HOME · MOVIES · HIKING · PHOTOS | SITE MAP |
I never liked compact fluorescent bulbs in principle because they contain mercury and because of lingering fears that the bulbs emit ultraviolet which can bleach dyes and possibly contribute to cataracts. LED bulbs don't use mercury, and some experimentation suggests that they do not emit ultraviolet or even violet light. LED bulbs are now at a price where their alleged lifespan and documented efficiency make them a better buy than CFL bulbs to replace incandescent bulbs, at least for normal purposes.
My first LED bulbs were the three-lobed Philips "Alien Head" 60 Watt equivalents (see picture at right). I find them to be attractive with a cool new-technology look to them but apparently normal consumers don't like them. I've seen stock sitting in the local Home Depot with dust on the packaging; yes, really, they are not selling. That's a shame as what research I've seen online suggests that they're technically good bulbs. I find the Alien Head bulbs so attractive that I haven't been able to bring myself to do a teardown of any of them for fear of damage.
I bought a couple of the newer Philips 60 W equivalents, model 9290002268. Like the Alien Head bulbs these are 2700 K and use Luxeon Royal Blue LEDs to cause a remote phosphor to fluoresce; the same technology in a redesigned body. The remote phosphor is now in the shape of a yellow egg-yolk dome but is hidden from view by a frosted glass envelope; the bulb has a similar profile as the Alien Head bulbs but looks "normal" enough to not scare off consumers.
The only problem I had with these newer bulbs is the packaging. Like the Alien Head bulbs these are packaged in that annoying super-tough moulded PET plastic shell whose halves are welded together to make it impossible to remove the bulb by hand. Unlike the Alien Head bulbs, which are metal and plastic, these bulbs are plastic and thin glass — in a word, fragile. You can guess what happened, right?
In my excitement I must have gotten a little too energetic when cutting open one of these packages and bending the plastic out of the way to get at the bulb. The tough plastic packaging snapped back and hit the glass part, punching a hole into it! This was irritating but not a setback for me as I was going to break one of the bulbs anyway for access to the remote phosphor dome and LEDs. This experience simply led to the experiment taking place sooner than planned. If you don't want a broken bulb, take away this warning: Cut open the packaging completely with scissors so that no force is needed to remove the bulb. Then don't drop it.
As an aside, I wonder if a glass-envelope LED bulb is more likely to shatter than an incandescent if it falls with the glass facing down. An incandescent doesn't have much mass but an LED bulb has a lot of mass in its electronics and heat sink. If a glass-envelope LED bulb is dropped on its head then that glass would seem to have to handle an impact that has much more energy than an incandescent bulb would without shattering! Food for thought?
Words of warning: If you don't know about the Blue Light Hazard then, please, do some reading before operating a disassembled LED bulb. Without the remote phosphor dome in place this bulb emits a powerful, intensely blue light: The Luxeon specifications indicate a typical peak at 447.5 nm. This is in the important region for the Blue Light Hazard. It seems that a Royal Blue LED could be the poster child for the Blue Light Hazard — so BE CAREFUL!
This is only a partial teardown because I'm not interested in the potted driver electronics, only the light emitting parts: The LEDs and the remote phosphor dome. I'd also like to be able to use the bulb once I'm done with this experiment.
Concerned about the spectral emission of a bulb? One can use a DVD as a cheap diffraction grating to view the spectrum, at least the visible part. If one is looking at a CFL bulb one will see mercury emission lines and whatever lines the phosphor emits. If the lens in one's eyes has not aged too much then one can see the 405 nm violet line from mercury in CFL bulbs. The LED bulbs I've tested haven't had this line, the high-energy part of the spectrum being limited to the blue light coming from the royal-blue LEDs used to cause the phosphors to fluoresce.
Have some fun with a DVD spectroscope and identify lamp technology such as what is used for your local street lamps. This gives a scientific answer rather than a guess based on the lamp's colour, as the emission and absorption lines depend on the materials used: High pressure sodium has a different spectrum than mercury vapour.
There are plenty of web sites online discussion the use of a DVD as a cheap difraction grating. Lots of DIY projects. Have fun!
Copyright © 1996-2013 Toomas Losin | Contact | Disclaimer |