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what is a sodium light bulb

by Sister Sanford Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps are part of the family of high intensity light bulbs that put out large amounts of light generally needed for street lighting and security lighting. The combination of metals and gasses within inside the glass tube produces an orange-white light commonly found in street lights.

Full Answer

What is a high pressure sodium bulb?

High pressure sodium lamps are part of a family of high intensity light bulbs that put out a lot of light. An orange white light commonly found in street lights is produced by a combination of metals and gasses inside a glass tube. What color is High Pressure Sodium? The warm yellow glow of low and high pressure sodium lights is well-known.

What are the different types of sodium lights?

There are two kinds of sodium lights: Low Pressure (LPS) and High Pressure (HPS). These lamps are mostly used for street lighting as well as industrial uses.

What is a sodium vapor lamp?

A sodium-vapor lamp is a gas-discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm. Two varieties of such lamps exist: low pressure and high pressure .

What is the color of a low pressure sodium lamp?

The faint pink light of the Penning mixture is gradually replaced by the bright monochromatic orange light of the metallic sodium vapor. A running 35 W LPS/SOX lamp Spectrum of a low-pressure sodium lamp. The intense yellow band is the atomic sodium D-line emission, comprising about 90% of the visible light emission for this lamp type.

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What are sodium lights used for?

High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps have been widely used in industrial lighting, especially in large manufacturing facilities, and are commonly used as plant grow lights. They contain mercury. They have also been widely used for outdoor area lighting, such as on roadways, parking lots, and security areas.

What is the difference between sodium light and LED light?

Sodium vapor bulbs contain metals that are evaporated into inert gas within the glass casing while LEDs are a solid state technology. Both technologies are very efficient. The difference is that sodium vapor lights were the most efficient technology of the 1970s while LEDs are the modern day equivalent.

Are sodium lights better than LED?

LED area lights are top of the line bulbs. They are more efficient and have longer lifespans than High-Pressure Sodium lights. Color Temperature: Variety of color temperature options providing better lighting solutions including cooler lights than High Pressure Sodium counterpart.

Can you replace sodium bulb with LED bulb?

In fact, they're roughly as efficient as LEDs in terms of their light output for each watt of energy used. LEDs, however, are better able to control their light, which is why a lower-watt LED can replace a higher-watt high pressure sodium bulb.

Do sodium lights use a lot of electricity?

High pressure sodium fixtures are not as energy efficiency as LEDs. In fact, LED bulbs use between 40-75% less electricity than a HPS fixture.

What are the advantages of sodium lamp?

Advantages. Most energy efficient light source commercially available, with an efficacy of 100 to 185 lumens per watt. Lamps have average life in the 14,000 to 18,000 hour range and have excellent lumen maintenance (very little reduction in lumen output over life of lamp).

What is the healthiest type of light?

We suggest using incandescent or halogen bulbs throughout the day + night if you're after a greater sense of well-being. Also - unlike most harshly flickering LED or fluorescent bulbs - incandescents (and color-correct halogens like Chromalux®) will also be the healthiest type of light for your eyes!

Are sodium lamps safe?

These lamps contain high levels of sodium and mercury, both of which are classified as 'Hazardous'.

What is the healthiest LED light color?

Green led light color is the most visible color to the human eye. It's linked to healing and soothing, and it's the most used color in hospitals. It also reduces glare and therefore is used in operating rooms in hospitals.

Do sodium lamps have longer lifespan than LED?

As street lights, sodium lamps have a longer life span than LED lamps. 3. The spectrum of visible light from sodium lamps is almost monochromatic while LED lamps offer significant colour advantages in street lighting.

Are sodium street lights still used?

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) street lights are one of the most common street lights you can see today. They produce a distinctively yellow-orange, monochromatic glow. You can still see many HPS lights for lighting large areas, manufacturing sites, roadways, parks, and parking lots.

Are high pressure sodium lights being phased out?

Phasing out A number of popular lighting types will have to be phased out by 2017 including selected 'standard' high-pressure sodium (including retrofit), high-pressure mercury, and standard performance metal halide.

What is the difference between a LED lamp and a sodium Upsc?

Sodium lamps are omnidirectional in that they emit light at 360 degrees, while led lamps emit light at 180. Hence, Statement 1 is correct. The two different technologies are entirely different methods of producing light. LED lifespan can be greater than 100,000 hours, more than four times that of sodium lamps.

Is high pressure sodium better than LED?

