this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Wild to see this posted. I worked for the guy that invented this at Sylvania, I have a bunch of photos of the early prototypes. They never figured out how to commercialize it and in the process of trying to manufacturer it in China the manufacturer stole the IP and started making them under their own brand and stole the market. They were called Icetron lamps. I worked in their R&D facilities and domestic manufacturing sites in the early 2000s.

https://www.1000bulbs.com/pdf/sylvania-26313-brochure.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOorwXg30eX88Qqr_onubna8XmLWO2_-abII3J3MbnKVc_f8BRWMK

[–] frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

My question is if we could attach an induction loop to a standard T8 bulb. If a bulb has burned out its electrical contacts, perhaps it could still be reused as it is.

I'd guess that even if it were possible, it needs a lot of special electronics. Not worth the effort compared to getting an LED bulb.

[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Likely. The coils only job is to ignite the lamp by whacking it with high voltage to strip some barium elections off the coil to induce plasma and therefore electrical flow. The plasma then excites the phosphorus to make light. After that the coils could just be stubs of wire so long as current keeps flowing through the excited plasma. If you did it inductively it would achieve the same means but I don't think the plasma would be as dense so the lamp not as bright. My theory anyways.