Thorn EMI Wide Bore SON-T 70W

Since the first high pressure sodium lamp, a 400W product, was put on the market in the mid 1960s, consumers expressed a keen interest in the development of lower wattage versions. Every few years a new smaller lamp was placed on the market, but it was not until 1984 that a 70W product could be reliably produced. There were a number of very severe challenges to be overcome in the design of low wattage lamps, notably in finding methods of maintaining a high luminous efficacy and long life in these smaller sizes. Their arc tubes tended to blacken much more rapidly.

The lamp on this page is the first 70W SON lamp to have been manufactured by Thorn, which was introduced as something of a rush-job in 1983. To ensure a reasonable life, the arc tube bore had to be large (5.3mm) to reduce the rate of blackening, and the reduced wall loading meant that only a low efficacy was possible, also with poor colour rendering. Niobium heat reflectors had to be welded to the tube ends to provide a sufficiently high sodium vapour pressure.

A more efficient lamp could only be made once the reason for the premature blackening had been discovered and halted, and Paul Denbigh's work at the Thorn Laboratories, see reference 2 below, was largely responsible for this discovery. He identified that the blackening occurred as a result of rectification which places a high loading on the electrodes during warm-up, this occurring as a result of amalgam being in contact with the electrode shank. The problem was eliminated in later lamps by introducing a stepped end plug with a small alumina sleeve to keep the amalgam away from the electrodes. Then a 4mm narrow bore tube could be adopted, and lamp life and efficacy raised tremendously.

Manufacturer:	Thorn EMI Electrical & Musical Industries PLC
Lamp Power:	70 Watts
Lamp Current:	0.98 Amps
Lamp Voltage:	90 Volts
Cap Type:	E27s/27	Ni plated brass + vitrite
Bulb Finish:	Clear	Soda-lime glass
Bulb Type:	T-38	T-12 in eighths/inch
Overall Length:	154 mm	6 inches
Light Centre Length:	86 mm	3½ inches
Arc Length:	42 mm	1 21/32 inches
Electrodes:	Backwound Tungsten	Barium Calcium Tungstate
Atmosphere:	Na,Hg \| Xe	Outer: Hard Vacuum
Luminous Flux:	5,800 lm (@ 100 hrs)	3,000 lm (average)
Luminous Efficacy:	82.9 lm/W (@ 100 hrs)	42.9 lm/W (average)
Colour Temperature & CRI:	CCT: 1800K	CRI: Ra 12
Chromaticity Co-ordinates:	CCx:	CCy:
Burning Position:	Universal
Rated Lifetime:	6,000 hours	to 70% survival
Warm-up & Re-strike Time:	8 minutes	5 minutes
Factory:	Leicester	England
Date of Manufacture:	October 1983
Original & Present Value:


References:	1) Thorn Lighting Comprehensive Catalogue, 1983/84.
	2) Recent Advances in the Design of High Pressure Sodium Lamps, Denbigh P.L. and Molesdale P.D., National Lighting Conference 1984 (UK), pp. 201-207.