'Light within a light' offers CFL efficiency with incandescent bulb shape

December 12, 2008 by Lisa Zyga

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A video clip of General Electric's new Energy Smart CFL bulb, containing a fluorescent bulb in an incandescent-shaped outer bulb. (Commercial bulbs will be frosted, not clear.) Image credit: GE.

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the coming weeks, General Electric will start selling a new "ship in a bottle" lightbulb - a fluorescent spiral bulb trapped inside a traditional incandescent-shaped bulb.

The advantage of the new Energy Smart compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is that it offers CFL efficiency along with the more aesthetic pleasing appearance of a typical incandescent bulb. The new light has the same size and dimensions of an old 60-watt bulb, which may make it attractive for fixtures in which the bulb is visible, or possibly for inexpensive ceiling fixtures designed to clip on to round bulbs.

"The all-glass design, which I said would be out next year, combines that T2 spiral fluorescent tube with an electronics package contained in the neck of the lamp," John Strainic, GE global product general manager, explains in the video. "So that gives you the profile of an incandescent shape...so it's like building a ship in a bottle."

Strainic said that some very leading-edge patents were used for the process of cutting and resealing the bulb. The final bulbs will be frosted white, so most likely the inner fluorescent spiral won't be visible.

GE plans to make the new bulb available on December 28 at Target, in January at selected Ace Hardware stores, and everywhere else (including Walmart) around Earth Day 2009 (April 22).

via: Gizmodo

© 2008 PhysOrg.com

• cybrbeast - Dec 12, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
  Philips already sells these lamps. I have a few at home. They also give off soft incandescent type light instead of the chilly CFL light.
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• dbren - Dec 12, 2008
  • Rank: 3.2 / 5 (5)
  Now if they can just make fluorescents put out a pleasant light.
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• ShadowRam - Dec 12, 2008
  • Rank: 4.1 / 5 (9)
  What? fluorescents are way 100x more pleasant than any dirty orange dull incandescent.
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• canuckit - Dec 12, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
  This type of CFL's have been available in Canada
  for the last 3 years under different brand names.
  
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• Flakk - Dec 12, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (8)
  I prefer my LED lights.
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• Keys1337 - Dec 12, 2008
  • Rank: 2 / 5 (1)
  Pastiche
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• schultz911 - Dec 13, 2008
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  Touche
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• El_Nexus - Dec 13, 2008
  • Rank: 1.7 / 5 (6)

  What? fluorescents are way 100x more pleasant than any dirty orange dull incandescent.

  
  
  I disagree. I find them harsh and unpleasant.
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• Soylent - Dec 13, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (3)

  What? fluorescents are way 100x more pleasant than any dirty orange dull incandescent.

  
  
  Definetly; you can easily get them in any colour-temperature you want(well, the full-size ones, el cheapo CFLs found in an apartment store are nearly always the irritating yellow-orange 2700 K glow of incandecent lights)
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• DGBEACH - Dec 13, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (2)

  I prefer my LED lights.

  
  You tell'em Flakk!
  Don't worry the rest of them will eventually catch up to us, and leave their thermo-optical devices behind in favor of truly light-emitting ones. 'Though maybe they like wasting all that electricity (?)
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• deatopmg - Dec 13, 2008
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
  Independent of the color temperature, I'll bet the CRI is much less than 85 in these new bulbs. I'd rather use, full spectrum (CRI greater than 90) CFL's @60-80 lumens/watt vs. LEDs w/ a sucky CRI of ca. 65 and only 20 - 40 lumens/watt.
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• AlexDSP - Dec 13, 2008
  • Rank: 2 / 5 (1)
  One problem with CFLs is getting all available light out without it being blocked by other parts of the lamp. One solution is to have a quartz (or other UV transparent material) for the tube itself and coat the inside of the glass 'bulb' with phosphor. Has this been done yet?
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• Keter - Dec 13, 2008
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
  If they still flicker, they'll still give me a headache. Even to so-called flicker-free ones can induce that dreaded eye headache, it just takes three hours to get it as opposed to half an hour - so by noon, pain. And I need an incandescent light or a window to buffer the flicker of a computer screen. I guess about 10% of the population is similarly sensitive - this issue is not going away.
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