This section provides an overview for high intensity discharge (hid) lamps as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 10 high intensity discharge (hid) lamp manufacturers and their company rankings.
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A HID lamp is an abbreviation for high intensity discharge lamp.
Compared to incandescent lamps, the HID lamp is characterized by high luminance, low power consumption, and long life.
A glass tube is filled with noble gas and metal atom vapor, and the lamp emits light when an arc discharge occurs.
Depending on the metal atom gas, there are mercury lamps, high-pressure sodium lamps, metal halide lamps, etc.
To generate an arc discharge, a device called a ballast converts it to alternating current and outputs a stable voltage. The voltage is further boosted to a higher voltage by an igniter.
HID lamps are used for streetlights, gymnasiums, warehouses, stadiums, plant growth rooms, and other situations that require lighting with high intensity visible light.
They are also used to illuminate advertisements and billboards, and in recent years have been incorporated into the headlights of some luxury vehicles.
In addition to this type of visible light illumination, lamps can also be used for ultraviolet irradiation by extracting ultraviolet light.
In this case, the lamps can be applied to sterilization, cleaning, and surface modification by ultraviolet light.
When a gas is enclosed in a light-emitting tube and an electric discharge is generated inside, various types of light emission are produced depending on the type of gas, voltage, and other conditions.
HID lamps are one type of such lamps, in which a metallic element gas is enclosed and the gas is made to emit light by a discharge phenomenon known as arc discharge.
Ceramic or quartz glass is used as the material for the light-emitting tube.
Two opposing electrodes are placed inside the light-emitting tube, and the electrodes are heated by passing an electric current through them.
At this time, thermal electrons are emitted from the electrode surfaces. The electrons begin to fly to the counter electrodes and collide with metal atoms enclosed in the light-emitting tube, emitting visible light.
In the case of HID lamps, the vapor pressure and temperature of the enclosed metal gas is higher than in the case of fluorescent lamps, resulting in the emission of more light and higher luminance.
High-pressure sodium lamps have the highest efficiency among HID lamps, followed by metal halide lamps and mercury lamps.
High-pressure sodium lamps emit orange-ish white light, while metal halide lamps and mercury vapor lamps emit white light.
*Including some distributors, etc.
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