I remember about ten years ago, we began hearing about a
revolutionary new light bulb that was going to take the world by storm.
It was going to operate at 13.56 MHZ on the ISM frequency,
there, and consist of a RF generator that fit inside of a glass bulb
filled with argon and coated with phosphor or whatever is
environmentally proper to use in fluorescent tubes these days.
I am not even sure if the generator module was actually part
of the bulb or if you bought a generator module and slid a glass
envelope over it.
Anyway, these bulbs were supposed to be energy efficient and
long-lived.
I don't know what happened, but we seem to have RF lighting
devices, but they don't look like that at all.
At Oklahoma State University where I work, they went through
all the buildings about 3 or 4 years ago and replaced the conventional
fluorescent light fixtures with new ones containing RF ballasts.
The ballasts are tiny like one you might find in a 6 or 8-inch
tube lamp, and the tubes are smaller in diameter, but they are
brighter and there is no mains frequency flicker.
I believe the frequency is around 50 KHZ or so judging from
the spacing of the carriers the lights generate on an AM radio.
The ballasts are sealed, but I am guessing there is a bridge
rectifier, a transistor and a transformer built for 50 KHZ. The whole
thing probably looks like the beginning of a switching power supply.
Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK
OSU Information Technology Division Network Operations Group
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Author: Martin McCormick
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