What is the service life of an incandescent lamp and how to increase it. How to extend the life of an electric light bulb. To make an incandescent lamp last a long time How to extend the life of an incandescent lamp diode

Recently, authors have increasingly come out against the use of a diode in the power supply circuit of incandescent lamps. The arguments are different− from saving energy to maintaining health. Yes, diode lamps flicker, you can see it. But for indoor lighting, we can propose a circuit for switching on two lamps in one lampshade (Fig. 1).

According to my observations, glasses are worn mainly by those people who love bright artificial light and set their TV screens to unnaturally high brightness. Perhaps this is not a cause, but a consequence, I will not insist, but the cooling of the metal occurs nonlinearly (Fig. 2),and temperature output

Spirals from the visible zone occur more rapidly than from the infrared zone. Increasing the efficiency of the lamp with increasing temperature leads to a reduction in operating time. I think that if the light bulbs have an efficiency of not 10%, but 9%, then this will not be as important as the regular replacement of lamps and hassle about this that have already become commonplace.

I don’t argue that when they talk about saving light bulbs, electricity and people’s health, they are important integrated approaches, which are viewed in . But if we examine the problems of economy more closely, the true cause of our troubles becomes clear. It’s not the long-suffering diode that’s to blame, but our total ignorance of the wise use of electricity. Achieve triple energy savings lighting can be localized (using local lighting, for example, table lamps), as well as using lamps daylight with a large phosphor afterglow, as has been done abroad for a long time.

The thing is that the heat of the light bulb does not disappear anywhere. And it is used... for heating. That's right, 90% of the energy consumed by incandescent lamps is released as infrared radiation, heat. During work, this heat is considered lost. But we use artificial light mainly in cold seasons. At this time, houses have to be heated, and light bulbs simply do their bit. We don’t feel this because we don’t have heat meters in our homes (many people don’t even know what it is). In the summer, it’s even easier to save on lighting; you just have to go to bed and wake up with the sun, and that’s all, and no energy-saving technologies.

Is there savings when using a diode? I will answer: “Yes, and what kind!” American experts claim that the use of a diode extends the life of a light bulb by 100 times, and many have already been convinced of this. In addition, in many cases, 60 or 100 W lamps are simply not needed, so they try to buy a 15-25 W lamp, and its flimsy spiral quickly burns out or simply breaks off. The price of some of our light bulbs already exceeds the cost of electricity, which they manage to consume during their short life. Therefore, it makes sense to use a more powerful light bulb, powering it through a diode. The use of thyristor power regulators also extends the life of light bulbs. Therefore, I consider it advisable not to waste time and paper fighting diodes and thyristor regulators power.

Yu.Borodaty

Literature

1. Kolesnik E.S. Are there any savings?//Radioamator-Electric. -2000.- No. 12. -P.25.

2. Titarenko Yu.I. What we save...//Radioamator-Electric. -2000. -No. 3. -P.44.

We'll tell you how to connect a regular incandescent lamp through a diode. Such a light bulb can be used, for example, to illuminate corridors, entrances or any other rooms that do not require very bright light. In this process, the question arises: what kind of diode do you need to buy to put 220 volts on a light bulb? This depends on the power of the light bulb; below in the article is an example of a diode for a 100-watt lamp, and formulas are given for calculating the parameters of the diode.

Fascinating electronic gizmos are sold in this Chinese store.

First, a little theory. It is no secret that to transmit voltage over long distances without loss, alternating current is used, which powers our light bulbs. To understand what alternating current is, just pay attention to the graph of voltage versus time for AC. As you may have noticed, the current changes its direction with a certain frequency. If we exclude one period of oscillation, then we can reduce their amplitude by half, which in practice will give us a 2-fold decrease in the supply voltage and, in turn, will allow the light bulb to work much longer than usual, and will also protect the light bulb from power surges and reduce the risk of burnout at the moment of switching on.

Such a lamp will not attract the attention of those who steal energy-saving and ordinary light bulbs on staircases.

The most in a simple way Cutting off the half-cycle of mains voltage fluctuations is to install a semiconductor diode in series with the load, which will pass current only in one direction. In our case, it is necessary to select a diode according to three main parameters: maximum forward current, maximum forward current per pulse and maximum reverse voltage.

