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Topic: Mobility

The lightbulb of the future?

Summary: Silicon Valley's Luxim has developed a lightbulb the size of a Tic Tac that gives off as much light as a streetlight. News.com's Michael Kanellos talks to the company about its technology and its plans to expand into various markets.

Topic: Mobility

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28 comments
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  • RE: Light bulb of the future?

    This is really cool, imagine the possiblities, thinner TVs, better and cheaper lighting and a greener planet! Way to go Lumix!!
    jerang@...
    Reply Vote

    • How about...

      What's really needed is very focused lighting that doesn't radiate into space. You can't see the stars anymore in most towns and cities because of sodium and mercury lamps (not to mention incandescent lighting) that light the sky and don't concentrate their light where it's needed.

      If this new light source can be designed so the light is cast only where it's needed and not into the sky, that would be a good thing. It would require state or local legislation though.
      gypkap@...
      Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    I like what I see.
    My questions are:
    * unit cost?
    * retrofitability?
    * service life?
    * ambient heat leaking to outside the "bulb"?
    * UV/IR production? (given the "full spectrum" claims, this could be an issue)

    It strikes me that this could also be a very practical illumination source for a fibre-optic distribution system.

    This seems to be a very promising beta-stage product; I hope they go forward with it.

    Grant
    Ghogarth
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    What voltage(s) can be applied to operate these units?
    Does the lamp manufacturer provide a warranty and if so, for how many hours?

    Is a fixture/lamp assembly warranty available?

    Central Texas
    CPS Energy
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    its nice
    art4interior
    Reply Vote

  • How did they do it?

    The old TV Tube seems to be based on the same "puck" principle by accelerating and bundeling electrons into a beam. The trick is to absorb the energy in a pin-head size plasma point to excite the Ar to 6000?K and to not have the e-beam fly through the gas bubble in the Tic-Tac. Luxim must have found the right frequency to resonate with the Ar gas. Could a slight misalignment lead to excessive radiation?
    mmeinert
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    Bull
    rhburoz@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    Great to know about the future projects of lightbulb, they must be doing the state of art tech. Like we have in <a href="http://www.topwirelessinternet.com">wireless internet service</a> now a days.
    certvista
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    Why am I hearing about this world-shaking invention on a blog?
    erkantor@...
    Reply Vote

    • Re: The lightbulb of the future?

      Possibly because, although I first heard about this item one or two years ago, they have not yet been able to bring this to market.

      It sounds promising and I hope they can make it a commercial reality.
      york40
      Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    I speak,read,& write a little of 11 tounges..when can I sell for you?
    lexx6669@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    Economical with power....only bad news is it costs 3 zillion dollars per copy and takes 6 mos to make just one.
    Look at CFL's they contain Mercury and at $1.00/bulb where is the short term payback.
    If an item can't payback its increased cost in my lifetime WTF good is it?
    Fred619
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    Where Can I get one??? now.lol,Good for solar lights. I want some to use with solar energy.
    hotrod56
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The lightbulb of the future?

    How do you watch these videos??????????
    I see no Play icon. Whether I use Firefox or IE, there is NOTHING to watch, and no pop-ups for plug-ins appear either.
    Your videos are a complete mystery to me.
    glacken45
    Reply Vote

    • Works fine for me!

      Are you sure you have everything up-to-date on your machine?

      In mine there's a video with a bar at the bottom and a play button in the lower left. Methinks your system is somehow deficient. Not sure what they're embedding off hand. Could be flash, could be shockwave, could be java... But it works fine on this system w/ Firefox 3.0.8. Something must be missing on yours.
      mgmirkin
      Reply Vote

      • JavaScript!

        From the page source:

        "[noscript]You need Javascript enabled to view the video player.[/noscript]"

        So, make sure you've enabled javascript... For either this site or all sites. Don't know if anything else is required or not?

        Regards,
        ~Michael
        mgmirkin
        Reply Vote

  • Smart Lights

    Smart lights that only come on when cars or pedestrian are detected in their field of view. It's easy enough to put a reflector above the lamp to project the light downward, but it will still reflect off the ground and into the sky. The way to minimize reflection and save electricity is to use IR or other motion detection technology to turn street lights on only when needed. Freeway light would still be on all night, but residential and rural lights would be off more than on.
    doctordawg
    Reply Vote

    • Freeway lights on all night?

      Why should freeway lights be on all night?

      When the traffic density gets low enough - turn them off. Cars have had decent headlights for a long time now and the only reason for freeway lights is to provide extra light for busy, multi-lane freeways with lots of cars merging on and exiting.

      I would argue that more important lights to have on are to aid pedestrians and reduce crime. These could be controlled by motion sensors but freeway lights can just be turned off once traffic congestion eases at a specific time every day.

      These high power, highly efficient bulbs do sound interesting.
      HT Slider
      Reply Vote

  • Now Work On The Direction The Light Goes!

    I am a Star/Planet Gazer. I am concerned about light pollution.
    I am in favor of lower wattage lights gaving off the same amount of light as the bulbs it's replacing. Now work on focusing the light in the right direction. Where the people need it ... toward the ground.
    cpuguy1
    Reply Vote

  • <a href="http://www.observer.com/2008/activists-hound-hotelier-hank-freid">

    Really nice article..
    mariajonson2323
    Reply Vote
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