The development of lighting products has experienced the "tungsten wire" era in 1890, the "gas discharge" era in 1940, and the "solid" luminous era in 2000.

This is the era of incandescent lamps, gas discharge lamps (energy-saving lamps) and LED lighting. The life of lighting products has also developed from the initial 40 hours to the current 8000-10000 hours, and the life of LED lighting products will reach 50,000 hours in the future.

In order to give everyone a general understanding of lighting products, first introduce a few basic lighting terms:

1. Luminous flux (unit: lumens): The sum of the energy emitted by the light source and received by human eyes. That is, the luminous ability.

2.Light efficiency (unit: lumens/watt: the light emitted by each watt of electric energy consumed by the lighting product, which is the efficiency of the lighting product converting electric energy into light energy

3. Color temperature: that is, the light color that people say: warm color (yellow light) ﹤3300K

                           Neutral light: 3300-5000K

                           Cool color (white light):﹥5000K

4. Luminous decay: The essence of the luminous decay phenomenon of fluorescent tubes is that the luminous efficiency of fluorescent tubes is reduced.

The light decay phenomenon of fluorescent tubes is mainly affected by three aspects: the technical quality of raw materials, the level of production technology, and the performance of the driving power source in actual use.

There are some such as: light intensity, brightness, illuminance, color rendering, etc. I will not go into details.

It can be seen that the important indicators for measuring an illuminated product are luminous flux and light efficiency. This is in turn related to the luminous principle of lighting products.

1. Incandescent lamps (that is, the bulbs we are still using now, common power: 15W, 25W, 40W, 60W) is a heat radiation light source, through the current flowing through the filament to generate high temperature and emit light, nearly 80% of the electrical energy is converted into heat to emit Now, the light effect can be imagined.

2. The gas discharge lamp (energy-saving lamp) consists of a glass tube (contains all working materials), two electrodes (the passage of electric current generates electrons), filled mercury-containing gas (converts electric energy into ultraviolet rays), and phosphors (converts ultraviolet rays) It is composed of visible light) and lamp holder (used to connect the lamp tube and power supply). Its light-emitting principle is simply: the electronic ballast generates voltage-the electrode emits electrons-the electrons collide and excite mercury atoms-the excited mercury atoms emit ultraviolet rays-the phosphor converts ultraviolet rays into visible light. Nearly 70% of the electrical energy is converted into light It has high light efficiency.

3. LED is the abbreviation of light emitting diode. The core part is a wafer composed of P-type semiconductor and N-type semiconductor. There is a transition layer between the two semiconductors. In the PN junction of some semiconductor materials, when the injected minority carriers and the majority carriers recombine, the excess energy is released in the form of light, thereby directly converting electrical energy into light energy. The intensity of light is related to the current flowing. Its advantages are low power supply voltage (between 6-24V), high light efficiency, long life (over 50,000 hours), and no mercury and lead pollution to the environment. The disadvantage is that the price is high and the light decay is serious.

Incandescent lamps are being replaced by energy-saving lamps due to their high power consumption, low light efficiency, and short life span. Because of its severe light decay and high price, LEDs will take time to be widely used. Therefore, these two light sources will not be explained in detail. Below we will make some simple explanations on the structure and purchase of integrated energy-saving lamps.

The integrated energy-saving lamp consists of a lamp tube, a lamp holder and an electronic ballast. The electronic ballast is installed in the plastic part connecting the lamp cap and the lamp tube. The tube shape is mainly divided into U-shaped and spiral-shaped. As mentioned earlier, due to the use of gas discharge as the principle of luminescence, a high-efficiency energy-saving lamp, 5W is equivalent to the brightness of a 25W incandescent bulb. 8W is equivalent to the brightness of a 40W incandescent bulb (basically it can be converted by 5.4 times), and its life span is much longer than that of an incandescent bulb. And the integrated energy-saving lamp of the same power, the spiral tube energy-saving lamp is much brighter than the U-tube energy-saving lamp. The world's first spiral energy-saving lamp is manufactured by TCP Lighting in the United States. The biggest advantage of the spiral design is that the length of the energy-saving lamp is shortened, thereby saving the cost of the lamp, and the brightness is greatly improved, because the length of the spiral lamp is longer than the U-shaped tube of the same power after being "straightened", and the lamp tube There is no obstruction between them, and all the generated light can be radiated. Therefore, the spiral energy-saving lamp will gradually replace the U-tube energy-saving lamp.