The maximum forward current can be found by dividing the light bulb power by the supply voltage. The maximum forward current in the pulse must be at least 20 times greater than the maximum forward current so that the diode is not knocked out when the light bulb is turned on. The value of the maximum reverse voltage should be 3 times the root of the supply voltage.

In our case, since the diode will be placed inside an additional patch base, do not forget that its length should be less than its length. For example, in this case it is used diode 1N5399, which costs about 8 cents. It is ideal in all respects for a 220 volt incandescent lamp with a power of 100 watts.

In order to make an eternal light bulb, we will need:

Old light bulb or socket.
New light bulb with a power of up to 100 W.
Diode.
Soldering iron with a power of at least 20 W.
Solder.
Side cutters or nippers.
Pliers.
Hammer.
Cellophane bag.
Needle or straightened paper clip.

How to connect a light bulb via a diode

We need to take a diode, bite off one of its legs, and solder it to the contact on the lamp base. For ease of use, the lamp can be left in its packaging for this time so that it remains on the table.

Next, we prepare the second overhead base from an old light bulb. If the base is bent, use pliers. Next, you need to attach it to the main base by soldering the second contact of the diode to the patch base, or more precisely, to its central contact.

By the way, if you decide to make the light bulb eternal and you are not so interested in making a separate light bulb exclusive, an easier solution would be not to touch it, but simply screw the diode into the wires inside the switch. This is done much faster and easier.

Today, four types of lighting are widely used: traditional incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, halogen lamps and LED lamps. The service life of light bulbs directly depends on the technology of the lighting device. But within the technology, the service life of light bulbs will directly depend on operating conditions.

The principle of operation of incandescent lamps under load.

The filament of an incandescent lamp experiences the greatest load at the moment it is turned on. This is due to the fact that the light bulb coil in a cold state has a resistance tens of times less than when it is hot.

Experimental testing of the most common incandescent electric lamps with a power of 25, 40, 60, 75, 100 W shows that their cold resistance is 155.5; 103.5; 61.5; 51.5; 40 Ohm, and in the working one - 1936; 1210; 815; 650; 490 Ohm, respectively. Then the ratio of “hot” to “cold” resistance is 12.45; 11.7; 13.25; 12.62; 12.4, and on average it is 12.5. These indicators are taken from the reference book. But out of curiosity, our electricians in Korolev carried out such experimental measurements and came up with the same numbers.

As a result, the incandescent lamp, when turned on, operates under extreme conditions at currents that exceed the rated one. This leads to a reduction in the life of incandescent light bulbs, accelerated wear of the filament and premature failure, especially when the voltage in the supply network is exceeded. The latter circumstance, with prolonged excess voltage relative to the nominal one, leads to a sharp reduction in the service life of the lamp. As a result, the next time you press the switch, the light bulb will burn out, and the machine in the panel may even turn off. Are you wondering what to do if the lights go out and the apartment loses power?

The service life of an incandescent lamp is highly dependent on operating conditions.

The service life of a conventional incandescent light bulb depends on:

• on the quality of wire switching;
• on the quality of installation and connection of the chandelier;
• on the build quality of the lamp;
• on the stability of the rated voltage;
• from the presence or absence of mechanical impacts on the lamp, shocks, shocks, vibrations;
• on temperature and humidity environment;
• on the type of switch used and the rate of increase in current when power is applied.

How to increase the life of an incandescent lamp.

In order to extend the resource and operational life, it is necessary to understand why incandescent electric lamps burn out. When a light bulb operates for a long time, its filament is exposed to high temperature heating gradually evaporates, decreasing in diameter and breaks (burns out).

The higher the heating temperature of the filament, the more light it emits. In this case, the filament evaporation process becomes more intense and the lamp service life is reduced. Therefore, for incandescent lamps, the filament temperature is set at a temperature that ensures the required light output of the lamp and a certain duration of its service.

