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Level 3 Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings and Structures) Unit 302 Handout 17
302: Principles of electrical science
Handout 17: Lighting sources – high pressure mercury and metal halide
Learning outcome
The learner will:
5. Understand the principles and applications of electrical lighting systems.
Assessment criteria
The learner can:
5.2 explain the operating principles, types, limitations and applications of luminaires.
Range
Luminaires: General Lighting Service (GLS): Tungsten, Halogen), Discharge lighting: (Low and
high pressure mercury vapour, Low and high pressure sodium vapour, Metal halide), Energy
saving (such as compact fluorescent lamps), LED.
Lighting sources – high pressure mercury and metal halide
Discharge lighting – high pressure mercury
A mercury-vapour lamp is a gas discharge lamp that uses an electric
arc through vaporized mercury to produce light. The arc discharge is
generally confined to a small fused quartz arc tube mounted within a
larger borosilicate glass bulb. The outer bulb may be clear or coated
with a phosphor; in either case, the outer bulb provides thermal
insulation, protection from the ultraviolet radiation the light produces
and a convenient mounting for the fused quartz arc tube.
Mercury vapour lamps are more energy efficient than incandescent
and most fluorescent lights, with luminous efficacies of 35 to
65 lumens/watt. Their other advantages are a long bulb life in the
range of 24 000 hours and a high intensity, clear white light output.
For these reasons, they are used for large area overhead lighting,
such as in factories, warehouses, and sports arenas as well as for
streetlights.
Clear mercury lamps produce white light with a bluish-green tint due
to mercury's combination of spectral lines. This is not flattering to
human skin colour, so such lamps are typically not used in retail
stores. "Colour corrected" mercury bulbs overcome this problem with
a phosphor on the inside of the outer bulb that emits white light. They
offer better colour rendition than the more efficient high or low-
pressure sodium vapour lamps.
They operate at an internal pressure of around one atmosphere and
require special fixtures, as well as an electrical ballast. They also
require a warm-up period of 4 – 7 minutes to reach full light output.
Mercury vapour lamps are becoming obsolete due to the higher
efficiency and better colour balance of metal halide lamps.
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Level 3 Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings and Structures) Unit 302 Handout 17
How they work
The mercury in the tube is a liquid at normal temperatures. It needs to be vaporized and ionized
before the tube will conduct electricity and the arc can start. So, like fluorescent tubes, mercury
vapour lamps require a starter, which is usually contained within the mercury vapour lamp itself. A
third electrode is mounted near one of the main electrodes and connected through a resistor to the
other main electrode. In addition to the mercury, the tube is filled with argon gas at low pressure.
When power is applied, there is
sufficient voltage to ionize the argon and
strike a small arc between the starting
electrode and the adjacent main
electrode. This starting arc discharge
heats the mercury and eventually
provides enough ionized mercury to
strike an arc between the main
electrodes. This process takes from 4 to
7 minutes, so mercury lamps are slow
starting. Some bulbs include a thermal
switch which shorts the starting
electrode to the adjacent main electrode,
extinguishing the starting arc once the
main arc strikes.
The mercury vapour lamp is a negative resistance device. This means its resistance decreases as
the current through the tube increases. So if the lamp is connected directly to a constant-voltage
source like the electricity supply, the current through it will increase until it destroys itself. The
lamp, therefore, requires a ballast to limit the current through it. Mercury vapour lamp ballasts are
similar to the ballasts used with fluorescent lamps. In fact, the first British fluorescent lamps were
designed to operate from 80-watt mercury vapour ballasts.
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Level 3 Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings and Structures) Unit 302 Handout 17
High pressure mercury key points
efficacy ranges between 35 and 65 lumens per watt
colour rendering index (CRI) between 17 and 49
operating position – any position
will take 4 to 7 minutes to reach full brightness
after switching off, it will not restart until the pressure inside the lamp has fallen
control gear required
average life 24,000 hours
applications: used where colour rendering is not of major importance, for example street
lighting, car parks, floodlighting of buildings, general outdoor commercial and industrial uses.
Discharge lighting – metal halide
A metal-halide lamp is an electric light that produces light by an electric arc through a gaseous
mixture of vaporized mercury and metal halides (compounds of metals with bromine or iodine). It is
a type of high-intensity discharge (HID) gas discharge lamp. Developed in the 1960s, they are
similar to mercury vapour lamps, but contain additional metal halide compounds in the arc tube,
which improve the efficiency and colour rendition of the light.
Metal-halide lamps have high luminous efficacy of around 75 - 100 lumens per watt, about twice
the efficiency of high pressure mercury vapour lights and 3 to 5 times that of incandescent lights,
moderately long bulb life (6,000 to 15,000 hours) and produce an intense white light. As one of the
most efficient sources of high CRI white light, metal halides are the fastest growing segment of the
lighting industry. They are used for wide area overhead lighting of commercial, industrial, and
public spaces, such as car parking, sports arenas, factories, and retail stores, as well as residential
security lighting and automotive headlamps (xenon headlights).
The lamps consist of a small fused quartz or ceramic arc tube which contains the gases and the
arc, enclosed inside a larger glass bulb which has a coating to filter out the ultraviolet light
produced. Like other HID lamps, they operate under high pressure (4 to 20 atmospheres) and
require special fixtures to operate safely, as well as an electrical ballast to limit the current once
struck. They also require a warm-up period of several minutes to reach full light output, so they are
not typically used for residential room lighting, which is turned off and on frequently.
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Level 3 Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings and Structures) Unit 302 Handout 17
Metal halide key points
efficacy ranges between 75 and 100 lumens per watt
colour rendering index (CRI) between 85 and 96
operating position – any position
will take about 5 minutes to reach full brightness
after switching off, it will not restart until the pressure inside the lamp has fallen – about
6 to10 minutes
control gear required
average life 6,000 to 15,000 hours
wide area overhead lighting of commercial, industrial, and public spaces, such as car
parking, sports arenas, factories, and retail stores, as well as residential security lighting and
automotive headlamps.
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