William Atkins
Monday, 13 April 2009 18:53
Science -
Energy
Page 1 of 2
Canadian researchers in Queen’s University has found a way to make CFLs dimmable, along with even more efficient than before—and they were already 1,000 times more efficient that incandescent bulbs while consuming only one-third the power.
Dr.
Praveen Jain, of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) led this new development for CFLs.
Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (or Lamps), abbreviated CFLs, is an energy saving type of light bulb when compared to the traditional incandescent light bulbs. It is a type of fluorescent light bulb, but very small in size so that it can directly replace an incandescent light bulb in an existing light fixture.
They provide the same amount of visible light but use less power and have a longer rated lifetime.
According to the Tuesday, April 7, 2009 Queen’s University press release
Queen’s researchers shine light on compact fluorescent bulb problems,
“Long touted as an energy-saving alternative for home lighting, compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) now have the potential to be even more efficient, as well as dimmable, thanks to research at Queen’s University.”
Indian-Canadian researcher Praveen Jain, the Canada Research Chair in Power Electronics, made the advancement while trying to solve two problems with current CFLs: (1) they do not work with dimmer switchers (like incandescent bulbs are able to do) and (2) their energy efficiency is lower than it could be so only part of its energy is used to light the bulb.
Jain states,
"Consumer-grade CFLs need to be compact and inexpensive. Until now, the complicated circuitry needed to power these bulbs most efficiently has been too large and too costly for consumer-grade compact fluorescents. In its current form, the household CFL takes away the very benefit to the power grid that it was supposed to provide."
The problems were worked out with the help of Ph.D. candidate John Lam. See Page two.