You can increase the service life of incandescent lamps by including devices in the circuit soft start, which will smooth out the load that occurs at the start of operation of a cold light bulb. For clarification possible ways To extend the operation of the lamps, please consult a specialist. For example, our electrician in Mytishchi, at the entrance of an apartment building, assembled a staircase lighting circuit, calculating the optimal operating life of the lamps. Our masters who provide electrician services in Pushkino have the same experience.

The average lifespan of an incandescent lamp is 1000 hours.

The average burning time of an incandescent lamp at the design voltage does not exceed 1000 hours. After 750 hours of burning, the luminous flux decreases by an average of 15%.

Incandescent lamps are very sensitive to even relatively small increases in voltage: with a voltage increase of just 6%, the service life is halved. For this reason, incandescent lamps that illuminate staircases burn out quite often, since at night the electrical network is lightly loaded and the voltage is increased.

The service life of an incandescent lamp varies widely, because it depends on many factors: on the quality of the connections in the electrical wiring and the lamp, on the stability of the rated voltage, on the presence or absence of mechanical impacts on the lamp, shocks, shocks, vibrations, on the ambient temperature, on the type of switch used and the rate of increase in current when power is supplied to the lamp.

When an incandescent lamp operates for a long time, its filament gradually evaporates under the influence of high heating temperatures, decreases in diameter, and breaks (burns out). The higher the heating temperature of the filament, the more light the lamp emits. In this case, the filament evaporation process becomes more intense and the lamp service life is reduced. Therefore, for incandescent lamps, the filament temperature is set at a temperature that ensures the required light output of the lamp and a certain duration of its service.

The average burning time of an incandescent lamp at the design voltage does not exceed 1000 hours. After 750 hours of burning, the luminous flux decreases by an average of 15%.

Incandescent lamps are very sensitive to even relatively small increases in voltage: with a voltage increase of just 6%, the service life is halved. For this reason, incandescent lamps that illuminate staircases burn out quite often, since at night the electrical network is lightly loaded and the voltage is increased.

In one of the German cities there is a lantern with one of the first incandescent lamps screwed into it. She is already more than 100 years old. But it was made with a huge margin of reliability, so it still burns. Nowadays, incandescent light bulbs are produced en masse, but with a very small margin of reliability. The surge of current that occurs when the lighting is turned on often damages the light bulb due to low resistance in a cold state. Therefore, when turning on the lighting, the light bulb must be heated with a low current, and then turned on full power. An incandescent lamp usually fails when turned on due to the low resistance of the cold filament.

Let's look at some small tricks to extend the life of incandescent lamps.

Taking into account the rated voltage

Currently, the industry produces incandescent lamps, which indicate not one voltage (127 or 220 V), but a range of voltages (125...135, 215...225, 220...230, 230...240 V) . Within each range, the incandescent lamp produces good luminous flux and is quite durable.

The presence of several ranges is explained by the fact that the operating voltage in the network differs from the nominal one: at the power source (substation) it is higher, and away from the power source it is lower. In this regard, in order for the lamps to serve for a long time and shine well, it is necessary to correctly select the required range. Obviously, if the voltage in your apartment network is 230 V, then it makes no sense to buy and install incandescent lamps that indicate the range of 215...225 V. Such lamps work with overheating and will not last long - they burn out prematurely.

Effect of vibration on lamp life

Incandescent lamps that operate in vibration and shock conditions are more likely to fail than those that operate in a quiet state. If there is a need to use a carrier, it is better to move it when it is turned off.

Prevention of a socket in which lamps often burn out

Sometimes it happens that the same lamp burns out in a chandelier, and when the lamp is operating, the socket is very hot. In this case, it is necessary to clean and bend the central and side contacts, tighten the contact connections of the wires suitable for the cartridge. It is advisable to install all the lamps in the chandelier with the same power.

Using a diode to protect the lamp

It is very beneficial to turn on incandescent lamps through a diode on the landings of houses, since the quality of lighting in this case is not significant, and the lamps, as operating experience shows, last for years. And if you can “attach” a resistor in series with the diode, then you can completely forget about the incandescent lamp on the landing.

