TESLA RF PLASMA LAMP
Tesla was right in the end about so many things, it seems. Edison
believed the filament bulb was the best method for generating light,
while Tesla, the inventor of radio, advocated radio-frequency powered
lamps.
Edison did not invent the first electric light bulb, but instead
invented the first commercially practical incandescent light.
Approximately 90% of the power consumed by an incandescent light bulb is
emitted as heat, rather than as visible light. Overall luminous
efficiency of modern incandescent light bulb is only 3%. Luminous
efficiency of modern fluorescent tube is about 15% and efficiency of
sodium lamps is about 25%.
The 21st century has seen new lighting technologies emerge such as High
Efficiency Plasma lighting. Plasma lamp has the highest luminary
efficacy rating of any light fitting on the market. Plasma lamps are a
type of electrode-less lamp energized by radio frequency (RF) power. Due
to the lack of electrodes, they have long lifespan - between 65,000 and
100,000 hours – ten times longer than fluorescent tube and 100 times
longer than Edison incandescent lamp.
Plasma lamp is twice as efficient and half the cost of any other
available on the market. Plasma lamps typically have luminaire
efficiencies exceeding 90%. At around 140 lumens per watt, lamps in
this class are the most energy-efficient light source, almost ten times
more energy- efficient than Tom Edison’s incandescent bulb.
This promising technology is called new and revolutionary - the biggest
revolution in the lighting industry since the invention of filament
lamp. But this new and revolutionary 21st century technology is in
fact nineteenth century technology. Nikola Tesla demonstrated wired and
wireless transfer of power to electrode-less plasma lamps in his
lectures and articles in the 1890's, and subsequently patented a system
of light and power distribution on those principles. The diagrams in
Tesla's lectures and patents have a striking similarity to
electrode-less lamps that are available currently on the market.
TESLA 400 - Modern High Efficiency Plasma street light
A statement by Tesla, published in “The World” (1929):
Tesla with his wireless plasma lamp.
Surely, my system is more important than the incandescent lamp, which is
but one of the known electric illuminating devices and admittedly not the
best. Although greatly improved through chemical and metallurgical advances
and skill of artisans it is still inefficient... In my opinion, it will soon
be superseded by the electrode-less vacuum tube which I brought out
thirty-eight years ago, a lamp much more economical and yielding a light of
indescribable beauty and softness.
Eighty years since this Tesla statement Edison bulb, most inefficient
invention in the history, is still alive. But finally, some governments have
passed measures to prohibit the sale of Edison traditional filament,
incandescent bulbs - Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom by 2011, Canada in
2012, the European Union by September 2009, and the U.S. between 2012 and
2014.
A move toward high efficiency, environmentally friendly plasma lighting in
the near future would be a wonderful addition to our "green" movement. The
energy savings offered by this technology could make a significant
contribution towards the European Union's and global efforts to cut carbon
dioxide output. Tesla plasma lamp was reinvented in first decade of 21st
century. But Tesla is still one step ahead; besides wired, he also
demonstrated wireless plasma lamps.