Electricity Savings LEDs have much higher efficacy than HPS lights. LEDs are much more efficient than HPS lamps, which allows them to use lesser watts to achieve the same or higher output. The VOLT Grow® 720W FL-1 light produces a higher light output than a standard 1000W HPS light while using 30% less power.

What color light is sodium?

Low-pressure sodium lights give off a yellow or orange glow because they only produce a single wavelength of yellow light, which results in a less intense light output. The glass bulb houses solid sodium metal that vaporizes once the light is turned on.

Are sodium street lights still used?

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) street lights are one of the most common street lights you can see today. They produce a distinctively yellow-orange, monochromatic glow. You can still see many HPS lights for lighting large areas, manufacturing sites, roadways, parks, and parking lots.

What is sodium lamp?

There are two kinds of sodium lights: Low Pressure (LPS) and High Pressure (HPS). These lamps are mostly used for street lighting as well as industrial uses. The lamp works by creating an electric arc through vaporized sodium metal. Other materials and gases are used to help start the lamp or control its color.

What is a low pressure sodium lamp?

THE LOW-PRESSURE SODIUM LAMP. The LPS lamp was the first sodium lamp to be developed. It is known by its signature monochromatic yellow color. It is mostly used in Europe since it did not appeal in other markets due to its poor CRI or color rendering.

Why is a sodium lamp a sphere?

The lamp had to be designed in a sphere because after the metal cooled when the lamp was turned off, the sodium has a property of migrating to the coolest part of the bulb where it solidifies.

Why does a LPS light turn yellow?

As the temperature increases the sodium begins to vaporize and the lamp turns to a pure yellow. An LPS with it's yellow glow. Argon has a lower glow voltage, argon helps the smaller lamps start at a lower voltage. The larger LPS lamps used in street lighting for the most part do not use argon. 2.

What is an HPS lamp?

The HPS lamp consists of a narrow arc tube supported by a frame in a bulb. The arc tube has a high pressure inside for higher efficiency. Sodium, mercury and xenon are usually used inside the arc tube. The arc tube is made of aluminum oxide ceramic which is resistant to the corrosive effects of alkalis like sodium.

What color is the arc of a xenon lamp?

The lamp turns sky blue as the xenon lights. The arc then heats up the mercury and the mercury vapor then lights, giving the lamp a bluish color. The lamp heats and the sodium is the last material to vaporize. The sodium vapor strikes an arc over 240 C.

When was the sodium lamp invented?

Low pressure sodium lamps were invented first in 1920 by Arthur H. Compton at Westinghouse. The first lamp was a round bulb with two electrodes on each side. The solid sodium metal remained on the bottom center of the bulb. When heated up the metal would vaporize and the lamp would glow yellow.

When did sodium bulbs start?from thegreensunshineco.com

The High-Pressure Sodium bulb originated in the 1970’s and became ubiquitous in street and warehouse lighting. The “yellow glow” was everywhere.

Where are high pressure sodium lights most commonly seen?from homelectrical.com

High Pressure Sodium area lights are most commonly seen on the road and in parking lots.

How many lumens are in a 250W HPS?from accessfixtures.com

If we look back to step 6, we can note that the figure for the mean visible luminaire lumens of our customer’s 250w HPS wall pack was 10,881 . The figure for the mean visible luminaire lumens of the 126w traditional wall pack is 15,130.

How long does it take for sodium lights to turn on?from actionservicesgroup.com

Sodium-based lights require a warmup period. This can take up to 20 minutes in some cases, meaning your lights must be turned on at least 20 minutes prior to use to ensure maximum illumination. While this may not sound like much time when the lights remain on for hours, it all adds up. If your HPS are used in lamps that illuminate a parking lot, it is likely these lights turn on within 20 to 30 minutes before nightfall to ensure full illumination. If you run your lights every night for a year, even just an extra 20 minutes a night means you have wasted money powering lights for roughly 122 additional hours annually. (That is a lot considering roughly 40% of your power bill is spent on lighting alone!) LEDs, on the other hand, do not require any warmup time and reach full illumination as soon as they have been turned on.

How many lumens does a 250W sodium wall pack have?from accessfixtures.com

Using the table, we can see the mean lamp lumen output for our customer’s 250w high pressure sodium wall pack is 27,000 lumens.

What is HPS light?from actionservicesgroup.com

As with the LPS variant, an HPS light is part of the HID family and works due to a gas discharge. Unlike the LPS variant, however, an HPS light uses a tube made of aluminum oxide. Additionally, the sodium metal is combined with other elements, such as mercury, to help reduce the yellow tint and give the light a slightly white to light blue hue instead.

