Metal Halide Lamps: Presented By: Group 5

METAL HALIDE
LAMPS
PRESENTED BY: GROUP 5
INTRODUCTION
• This type of lamp is also known as an 'MH' lamp. It is an HID lamp (High
Intensity Discharge), which means it provides most of its light from the
electric arc within a small discharge tube. It is becoming increasingly popular
due to its good quality white light and good efficiency. The most prominent
use of the MH lamp is in stadiums and sports fields. It is also used widely for
parking lots and street lighting in urban areas. Its competitors include
the HPS lamp, mercury vapor lamp, LPS lamp, halogen lamps, and LEDs.
MH lamps have advantages over the rest which make it more useful for
certain applications.
HISTORY
METAL HALIDE LAMPS
CHARLES P. STEINMETZ
CHARLES P. STEINMETZ
• 1912 Charles P. Steinmetz is the first to use halide salts in a mercury vapor
lamp. He used the halides to correct color and was successful, but he could
not get a consistent arc. The complex phenomena of plasma physics was still
being explored. Steinmetz's arc would dance around allowing the
temperature in the discharge tube to drop, the lower temperatures would
stop the halide salts from burning and the color and intensity of the lamp
would shift.
ROBERT REILING
ROBERT REILING
• 1962 Robert Reiling used recent developments in the high pressure mercury
vapor lamp to create the first reliable MH lamp. A fused quartz discharge
tube with molybdenum and tungsten sealed electrodes were just developed to
deal with the destructive high temps of high pressure mercury lamps. Reiling
built on the work of Steinmetz to complete the work. The MH lamp became
more popular decades later as the price of the lamp became more affordable.
• 2001 Frederick Espiau, Chandrashekhar Joshi & Yian Chang invented
the LEP or lighting emitting plasma lamp. (Luxim Corp.) The lamp could be
considered both a metal halide lamp and electrodeless induction lamp. The
lamp has not reached full market potential yet since it is so new.
PARTS
HOW IT WORKS
How it Works
• The lamp uses mercury vapor to create the powerful light (like the high
pressure mercury vapor) but includes other metals (halide salts) to improve
the color.
• A Halide is a chemical compound of a halogen combined with an
electropositive element, or in the case of lamps: a metal. A halogen is a
monovalent element which readily forms negative ions. There are 5 halogens:
fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine.
Normal MH Lamp Operation
• 1.) When the lamp is cold the halides and mercury are condensed on the
fuzed quartz tube. When the lamp is turned on current passed through the
starting electrode and jumps the short distance to the main electrode (see the
diagram below), this is aided by argon gas. The argon gas strikes an arc at low
temperatures.
• 2.) After the initial small arc the tube heats up and the mercury is
vaporized. Electric arcs fight to work through the resistance of a gas, but over time
more molecules of the gas become ionized. This makes it even easier for more
electric current to pass through, so the arc gets wider and hotter. In the lamp as the
first arc heats up, it begins to turn the solid mercury into a vapor, soon the arc is
able to travel through the mercury vapor to reach the other main electrode on the
opposite side of the discharge tube. There is less resistance on this path now and
current stops flowing through the starting electrode, just as a river changes course to
a path of least resistance, drying out the previous channel.
• 3.) After a mercury vapor arc strikes and heats, the halides vaporize and the
halides dissociate. The metal atoms diffuse away from the arc to cooler areas
and recombine with the halogen before they damage any part of the silica or
electrodes. The lamp is now fully warmed up and produces its white light.
LIFESPAN
LIFE SPAN
• Statistics
*Lumens per watt: 65 (large bulbs) up to 115 (small HP MH bulbs) (25% of
energy makes light, 75% heat)
*Lamp life: 20,000 hrs (when mounted base up)
10,000 hrs (horizontal mounted)
*CRI 60 - 90 (depends on brand and chemical compositions)
*Color Temperature: 3000 (warm white) - 20,000K (blue)
Warm up time: 1 - 15 minutes
• Common uses: outdoor lighting where good color rendering is needed,
television/film lighting, sports fields, car headlights, flood lights, heavy flashlights,
green house applications
VARIATION AND
USES
Right: 1 cm diameter MH lamp used in a hand
held flashlight.
VARIATION AND USES
• The first MH lamps had a large outer envelope. In the last 20 years engineers have been able to
make a smaller MH lamp at higher pressures. The higher pressure means a higher efficiency as
well.
Use in car headlights:
• The MH lamp has been used in Europe for automobile headlights for some time. It recently has
recently become legal to use as an automotive headlight in the US. These lamps cast a cooler light
with a poorer color rendering index than Halogen. This light is brighter and has created
controversy as it may make the road more dangerous by blinding other drivers. This head light is
sometimes confused with the Sylvania "Bright Star" which is a Halogen headlight with a blue
filter.
The HMI
• Another kind of metal halide lamp is the halogen metal iodide or HMI lamp.
It is mainly used for photography since it makes a 5600 K light (matching
natural daylight) and has a great CRI. The lamp has a optimum combination
of metal halides made of rare earth metals. It has a quartz discharge tube
with rod-shaped electrodes made of tungsten and a power supply of high
voltage DC. The external ballast is rather heavy, about 6+ pounds. The light
is best used as a powerful light source at 8+ ft (2 m) distance from the talent.
This light is expensive and in demand among the film and television industry
professionals. 90 lumens per watt.
The HMI
Short-arc Metal Halide (MEI)
• The Short Arc metal halide lamp is similar to the xenon short-arc lamp in
appearance. It is a glass tube with a bulging center bulb with two tungsten
electrodes. The high pressure bulb is made of clear quartz and boasts over
100 lumens per watt(due to the higher pressure). The bulb is touted as the
"most powerful discharge lamp in widespread use". It uses a Dysprosium
iodide and mercury filling in the tube.
Short-arc Metal Halide (MEI)
LEP - Light Emitting Plasma
• The LEP is a high intensity light which is often put in a parallel with the LED. The
LEP is not the same, it is actually a form of metal halide lamp and induction lamp.
It has a high pressure quartz bulb that contains metal halides and no electrodes.
This bulb is nestled in a unit that creates radio frequency energy and directs it into
the bulb. The halides are vaporized and light is made, on the back side of the quartz
bulb is a highly reflective powder. This light has a potential for longer life than the
standard metal halide because it has a perfectly sealed bulb with no electrodes
penetrating the envelope.
• This lamp can be used for street lighting, film lighting and other applications which
need intense lighting equivalent to the HPS or MH lamps.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
Advantages:
*More pure white light than the popular HPS lamps, close to daylight frequencies, which allows
it to be used for growing plants
*More energy efficient than mercury vapor and halogen lamps, great lumen output
*Good for indoor (high ceiling areas - "high bay" applications) and outdoor use due to good
light quality
Disadvantages:
*Expensive per-bulb cost: expensive to manufacture - many parts to assemble and materials are
not cheap
*Light pollution: the light is so bright that it produces much more light pollution than HPS or
LPS street lamps, the whites from an MH lamp are closer to daylight in frequency.
SUMMARY
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