listed in Table 1.

As the country with the largest production of CFLs, China should also be one of the most important countries to call for and realize the recycling of used CFLs, so that CFLs can truly meet the social trend of energy saving and emission reduction.

At the same time, China’s energy-saving lamps have paid too much attention to the development of high volume and low price at the same level, without working on innovation and mechanism.

Now the international has appeared using medium blocking discharge (DDB) of mercury-free fluorescent lamps (CFL) samples, the lamp is filled with xenon gas and coated with special electronic phosphor, excited by high-frequency power supply can reach the level of existing CFL lamps.

But it does not contain any highly toxic elemental mercury! In addition, there are ceramic fluorescent lamps (CPFL), which can replace all kinds of fluorescent lamps, whose electrodes are made of nano-ceramic materials with high dielectric constant.

There is no CFL lamp and the general fluorescent lamp has a tungsten filament and ternary oxide electron powder, through the role of high-frequency electric field of the power supply so that the lamp mercury excitation generated 253.7nm ultraviolet light, and then bombarded phosphor and light.

The CFL lamp made by this principle, because there is no electrode loss is more efficient, there is no electrode spatter and mercury reaction and loss of mercury, so the amount of mercury can be significantly reduced, it also does not need ballast, life expectancy of 50,000 hours or more.

Such as these excellent green lighting products, once officially entered the lighting market, China’s existing energy-saving lamps, such as the market for cathode electronic picture tube television sets, it is difficult to escape the sad situation of being eliminated, and even to be banned from production and export.

This trend must cause us to pay full attention to a rainy day, and should take sufficient strong countermeasures to guide the sustainable and healthy development of energy-saving lamps in China.

CFL bulbs are suitable for finer work, the need to correctly identify color, high illumination requirements or for long periods of intense visual work in places, hanging height of 4m below is appropriate.

Table 1

Fluorescent lamps are suitable for lighting rooms with natural lighting or lighting places requiring a comfortable environment.

Fluorescent lamps are also not suitable for indoor and outdoor places where the ambient temperature is too high or too low.

3. Application range

PL/PLC/PLL compact fluorescent tubes are widely used as lighting sources in indoor lighting fixtures.

They can also be used as table lamps, fixture lamps and emergency lamps.

4. Details

(1) Product selection guide

CFL bulbs are suitable for fine work, need to correctly identify color, high illumination requirements or long hours of intense visual work, hanging height of 4m or less is appropriate.

Fluorescent lamps are suitable for room lighting with natural lighting or lighting places requiring a comfortable environment.

Fluorescent lamps should not be used in places where the switch is frequent, and indoor and outdoor places where the ambient temperature is too high or too low are not suitable for use.

The electric light source should be preferred to high luminous efficiency, good color rendering, long life, cheap, easy to use products.

Need to correctly identify the color, illumination requirements are high or for long periods of intense visual work places, it is appropriate to use fluorescent lamps.

Lighting design should be a comprehensive technical and economic indicators of the light source for comparison to determine its good or bad.

Such as high efficiency of the light source, long life, cheap, its comprehensive indicators must be the best.

However, if these properties have advantages and disadvantages, it is necessary to go through comprehensive calculations to determine the effect of good or bad.

Fluorescent lamp power supply voltage should not change more than ± 5%, otherwise it will affect the luminous efficiency and life of the lamp.

(2) Construction, installation points

CFL bulbs are suitable for 2 ~ 4m hanging height.

(3) Main raw materials

The main raw material of CFL bulb is mainly from yttrium in rare earth.

5. Concluding

CFL fluorescent lamps allow us to replace the old incandescent bulbs that produce more heat than light.

The operation is conceptually similar to HPS technology: the bulb consists of a high-pressure glass tube filled with mercury and rare gases and two electrodes that produce ultraviolet light powered by an electronic ballast.

The light then passes through a phosphor covering the glass tube, which is converted to white light.

These bulbs are also available in a variety of sizes and wattages and are widely used for professional and home growing due to their low thermal value. The spectral quality is fair.

However, the system has many limitations: the light emitted is never too strong to bloom, and the electrical efficiency is lower than that of the HPS system.

CFL bulbs are still well suited to provide a low-power light source in the early plant and cloning stages, providing an easy-to-use, low-heat solution.

Plants can also be grown in contact with bulbs without being burned.

These lights are inexpensive and have a long life (about 10,000 hours of light), and we the system is recommended for growers who need an economical solution to plant growth stage problems.