What is the difference between LED grow lights and HPS?from hydrobuilder.com

There's a key difference between LED grow lights & HPS in that LED's don't utilize bulbs.

How many lumens does a sodium lamp have?

High-pressure sodium lamps are quite efficient — about 100 lumens per watt, when measured for photopic lighting conditions . Some higher-power lamps (e.g. 600 watt) have efficacies of about 150 lumens per watt.

What is a sodium vapor lamp?

A sodium-vapor lamp is a gas-discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm . Two varieties of such lamps exist: low pressure and high pressure.

How does an amalgam work?

An amalgam of metallic sodium and mercury lies at the coolest part of the lamp and provides the sodium and mercury vapor that is needed to draw an arc. The temperature of the amalgam is determined to a great extent by lamp power. The higher the lamp power, the higher will be the amalgam temperature. The higher the temperature of the amalgam, the higher will be the mercury and sodium vapor pressures in the lamp and the higher will be the terminal voltage. As the temperature rises, the constant current and increasing voltage consumes increasing energy until the operating level of power is reached. For a given voltage, there are generally three modes of operation:

What is the yellow red band on the left of a sodium lamp?

High-pressure sodium lamp in operation. Spectrum of high-pressure sodium lamp. The yellow-red band on the left is the atomic sodium D-line emission; the turquoise line is a sodium line that is otherwise quite weak in a low pressure discharge, but becomes intense in a high-pressure discharge.

What is a LPS lamp?

Low-pressure sodium (LPS) lamps have a borosilicate glass gas discharge tube (arc tube) containing solid sodium and a small amount of neon and argon gas in a Penning mixture to start the gas discharge. The discharge tube may be linear (SLI lamp) or U-shaped.

What is Xenon used for in HPS lamps?

Xenon at a low pressure is used as a "starter gas" in the HPS lamp. It has the lowest thermal conductivity and lowest ionization potential of all the stable noble gases.

When was the first high pressure sodium lamp made?

The first commercial high-pressure sodium lamps were available in 1965 from companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands; at introduction a 400 watt lamp would produce around 100 lumens per watt.

What is High Pressure Sodium?

What is the difference between a high pressure light and a low pressure one? High intensity discharge, also known as a high intensity discharge, is a type of gas discharge light that is similar to the HPS lights. The name of the lights indicates that they operate at a higher pressure.

Why do street lights use sodium?

There is less power needed to light large areas because of the sensitivity of the human eye. They have been used a lot because of their energy efficiency.

Are high pressure sodium lights safe?

Street and highway lighting can be done with high pressure sodium lights. Exposure to harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation can be caused by these lights being turned on. If the light is undamaged, Washington L&I doesn’t think this is a problem.

What are high pressure sodium bulbs used for?

HPS lamps are used in large manufacturing facilities and are also used as plant grow lights. There is mercury in them. They are widely used for outdoor area lighting.

Which is better high pressure sodium or LED?

The warm-up time for the high pressure lights is around 15-20 minutes. The light emitting devices are at full output. HPS lights have a good lifespan, but it is less than LEDs. The only light source that lasts longer is LEDs.

What type of light is high pressure sodium?

What is the difference between a high pressure light and a low pressure one? High intensity discharge, also known as a high intensity discharge, is a type of gas discharge light that is similar to the HPS lights. The operating pressure inside the lamp is the main difference between the two lights.

Are LED lights safer than HPS?

Modern lighting can dramatically reduce the risk of accidents, provide a safer working environment and lower the long term liability costs of exposing workers and consumers to hazardous materials if they switch from archaic HPS to modern lighting.

How to Know if the Light is Bad or Broken

Nothing lasts forever. The average lifespan of a high-pressure sodium bulb is 18 months or 24,000 running hours. It is recommended to replace the lights afterward.

Why Do High-Pressure Sodium Light Go Bad

A high-pressure sodium bulb is no different when it comes to bulbs. It will die eventually one day.

Endnote

That’s everything you need to know about how to tell if a high pressure sodium bulb is bad.

How many watts does a 50 watt light bulb burn?

There are light emitting devices you can use in your fixture. The equivalent of a 50- watt bulb will burn between six and seven wat t.

Why is my light bulb overheating?

overheating of the light bulb can be caused by using a light bulb that is too high. The insulation of the wires and light sockets can be melted by this heat. This could lead to property fires if you put yourself at risk of fault lines.

