New lighting technology developed at UC Davis offers quality, cost and environmental benefits compared with existing types of lighting, according to Charles E. Hunt, professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Field emission lamps can match exactly the spectrum of natural daylight, Hunt said. They are up to five times more energy efficient than existing R- and PAR-type lamps and do not contain environmentally hazardous materials, such as the mercury vapor used in fluorescent tubes, he said. They are cheaper and can produce a wider variety of colors than light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
The technology could be used for indoor and outdoor area lighting, specialty applications such as film and video production, and for illuminated displays, traffic signals or technical lighting.
Field emission lamps are based on the same principle as the luminescent phosphor materials used in TV sets. Light is emitted when electrons are driven into the material. Traditional TV sets use a thermal electron gun to fire electrons into a phosphor screen. The new field emission devices use a powerful electric field to extract electrons from the cathode and drive them into the phosphor, which are located close together. The process is dramatically more efficient than the filaments used in electron guns.
"It combines 70-year-old vacuum tube technology with the latest advances in carbon nanomaterials," said Andrei Chakhovskoi, co-inventor of the device.
The UC Davis laboratory has developed materials for field emission cathodes that are inexpensive and simple to make. Lamps based on the material should have a lifetime of up to 30,000 hours, Hunt estimates.
Hunt's group is working with the California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis and the California Energy Commission on potential applications. The technology is based on inventions at UC Davis and on a collection of patents and intellectual property donated to UC Davis in 2004 by DuPont Corporation. The university is currently negotiating agreements to license the technology for commercial development.
Source: UC Davis
Related stories:
Tracking down the menace in Mexico City smog
A new report by scientists who are part of the international MILAGRO Campaign indicates that some of the most harmful air pollution in Mexico City may not come from motor vehicles but instead originates with industrial sources – and that the culprit may be garbage incineration.
New molecular imaging techniques may lead to advances in disease treatment
A promising new technique has been developed that will enable more accurate non-invasive positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of new cells injected into the body, according to researchers at SNM's 55th Annual Meeting. The new technique, which involves engineering antibody fragments to act as reporter genes—or markers that signal cells of interest for PET imaging purposes—could significantly advance the study of genetically engineered cells to treat diseases.
MRI/PET scanner combo
Two kinds of body imaging -- positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) -- have been combined for the first time in a single scanner.
Students Develop New Ways to Produce Renewable Fuels
There is a frenzied push in the United States to find alternative fuels and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. At North Carolina State University, even student researchers have caught the alternative fuels bug. And they’ve got a provisional patent for one of their innovative techniques.
Scientists capture nanoscale images with short and intense X-ray laser
LLNL scientists for the first time have validated the idea of using extremely short and intense X-ray pulses to capture images of objects such as proteins before the X-rays destroy the sample.
MAGIC Telescope Finds Microquasar
The variable emission of high-energy gamma rays from a variable microquasar within our galaxy has been detected by the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) telescope located in the Canary Islands. The object is the first seen to fluctuate in the high-energy gamma spectrum, said Daniel Ferenc, professor of physics at UC Davis and a member of the MAGIC scientific team.
Astronomers hot on the trail of nature's exotic flashers
Astronomers have uncovered tantalizing insights into the origin of short
gamma-ray bursts – mysterious, split-second high-energy flashes that have eluded detailed study until now.
Unlike their long-duration cousins, which are known to arise when massive young stars die, short bursts are thought to occur when old, dense neutron stars collide.
World's Most Powerful Infrared Camera Opens Its Eyes on the Heavens
Stunning image of Orion released
A new astronomical camera has begun operations on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii. The Wide Field Camera (WFCAM), built at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC), Edinburgh, is the world's most powerful infrared survey camera. It will survey large regions of the sky at infrared wavelengths and is expected to discover both the nearest objects outside our Solar System and the farthest known objects in the
Universe.