Advice. For an incandescent lamp with a power of 25 W, it is enough to use a 50 Ohm resistor of the MLT type

Traditional incandescent electric lamps fail quite often. The main reason for their malfunction is burnout of the tungsten filament.

Working principle of an incandescent lamp

The lamp filament, made in the form of a spiral from refractory tungsten-based alloys, is placed in a transparent glass flask, inside of which either a vacuum is created (for low-power lamps) or it is filled with an inert gas.

When flowing through a spiral electric current it heats up to a high temperature due to its high resistance, and when heated, it emits wide range spectrum, including in its visible part, as a result of which “the light bulb shines.”

Lamp quality

The main reason for the “burnout” of incandescent lamps is the uneven evaporation of the filament material, as a result of which areas with a smaller cross-section and higher resistance appear on the lamp filament.

The increased resistance of the local section of the filament leads to an increase in its temperature, compared with other sections of the spiral, and therefore to more active evaporation of the metal in such areas.

As a result, the filament material in this area either melts or completely evaporates and the electric lamp becomes unusable.

Limited resource and increased voltage

The second reason for the failure of electric incandescent lamps is the limited operating time resource, which is approximately 1000 hours, and in the electrical network it further reduces the wear time of the spiral.

At night, when the voltage in the network is much higher than the nominal one, tungsten atoms evaporate more intensely, and the filament thins out much faster and loses its functionality.

Increasing the voltage by 5% reduces the service life of an electric lamp by approximately half.

Frequent starts

Since the resistance values ​​of the lamp filament in cold and hot states differ significantly, when power is applied to an electric lamp, the following happens: the lamp filament is cold and has low resistance, for this reason a so-called “large current surge” occurs and the filament burns out prematurely.

Malfunctions of the cartridge and switch

When there is an unreliable contact connection in the socket into which the light bulb is screwed between its central or side contacts and the lamp base, the resistance value at the contacts fluctuates chaotically, which leads to fluctuations in the voltage supplying the filament.

As a result, the lamp fails before it reaches its stated hourly lifespan.

In a faulty one, the contact elements are usually covered with a layer of soot and spark when turned on and off.

Consequently, the voltage supplied to the lamp filament is unstable, which, as in the case of a faulty cartridge, entails premature failure of the electric lamp due to burnout of its filament.

Vibrations and mechanical influences

The lamp filament in operating condition has a temperature in the range from 2000 to 3000 0 C and the spiral material actively evaporates.

Any, even minor vibration or slight mechanical impact can disrupt the integrity of the filament and lead to complete malfunction lamps.

Simple ways to extend lamp life

First of all, put everything in order in the house: check the quality of the contacts in the apartment electrical panel and in the branching or junction boxes (call it what you want) and if you find bad contacts, eliminate these shortcomings (yourself or with the help of an invited specialist).

Replace incandescent lamps. Sometimes, instead of replacing the socket with a new one, it is enough to just bend the central contact in it towards the lamp base.

When purchasing, select lamps designed for a voltage equal to or slightly higher than the one that “lives” in your sockets. For example, if the electrical voltage in the residential network is from 220 to 230 volts, it would be reasonable to opt for lamps with a designated rated voltage of 230-240 V.

To protect lamps from current surges at the moment of switching on, purchase and install a device in the open circuit of the electric lamp smooth start lamps (UPVL), which will provide a gradual increase in the voltage supplied to the lamp at the moment it is turned on.

You can make a simplified version of the UPVL yourself by placing a paper capacitor with a capacity of 10-20 microfarads, rated for a voltage of at least 300 V, in the gap of one of the wires leading to the lamp.

To extend the service life of lamps that are constantly turned on at night (lighting staircases, entrances, etc.), a method involving inserting, or rather soldering, a diode into an open lighting circuit has become widespread.

The maximum permissible forward current of such a diode should be at least 0.5-1 A, and the maximum permissible reverse voltage should be 300 V. Such a lamp will noticeably blink at a frequency of 25 Hz; if this is unacceptable for you, you can add a series-connected capacitor with a nominal value of 20 µF and 300 V.

Another way to protect a lamp from increased voltage at night is to connect two lamps of equal power in series in one electrical circuit.

Good luck to you! May everything work out for you!