Can you replace a mercury vapor bulb with LED?

One of the most efficient ways to replace metal halide, mercury vapor, and high-pressure sodium HID bulbs is with the use of LEDs.

Can high pressure sodium bulbs be replaced with LEDs?

The higher watt high pressure sodium bulb can be replaced with a lower watt LEDs because they are better at controlling their light.

Can you use the same bulb in a light fixture?

It’s not a good idea to use the same fixture with both Incandescent andLED bulbs. If it’s older, it can cause the lights to flicker. It’s always a good idea to use matching bulbs in a fixture.

Can you replace an old light bulb with LEDs?

This option is very easy to use. If you want to replace an old light bulb with an LEDs lamp, you just have to remove it. Depending on the size of the can, you can use either A or LEDs.

Can you replace any bulb with LED?

If everything works out, you can easily swap your old bulbs for new ones in your lighting fixture. If you’re buying the replace ment bulbs for your traditional fixture, remember that they don’t need to be the same as the older bulbs.

How long do sodium lights last?

They emit bright yellow light. Typically these lights are used on sides of industrial buildings and in some street lamps. Sodium bulbs can last up to 20,000 hours. The heavy duty transformer or ballast is also long lived if the bulbs are changed out before they burn out. These lights are typically controlled by a photocell that turns the light on at dusk.

What is the problem with high pressure sodium light?

The Bulb. The most common problem with a high pressure sodium light is the bulb. The first course of action is to simply change the bulb. Observe the interior gas tube for any signs of discoloration. If the tube is black, the bulb is definitely burned out.

Why are light bulbs important?

Light bulbs bring objects to life, different lighting temperatures set the mood, they make it safer to walk across spaces and can even decorate and highlight specific locations. There are three main categories of electric lights, each with its advantage and disadvantage.

What is an LED lamp?

LED lamps were the most recent lights to be introduced and since then a new method of rating was required since the wattage no longer determined which bulb had the superior brightness.

How many Watts does an LED bulb use?

Now, LED’s have changed the game as an LED bulb the uses 15-Watts is no way similar to a 15-Watts Incandescent. Nowadays, companies rate bulbs through lumens as these give you a more accurate indication of how much light to expect from an LED.

Do LED lights use less wattage?

Watts do not measure brightness but the amount of power used. Since LED’s use lesser wattage and produce the same amount of brightness, they save much more energy. Other than helping lower the electric bills; most LED bulbs are also dimmable and don’t contain any Mercury.

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Overview

End of life

At end of life, high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps exhibit a phenomenon known as cycling, caused by a loss of sodium in the arc. Sodium is a highly reactive element and is lost in a reaction with the aluminum oxide of the arc tube. The products are sodium oxide and aluminum:
6 Na + Al2O3 → 3 Na2O + 2 Al

Development

The low-pressure sodium arc discharge lamp was first made practical around 1920 owing to the development of a type of glass that could resist the corrosive effects of sodium vapor. These operated at pressures of less than 1 Pa and produced a near monochromatic light spectrum around the sodium emission lines at 589.0 and 589.56 nanometres wavelength. The yellow light produced by these limited the range of applications to those where color vision was not required.

Low-pressure sodium

Low-pressure sodium (LPS) lamps have a borosilicate glass gas discharge tube (arc tube) containing solid sodium and a small amount of neon and argon gas in a Penning mixture to start the gas discharge. The discharge tube may be linear (SLI lamp) or U-shaped. When the lamp is first started, it emits a dim red/pink light to warm the sodium metal; within a few minutes as the sodium metal vap…

High-pressure sodium

High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps have been widely used in industrial lighting, especially in large manufacturing facilities, and are commonly used as plant grow lights. They contain mercury. They have also been widely used for outdoor area lighting, such as on roadways, parking lots, and security areas. Understanding the change in human color vision sensitivity from photopic to me…

See also

• Arc lamp – Light created by electrical breakdown of gas
• High-intensity discharge lamp – Type of electric lamp/bulb (HID)
• History of street lighting in the United States – History of street lights
• List of light sources – Devices and processes that produce light

Notes

1. ^ Department of Public Works (1980). San Jose: Study and report on low-pressure sodium lighting. San Jose: City of San Jose. p. 8.
2. ^ Luginbuhl, Christian B. "Low-Pressure Sodium Issues and FAQ". Flagstaff, Arizona: U.S. Naval Observatory. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
3. ^ "The Low Pressure Sodium Lamp".

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