Several decades ago Dr. Paul Ehrlich wrote about the population explosion. What he had to say certainly made sense to me. Did we do much about it? I don't think so. Man has a difficult time coping with growth that is too fast. Had public policy regarding population growth been given adequate attention the effects of global warming might not be so great today.
So - why not quickly change to fluorescent lamps? This change can be given appropriate attention after we make sure that no aspect of such a change simply leads to another problem. What possible problem could arise? How about mercury containment at the end of lamp life? It is certainly possible to initiate programs for the recycling of lamps (perhaps by having a deposit on lamps such as was done with soft drink bottles.) Such a move would not be a good answer; something would have to be done to prevent children or uninformed adults from being exposed to mercury from smashed lamps.
Today tungsten is the filament material in incandescent lamps. Several advances in lamp design have been made since its introduction in 1907 - one hundred years ago. What is needed, as new generations of workers enter the fields of engineering and science, is a source of basic information that is complete and accurate. That is, in general, a tall order for many products. However, in the case of the incandescent lamp, a compendium of scientific and engineering information is available today for the use of the manufacturers of the lamp.
In 1992 Dr. Milan R. Vukcevich was the Chief Scientist for Refractory Metals of the Lighting Business Group of the General Electric Company in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. It was after working at General Electric for about 19 years that he published his account of the science of incandescence. It is a work that few people would be capable of writing. The task of writing it required mastery of several disciplines - and it is also a work that anticipates the needs and abilities of future inhabitants of the earth.
In the following, Milan's Preface and Table of Contents are given in his own words; no one could tell the story better than Milan. It is hoped that his monumental effort will have a positive effect on lamp research and engineering efforts in the future.
Real and perceived familiarity breeds contempt, and it is increasingly difficult to convince professionals and laymen that incandescent light sources have future. The most frequent argument is that incandescent light is inefficient and that a planet starved for energy can ill afford the luxury of a lamp that transforms less than ten percent of energy into light.
This is unfortunately true. However, people concerned with the future of humankind should also note that incandescent lights are still the only light sources which do not require ballasts and do not need any hazardous materials. What hazardous materials are left in incandescent products, such as lead in solders, are on their way out. Furthermore, there are billions of incandescent sockets which would have to be exchanged for more elaborate fixtures at considerable expense of many natural resources.
Instead of abandoning the only light source with a continuous spectrum resembling sunshine, we should try to improve it by increasing its efficiency, while not radically changing either its appearance, or the quality of its light. For a mature technology, this is a tall order. To fulfill it, we need an extensive effort by professionals in many different fields: from experts on perception of light, to experts on confinement of infrared radiation.
This book is written keeping in mind different kinds of professionals which will have to cooperate to build a new future for this old product. The need for a multi-disciplinary approach explains why I spent inordinate amounts of time on some subjects and just glossed over the others. For example, if you are an expert on electro-magnetism, the team needs you in that capacity. However, all I have in this book about your field is what your teammates need to know to understand your contributions to our specific project. On the other hand, there are subjects that do not fall clearly into the provenance of any profession, but are specific to lamp making. These subjects are the glue of the multi-disciplinary team, and that is where I spent a lot of time, often going down to levels which some may found trivial, but which all will have to understand.
The book can be divided into four parts. Covered in Chapters 1 to 4, are such basics as operation of lamps, properties of tungsten, the nature of light, physiology of the eye, and the lamp efficacy. In Chapters 5 to 8 you will find what is known about filament life and the lamp models based on the general filament equations. Advanced subjects start in Chapters 9 to 13. Covered there is everything needed to develop a computer program for design of incandescent and halogen lamps: from coil properties to thermal losses, halogen cycles, and design algorithms. The fourth part, Chapters 14 to 17, contains new subjects which will have to be developed further: catching and reusing the infrared and containment of the pressurized light sources.
At the end, Chapter 18, I tried to summarize the situation and identify areas of promising research. Many of those ideas will require a lot of hard work, others will need inventions, and some will verge on impossible. I hope that the possible will arrive fast and give us time to achieve the impossible.
Cleveland, May 21, 1992----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Milan R. Vukcevich
For a biographical sketch of Dr. Vukcevich go to : http://www.frognet.net/~ejcov/milan5.html
Book Details:
Title: The Science of Incandescence
Author: Milan R. Vukcevich
Date: 1992
Size: 9" x 11.25"
Pages: 302
Published by: Advanced Technology Department, GE Lighting, Nela Park, E. Cleveland, OH
Printed by: GEL Nela Press, 1975 Noble Road, E. Cleveland, OH 44112