Products

LCDL Lighting’s standard and custom aperture and reflector lamps are made from the highest-quality materials and are used in scanners, facsimile machines, copiers and other imaging devices around the world.

The use of aperture lamps in scanning and other applications continues to multiply with increasing emphasis on greater precision. The inside of the tube is coated with an aluminum oxide reflective layer; the phosphor and clear strip (from which most of the light exits) are then wiped clean to form the aperture to create a brighter luminance and highly-efficient directional light control.

Over the last decade this design concept has been extended to standard fluorescent lamps to replace the inefficient traditional technology of lighting signs with rows of fluorescent lamps. The benefit has been tremendous for the edge-lit sign industry where acrylic sheets bearing micro-replication patterns are uniformly illuminated by light injected into the edge of the panel. This technology has allowed signs to be more slender, more efficient, and significantly brighter with no annoying light bands.

The light output of fluorescent lamps is inherently uniform along the length of the tube.    

Aperture lamps
Aperture lamps are similar in construction to reflector lamps except that there is a clear window instead of phosphor coating. A reflective coating underlies the phosphor in the rest of the lamp, resulting in a high brightness lamp of up to three times that of a standard fluorescent lamp. The aperture window is usually specified in angular degrees for T-4 (1/2-inch) and larger diameter lamps. However, the precision of our advanced technology allows the aperture width to be specified in thousandths of an inch on smaller diameter lamps - in windows as small as 0.008 inches.

To meet our clients’ individual applications, we can design aperture widths to vary in size and shape along the axis of the lamp.

Aperture Lamp Cross Section:
The aperture window is usually specified in angular degrees for T-4 (1/2-inch) and larger diameter lamps

Reflector Lamps
Reflector lamps have an internal layer between the phosphor and the envelope glass. This coating reflects a high percentage of the visible radiation striking it. The major portion of the light is emitted through the reflector opening, which is coated only with the fluorescent phosphor along the axis of the lamp. The improvement in light output in the direction perpendicular to the reflector can be 180% of that of a reflectorless standard lamp.

We can custom specify and manufacture reflector angles to meet our clients’ exact requirements.

180° Reflector Lamp Cross Section:
The improvement in light output in the direction perpendicular to the reflector can be 180% of that of a reflectorless standard lamp.

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Custom Solutions
Our custom solutions for both lamp types include:

• Diameters as small as 3mm, depending upon the design of the lamp.
• Apertures added to bent lamps. 
• Standard phosphors can be blended for customization, matching your exact color requirements in a wide range within the visible spectrum. Standard colors include cool white, warm white, daylight, blue, green, red, ultraviolet, infrared, and tri-band. 
• Custom etch and special end caps are available. Ceramic end caps improve appearance and make installation easier.  

Brightness vs. Degrees from Center of Aperture

Learn more! Click to download a typical design drawing for an aperture lamp configuration or download examples of reflector and aperture orientation drawings.

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