LightSources and strategic partner, LightTech manufacture a low pressure mercury lamp (LP Hg lamp) that provides highly efficient short wavelength ultraviolet energy. Our LP Hg lamp converts forty percent of the electrical power into UVC radiation for germicidal applications. With our proprietary LongLife+™ coating process, the low pressure mercury lamps have an operating life of up to 16,000 hours, maintaining an end-of-life UVC output of 80%.*
Our low pressure mercury lamp technologies offer clients a wide range of solutions. Various technologies include soft glass and quartz glass, ozone free and ozone generating lamps, standard and high output lamps, low-pressure amalgam lamps, and specialty lamps. We offer both standard and customized products, and work closely with our OEM’s to create innovative, proprietary lamp types and components.
* Life claim testing done under laboratory conditions. Actual performances depend on operating conditions.
Low Pressure Mercury Lamp – Learn What Goes Into Ours
Soft Glass vs. Quartz Glass
Softglass lamps are one of our quality low pressure mercury lamp products. They have a germicidal efficiency of 30% and can operate on lower current (between 180 and 425mA). The lamps come in both standard and high-output selections and are ozone-free.
Our quartz glass lamps are designed to be highly UVC transmissive, with transmission levels at or above 90%. Operating at 253.7nm, they are very close to the peak germicidal effectiveness curve of 265nm. They come in a standard or high output, offering both ozone free and ozone generating solutions. Quartz glass is more resistant to solarization, a by-product of UV lamp operation. Quartz is also harder than soft glass and less susceptible to breakage.
Ozone Free vs. Ozone Generating Lamps
Ozone-free lamps are used for simple disinfection applications and only require a wavelength of 254nm. This wavelength can also be used in ozone destruction. Ozone-free lamps are engineered using doped quartz.
Ozone is the strongest oxidizing agent available, reacting with a multitude of organic compounds to oxidize and disinfect air and water. Ozone is a highly-efficient deodorizer and can help to disinfect locations from surface and airborne mold and bacteria. Ozone-generating lamps are available in two varieties: “H” (High Output-ozone generating) and “VH” (Very High ozone generating).
Standard vs. High Output
Another low pressure mercury lamp option is our standard and high-output (HO) UVC lamps that use mercury vapor to emit UVC light. Liquid mercury droplets collect at the lamp’s “cold spot.” Once the mercury droplets reach their peak temperature, maximum UVC output occurs.
High-output lamps are driven at a higher electrical current and input wattage (operating at 600mA and 800mA vs. 425mA), are equipped with heavier current carrying filaments, and are capable of carrying higher electrical loads. The filaments used in HO lamps provide a more controlled cold spot, enabling them to yield up to two-thirds more UVC output.
HO UVC lamps are used in applications where higher flow rates or dosages are required while maintaining a limited footprint. Standard UVC lamps are used in applications where flow rates are lower and exposure times can be longer.
Low-Pressure Amalgam Lamps
Amalgam lamps use a mercury amalgam mix to control mercury vapor pressure. Rather than a “cold spot,” the lamp’s “amalgam spot on pellet” regulates mercury vapor pressure during operation and yields up to three times the UVC output of a standard low pressure mercury lamp of the same length. We offer a variety of amalgam lamp solutions.
Specialty Lamps
Our specialty lamp solutions include Quartz Germipak Cell Lamps, Quartz U-Lamps, Quartz Compact Lamps, and Soft Glass Compact Lamps.
LightSources and our affiliated companies represent the leading high-tech designers and manufacturers in the lamp industry today. Our products are used world-wide in a multitude of applications and industries such as our UV germicidal lamps that offer patent-protected, OEM-oriented solutions. Contact us to learn more about the technology that goes into creating a low pressure mercury lamp.
This post is also available in:
Chinese (Simplified)