At present, there are more than two thousand energy-saving lamp manufacturers in China, from large-scale formal manufacturers to family-style workshops. Energy-saving lamp products are mixed, the quality is uneven, and the price is different. So how can we buy qualified energy-saving lamps What about the product?

1. Look at the packaging: make sure that the product packaging is complete and the signs are complete when purchasing. The manufacturer’s name, telephone number, address, and product specifications and technical parameters must be on the outer packaging of the product. Related certifications, such as China Energy Conservation Certification, China Quality Certification, etc. High-quality energy-saving lamps are underwritten by insurance companies. Whether there is an energy efficiency label,

Order No. 8 of 2008 jointly issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the State Certification and Accreditation Administration. Starting from June 1, 2008, only energy-saving lamps that meet the national energy-saving standards can have energy-efficiency labels. This is energy-saving with an average life span of 8,000 hours The lights can be issued. A detailed product instruction manual should also be included in the product packaging.

2. Look at the workmanship: that is, look at the workmanship and material selection of the lamp holder, the lamp tube and the plastic parts connecting the lamp holder and the lamp tube.

           Lamp holder-the materials generally include copper lamp cap, iron lamp cap, aluminum lamp cap, and nickel-plated lamp cap. High-quality energy-saving lamps choose nickel-plated lamp caps because they are not easily deformed at high temperatures and are corrosion-resistant. The US TCP energy-saving lamps use riveting Lamp holder.

In order to reduce the cost of low-grade energy-saving lamps, they all choose aluminum lamp caps, which are easy to deform and fall off.

Plastic parts-there are three kinds of PP, PC, PBT. PP material is relatively soft and is used for low-grade products. PC material is a high-end product with smooth surface, and PBT is a high-end flame retardant material. High-quality energy-saving lamps choose the latter two materials. In addition, high-quality energy-saving lamps have good thermal stability because of the high quality of the selected electronic components. Although they are installed in plastic parts, there are no heat dissipation holes on the plastic parts. Poor device selection. There must be heat dissipation holes, otherwise it is easy to damage. Because the ballast of the energy-saving lamp is an electronic product, there will be electromagnetic radiation (CCTV has had a special report for this), and the energy-saving lamp without heat dissipation holes reduces the amount of electromagnetic radiation to a minimum. And the heat dissipation holes will absorb dust into the ballast, causing short circuit failure.

Tubes—The tubes of high-quality energy-saving lamps are made of lead-free glass, which improves light efficiency. The fluorescent powder coated on the lamp tube has three kinds of halogen powder, three-base toner, and mixed powder (halogen powder + three-base toner). The life of halogen powder energy-saving lamps is 3000-4000 hours. The life of the mixed powder energy-saving lamp is 4000-6000 hours. The life of energy-saving lamps with tri-color powder is over 8000 hours. All high-quality energy-saving lamps use three-primary phosphors. Low-quality energy-saving lamps are all halogen powder. Because the surface of the glass is smooth, the phosphor is directly coated on the surface, and it will easily fall off after a long time. I said that the gas discharge lamp uses electrons to excite mercury atoms to emit ultraviolet rays and irradiate the phosphor to emit light. The ultraviolet disinfection lamp for hospitals and household fluorescent lamps and The difference between energy-saving lamps is that the former lamp tube is not coated with fluorescent powder, and ultraviolet rays are directly irradiated through the lamp tube, which has a sterilization effect. High-quality energy-saving lamps are all coated with powder coating technology. First, a layer of film is coated on the lamp tube by a special process, and then the phosphor is coated on the film, which greatly enhances the adhesion strength, and there will be no phosphor during the lifetime. A large amount of shedding phenomenon eliminates the possibility of ultraviolet rays exceeding the standard, and reduces light decay. For low-grade energy-saving lamps, due to their low price, it is impossible to use this process in terms of cost. The phosphor can be directly coated on the glass surface, and the use effect can be imagined.

Through the above brief introduction, everyone should know why the prices of energy-saving lamps on the market are so different. Now people often spend tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands in home decoration. They attach great importance to whether the building materials are environmentally friendly, but ignore the lighting. For product safety and environmental protection, when purchasing, we only care about price and ignore quality. This concept must be changed, because at night, lighting products are inseparable from every household and every person. Let us not be "light pollution" while enjoying the light it brings to us. Now some large-scale manufacturers attach great importance to the production of differentiated energy-saving lamps, giving people more choices in the types of lighting products.