Metal Halide - Special Application

Updated
19-VII-2020
Metal halide lamps have applications ranging far beyond the limits of general lighting, and over the past few decades this technology has been adapted into numerous other formats to suit the specific requirements of certain special niches.

One of the principal fields to embrace this lamp technology is the film and studio business, where very large amounts of high colour temperature light are required. Traditionally that light was provided on film sets by the carbon arc lamp until the 1970s, when short arc metal halide lamps began to take over. They offer higher luminous efficacy, improved colour rendering and longer lifetime than the carbon arc lamp. In recent years the metal halide lamp has also been adapted to vehicle lighting, and a new family of ultra compact lamp has been developed to suit that requirement.

New halide chemistries based on the rare earths were developed to mimic natural daylight as closely as possible, and arc tube developments were explored in both single and double ended designs. A number of lamps having integrated optical control have also been developed over the years, and also featured on this page are types having special arc tube chemistries, for instance to suit certain ultraviolet applications in the photoprinting and photopolymerisation businesses.

Short Arc (Projection)

Philips

250W

CSI Compact Source Iodine projection lamp
~1970

GEC

575W

MEI Coolseal with sandblasted end seals
1988

GEC

2500W

MEI Coolseal with Supercool style leads
1988

Sylvania

12000W

BriteArc Double Ended High Power version
2000

Thorn

1000W

CSI Compact Source Iodide
1972

Thorn

200W

CID Compact Iodide Daylight (Hot Restrike)
1988

Thorn

2500W

CID Compact Iodide Daylight
1983

Philips

220W

SN 250 Tin Halide Molecular Discharge
1989

Philips

1200W

MSR Medium Source Rare Earth
1992

Osram

200W

HMI200W / SE Single Ended Compact
1995

GE

300W

Gemini 300W for 16mm Movie Projectors
~1980

GE

350W

MARC 350T / 16 for 16mm Movie Projectors
~1980

Sylvania

200W

BriteBeam 200W/PAR36 for television filming
1988

Osram

400W

HTI 400W for Stage / Studio Applications
1993

Osram

150W

HQIR 150 / FO for Fibre Optic applications
1997

Short Arc (Miniature & Automotive)

GE

60W

Light Engine LE60 Xenon Metal Halide
1992

WelchAllyn

3W

Sőlarc Miniature 3 watt metal halide arc tube
1990

WelchAllyn

10W

Sőlarc Miniature 10 watt metal halide reflector
2002

Philips

35W

VeDiLiS Automotive Headlamp Prototype
1987

Philips

35W

D2S Micro Power Xenon Light MPXL (automotive)
1998

Philips

35W

D2S Ultinon 6000K Automotive Headlight
2002

Long Arc (Ultra-Violet)

Philips

400W

HP/AB 400W Early design UV metal halide
1980

Philips

400W

Cleo HPA400/S Mercury Sun tanning lamp
2003

GE-Thorn

1000W

Graph-X Universal Sealed Beam
1993

GE-Thorn

2000W

Graph-X Calmat SBL4 Sealed Beam Dichroic
1998